Strategies For Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpretation Of Non-native Speech

This report is based on a simultaneous interpreting for a public lecture held in the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies,Temple University Japan Campus on November 27,2019.The lecture was titled “‘Invisible’ Child Poverty in Japan”,with a presentation and a Q&A.The speaker was Professor Aya Abe from Tokyo Metropolitan University,whose mother tongue was Japanese,speaking English as her second language.The lecture was in English.Since the speaker was not native,the English language in the lecture had certain characteristics.This report analyzed the interpreting strategies based on these characteristics,which had three levels,namely the phonetics,the vocabulary and the sentence pattern.Specific examples were used to do this analysis.Characteristics at the phonetics level included syllable deformations and improper pauses;those at the vocabulary level were Japanese vocabulary and improper words that were used;those at the sentence level contained Japanese sentence structures,missing components and unclear referents.Dealing with the aforementioned characteristics,the interpreter resorted to reasoning and prediction as strategies to obtain maximum understanding of the speaker’s logic.She also omitted,added and vaguely interpreted certain information to ensure the fluency and coherence of her output.It is hoped that this report could provide a guide for interpreters who are dealing with speeches made by non-native speakers.