An Experiment Report Of The Study On The Influence Of Theme Familiarity On Student Interpreters’ English-Chinese Consecutive Interpreting Quality

Guiding student interpreters to have a four-week learning on a particular theme,this experimental study aims to explore the influence of student interpreters’ theme familiarity on their English-Chinese consecutive interpreting quality by measuring their theme familiarity and interpreting quality.The study,therefore,is to answer the following three questions: 1.Does student interpreters’ theme familiarity affect their interpreting quality of the whole discourse in English-Chinese consecutive interpreting? 2.Does student interpreters’ theme familiarity affect their interpreting quality of theme-related content in the discourse,namely the terminology and technical knowledge-related paragraphs? 3.If the answers are yeses,then what is the potential cause of such influence?The experiment selected 26 graduate student interpreters and divided them into an experiment group and a control group.The researcher guided only the former group to learn about a particular theme for 4 weeks to help them improve their familiarity of this theme.Before,during and after the 4-week theme learning,theme familiarity and interpreting quality of both groups were measured five times.Through analyzing development shown in the five results and comparing the two groups,the research was able to study the relationship between theme familiarity and interpreting quality.The major findings are as follows: 1.Student interpreters’ theme familiarity had a positive influence on the quality of the whole discourse in English-Chinese consecutive interpreting by improving interpreting accuracy and fluency.The accuracy improved more than fluency.This positive influence is limited and there were fluctuations in the improvement of interpreting quality.2.Student interpreters’ theme familiarity had a larger positive influence on the quality of on theme-based content,namely the terminology and technical knowledge-related paragraphs by improving the terminology accuracy and the accuracy and fluency of these paragraphs.The accuracy also improved more than fluency.Such influence also has a limit.3.Theme familiarity improved interpreters’ comprehension,memory and delivery,thus posing a positive influence on interpreting quality.Such influence is limited because the three processes also interacted with the role of theme familiarity.The fluctuations in interpreting quality was a result of the fluctuations in theme familiarity development and the uncertainties of is role in interpreting process.This study is of practical values for it provides guide for student interpreters in theme learning,preparation before interpreting and interpreting practice and also offers suggestions on how to better organize theme-based interpreting courses.However,the study still can be improved by using an upgraded theme familiarity scale form which combines the current subjective approach with objective means and selecting interpreters with different levels of expertise for further study.