An Empirical Study Of Accent As An Influential Factor In English-to-Chinese Simultaneous Interpretation

Under the guidance of Kachru’s Three Concentric Theory,this thesis takes accent,—one of the influential factors in the performance of simultaneous interpreting—as the the research topic to study the validity of pre-interpretation accent-oriented preparation in order to present possible benefits to interpreting learners and interpreters who find accents troublesome when interpreting.Theoretically,this thesis introduces the definition of accent,Kachru’s Three Concentric Theory and previous studies on accent’s influence on interpretation.A total number of 9 participants in this experiment were divided into three groups and interpreted under different conditions.The first group(Group A)interpreted the material improvisedly—a speech delivered by a speaker in heavily accented English.The second group(Group B)were provided with video materials from the same accented speaker days before the experiment for preparation before the interpreting task and interpreted the same material as Group A when their being tested and studied.And the third group(Group C)interpreted the same material given by a standard English speaker without accent.All three groups were interviewed for their experiences,feelings and opinions after the experiment.In this empirical study,after both quantitative and qualitative analysis,this thesis ends with the conclusion that accents do influence interpreter’s performance of simultaneous interpreting and the influence can be traced back to the vocal and lexical natures of accent,and that pre-interpreting preparation concerning accents can improve interpreter’s performance.The thesis presents a tentative study in the hope that more similar studies could be made in the field of interpretation in the future.Hopefully,this thesis could serve as a tentative step marching toward the future research path and it pays interpreting learners,who might read it.