Omissions In English-to-Chinese Consecutive Interpretation:Cause Analysis And Coping Strategies

Omissions are commonly seen in interpretation,which often leads to incompleteness or inaccuracy of information in interpreters’ renditions compared with the source.In Englishto-Chinese interpretation,when the interpreter is confronted with various problem triggers,such as a heavy accent,highly-dense information,or complex sentences or discourses in the source text,he or she is likely to suffer from a heavy cognitive load,which may lead to insufficient processing capacity available than required,and further result in various errors and omissions,undermining the interpretation quality.This paper is a case analysis of a mock conference on urbanization and sustainable development,delivered by Professor Lakra from the Indian Institute of Technology.The causes for omissions are analyzed and several coping strategies are proposed accordingly.Based on theoretical and empirical studies on omissions,combined with personal insights gained from interpreting practices,the author defines omissions in interpretation as an interpreter’s passive and non-strategic miss of interpretation due to his/her incompetence in interpreting skills or inappropriate use of interpreting strategies.The author further expounds on the adverse impact of omissions on interpretation quality.Then the author gives a brief introduction to the mock conference in discussion and sorts out different types of omissions in the case,namely,mild omissions and severe omissions,with the latter include three subcategories: omissions of words or phrases,omissions of clauses and omissions of whole sentences.Next,the author goes on to analyze the causes for these omissions,mainly from three perspectives: listening and analysis,note-taking,and strategy selection.Finally,coping strategies for omissions are proposed,namely,strengthening the ability for sentence and discourse analysis,improving note-taking efficiency,and choosing the right strategies to reduce or avoid omissions.This paper is hoped to enrich case analysis on omissions in English-to-Chinese interpretation,and to provide useful coping strategies for other student interpreters troubled by the same problem.