Causes Of Improper Pauses In Chinese-to-English Interpreting And The Coping Strategies

Fluency is often considered as one of the key factors when we evaluate the quality of interpreting.Improper pause is considered as one of the major forms of disfluency which will impede audience’s understanding of the source text,interpreters should make efforts to avoid improper pauses.This thesis is a case study based on the author’s consecutive interpreting of the mock conference of Challenge and Innovation in Further Reform of Healthcare System,in which the author explored the causes of different forms of improper pauses.The author classified the improper pauses into two categories: silent pauses that last for more than 0.3 second and filled pauses.The causes of improper pauses are summarized as follows: insufficient logic analysis of the original text,low efficiency of note-taking and interpreting.After exploring the causes,the author puts forward corresponding coping strategies including adding more logic analysis training to daily practice,writing down only the key words that can quickly trigger memory,and optimizing the note structure.Besides,it is also important to broaden the scope of practice materials and practice more in paraphrase.Hopefully this thesis can shed some lights on reducing improper pauses and help interpreters improve their interpreting.