Self-repair In Diplomatic Interpreting:A Comparative Analysis Of E-C And C-E Consecutive Interpreting

Self-repair in interpreting is direction-specific.However,the study on such specificity is still in its infancy.The relationship between self-repair and directionality in consecutive interpreting(CI)requires further empirical examination for Chinese(native language)and English(second language)language pair(C/E CI).Diplomatic interpreting,with its requirements of formality,accuracy,and sensitivity,lends certain characteristics to self-repairs.The thesis aims to provide some insights into the similarities and differences between self-repairs in diplomatic EC and CE CI,thus enriching empirical data in this field and hopefully offering suggestions for diplomatic interpreting learning.To this end,eight C/E CI experiments and the following retrospective interviews were conducted.The experiment material was excerpted from two speeches on the“Indo-Pacific” addressed by China’s then-defence minister and his US counterpart at the 19 th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue.Four excerpts were edited based on information density and combined as one with EC and CE CI sections in alternate sequences to control variables.Data were analyzed by adopting a comprehensive self-repair taxonomy from Levelt,Brédart,Kromos,and Petite.Results were compared to discover the differences and similarities of self-repairs between EC and CE CI.The results showed that more self-repairs were generated in EC CI than in CE CI.Appropriateness repairs(A-R)were most frequent in EC CI while error repairs(E-R)were made the most in CE CI.The gaps in A-R and E-R numbers were wide while that in rephrasing repairs(R-R)and different information repairs(D-R)were much narrower between EC and CE CI.The findings suggested that A-R and E-R are highly direction-related and self-repairs in diplomatic interpreting tend to have more A-R,especially in EC CI.Based on the above,interpreters are advised to overcome semantic inhibition,simplify notes,and practice syntactic linearity in diplomatic EC CI;improve listening comprehension,and balance fluency and accuracy for better diplomatic CE CI.