Table Of ContentBasic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training
Volume 8
Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training.
Revised edition
by Daniel Gile
Benjamins Translation Library (BTL)
The BTL aims to stimulate research and training in translation and interpreting
studies. The Library provides a forum for a variety of approaches (which may
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Advisory Board
Rosemary Arrojo
Binghamton University
Michael Cronin
Dublin City University
Daniel Gile
Université Paris 3 - Sorbonne
Nouvelle
Ulrich Heid
University of Stuttgart
Amparo Hurtado Albir
Universitat Autónoma de
Barcelona
W. John Hutchins
University of East Anglia
Zuzana Jettmarová
Charles University of Prague
Werner Koller
Bergen University
Alet Kruger
UNISA, South Africa
José Lambert
Catholic University of Leuven
John Milton
University of São Paulo
Franz Pöchhacker
University of Vienna
Anthony Pym
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
General Editor
Yves Gambier
University of Turku
Associate Editor
Miriam Shlesinger
Bar-Ilan University Israel
Honorary Editor
Gideon Toury
Tel Aviv University
Rosa Rabadán
University of León
Sherry Simon
Concordia University
Mary Snell-Hornby
University of Vienna
Sonja Tirkkonen-Condit
University of Joensuu
Maria Tymoczko
University of Massachusetts
Amherst
Lawrence Venuti
Temple University
Basic Concepts and Models
for Interpreter and Translator
Training
Revised edition
Daniel Gile
Université Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gile, Daniel.
Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training / Daniel Gile. -- Rev. ed.
p. cm. (Benjamins Translation Library, issn 0929-7316 ; v. 8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Translators--Training of. 2. Translating and interpreting. I. Title.
P306.5.G55
2009
418’.02071--dc22
2009035932
isbn 978 90 272 2433 0 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 2432 3 (Pb ; alk. paper)
© 2009 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
8
TM
Table of contents
Preface to the revised edition
xiii
Introduction
1
chapter 1
Theoretical components in interpreter and translator training
5
1.
The role of training in interpreting and translation
5
2.
The components of Translation competence
8
3.
The diversity of training requirements
10
3.1
Initial training programmes for newcomers to Translation
11
3.2
Conversion courses/further training/continuing education
for practicing Translators
11
4.
The need for optimization in formal Translator training
12
5.
The process-oriented approach in Translator training
14
6.
Potential benefits of theoretical components in interpreter
and translator training
16
7.
Potential criteria and rules for theoretical components for training
18
8.
Where and how to find theoretical components for Translator training
20
9.
The models
21
10. This chapter’s main ideas
23
chapter 2
Communication and quality in interpreting and translation
25
1.
Introduction
25
2.
Professional Translation: An act of communication
26
2.1
School Translation vs. Professional Translation
26
2.2
The actors’ configuration in professional Translation
27
2.3
Awareness of Translation and its effects
28
3.
Aims and intentions
29
3.1
Fundamental aims and intentions
29
3.2
Macro-level and micro-level aims
30
3.3
The communication actors’ aims and professional loyalty
31
3.3.1
Convergence and divergence of aims
31
3.3.2
Professional loyalty
33
4.
Content and packaging
35
VI
Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training
5.
Quality
37
5.1
The criteria
37
5.2
Discourse and quality components
38
5.3
The perception of quality: Positions
39
5.4
The perception of quality: Motivation and attention
43
5.5
Behavioural components of quality
44
6.
Social status and quality
45
7.
Teaching suggestions
46
8.
What students need to remember
48
Appendix – A demonstration in the classroom for written translation
49
French translation
50
Source-language text
51
chapter 3
Fidelity in interpreting and translation
52
1.
Introduction
52
2.
An experiment in fidelity
53
2.1
Phase one: Verbalizing a simple idea
54
2.1.1
Framing Information
57
2.1.2
Linguistically/Culturally Induced Information
58
2.1.3
Personal Information
59
2.2
Phase two, version 1: Translating a simple statement
60
2.3
Phase two, version 2: Immediate replication
61
3.
Principles of fidelity
62
3.1
The Message
62
3.2
Framing Information
63
3.3
Linguistically/Culturally Induced Information
64
3.4
Personal Information
65
3.5
Conclusion
65
4.
Secondary Information: An obstacle and a help
68
4.1
The language-specificity of LCII-generated problems
69
4.2
Interpreting vs. translation from the secondary information
perspective
70
5.
Teaching suggestions
71
5.1
The experiment
71
5.2
A road-map metaphor
73
6.
What students need to remember
74
Appendix A
74
Appendix B
76
Table of contents
VII
chapter 4
Comprehension of specialized discourse in interpreting and translation
79
1.
Introduction
79
2.
The comprehension ‘equation’
81
2.1
A basic ‘equation’
81
2.2
Analysis
83
2.3
More about the relations in the comprehension ‘equation’
84
2.3.1
Subjective aspects of comprehension
84
2.3.2
Linguistic knowledge
86
2.3.3
Extralinguistic knowledge
87
2.3.4
Analysis
88
3.
Translation and the comprehension of specialized texts
89
3.1
An example
90
3.2
The layperson’s comprehension
91
4.
The Translator’s comprehension requirements
95
5.
The Translators’ acquired specialized knowledge
96
6.
Teaching the principles of comprehension
97
7.
What students need to remember
99
chapter 5
A sequential Model of translation
101
1.
Introduction
101
2.
The Model
101
2.1
The comprehension phase
101
2.2
The reformulation phase
104
3.
Comments
106
3.1
The Sequential Model and ordinary comprehension
and production
106
3.2
The Model and translation as it is practiced
106
3.2.1
The processing of single vs. multiple
Translation Units
106
3.2.2
Separation between comprehension and reformulation
in the field and during training
107
3.2.3
Unsolved problems
107
3.2.4
Decision-making, risks, gains and losses
108
3.2.5
The linearity of the sequential process
109
3.2.6
Tests on groups of Translation Units
109
3.2.7
The Knowledge Base
110
3.3
Revision
110
VIII
Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training
4.
Interpreting vs. translation in the light of the Sequential Model
111
5.
Teaching the Model
113
5.1
Raising the students’ awareness
113
5.2
Presenting the Model to students
115
5.3
The Sequential Model and error analysis
118
5.4
IPDR – Problem reporting by the students
122
5.5
The Sequential Model and professionalism
123
6.
What students need to remember
124
Appendix A
124
Appendix B
127
chapter 6
Ad hoc Knowledge Acquisition in interpreting and translation
129
1.
Introduction
129
2.
Differences between interpreting and translation: A reminder
130
3.
Information sources for ad hoc Knowledge Acquisition
131
3.1
Classification of information sources
131
3.2
Fundamental variables in the characterization
of information sources in Translation work
132
3.3
Weaknesses and strengths of documents in the acquisition
of terminological knowledge
133
4.
Knowledge acquisition strategies in translation
137
4.1
Time considerations
137
4.2
Source selection
137
4.2.1
Starting-point sources, Intermediate sources
and End-point sources
137
4.2.2
Access
138
4.2.3
Initial source acquisition
138
4.2.4
Library strategies
139
4.3
Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries
139
4.4
Electronic sources
140
4.5
Individually developed sources
141
4.6
Human sources
142
4.6.1
Experts
142
4.6.2
Fellow Translators
144
5.
Ad hoc Knowledge Acquisition in interpreting
144
5.1
The baseline
144
5.2
Strategies
144
5.2.1
Three phases in ad hoc Knowledge Acquisition
144
Table of contents
IX
5.2.2
Issues in conference preparation
146
5.2.3
Interpreter glossaries
147
5.2.4
Reference documents
148
6.
Long-term Knowledge build-up in interpreters and translators
148
7.
Teaching suggestions
149
8.
What students need to remember
151
Appendix
152
chapter 7
The effort Models of interpreting
157
1.
Introduction
157
2.
Automatic operations, processing capacity and interpreting Efforts
158
2.1
Automatic and non-automatic operations
158
2.2
Interpreting Efforts
160
2.2.1
The Listening and analysis Effort
160
2.2.2
The Production Effort
163
2.2.3
The Memory Effort
165
3.
Working memory
166
4.
An Effort Model of simultaneous interpreting
167
4.1
A first view of the model
167
4.2
Simplifications in the model
168
4.2.1
The sequential linearity simplification
168
4.2.2
The additivity simplification
169
5.
Processing capacity–related problems in simultaneous interpreting
169
5.1
Operational requirements
169
5.2
Problem triggers
171
5.3
Failure sequences
171
5.4
Anticipation
173
5.4.1
Linguistic anticipation
173
5.4.2
Extralinguistic anticipation
174
6.
An Effort Model of consecutive interpreting
175
7.
Efforts in sight translation
179
8.
Simultaneous interpreting with text
181
9.
The Tightrope Hypothesis
182
10. The Effort Models and translation
183
11.
Processing capacity and interpreting students
185
12. Teaching suggestions
186
13. The Effort Models and cognitive psychology
187
14. What students need to remember
190
X
Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training
chapter 8
Facing and coping with online problems in interpreting
191
1.
Introduction
191
2.
When do online problems arise?
192
2.1
Cognitive saturation and failure
192
2.1.1
Chronic reasons
192
2.1.2
Occasional reasons
192
2.2
Cognitive problem triggers
192
2.2.1
Problems arising from an increase in processing
capacity requirements
192
2.2.2
Problems associated with signal vulnerability
194
3.
Language-specificity related problems
194
3.1
Possible language-specific differences in speech perception
194
3.1.1
Differences in the perception of words
195
3.1.2
Grammatical redundancies
195
3.1.3
Syntactic structures
195
3.1.4
Sociolinguistic aspects
196
3.2
Possible language-specific differences in speech production
196
3.3
Culture-specific difficulties
198
3.4
Implications for training
198
4.
The speaker factor
200
5.
Tactics in simultaneous interpreting
200
5.1
Comprehension tactics
201
5.2
Preventive tactics
204
5.3
Reformulation tactics
206
6.
‘Laws’ in the selection of tactics in simultaneous interpreting
211
7.
Tactics in consecutive interpreting, sight translation
and simultaneous with text
214
8.
Handling speaker errors
216
9.
Coping tactics in translation
216
10. Teaching suggestions
217
11.
What students need to remember
217
chapter 9
Language availability and its implications in conference interpreting
(and translation)
219
1.
Introduction
219
2.
The students’ command of their working languages
220
3.
Language availability
222
3.1
Language production and availability
223
3.2
Language comprehension and availability
224
Table of contents
XI
4.
The Gravitational Model of language availability
226
4.1
Language constituents
226
4.2
The structure of the Gravitational Model
of language availability
227
4.3
The dynamics of the Gravitational Model
229
4.4
Further assumptions about the dynamics
of the Gravitational Model
232
4.4.1
The speed of availability changes
232
4.4.2
Active and passive availability
232
4.4.3
Oral and written availability
233
5.
The Gravitational Model and conference interpreting
234
5.1
The interpreter’s LC system
234
5.2
The interpreter’s and translator’s multilingualism
235
6.
Directionality in interpreting and translation
237
7.
Availability and speech production tactics
238
7.1
High-availability preferences
238
7.2
Translinguistic Equivalences
239
8.
The Gravitational Model and language skills enhancement
240
8.1
The needs
240
8.2
Methods
241
9.
Teaching suggestions
242
10. What students need to remember
243
chapter 10
Integrating more theory into training: The IDRC framework
245
1.
Introduction: the advantages of a platform for introducing
Translation theory to students
245
2.
The IDRC framework: Interpretation, decisions, resources
and constraints
246
2.1
Constraints and resources in Translation
247
2.2
Interpretation and decisions in Translation
248
2.1.1
Interpretation
248
2.1.2
Decisions
248
2.3
Structure of the IDRC framework
248
2.4
Features of the IDRC framework
248
3.
IDRC as a framework for the introduction of Translation theories
250
3.1
Viewing TS theories with IDRC
250
3.2
Translation theories viewed from the IDRC angle
250
3.2.1
The Translation’s function and skopos theory
250
3.2.2
Prevailing norms and Toury’s theory
251
3.2.3
Domestication vs. Foreignization and Lawrence Venuti
252
XII
Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training
3.2.4
Cognitive issues and the Interpretive Theory
252
3.2.5
Cognitive issues and Chernov’s probabilistic
prognosis theory
253
3.2.6
Cognitive issues, cognitive psychology, Relevance Theory
and the Information Processing approach
253
3.2.7
Translation universals
254
4.
Complementarity
254
5.
Using IDRC in the classroom
257
5.1
The role of IDRC – a reminder
257
5.2
IDRC in the classroom
257
Glossary
259
Bibliography
264
Name index
279
Concept index
282
Preface to the revised edition
Acknowledgments
Before anything else, I should like to acknowledge the time and effort Miriam Shlesinger
and Gideon Toury devoted to the manuscript of the first edition of Basic Concepts
and Models back in 1994 and thank them for their comments and suggestions. For
this revised edition, I am grateful to Carol Patrie and María Teresa Bajo Molina for
their input on signed language interpreting and psycholinguistic issues respectively.
All these contributions have been very valuable.
In 1995, John Benjamins kindly published my textbook for the interpreter and transla-
tor training classroom entitled Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator
Training. The book turned out to be successful, perhaps because it met a need. Mean-
while, I have continued to experiment and learn in various training environments and
to read (increasingly interesting) publications from the literature. This has provided
me with useful input to correct and hopefully improve my ideas, models and methods.
Nearly a decade after the publication of Basic Concepts and Models, I completed a new
book focusing on the translator training component, which was published by Presses
Universitaires de France (Gile 2005); it was translated and published in Chinese in
2008 and is being translated to be published shortly in Arabic as well. Such encourag-
ing reactions and the need to update Basic Concepts and Models prompted me to work
on this new text, which incorporates further corrections and improvements for the
interpreting component as well.
My initial idea was to write a new book which would replace Basic Concepts and
Models. Reading it critically again and again, I found that while many clarifications, cor-
rections and references were necessary, the overall structure and content of Basic Concepts
and Models were still the best I could offer. Another question was whether the content was
still relevant after 15 years in view of developments in the field. My subjective answer to
some soul-searching was that it was, as I have not found in the literature other concepts
and models of the same type to replace them. A somewhat less subjective and perhaps
more reliable answer is suggested by citation evidence: Basic Concepts and Models is cited
often in the literature, including recent papers, which suggests it is still viewed as useful.
I therefore opted for a revision of the previous edition, keeping its general structure
except for the last chapter. In the first edition, Chapter 10 was devoted to an analysis
XIV
Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training
of the literature on training. Over the past decade, training-centred and training-
related publications have come out in large numbers and are still being produced at
a high rate, dozens or more each year, including research papers, theses, dissertations,
monographs and collective volumes. Writing a review of the literature, while useful in
a paper, would probably not make much sense in a book. It was replaced with a new
chapter devoted to a conceptual framework designed to help introduce students to
Translation theory beyond basic concepts and models – painlessly, or so I hope.
Corrections and improvements have been introduced in all chapters. Some refer-
ences to public service interpreting and to signed language interpreting have been
incorporated for awareness raising. Terminology has been revised. Inter alia, ‘inter-
preting’ has replaced ‘interpretation’ systematically when referring to oral transla-
tion, ‘Translation competence’ has replaced ‘Translation expertise’ to avoid ambiguity
associated with current interest in the psychological concept of expertise. ‘Short-term
memory’ has been kept, but ‘working memory’ has been added, with explanations
about the similarities and differences between the two concepts.
The following are a few changes introduced in various chapters:
In Chapter 2, a distinction has been introduced between macro-level and micro-
level aims in language communication, as well as a discussion of behavioural compo-
nents of Translation quality. In Chapter 3, the Cultural component has been added to
‘Linguistically Induced Information’, turning the term LII into LCII; the discussion of
fidelity in relation to the Message and Secondary Information has been fine-tuned, and
a second appendix showing data from another replication of the fidelity experiment has
been added. In Chapter 5, an analysis of decision-making, with associated gains and
risks of losses, has been added. In Chapter 6, the overall analysis has been tightened up,
and the important role of the Web in ad hoc Knowledge Acquisition is discussed.
Note that this book, which is devoted to concepts and models, addresses the fun-
damentals of human Translation and does not cover Translation technology, including
Translation memories.
Chapter 7, on the Effort Models, has been rewritten extensively, with reference
to working memory, to the Tightrope Hypothesis, and explanations about how these
Efforts stand with respect to cognitive psychology and about their status as didactic
models as opposed to falsifiable theories. In Chapter 8, a substantial analysis of con-
ditions and reasons for online problems in interpreting has been added, including a
discussion of potential language-specific difficulties, and in Chapter 9, references to
relevant studies from cognitive science have been added. The discussion of language
availability and the presentation of the Gravitational Model have been extended with
some changes and further considerations, and a section on directionality has been
added. Overall, for Chapters 7 to 9, relevant studies from cognitive science have been
cited to show its relevance to comprehension of interpreting and translation processes,
but I have tried to keep the text simple.
Preface to the revised edition
XV
A glossary has been placed at the end of the book for convenience, and a name
index has been added. The bibliographical reference list has been updated, with more
than 150 new entries.
I hope that this revised version of Basic Concept and Models will continue to be
useful as a conceptual companion to practical exercises in the classroom.
