职业视角下的模拟会议交传失误研究(3)
Another research perspective mainly concentrates on linguistic outputs, cultural errors, and insufficiency of specific professional knowledge. Zhang studied the premier press conferences in the recent ten years (2001-2011) and pointed out eight categories of errors in consecutive interpreting, including “lack of basic language skills, lack of understanding of source language, omissions, superfluous interpretation, free interpretation, lack of intercultural awareness, lack of sensitivity in politics, lack of background information” (Zhang Xiaowei, 2011: 30-54). Meanwhile, the paper explained the possible causes from the view of the current Chinese undergraduate interpretation education, including “few settings of class hour in university interpretation courses, language-study-oriented interpretation teaching, lack of practical interpretation exercises, insufficient utilization of instructional resources, etc” (Zhang Xiaowei, 2011: 54-59).
Other researches are from the perspectives of pragmatics, psychological culture (Nie Nan, 2008: 236-257), and errors of interpretations in number that is frequently wrongly interpreted by interpreters (Zeng 2012, Liu and Xiao 2010, Wang 2011).
To sum up, the previous studies on errors did not include the professional standards from the professional perspective, that is, to analyze errors according to the professional requirements for interpreters.
2.2 Current Studies From Professional Perspectives
From professional perspective, the work ethnics of morality and the professional competence are the two most frequently discussed terms.
The professional competences mainly focus on the linguistic abilities of the interpreters, namely “bilingual knowledge, social and cultural knowledge, encyclopedic knowledge and professional knowledge” (Wang Binhua, 2006：216-230). And professional ethics primarily concentrate on moral principles of work, such as confidentiality, integrity, and responsibility of the interpreters (Ge Yanzhen and Zhao, 2010: 239-240).
Many researchers have put forward the work ethics of the interpretation. Chen pointed out that the interpreters should get quite familiar with the work ethics of the interpretation, that is, confidentiality of the information of the customers, refusing the interpretation tasks out of one’s reach, performing subjective initiative, impartiality of one’s viewpoint, and integrity (Chen Haiying, 2008: 96-97). Besides other researches studied those professional competences for interpreters. Guo, Zhang, and Li, conducted the research on the interpretation market and then put forward the professional competences of great necessity in 8 aspects, “language skills, teamwork, communication skills, ability to changes, ability to cope with pressure, confidentiality, quality and hard-working, and integrity” (Guo Lijia, Zhang & Li, 2011:54-59). Other studies also concentrate on the cultivation of competences, for instance, Wang made the conclusion of improving the professional competences, that is, “improving interpreting skills (Input, Comprehension, Re-expression), and improving comprehensive quality (Accumulating knowledge scope, Cultivating a high sense of responsibility)” (Lin Na, 2012: 53-54).
To sum up, a large part of studies on professional standards mainly focus on the professional competences and ethnics from the general view, namely, the well-targeted professional cultivation of interpreting abilities, rather than the criterion set for professional interpreters. Therefore, professional standards should be further set in detail to provide the guidance for the error study.
3. Professional Standards For Conference Consecutive Interpreting
3.1 Definition Of Professional Standards
The professional competences mainly focus on the linguistic abilities of the interpreters while the professional ethics primarily concentrate on moral principles of work. However, the indictors of professionalism used by this thesis are different from the two, which is named as “professional standards”. Professional standards are the criterion that guide the professional interpreters in their careers and include norms to be followed at the working site. They are closely related to the on-site performance and the non-linguistic expressive force of the interpreter during the process of interpretation.