C-E Translation Teaching Strategy from the Perspective of the Interpretive Theory ()
1. Theoretical Basis
1.1. Basic Concepts of Interpretive Theory
The interpretive school of translation theory, also known as the Theory Sense was initiated in the late 1960s by Danica Seleskovitch, a renowned interpreter ( Wu, 2015 ). Just as what is shown from its literal meaning, the underlying feature of Theory Sense lies in communication rather than language in itself, which means what is important is to convey the meaning or “sense” rather than word-for-word translation. In this sense, this school, from its very beginning, has regarded “sense” as the utmost principle to abide by. It focused on the practice and research of translation and interpreting, during which the full-fledged and unique Interpretive Theory guiding the teaching and investigation was proposed. “This kind of theory, therefore, was named Interpretive Theory by Garcia-Landa and this batch of researchers was called the Paris School” ( Zhang, 2008: pp. 9-10 ). Later in the 1980s, those vigorous researchers of the Paris School devoted themselves to the study of Interpretive Theory by publishing a large number of valuable books, which led to the maturity of the Interpretive Theory. As the first systematic theory appeared in the international interpreting community, the Interpretive Theory became the milestone in translation and interpreting study and laid solid foundation for translation and interpreting training ( Bao, 2005 ).
According to the interpretive theory, translation is, in the final analysis, the interpretation, which means translation is a kind of explanation or illustration with the combination of linguistic knowledge and interpreter’s own cognitive complement. In order to have a thorough understanding of the Interpretive Theory, it is necessary to master some basic concepts which will be elaborated in the following paragraphs.
Firstly, three levels of interpreting. “Berni, a French linguist, divided linguistic capabilities of human beings into three levels. The first is the universal linguistic mechanism inherited by human; the second level is the ability of human to speak a certain language, usually his or her mother tongue; the third level is the capability of human beings to use a specific language in a specific context” ( Lederer, 2001: pp. 79-80 ). The researchers of Paris School completely agreed with that idea and believed that “translation has as many levels as the language system has” ( Seleskovitch & Lederer, 1990: p. 168 ). Based on that, they put forward three levels of interpreting, namely, lexical level, sentence level and discourse level. “According to the interpretive school, the translation at the first two levels can only be called linguistic translation or transcodage and only the translation at the discourse level can be called the interpretive translation” ( Gong, 2008: p. 158 ). That is to say, translation at lexical level only focuses on the word-to-word translation and translation at sentence level only aims to translate the sentences mechanically without consideration of the language context. Frankly speaking, translation at discourse level is a kind of interactive activity between the interpreters and the source language by combing the linguistic knowledge and cognitive complement. Therefore, only by interpreting at the discourse level can we get rid of the superficial structure of the source language and grasp the essence to express the true meanings of the speaker.
Secondly, linguistic knowledge and cognitive complement. Researchers of the interpretive theory maintain that interpreters are required to convey the communicative sense rather than stay at the superficial understanding of the source language. Therefore, the interpreters should not only have a good command of linguistic knowledge but also have enough cognitive complement. To be specific, on the one hand, linguistic knowledge serves as the prerequisite for the good performance of interpreting task. Only by the skillful mastery of linguistic knowledge can the interpreter grasp the essence of the source language and re-express it into the target language properly. On the other hand, “the complete understanding of the sense depends on the shared knowledge between the speaker and the interpreter” ( Lederer, 2003: p. 53 ). Therefore, enough cognitive complement is significant to convey the entire communicative senses. To be specific, the cognitive complement involves encyclopedic knowledge and contextual knowledge, and encyclopedic knowledge can be further divided into linguistic knowledge and extra-linguistic knowledge. Interpretive Theory holds that language is of no practical meaning without the integration of cognitive complement. That is to say, “The interpreter should not be satisfied to stay at the lexical and sentence levels, because the superficial translation of words or phrases makes no sense. Only by absorbing enough cognitive complement can the interpreter grasp the intended sense of the speaker completely and accurately” ( Xu & Yuan, 1998: p. 190 ).
Thirdly, sense and sense units. Frankly speaking, sense is one of the most important concepts of Interpretive Theory. Sense is not the simple combination of words or phrases but the organic generalization of the source language. In other words, sense does not equal to the semantic meanings which pay more attention to the grammatical system. Therefore, “what the interpreter pursues is not the equivalence of linguistic structure but the sense equivalence or the functional equivalence” ( Sun, 2012: p. 14 ). The formation of sense is actually the result of the integration of the linguistic meaning of the utterance and cognitive complement or the result of deverbalization ( Lederer, 2011 ). Therefore, in order to grasp the sense of delivery completely, the interpreter is required to have excellent linguistic capability and abundant encyclopedic knowledge at the same time. As to the sense unit, it is the smallest unit in interpreting, which indicates that any unit smaller than it can not achieve the sense equivalence between two languages. Besides, the length of sense unit varies from person to person, which means the more encyclopedic knowledge possessed by the interpreter, the bigger the sense unit will be grasped.
1.2. Triangle Model of Interpretive Theory
Before the initiation of the Interpretive Theory, the two-phase model of interpreting process played the dominant role in the interpreting community. However, this kind of interpreting process is actually the mere trans-coding between two different languages as it maintains that there are only two phases in interpreting, namely, understanding of the source language and expression in the target language. Thus, it can be found that this model only focuses on the interpreting at the lexical and sentence levels. Different from the two-phase model of interpreting process, the researchers of the Interpretive Theory hold that “interpreting is a communicative act, in which both mental and cognitive elements are involved, so it cannot be seen as a linear trans-coding operation but rather a dynamic process of comprehension and re-expression of ideas” ( Baker, 2004: p. 113 ). Selescovitch and Lederer once claimed that many interpreters and linguists were bound by the grammatical and lexical structures when they were engaged in interpreting ( Ericsson, 1995 ). It can be found that the Paris School is in opposition to the former linguistic school which advocates the symbolic equivalence. Thus, it is undeniable that the Interpretive Theory has made new breakthrough by breaking the restriction of superficial structures of source language and realizing the sense equivalence.
Based on the study of the interpreting process, the Paris School puts forward the Triangle Model of interpreting which takes into consideration psychological activities of the interpreter. The processes of interpreting are divided into three stages, namely comprehension, de-verbalization, and re-expression with de-verbalization as the core. The Triangle Model is as follows (Figure 1).
In the first process, the interpreter tries to grasp the key intention of source language by means of understanding and analysis, which can be called the interpretation or exegesis of discourse ( Huang, 2013 ). This theory shows that profound understanding or interpretation of the source language is the prerequisite which calls for strong language ability and professional background. Language ability is the fundamental element, without which all would be in vain. Professional background or knowledge can facilitate the comprehension of source language. As the interpreting is a kind of communicative interaction, the interpreter is required to comprehend the communicative sense instead of the superficial structure of language. The process of comprehension is the first step as well as the significant step of interpreting, because only by comprehending the source language completely and accurately can the interpreter start the next stage of de-verbalization.
In the second process, the interpreter should “put all the language symbols aside consciously and try to remember the core ideas, or in other words, the cognitive and emotional significance” ( Liu, 2011: p. 29 ). According to Seleskovitch’s study, she and her co-workers once reached a consensus that interpreting was essentially the reformulation of sense which was extracted from the source language by means of de-verbalization ( Gile, 2002 ). That is to say, during the conversion from source language to target language, the qualified interpreter is able to get rid of the shackles of source language to grasp the communicative sense which is temporarily stored in brain in the form of sense units. Seleskovitch
believes that “thought has no verbal structure before it is formulated and that once it has been developed and clarified by language it reverts to a non-verbal state in human brain” ( Seleskovitch, 1978: p. 99 ). Therefore, it can be found that the sense is just conveyed in different forms of language before and after the interpreting.
Then in the third process, the interpreter reorganizes the information on the basis of the core sense above mentioned. After the first two processes of comprehension and de-verbalization, the communicative sense has already stored in the interpreter’s brain. The task of this phase is to express the original text clearly and fluently in a way that is easy for the audience to accept” ( Cai, 2006 ). Meanwhile, the interpreter should also be aware that the purpose of de-verbalization and re-expression is to overcome the restraints caused by the linguistic structure rather than get rid of all characteristics of source language.
2. Difficulties during the Translation
This paper revolves around a video named Silk Road and Cultural Exchange between the East and the West selected from Peking University Open Courses. Under the guidance of Interpretive Theory, the author will do concrete case analysis to put forward interpreting strategies that can be applied into cultural-related C-E consecutive interpreting.
Although this selected open course is delivered in a quite lucid and moderate way, numerous historical facts and culturally-loaded terms make it difficult to interpret. Besides, in most cases, no matter how well the interpreter prepares, there are still many unpredictable challenges during the interpreting, such as the problems of comprehension, memorization, note-taking and expression. Besides, interpreting is characterized by extemporaneousness and limited time, which means the interpreter is required to complete the processes of comprehension, deverbalization and re-expression instantly even under great physical and psychological pressure. Moreover, many external factors also affect the quality of interpreting, such as unfavorable working environment, inferior acoustic system and logical fuzziness of the delivery. However, the Paris School maintains that those linguistic forms are just carriers of communicative sense. Just as what has been mentioned in the first chapter, sense already exists before the speaker deliveries the speech, which means the communicative sense is just expressed in different linguistic forms before and after the interpreting. Therefore, as long as the interpreter abides by the rules of deverbalization, all those difficulties during the interpreting will be ironed out.
To be specific, this part will be analyzed from five major aspects, namely, culturally-loaded terms, colloquial expressions, redundancy, logical fuzziness and paratactic-prominent feature in Chinese.
2.1. Culturally-Loaded Terms
It is self-evident that the historical open courses feature substantial culturally-loaded terms, such as names of men of letters and ancient places which are rather unfamiliar to the interpreter. Therefore, the following paragraphs will be elucidated from those two parts.
Firstly, terms of people and places. It is undeniable that there are a large number of outstanding historical figures mentioned in this professional open course. According to the illustrious scholar Wang Jianhua, “what the de-verbalization indicates is to get rid of the restraints caused by lexical structures of languages to grasp the communicative sense of source language” ( Wang, 2015: p. 94 ). Therefore, it is inadvisable to perfunctorily interpret these names into Chinese phonetic alphabet, because the listeners who are ignorant about Chinese history and culture may be perplexed on hearing these names. That is to say, explanations are indispensable in interpreting these names such as An Lushan, Shi Siming and Shi Jingtang. For instance, the interpreter should explain An Lushan by adding that he was one of the most established military governors in Tang Dynasty. The other case is the historical place names ceased to be in use nowadays, such as Yao Sha Shui, Wu Hu Shui, Kang Kingdom and Daxing City. These names become inscrutable and obscure for modern people although they were prevailing in ancient times. To tackle such a matter, the interpreter should take the corresponding current names into consideration. For example, Yao Sha Shui signifies Syr Darya and Wu Hu Shui represents Amu Darya.
Secondly, the distinctive terms in history and culture. Frankly speaking, there are many terms that symbolize cultural significance. For instance, the term “昭五九姓” has nothing to do with five or nine surnames. In reality, it means that the Sogdians resided in nine small kingdoms and played a dominant role in Central Asia. Besides, some terms like “节度使、藩镇、安史之乱、敦煌文书、关陇军事贵族集团、拜占庭金币” are complicated to understand for some listeners. In that connection, the interpreter should make sufficient preparation about Chinese history and culture so as to convey the elemental meanings of the source language.
2.2. Redundancy
Manifestly, redundancy is one of the characteristics of professional open course. Some expressions are repeated in a consecutive way, for instance, “我们知道唐它的首都是在关中地区了，对吧，长安，就是现在的西安，是在关中地区，是在这一带”. Some are repeated in an interval manner such as “这个里边呢，我们首先要从丝绸之路，这样一条道路，她的基本走向，以及这条道路，它的一个大致的繁荣的状况，从这里开始讲起。” Honestly speaking, some of those repetitions represent no practical significance. “Just as what Shakespeare said, brevity is the soul of wit. The impressive rendition is characterized by profound thoughts and concise words” ( Su, 2003: p. 37 ). Therefore, the interpreter should strive for the brief expressions of the source language.
To some extent, in a professional open course, the speaker would like to add or cite much interference information to explain the obscure concepts, and in order to emphasize the key points of the passage, the speaker tends to use long-winded expressions which make the delivery quite redundant. For example, “那么这个丝绸之路它指的是一条路，它是指两汉之际，两汉大家知道，就是西汉东汉了，西汉东汉之交，我们就称之为两汉之际，那么这一段时间里边中亚的两河地区，以及印度之间的一个贸易通道。” The speaker makes a thorough elucidation of “两汉之际” in order to convey the messages more clearly. In another example, “过去呢，主要的是在西北边，包括汉代的匈奴基本上都是北边儿偏西的，到了安史之乱以后，也就是唐代中期以后，一直到宋代，我们可以看到，它跟北部民族的交涉主要是在东北。那么再到后来明代的灭亡，当然我们可以说是李自成农民起义了，其实也和满洲的入侵有关，跟满洲的压力有关，而满洲呢也是崛起在东北的。所以呢，从这个之后，中国的中原王朝和北部民族的轴线就变了，过去呢是在北偏西，此后呢是在北边偏东了。”, the speaker makes a summary at the end, which repeats the information above-mentioned.
2.3. Colloquial Expressions
Indisputably, one of the most prominent features of open course is the application of colloquial expressions. This open course is no exception. In order to impart the general knowledge throughout the Chinese history and culture, the professor elaborates the unfathomable and abstract information in a plain and straightforward way by using many a oral phrase, for example, “那么这样的一条贸易通道上面，实际上呢，很早我们就可以看到这样一种迹象，就是说中国的丝绸有外传，有外传，而且呢，我们知道这个玄奘在唐代初年的时候，就是我们说的唐僧了，这个玄奘呢，在唐代初年时候，其实呢就基本上是循着一条路往西走的。” In the course, the expressions such as “实际上呢”, “那么就是说呢”, “我们知道这个” have no concrete functions but solely embody the colloquial supplements to alleviate the memory pressure. In a word, the interpreter should be able to identify the colloquial terms and interpret them in a proper way.
2.4. Logical Fuzziness
As this open course is delivered impromptu and unrehearsed, some contents are sometimes not coherent with each other, which might lead to the problem of logical fuzziness. For example, “那么当时为展览做报道，有的报纸就写了一些报道的文章，在这报道的文章上它会说在丝绸之路的两端，那么这个报道呢其实它就有一个潜在的前提，就是说丝绸之路它原来是有的，原来是有的，现在呢，它就把丝绸之路两端东端和西端的两个文明体，拿到一起来比一比，看看这两大文明之间有什么辉映的地方。”, in demonstrating this part, the speaker interjects the irrelevant contents, making the speech quite bewildering and inscrutable.
2.5. Paratactic-Prominent Feature in Chinese
This open course is delivered in oral Chinese, paying little attention to the connectives and logical order of sentences. The topic of a paragraph may change frequently, making it difficult to interpret literally, for instance, “我们知道公元前1世纪的时候，罗马有一位很著名的统帅那么也是后来的大帝了，凯撒大帝，那么当初呢，据说他到剧院里边去看戏的时候呢，身上曾经穿着丝绸的大袍子，那么这个引起非常强烈的轰动，因为那个时候其实那个丝绸的价值还不在于它本身，更重要的呢是经过多重的转运才到了这个地方，所以穿丝绸在身上就好像你批了黄金在身上一样，那么就是这个丝绸的价值是非常高的。” More similar examples can be cited to demonstrate the Paratactic-prominent feature of Chinese. The interpreter would be confronted with many short sentences which seem to be irrelevant with each other. However, English is a kind of hypotactic language, paying more attention to the logic-grammatical connectors. Therefore, it is a great challenge for the interpreter to break through the restrictions of Chinese structure and re-express the content according to the English habits.
3. Case Analysis
3.1. Principle of the Solutions
According to the Interpretive Theory, interpreting is the meaning-based communication with the Triangular Model as the core. “The consecutive interpreting consists of three steps: listening comprehension of the source language; summarization and memorization of information concepts; reproduction in the target language” ( Cai, 2001: p. 278 ). Therefore, in solving those problems encountered in the interpreting, the interpreter should abide by the principles of the Triangular Model. Firstly, comprehension is the first as well as the crucial step which lays solid foundation for the next steps. De-verbalization is an essential step in getting rid of the restriction of the source language and grasping the essential meaning. Re-expression is the final step, during which the interpreter should strive to achieve the functional equivalence. In other words, the interpreter should convey the original meaning of source language entirely on the one hand and arouse the resonance among listeners with different languages on the other hand.
In particular, the interpreter should bear in mind to integrate the linguistic knowledge with cognitive complement to deverbalize the structure of source language and grasp the intended sense of the delivery. “During the interpreting, the information is firstly stored in instant memory, which would be then turned into sense units with the help of cognitive complement. When the whole sense units become integrated with background knowledge, the complete communicative sense can be conveyed” ( Xu, 2010: p. 5 ). Therefore, it is significant to take full advantage of both linguistic knowledge and cognitive complement to tackle all interpreting challenges. In the following part, the interpreter has summarized five concrete strategies to deal with the difficulties encountered during the interpreting, namely, free translation, amplification, omission, sentence reorganization and combination.
3.2. Free Translation
Just as the interpreter mentions above, this open course features many specific and inscrutable expressions which may be far beyond the comprehension of foreigners. Thus, it is infeasible to interpret these unique concepts in a superficial way. Instead, the interpreter should apply the free translations under the guidance of de-verbalization. Besides, the Interpretive Theory insists that the interpreting is a communicative act and the purpose of interpreting is to convey sense. Therefore, by applying free translation, the interpreter can not only avoid the rigid renditions which often cause confusion but also bring about satisfying interpreting that is more understandable for listeners.
To be specific, free translation can be applied to solve two problems, namely, culturally-loaded terms and colloquial expressions. The following example 1 to example 4 are related to the difficulty of culturally-loaded terms and example 5 to example 7 focus on the difficulty of colloquial expressions.
Example 1: 唐代的这种胡人和胡风，其实呢在社会上的影响是很深的。
Interpreted version: Northwest minorities and distinctive customs brought by them exerted profound influence in Central Plains during the Tang Dynasty.
Analysis: This is a typical example of culturally-loaded terms. This kind of terms contains rich and profound cultural connotations. Therefore, the interpreter must absorb sufficient background knowledge during the long-term preparation. Under the guidance of Triangular Model of Interpretive Theory, complete sense can not be transmitted without the help of cognitive complement. Therefore, when confronted with the culturally-loaded terms, the interpreter must take advantage of his cognitive complement to deverbalize the linguistic forms. In this example, it is unviable to interpret these terms into English in a literal way. The feasible solution lies in the free translation. The term “胡人” signifies the minorities scattered in the northwest in Tang Dynasty and “胡风” denotes the distinctive and prevailing conventions of northwest minorities. In addition, the term “社会” should actually be interpreted into the Central Plains, which is more precise according to the historical facts.
Example 2: 但是另一方面，他自己就说当他踏上了这一条路的时候，他的感觉是什么呢？上无飞鸟，下无走兽，那一条路的一种艰苦几乎是难以想象的。
Interpreted version: On the other hand, when he embarked on the journey, the lifeless atmosphere hung over him because nearly no living creatures existed along the road. The hardship he encountered was beyond our imagination.
Analysis: According to the Interpretive Theory, interpreting is a communication-oriented activity. The kernel of interpreting is to convey the communicative sense rather than stay at the linguistic level. Therefore, the interpreter should break through the restriction of the superficial structure and grasp the core sense so as to realize the sense equivalence instead of simply conveying the language symbols. In this sentence, the expression “上无飞鸟，下无走兽” uses concrete images to reveal the scene at that time. It is quite vivid to use this kind of expressions in Chinese, but in English it is not helpful to interpret the phrases word for word because it would make the rendition redundant and obscure to understand. Therefore, the interpreter should deverbalize the structure of the term “上无飞鸟，下无走兽” to grasp the core meaning and re-express it in a new way.
Example 3: 那么过去呢也有很多人说唐代是一个海纳百川的朝代，对吧，但是那个时候我们看到的商人，是商人来中国，是外国商人来中国做生意。
Interpreted version: As Tang Dynasty took the open and inclusive policy, many foreign businessmen came to China to do business at that time.
Analysis: In this example, the speaker uses the abstract Chinese idiom to demonstrate her ideas, which is quite common in Chinese speech. However, this kind of culturally-loaded terms, more often than not, does not have equivalent counterpart in target language. For example, as a unique expression in Chinese, the term “海纳百川” has no equivalent concept in English. Therefore, under the guidance of Interpretive Theory, the interpreter should be cultural-sensitive to transcend the superficial linguistic structure to perceive the in-depth cultural connotations. In this example, the idiom “海纳百川” is to reveal the open and inclusive policy in Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the interpreter should forget the form of this Chinese idiom and only remember the intended sense.
3.3. Amplification
Literally speaking, amplification is a kind of interpreting strategy which aims to add some information for the further explanation of the sense in source language. Due to the huge differences between Chinese and English, it is necessary to apply the amplification into practice to comply with the linguistic norms of target language. To be specific, “amplification can be applied into two cases. One is to add more explanations to make the semantic meaning more comprehensible and acceptable. The other is to add some connectives and transitional words to reorganize the language structure so as to make the rendition more coherent and logical between sentences” ( Gao, 2013: p. 116 ). According to the Interpretive Theory, interpreting is the interactive communication between the speaker and listeners and interpreters serve as the intermediary to transmit the intended sense. The ultimate goal is to arouse resonance between the speaker and listeners during the interpreting. Amplification, as a matter of fact, is an effective strategy to strike a chord between the speaker and listeners.
The strategy of amplification can be applied to solve two major problems, namely, culturally-loaded terms and logical fuzziness. The following example 8 to example 10 are about the difficulty of culturally-loaded terms and the example 11 is relevant to the difficulty of logical fuzziness.
Example 1: 你比方说安禄山这个人，为什么那么被唐玄宗看重呢？就是因为说是他通六番语言，会六种外语，走到什么地方跟什么人谈起来都能谈的头头是道。
Interpreted version: For example, An Lushan, a remarkable military governor in the late Tang Dynasty was granted great power by the emperor, because he mastered six foreign languages. Therefore, he was able to talk freely with foreigners.
Analysis: According to the Interpretive Theory, interpreting features communicative activity with the most important goal of conveying the core meaning of the speaker and making sure the listeners understand the speech completely. In this professional open course, the speaker cites a large number of illustrious figures which may be unfamiliar to foreigners. Hence, in order to arouse resonance between the speaker and listeners and convey the communicative sense completely, more messages should be added in interpreting these historical influential figures. In this example, the speaker cites “安禄山” who is unfamiliar to many foreigners. Therefore, the literal translation of it will make many listeners puzzled. Instead, a short explanation can be added to articulate its cultural implications.
Example 2: 这个人是谁呢？就是安禄山，安禄山，他本来是唐代的一个节度使了，一个重要的军将，所以在这之后才有了安史之乱。
Interpreted version: That was An Lushan who was an important military governor in Tang. And the policy of military governor posed great danger to the regime, causing the An Shi Rebellion, the turning point of Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline in 755.
Analysis: The Paris School maintains that interpreting is not the word-for-word activity, which means there are many communicative messages hidden between the sentences. Therefore, only by fully comprehending the source language can the interpreter grasp the hidden meaning and re-express it in target language. In this example, the interpreter reveals the hidden sense by adding the information “the policy of military governor posed great danger to the regime”. Besides, “安史之乱”, a culturally-loaded term, may be unfamiliar to many non-history majors, therefore, the interpreter should add more information to explain it. In history, “安史之乱” marked the turning point in Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline. By combing linguistic norms with cognitive complement, the interpreter can transmit the core sense accurately.
Example 3: 那么那个瓷呢其实很大程度上是外销瓷，是德化这个地方产出来的外销瓷。
Interpreted version: So these batches of porcelains could be calculated to be the export goods made in DeHua, a famous city of porcelain-making in Quan Zhou in ancient China.
Analysis: According to the Interpretive Theory, the interpreter is responsible to convey the implication of what the speaker says. Therefore, in interpreting this example, the interpreter is required to add more information to elaborate the concept “德化” which is unfamiliar to most listeners. Manifestly, the elaboration of “德化” calls for profound encyclopedic knowledge which should be accumulated during the long-term preparation.
3.4. Omission
“Omission, an important technique in C-E interpreting, is applied to make the translation concise and consistent with the habits of target language” ( Pan, 2013: p. 149 ). It is undeniable that there are many redundant expressions in this open course, which can be reflected in the following aspects. Firstly, the speaker tends to make the thorough explanation of the abstract concepts, which is quite common in Chinese speech. However, according to the Interpretive Theory, the interpreter is required to deverbalize the source language to grasp the sense unit which is the smallest unit of interpreting. Therefore, guided by the rule of sense unit, the over-interpretation of abstract concepts should be omitted in interpreting. Secondly, the speaker tends to stress the key information by making the summary of the content or using synonymous expressions, which would also make the content redundant. Thirdly, colloquial expressions may be interjected in the speech to ease the memory pressure. There are many other cases that can also lead to the problem of redundancy, therefore, it is quite necessary for the interpreter to adopt the omission to deal with the lengthy sentences.
The strategy of omission can be applied to deal with the difficulties of redundancy and colloquial expressions. The following example 14 is about the difficulty of colloquial expressions and the other examples are relevant to the difficulty of redundancy.
Example 1: 一方面的艰辛呢当然也还有政治原因了，政治原因是什么呢？那个时候，唐和控制丝绸之路的一个北方的主要少数民族突厥之间是处于一种战争状态，所以大家都知道这个玄奘呢，离开唐境其实是属于偷越国境的，他是属于偷越国境的，所以呢这上面是有一些比方说政治上的这样一种政权角力的军事状态带来的路途的不便、路途的艰险。
Interpreted version: On the one hand, politically, the state of war between Tang and the Turkish, a major minority in the north that controlled the silk road made him immerse into the dangerous situation on the road, because it was illegal for him to cross the border to the west at that time.
Analysis: In this professional open course, the speaker is inclined to stress the key part with repetition and explanation. But some of the information, to a large extent, is unnecessary to repeat in interpreting. Besides, the interpreter is under great pressure of both psychology and physiology. Therefore, it is quite necessary to adopt omission to ease the pressure. This example reflects the second way of redundancy. The speaker often emphasizes the essential information by making a summary of the above-mentioned part. Thus, the redundant expression “所以呢这上面是有一些比方说政治上的这样一种政权角力的军事状态带来的路途的不便、路途的艰险” can be ignored in re-expression. In this way, the interpreter can achieve conciseness by leaving those redundant parts of source language behind.
Example 2: 那么有人就提出说丝绸之路，实际上呢，从文献里边有明确记载的走向至少有14条走法之多，就是它实际上呢是一组道路网络，是一组道路网络。而且呢，我们知道这个玄奘在唐代初年的时候，就是我们说的唐僧了，这个玄奘呢在唐代初年时候其实呢就基本上是循着这一条路往西走的，一直循着这一条路往西走的。
Interpreted version: Some scholars once put forward that there were at least 14 ways of directions recorded in the literature, which indicated that it was a set of roads. Besides, Master Monk Xuanzang or Tang Monk we usually talk about, walked along the silk road to the West in the early years of the Tang Dynasty.
Analysis: It is one of the prominent features of open courses to use colloquial expressions, which has been mentioned before. The speaker is inclined to use pet phrases or conjunctions which may be of no actual significance for the delivery. According to the Interpretive Theory, the interpreter should be sensitive enough to transmit the essence of the source language and reformulate the information by deleting unimportant expressions. In this example, the phrases like “实际上呢”, “我们知道”, “这个玄奘呢” are of no actual meanings. Therefore, the interpreter should just interpret other important sense units and omit these pet phrases.
Example 3: 循着什么走呢？循着那个过去人的尸骨走。所以那个时候走在这样一条路上是非常冒险的，是一种探险式的举动。
Interpreted version: The only sign they can trace was the human bones left. Therefore, it is very adventurous to walk along the silk road.
Analysis: More often than not, Chinese speaker is inclined to repeat the key information by using synonymous words, which can deepen listeners’ understanding and impression. In this example, synonymous words “是非常冒险的，是一种探险式的举动” are applied to show emphasis of the difficulties along the silk road. However, in actual interpreting, it is redundant to repeat the synonymous words. In fact, according to the Interpretive Theory, those synonymous expressions can only form one single sense unit.
3.5. Sentence Reorganization
Just as what has been articulated in the previous chapters, interpreting is, in the final analysis, communication according to the Interpretive Theory. Therefore, the interpreter is expected to convey the core sense including cultural connotation, emotional expression and other implications rather than just express the linguistic symbols. However, interpreting is a kind of challenging work which may be interrupted by some interference factors. Besides, constrained by the different expressions in Chinese and English, the interpreter may be confronted with the difficulty of logical fuzziness especially in an impromptu open course. In this connection, the interpreter is required to deverbalize the restraints of linguistic structure by doing logical analysis and reorganizing the sentences of source language so as to re-express the meaning in a logical way. Specifically speaking, “the interpreter should find the main body among lengthy sentences and then reorganize the sentences by changing order or structure” ( Ren, 2009: p. 25 ).
The strategy of sentence reorganization can be applied to deal with the difficulties of logical fuzziness. The following example 17 to example 21 are about the difficulty of logical fuzziness.
Example 1: 那么当时为展览做报道，有的报纸就写了一些报道的文章，在这报道的文章上会说在丝绸之路的两端，那么这个报道呢其实它是有一个潜在的前提，就是说丝绸之路原来是有的，原来是有的，现在呢，就把丝绸之路两端东端和西端两个文明体拿到一起来比一比，看看这两大文明之间有什么辉映的地方。
Interpreted version: Some newspapers conducted publicity for the exhibition by writing articles, saying that the two kinds of civilizations should be compared to each other to see whether there was something to complement with each other. Of course, the prerequisite is that the silk road already existed at that time.
Analysis: According to the Interpretive Theory, the interpreter should faithfully convey the full communicative sense of source language on the one hand, and comply with the linguistic habits of target language on the other hand. It is indeed a great challenge for the interpreter because Chinese speakers pay less attention to logical order and coherence which are emphasized much in English. In this example, the speaker interjects another sense unit “其实它是有一个潜在的前提，就是说丝绸之路原来是有的” in-between. Therefore, the interpreter should reorganize the sentence order in mind and re-express it in a way that is more logical and coherent in target language.
Example 2: 那么这些粟特人他们往往依托在商团上，包括一些宗教的信徒，包括国家的信使都和这个商业的团队一起活动。而正因为这样，因为得在各个文明体之间做贸易做沟通做外交这些活动，所以他们经常会若干民族的语言。
Interpreted version: Together with the religious believers and envoys, the Sogdians followed the business groups to conduct trade, cultural exchange and diplomatic activities among different civilizations. As a result, the Sogdians could speak many different languages of other nations.
Analysis: This is a typical example of sentence reorganization. It is self-evident that English is the grammatical language paying more attention to the logical order and syntactic structure while Chinese is the semantic type of language with the core meanings hidden between the short sentences. Therefore, with these language differences in mind, the interpreter is required to adjust the sentence order to reveal the logic relations of sense units. In this example, with the help of subordinate clauses and logical words, these short Chinese sentences can be reorganized into two semantic units in English.
Example 3: 那么这个丝绸之路它指的是一条路，它是指两汉之际，两汉大家知道，就是西汉东汉了，西汉东汉之交，我们就称之为两汉之际，那么这一段时间里边中亚的两河地区以及印度之间的一个贸易通道。
Interpreted version: The silk road we mentioned refers to the trade passage between the Two River Regions in Central Asia and India during the turn of Han Dynasty from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Analysis: In Chinese, the speaker pays little attention to the sentence order due to the parataxis-prominent feature. But English pays more attention to the coherence between sentences by using complicated subordinate clauses. In this example, the speaker interjects the time clause in-between, making the sentences less coherent. Therefore, the interpreter should adjust the order to put the time clause at the end. In this way, all short Chinese clauses are expressed in one English sentence, which is consistent with language habits of English speakers.
3.6. Combination
The interpreter, to some extent, serves as the intermediary between source language and target language, which means the interpreter should not only be faithful to the intended sense of the speaker, but also ensure that the rendition is in accordance with the specific characteristics of target language. However, the paratactic-prominent feature of Chinese makes the delivery lengthy, complicated and obscure. Generally speaking, English sentences are well organized by using coordinators, subordinators and other relatives while Chinese sentences tend to be less coherent as the commas are used too frequently. Therefore, the interpreter should use the method of combination to summarize the core meanings of what the speaker says. To be specific, combination is to integrate several short clauses into one sense unit without changing the original meanings of the source language. It can be applied to deal with the difficulty of the paratactic-prominent feature in Chinese, which can be reflected in the following examples.
Example 1: 那么这个咸海呢，它本来是世界上第四大的内陆河，但是现在呢因为从这个苏联建国以后，这个中亚这个地区原来是在苏联境内的，当然现在都独立出来了，那么原来在这个苏联的时期呢就开发这些地区，开发这些地区比方说种棉花啊种这个农作物，那么这样呢，上游的这种过度开发使得这个水就过分的被利用，所以现在咸海呢大面积干涸。
Interpreted version: The Aral Sea used to be the fourth largest inland river in the world. But after the founding of the Soviet Union, the Aral Sea region, used to be part of the Soviet Union, was used to plant cotton and many other crops. As a result, the over-exploitation in the upstream led to the aridity of the Aral Sea for a large area.
Analysis: According to the Interpretive Theory, the interpreter should deverbalize the superficial linguistic structure to re-express the communicative sense in a more understandable way. However, commas are frequently used in Chinese, making the topic of delivery change unexpectedly. Therefore, the interpreter should apply the strategy of combination to integrate some clauses into one sense unit. In this example, the clause “这个中亚这个地区原来是在苏联境内的，当然现在都独立出来了” is irrelevant to the main body of the delivery. Therefore, the interpreter should interpret it in the form of subordinate clause, which is more concise and logical compared with the literal translation.
Example 2: 比方说这些金币，有些是在那个墓葬里发现的，墓葬的什么地方呢？经常是那个人含在嘴里的，这等于是一种财富的象征，一种财富的象征。但是呢实际上，在当时的社会上也可能使用，就是它不仅仅是一个象征物，特别是发现了那么多的萨珊的银币，很可能在当时中国的内地它也能用。
Interpreted version: Scholars of Paris School maintained that some of these gold coins were found in the mouth of the dead people in the mausoleum, which indicated that these coins were the symbols of wealth. However, the discovery of so many silver coins of Sassanid Empire indicated that these coins might be used in the actual transaction in China at that time rather than simply stood for the wealth of the masters.
Analysis: It is self-evident that Chinese is topic-oriented while English is structure-oriented, which means Chinese speakers can speak without thinking too much about grammar or logical order and the change of sentence structure will not change the semantic meaning of the delivery. However, in English, it is more appropriate to use long and complicated clauses to reveal the coherence of sentences. In this example, the expression “这等于是一种财富的象征” can be combined with the formal sentence in the form of attributive clause. The second sentence composed of five short clauses is arranged in an illogical way because the topic of this sentence “在当时的社会上也可能使用” is expressed first while the subject of the sentence “萨珊的银币” is expressed at the end. After analyzing the linguistic structure, the interpreter can combine these five short clauses into one complicated sentence in target language.
Example 3: 这个联合国我们知道那个秘书长潘基文他曾经坐着飞机从这一带上空去视察，那么他当时曾经说这是世界上最重要的生态危机之一，就是咸海这个地方没有水大面积的都干了。
Interpreted version: Ban ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations, flied above the region to inspect the environment, saying that this was one of the most severe ecological crises in the world as large area of the Aral Sea was dried up.
Analysis: In this example, the speaker uses four short clauses which seem to be irrelevant with each other. This is the reflection of paratactic-prominent feature in Chinese. Even without subject of sentences the listeners can fully understand what the speaker says. But according to the hypotactic feature of English, these short Chinese clauses should be integrated into one English sentence to express one sense unit. The clause “那么他当时曾经说这是世界上最重要的生态危机之一” can be combined with the formal clause, because they share the same subject “潘基文”. Besides, the last clause can also be combined into this long sentence due to the causal link between the last two clauses.
4. Conclusion
Difficult as the translation or interpreting is, most of challenges can be tackled as long as the interpreter abides by the rule of what the interpretive theory embodies, namely, the communicative sense is just expressed in different linguistic forms before and after the interpreting. Therefore, guided by this principle, Triangular Model was put forward to redefine what is “translation”. According to Triangular Model, translation is a human-involved communicative act, which means the essential part for translation is “de-verbalization” before the expression of targeted language. Therefore, under the guidance of this core principle, several strategies can be applied to tackled unchallengeable problems. To be specific, free translation can be applied to solve two problems, namely, culturally-loaded terms and colloquial expressions; amplification for two major problems, namely, culturally-loaded terms and logical fuzziness; omission for the difficulties of redundancy and colloquial expressions; sentence reorganization the difficulties of logical fuzziness; combination for the difficulty of the paratactic-prominent feature in Chinese. With the help of these strategies, the interpreter can avoid the confusion of source language caused by cultural gap to make the translation more lucid and acceptable.