CC BY
177
УДК 81’25
Волкова Т. А.
Дискурсивно-коммуникативная модель перевода в профессиональной подготовке устных переводчиков*
Volkova T. A.
Discourse and Communication Translation Model in Interpreter
Training
The paper addresses issues of (consecutive) interpreter training and possible applications of the discourse and communication translation model in interpreter preparation. The model helps draw up “discursive profiles” and incorporate them into translation analysis, remaining open to additional textual, discursive and communicative parameters.
В статье рассматриваются вопросы подготовки устных переводчиков (последовательный перевод) и возможности применения в профессиональной подготовке устного переводчика дискурсивно-коммуникативной модели перевода. Модель позволяет составить «дискурсивные досье» и включить их в парадигму переводческого анализа, не ограничивая список параметров текста, дискурса, коммуникации рамками одной схемы.
Key words: translation (interpretation) analysis, consecutive interpreting, translationrelevant discourse parameters, discourse and communication translation model, chuchotage, sight translation, institutional discourse, translation (interpreting) strategy.
Ключевые слова: переводческий анализ, последовательный перевод, трансляци-онно релевантные параметры дискурса, дискурсивно-коммуникативная модель перевода, «нашептывание», перевод с листа, институциональный дискурс, стратегия перевода.
1. Introduction
Preparing for an interpreting assignment includes information retrieval (familiarizing oneself with a topic, working with references, information sources, and dictionaries, studying parallel and precedent texts, studying and compiling glossaries) and (pre)translation (interpretation) analysis1 that an interpreter performs basing on materials available prior to the event and/or selffacilitated materials (information on main topics to be discussed, an event format, a list of delegates, etc.). Interpreter preparation also includes various forms
© Волкова Т. А., 2013
* Публикация осуществляется при финансовой поддержке Федеральной целевой программы «Научные и научно-педагогические кадры инновационной России» на 2009-2013 годы (грант №14.B37.21.0713).
** Published with financial support of the Federal Targeted Program “Research and Academic Personnel of Innovative Russia” for 2009-2013 (14.B37.21.0713).
1 Referring to “translation analysis” or “translation strategy”, we shall imply both “translation” and “interpreting.”
of self-training aimed at enhancing delivery, psychological, mnemonic, listening skills, etc. Dividing the preparation process into stages mainly for research purposes, we shall look at some interpreter training techniques (consecutive interpreting), general principles of translation analysis, and parameters of the discourse and communication translation model [4].
In the discourse and communication translation model linguistic (lexical and semantic, syntactic, stylistic, and pragmatic) peculiarities of the source text (ST), its discursive characteristics (text authorship, addressness, and narrative), discourse nodal points, discourse constitutive features (goals, values, chronoto-pos, linguistic expression, topic and participants of discourse, and interdiscursiv-ity), communicative functions, typical features and strategies determine decisions made by a translator and build up translation microstrategies on the textual level and translation macrostrategies on discursive and communicative levels. Referring to the “nodal points of discourse,” we follow the terminology described in [2; 10]. The discourse and communication translation model provides the following parameters for interdiscursivity analysis: field (topic) and tenor (participants), goals, values, and nodal points of discourse, linguistic features and discursive characteristics of text (mode of discourse), typical features, functions, and strategies of communication. Referring to the “field of discourse,” “tenor of discourse,” and “mode of discourse,” we follow the terminology described in [1]. The discourse and communication translation model is explanatory in character and provides a range of features (translation-relevant discourse parameters) for working out a translation strategy.
2. Consecutive Interpreter Training: Basic Guidelines
We assume that (consecutive) interpreter training includes the following components: preparing for an interpreting assignment (self-preparation: familiarizing oneself with a topic, working with the ST genre, and self-training); preparing for an interpreting assignment in class; interpreting in class; analyzing students’ performance. Regular term assignments also form an integral part of an interpreter training course to develop useful professional habits and skills (compiling glossaries; shadowing; mnemonics, public speaking, developing listening skills, etc.). More translation and interpreting (T&I) training issues and guidelines for consecutive interpreting and negotiation interpreting courses are discussed in [5; 7; 8] (in Russian).
Self-training may include searching for and selecting audio and video recordings on the subject with regard to the source text genre, listening to and interpreting the recordings. This form of self-training allows an interpreter to practise or recover necessary skills, as well as work on vocabulary, special and protocol terms, cliches, various accents and other speech features of event contributors (e.g., should they be non-native speakers of an interpreter’s working language or should a contributor’s speech be characterized by some regional features).
An interpreter should find out what organizations, institutions, or companies are associated with an upcoming event. An interpreter analyzes data from
official websites, as well as website architecture to find out what language is used to convey the most important information, what languages the website is localized into and how fully. An interpreter then studies the source language (SL) and target language (TL) sections of the website. Should the website TL version be incomplete, an interpreter works with TL websites on similar topics. Having selected website sections containing relevant information, an interpreter would usually look for source language and target language texts on the subject using both the main website and other resources, specify principal concepts and terms, and compile a bilingual assignment-related glossary.
An interpreter uses the collected materials to put down and verify facts and figures in the source language and target language: full names and titles of officials, company business units and cooperating company names, public documents, main dates and milestones in the history of companies or organizations, principal lines of business, as well as other facts and figures as an interpreter sees fit. An interpreter would then use other sources to supplement any available data with more texts on the subject. Sources may include various references, partner links, news feeds, search engines, etc. An interpreter compiles their own selection of related resources, paying special attention to the credibility of online resources (official sites, reviewed encyclopedias and specialized resources, etc.).
For self-preparation and self-training students may be given a set of key words for each class (topic) in their working languages, e.g. the following key words in English and Russian for working with a foreign delegation: international business etiquette and manners, e-mail etiquette, dress code, formal reception, business attire; программа пребывания делегации, деловой этикет, деловой протокол, официальный прием. Students may then find the key words equivalents in both working languages and use the key words to search for, select and translate SL and TL texts on the subject.
Presuming that speakers may use slides in their presentations, an interpreter would normally receive some slides from a client when preparing for an event (alternatively, receive an additional assignment to translate slides for the event participants; receive slides in the source language or some previously translated slides) and/or search for SL and TL presentations with slides related to issues to be discussed. Students are therefore encouraged to use slides with or without notes (script) for preparation.
Interpreting a presentation with slides involves a number of extralinguistic challenges: information congestion, a speaker’s attention to external effects, a speaker’s insufficient speech culture and poor presentation skills (when a presentation lacks clarity, when a speaker strays from the point or switches slides randomly and breeches the logic of a narrative). Slides might be hard to obtain in advance; slides might be previously poorly translated (mistranslated terminology, definitions) or undergo last-minute changes. Translating slides to be used by conference participants or sight-translating similar materials can be an efficient way to prepare for an interpreting assignment and a good exercise or a reference to rely on. It is important for an interpreter to be able to use the slides
when interpreting and take necessary notes. A distinctive feature of practically any talk to be given relying on slides as a form of summary and visual aid is a speaker’s and an interpreter’s interaction with the public.
Students may also use the key words to select SL and TL video and audio recordings on the subject to interpret (self-training in consecutive interpreting and chuchotage).
Students are encouraged to use the texts and recordings to make a list of guidelines for an interpreter and their clients (e.g., delegates or hosts) for a specific setting (e.g., working with a foreign delegation).
Another activity is making a SL or TL presentation and slides on the subject to deliver and have a colleague interpret in class. A “speaker” should compile a glossary and send it to the class for interpreters to prepare. In class, any student may be chosen to act as an interpreter.
As part of their preparation, students are asked to select and analyze SL and TL text samples of particular spoken or written genres (types), e.g., an opening speech, a keynote presentation, a letter of invitation, or an agenda, and see what templates may be used when producing SL or TL texts.
Another task is to design and develop a role play scenario (e.g., hosting a foreign delegation - meeting delegates at the airport, hotel accommodation, social events, etc.). Designing a role play, students should prepare and send out all the necessary information to the class (e.g., delegates’ background and the purpose of their visit), draw up and translate any related paperwork (e.g., an agenda). When role-playing in class, any student may be chosen to act as an interpreter.
Having covered a particular domain (topic), an interpreter should make sure to correct and revise their glossaries basing on the texts for preparation and translation, videos, student presentations, and role plays, and make a list of useful links and other resources.
Interpreting in class includes in-class preparation, interpreting proper and analyzing students’ performance. Preparing for an interpreting assignment in class covers the following assignments (activities): share information on the subject and discuss the texts, audio and video recordings that students have prepared; translate and verify 20 to 30 proper names; share, translate and verify terminology in the students’ glossaries (20 to 25 terms); translate / interpret cliches, domain-specific and protocol terms and phrases; complete a few exercises in sight translation (short homework or classwork texts or text segments, 100150 words each, 5 to 10 min for preparation, no preliminary discussion).
Interpreting in class includes interpreting (consecutive or chuchotage) a presentation (with or without slides) on the subject delivered by a trainer in the following way: 100 to 150 words - interpreting - 100 to 150 words - interpreting. Students also interpret presentations (with or without slides) that they have
prepared (SL, TL), as well as videos on the subject (SL, TL)1. A role play, prepared as described above, is another useful activity. Students are also encouraged to practise shadowing, sight translation, or chuchotage to develop necessary skills and improve their individual performance.
To analyze students’ performance, a trainer and students would note down and, after each interpreting assignment in class or at the end of the class, comment on the successful and not so successful decisions made by an interpreter, their individual performance, inaccuracies and mistakes, and assess linguistic components and delivery, interpreter’s ethics and conduct. Students would also note down any individual drawbacks in their interpreting for further self-analysis and self-training, correct and revise their glossaries, analyze any delivery drawbacks and identify any gaps in their knowledge and skills they need to work on.
Possible forms of classwork for an interpreting course may therefore include all or any of the following: interpreting audio and video recordings and texts pronounced by a trainer or a fellow student (spontaneous, read from script, or both); interpreting students’ presentations with or without slides; role plays; interpreting a guided tour onsite (at a museum or an exhibition); working with an invited expert; mock conferences; “out-of-school activities” (competitions for interpreters, professional conferences and continuing professional development).
To help with student preparation and overall interpreting course organization, a trainer may apply some of the following ideas for a T&I educational website (exemplified here by consecutive interpreting and negotiation interpreting courses): post some basic preparation materials (links to main resources and videos, SL and TL texts; recorded speeches, domain-specific lectures and guided tours); post interpreting and translation videos, recorded T&I workshops and webinars, articles and professional guidelines; use RSS feeds covering particular subjects; post albums with photos taken onsite or in class to analyze students’ overall performance, delivery, external factors, etc.; use a blog for current assignments, industry events, competitions and professional events intended for or attended by students, as well as interviews with translators and interpreters, particular talks and workshops, and other selected materials; add a page where T&I students may write about their first steps in the profession; add a useful links page and a forum.
3. Applying Discursive Profiles to Interpreter Preparation
Most T&I students have a linguistic background or attend several advanced courses in comparative linguistics, discourse analysis, translation theory, etc. Apparently, having received this kind of theoretical background, students should be encouraged to use it for their actual translation and interpreting assignments, more specifically, in translation analysis that they often tend to limit to a few general linguistic and non-linguistic observations or skip altogether.
1 Video and audio recordings are usually dealt with in the following way: a student would listen to a 1.5 - 2 min ST segment and interpret, then listen to another 1.5-2 min ST segment and interpret.
2 More information and examples can be found at my T&I educational website http://volkova.professorjournal.ru [6].
Interpreters should heed (institutional) discourse parameters and develop their discourse awareness when interpreting or preparing for an interpreting assignment. To analyze various communicative situation parameters, an interpreter may work with descriptions of particular kinds of institutional discourse (e.g., negotiation discourse, pedagogic discourse, or scientific discourse - for negotiation interpreting, interpreting a scientific report, or interpreting a lecture respectively). Preparation for an interpreting assignment may therefore include translation analysis based on the discourse and communication translation model components.
Having collected some information and parallel and precedent texts in addition to materials received from a client, an interpreter should specify the ST linguistic (lexical and semantic, syntactic, stylistic, and pragmatic) peculiarities, its discursive characteristics (text authorship, addressness, and narrative), discourse nodal points and discourse constitutive features. Having analyzed the general structure of a text of a particular genre, an interpreter specifies genre-related lexical and semantic, syntactic, stylistic, and pragmatic peculiarities of the SL text and the TL text and compiles a short description of the genre for future reference1.
Working with parallel and precedent texts and slides allows an interpreter to analyze the ST composition and determine the narrative progression, logical, thematic, and stylistic coherence, text segmentation, and logical links. Analyzing text authorship and addressness as the source text discursive characteristics, an interpreter should get an idea of background, sociocultural and domain knowledge levels of the source text author and source text and target text (TT) receivers. A spoken text is more receiver-focused, and an interpreter faces quite strict requirements that the TT should meet. Analyzing the ST lexical and semantic features (standard cliches, vocabulary, abbreviations, precision information, and means of cohesion) and other linguistic peculiarities should help an interpreter review the form of a corresponding discourse. Once an interpreter has an idea of the field, chronotopos and tenor of discourse, they determine the discourse nodal points, its goals and values, as well as possible forms of interdis-cursivity. While analyzing, an interpreter can also determine communicative functions reflected in the source texts, typical features and strategies of communication.
2
Functioning as a “broad extralinguistic context ,” a particular discourse kind helps trace the ST development and its “environment” and therefore determine the TT “environment.” Using discourse parameters in translation analysis helps a translator (interpreter) apply the results of current discursive research (including a wide range of detailed institutional discourse descriptions) and draw up “discursive profiles” to translate (interpret) texts that reflect corresponding
1 An experienced interpreter is apparently aware of many of the above aspects and may skip some steps of the analysis.
2 Cf.: “Pretranslation text analysis suggests ‘incorporating’ this text into a broad extralinguistic context” (O.V. Petrova) [9, p. 42].
kinds of discourse. Incorporating not only textual, but also discursive and communicative parameters into the translation analysis paradigm helps a translator (interpreter) integrate various approaches and apply features belonging to different models and schemata.
In order to use the discourse and communication model parameters as an algorithm for translation analysis, we need to make allowance for the following. Referring to the concept as a “model” is, to a certain extent, conventional. The model is understood as a combination of all the discourse parameters basing on the communicative approach to translation. These parameters can be equally applied to translator (interpreter) training. We assume that within the framework of the model, the process of translation is cyclic: decisions are made at each level, and as the translation process unfolds, the cycle is repeated1.
For each communicative situation, a student may be encouraged to draw up a brief description of a particular kind of (institutional) discourse for further interpreting preparation, and either use resources preselected by a trainer or do some research and find theoretical references to be briefly discussed in class. Subject fields, text types (genres), kinds of institutional discourse and preparation materials may vary as long as they help an aspiring interpreter work out a plan to prepare for an interpreting assignment. We assume it is essential to provide information on the upcoming class content and give some preparation guidelines (preferably in some particular order for beginners), but the number and content of particular assignments for self-training and classwork may vary at the discretion of a trainer.
The discourse and communication translation model complements the existing concepts of (pre)translation analysis and remains open to additional textual, discursive and communicative parameters pertaining to various schemata and learning systems. We assume that the “discursive profiles” drawn up by a translator (interpreter) may be incorporated into translation analysis either applying the discourse and communication translation model or any other analysis paradigm as translators (interpreters) see fit.
References
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2. Laclau E. and Mouffe C. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics / Second Edition. - London; New York: Verso, 2001.
3. Nord C. Text Analysis in Translation: Theory, Methodology, and Didactic Application of a Model for Translation-Oriented Text Analysis / Second Edition. - Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi, 2005.
4. Volkova T. A. Discourse and Translation Modeling. - Yelm, WA: Science Book Publishing House, 2012.
1 Cf. the “looping model” put forward by C. Nord: “translation is <...> a circular, basically recursive process comprising an indefinite number of feedback loops, in which it is possible and even advisable to return to earlier stages of the analysis” [3, p. 34].
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