社区译员“澄清”技巧的运用
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中图分类号：H059 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1008-925X(2011)06-0005-02 摘要:与会议口译相比，社区口译是一种互动性更强的口译模式，因而给予译员更多的与讲者澄清信息的机会。社区译员应当知晓在什么情况下以及如何切当的打断讲者并澄清信息，以达到促进交流的目的。当社区译员遇到陌生的专业词汇、模糊信息、应客户要求或察觉讲话者明显口误时, 应与讲者及时交流，避免造成进一步的信息混淆。 关键词:社区口译; 澄清; 陌生信息; 模糊信息 The Use of Clarification in Community Interpreting SONG Shu-xian 【Abstract】 Community interpreting, as a more interactive mode of interpreting compared to conference interpreting, leaves more chance for interpreters to clarify with speakers. Community Interpreter should know when and how to clarify with speaker appropriately, thus to facilitate the communication. When confronted with unfamiliar specialized expressions, ambiguous information, at the request of one client or when speaker’s obvious mistake is detected, the community interpreter should clarify with speaker in time and avoid further confusion of information. 【Key words】Aommunity interpreting; Clarification; Unfamiliar message; Ambiguous information 1 Introduction
With the development of interpreting services, there have been increasing discussions on interpreters’ role, ethics, and techniques in different contexts. Community interpreting is also given more attention nowadays as it is closely-related to people’s daily life. “Community interpreting refers to the type of interpreting which takes place in the public service sphere to facilitate communication between officials and lay people: at police departments, immigration departments, social welfare centers, medical and mental health offices, schools and similar institutions.” (Baker, 1998:33) ［1］.
The main purpose of interpreting is to facilitate communication. Therefore, it is a basic requirement of interpreter to convey the message correctly. It is also the faithful transfer of the message that leads to efficient communication. It would be ideal if the interpreter could convey the entire message instantly. However, there are many occasions when interpreters have to “clarify”, which might seems an interruption of communication. To “clarify” here can be explained as “make more comprehensible”, “elucidate” or “illuminate” (Soanes, 2001) ［2］. Community interpreting is to some extent less formal and more interactive than conference interpreting as it is a bidirectional dialogue conducted through the intermediation of interpreter. Therefore, it is suitable to predict that community interpreting leaves more room for interruption and clarification.
Actually, the appropriate use of clarification facilitates instead of interrupting the communication because it enables the interpreter to give a more exact and comprehensible interpretation and avoids wrong message transfer and unnecessary confusion. In this essay, some different situations where it is suitable for the interpreter to use clarification, with the aim to fulfill the task better under the context the community interpreting, are discussed and some matters deserving attention are put forward. 2 Clarification of unfamiliar message
Understanding the meaning is a prerequisite to interpreting. Community interpreting is involved in various fields, such as medical settings, social service, job centre, and so on. While many words are frequently used in daily life, we cannot deny the fact that community interpreter may also confront unfamiliar technical or specialized words and expressions. Take medical field as an example, there are numerous specialized expressions and abbreviations of diseases and medicine. Even a qualified interpreter may in some occasions does not know or is not sure of the exact meaning due to the high degree of difficulty or the inappropriate expression ways of the speaker. In these cases, the use of clarification would help to break the deadlock of communication and avoid leading the conversation to a wrong direction. Therefore, the interpreter should take the initiative to clarify, asking politely, “Could you explain…?” or “Do you mean…?” instead of being afraid of posing question and pretending to be a medical expert. According to Gentile (1996)［3］, it is even worse to misinterpret a meaning because of the lack of a necessary clarification or explanation and people who have experience of working with interpreters often take clarification from interpreters as a sign of professionalism.
On the assumption that the interpreter knows all that is mentioned by both parties and can interpret all the information spontaneously into the target language, clarification still cannot be ignored. Due to the different cultural backgrounds, knowledge limit of a specific field and diverse life perspectives, the patient may not understand the interpretation, even though it is the correct equivalent expression. In some cases, it is preferable for the interpreter to add appropriate explanations for better understanding. After all, an interpretation which cannot be understood is worthless. However, the difference in this kind of situation is that the party that cannot understand would request on his/her own in most cases. So normally what the interpreter needs to do is to interpret accurately the information.
Following are some examples to illustrate the above. For instance, a social worker visited an old mandarin speaking lady, who faced difficulty living on her own, recommended the lady to live in “sheltered housing”. The lady had never heard about it and asked for explanation. It is the same with some culture-specific words such as traditional Chinese medicine names like “Lingzhi”. The doctor might not understand what it is only through the interpreter’s imitation of the Chinese pronunciation. However, a simple added explanation like “Lingzhi, a kind of Chinese herb” would easily eliminate possible doubts and avoid unnecessary waste of time.
What is worth mentioning is that the interpreter should remember to inform the other party what is going on when s/he is asking for clarification from one party. “Failure to do this may lead to assumptions that there is collusion between the interpreter and the party from whom the clarification is sought, leading perhaps to lack of trust in the interpreter and the latter party.” (Gentile, 1996:45)［3］ Moreover, clarification should only be used when there is a real need. Too frequent use of clarification may imply that the interpreter is incompetent. 3 Clarification of ambiguous words or expressions Community interpreter needs to be cautious when interpreting because words can have different meanings and the same expressions can be interpreted in different ways. When confronted with ambiguous words or expressions that can be interpreted differently, the safest way is to clarify with the speaker. For example; “in a relationship” may refer to “have a boyfriend” or “sexual involvement”. When a doctor asks the patient whether she is in a relationship, it is probable that the doctor would rely on the information to check whether he/she could exclude the patient’s possibility of pregnancy. Attention should also be paid to pronouns. The interpreter should make sure that the message receiver understands clearly what “they”, “he” or “she” refers to so that unnecessary confusion can be avoided. As we can see, meaning clarifications in these kinds of situations are needed. There are other situations where the meanings can be ambiguous apart from those language-related cases. On the one hand, the speaker may make mistakes. Take business negotiation as an example, it is quite likely that the negotiator may make a mistake after a long tiring period of meeting. In cases where the mistake can be easily detected, the interpreter should clarify first with the speaker before interpreting the wrong and worthless information. For example, in a business negotiation role play, the negotiator made a quotation of “5000 pounds a unit” for the first time but said “500” for the second time. This conflict of information indicates that it is quite possible to be a slip of tongue. On the other hand, the speaker may not know how or is not able to describe his/her situation correctly due to speaker’s dialect or emotions, in which situation clarification is also considered. Therefore, it is essential for the interpreter to ask for clarification instead of interpret according his/her own understanding as long as the interpreter can detect that misunderstanding may be caused.
It is worth to point out that mental health interview should be one of the exceptions. Expressions of the patient should be interpreted exactly even if it does not make sense. According to Hammond (1994:89) ［4］, it is the interpreter’s responsibility to interpret for the health care provider and the health care provide him/herself will evaluate the patient based upon the patient’s demeanor and the language used. Besides, interpreters’ carelessness may lead themselves into dilemmas. 4 Conclusion
When there is a possibility that unfamiliar message or ambiguous information may impede the accurate transfer of message, appropriate application of clarification in the process of community interpreting can avoid misleading and misunderstanding of the communication, thus facilitating the process of interpretation. Meanwhile, the interpreter should keep in mind that he/she should always serve both sides and not leave one party alone while clarification is being sought. Also interpreter should not overuse clarification or use it as an excuse for incompetence, thus misusing clarification. References: ［1］ Baker, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Translation Studies ［M］. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. ［2］ Soanes, J., Waite, M., and Hawker, S. (eds.) Oxford Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Wordpower Guide ［M］. US: Oxford University Press, 2001. ［3］ Gentile, A., Ozolins, U., and Vasilakakos, M. Liaison Interpreting A Handbook ［M］. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996. ［4］ Hammond, D.L. (ed.) Professional Issues for Translators and Interpreters ［M］. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1994.
中图分类号：H059 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1008-925X(2011)06-0005-02 摘要:与会议口译相比，社区口译是一种互动性更强的口译模式，因而给予译员更多的与讲者澄清信息的机会。社区译员应当知晓在什么情况下以及如何切当的打断讲者并澄清信息，以达到促进交流的目的。当社区译员遇到陌生的专业词汇、模糊信息、应客户要求或察觉讲话者明显口误时, 应与讲者及时交流，避免造成进一步的信息混淆。 关键词:社区口译; 澄清; 陌生信息; 模糊信息 The Use of Clarification in Community Interpreting SONG Shu-xian 【Abstract】 Community interpreting, as a more interactive mode of interpreting compared to conference interpreting, leaves more chance for interpreters to clarify with speakers. Community Interpreter should know when and how to clarify with speaker appropriately, thus to facilitate the communication. When confronted with unfamiliar specialized expressions, ambiguous information, at the request of one client or when speaker’s obvious mistake is detected, the community interpreter should clarify with speaker in time and avoid further confusion of information. 【Key words】Aommunity interpreting; Clarification; Unfamiliar message; Ambiguous information 1 Introduction
With the development of interpreting services, there have been increasing discussions on interpreters’ role, ethics, and techniques in different contexts. Community interpreting is also given more attention nowadays as it is closely-related to people’s daily life. “Community interpreting refers to the type of interpreting which takes place in the public service sphere to facilitate communication between officials and lay people: at police departments, immigration departments, social welfare centers, medical and mental health offices, schools and similar institutions.” (Baker, 1998:33) ［1］.
The main purpose of interpreting is to facilitate communication. Therefore, it is a basic requirement of interpreter to convey the message correctly. It is also the faithful transfer of the message that leads to efficient communication. It would be ideal if the interpreter could convey the entire message instantly. However, there are many occasions when interpreters have to “clarify”, which might seems an interruption of communication. To “clarify” here can be explained as “make more comprehensible”, “elucidate” or “illuminate” (Soanes, 2001) ［2］. Community interpreting is to some extent less formal and more interactive than conference interpreting as it is a bidirectional dialogue conducted through the intermediation of interpreter. Therefore, it is suitable to predict that community interpreting leaves more room for interruption and clarification.
Actually, the appropriate use of clarification facilitates instead of interrupting the communication because it enables the interpreter to give a more exact and comprehensible interpretation and avoids wrong message transfer and unnecessary confusion. In this essay, some different situations where it is suitable for the interpreter to use clarification, with the aim to fulfill the task better under the context the community interpreting, are discussed and some matters deserving attention are put forward. 2 Clarification of unfamiliar message
Understanding the meaning is a prerequisite to interpreting. Community interpreting is involved in various fields, such as medical settings, social service, job centre, and so on. While many words are frequently used in daily life, we cannot deny the fact that community interpreter may also confront unfamiliar technical or specialized words and expressions. Take medical field as an example, there are numerous specialized expressions and abbreviations of diseases and medicine. Even a qualified interpreter may in some occasions does not know or is not sure of the exact meaning due to the high degree of difficulty or the inappropriate expression ways of the speaker. In these cases, the use of clarification would help to break the deadlock of communication and avoid leading the conversation to a wrong direction. Therefore, the interpreter should take the initiative to clarify, asking politely, “Could you explain…?” or “Do you mean…?” instead of being afraid of posing question and pretending to be a medical expert. According to Gentile (1996)［3］, it is even worse to misinterpret a meaning because of the lack of a necessary clarification or explanation and people who have experience of working with interpreters often take clarification from interpreters as a sign of professionalism.
On the assumption that the interpreter knows all that is mentioned by both parties and can interpret all the information spontaneously into the target language, clarification still cannot be ignored. Due to the different cultural backgrounds, knowledge limit of a specific field and diverse life perspectives, the patient may not understand the interpretation, even though it is the correct equivalent expression. In some cases, it is preferable for the interpreter to add appropriate explanations for better understanding. After all, an interpretation which cannot be understood is worthless. However, the difference in this kind of situation is that the party that cannot understand would request on his/her own in most cases. So normally what the interpreter needs to do is to interpret accurately the information.
Following are some examples to illustrate the above. For instance, a social worker visited an old mandarin speaking lady, who faced difficulty living on her own, recommended the lady to live in “sheltered housing”. The lady had never heard about it and asked for explanation. It is the same with some culture-specific words such as traditional Chinese medicine names like “Lingzhi”. The doctor might not understand what it is only through the interpreter’s imitation of the Chinese pronunciation. However, a simple added explanation like “Lingzhi, a kind of Chinese herb” would easily eliminate possible doubts and avoid unnecessary waste of time.
What is worth mentioning is that the interpreter should remember to inform the other party what is going on when s/he is asking for clarification from one party. “Failure to do this may lead to assumptions that there is collusion between the interpreter and the party from whom the clarification is sought, leading perhaps to lack of trust in the interpreter and the latter party.” (Gentile, 1996:45)［3］ Moreover, clarification should only be used when there is a real need. Too frequent use of clarification may imply that the interpreter is incompetent. 3 Clarification of ambiguous words or expressions Community interpreter needs to be cautious when interpreting because words can have different meanings and the same expressions can be interpreted in different ways. When confronted with ambiguous words or expressions that can be interpreted differently, the safest way is to clarify with the speaker. For example; “in a relationship” may refer to “have a boyfriend” or “sexual involvement”. When a doctor asks the patient whether she is in a relationship, it is probable that the doctor would rely on the information to check whether he/she could exclude the patient’s possibility of pregnancy. Attention should also be paid to pronouns. The interpreter should make sure that the message receiver understands clearly what “they”, “he” or “she” refers to so that unnecessary confusion can be avoided. As we can see, meaning clarifications in these kinds of situations are needed. There are other situations where the meanings can be ambiguous apart from those language-related cases. On the one hand, the speaker may make mistakes. Take business negotiation as an example, it is quite likely that the negotiator may make a mistake after a long tiring period of meeting. In cases where the mistake can be easily detected, the interpreter should clarify first with the speaker before interpreting the wrong and worthless information. For example, in a business negotiation role play, the negotiator made a quotation of “5000 pounds a unit” for the first time but said “500” for the second time. This conflict of information indicates that it is quite possible to be a slip of tongue. On the other hand, the speaker may not know how or is not able to describe his/her situation correctly due to speaker’s dialect or emotions, in which situation clarification is also considered. Therefore, it is essential for the interpreter to ask for clarification instead of interpret according his/her own understanding as long as the interpreter can detect that misunderstanding may be caused.
It is worth to point out that mental health interview should be one of the exceptions. Expressions of the patient should be interpreted exactly even if it does not make sense. According to Hammond (1994:89) ［4］, it is the interpreter’s responsibility to interpret for the health care provider and the health care provide him/herself will evaluate the patient based upon the patient’s demeanor and the language used. Besides, interpreters’ carelessness may lead themselves into dilemmas. 4 Conclusion
When there is a possibility that unfamiliar message or ambiguous information may impede the accurate transfer of message, appropriate application of clarification in the process of community interpreting can avoid misleading and misunderstanding of the communication, thus facilitating the process of interpretation. Meanwhile, the interpreter should keep in mind that he/she should always serve both sides and not leave one party alone while clarification is being sought. Also interpreter should not overuse clarification or use it as an excuse for incompetence, thus misusing clarification. References: ［1］ Baker, M. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Translation Studies ［M］. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. ［2］ Soanes, J., Waite, M., and Hawker, S. (eds.) Oxford Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Wordpower Guide ［M］. US: Oxford University Press, 2001. ［3］ Gentile, A., Ozolins, U., and Vasilakakos, M. Liaison Interpreting A Handbook ［M］. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996. ［4］ Hammond, D.L. (ed.) Professional Issues for Translators and Interpreters ［M］. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1994.