6.1.1 The application of the Kintsch & van Dijk model
in our study
|
As noted in section 5.2 Mackintosh (1985) claims that observation of
the macrostructural processing in simultaneous interpreting is not directly
observable. We have attempted at applying the macro-rules in the Kintsch
& van Dijk model on samples from our transcripts and concluded that
a lot of occurrences in the interpreting situation can indeed be explained
as macrostructural processing. This process is in our opinion clearly observable
in the recorded and transcribed output by the interpreter.
The following extracts shows how the Kintsch and van Dijk macrostructure
model has been utilised in our research. Deletions are printed in italics,
generalisations are underlined, and constructions are in bold type.
| Swedish original |
Translation of original |
Finnish interpretation |
Translation
of interpretation |
| ja lyckades till och me få
ett ämne att syssla med |
I even succeeded in getting
a subject to work with |
onnistuin jopa saamaan aiheen
/ |
I even succeeded
in getting a subject / |
| de handlade om att relatera
/ myter alltså narrationer berättelser / juridiskt och
religiöst system me varandra |
it was about relating / myths
that
is narratives stories /
legal and religious system to each other |
toisin sanoen
minun piti
suhteuttaa myytit
/ kertomukset / eeh / juriidinen ja / uskolloninen systeemi toisiinsa
/ |
in other words I was to
relate myths / stories / eh / the legal and the religious system to
each other / |
| å se hur dom här
samspelade |
and see how they interacted |
|
|
/ på en ö i
sydostasien som heter lombok
(P 1?) |
/ on an island in south
east asia called lombok |
lombokissa / eeh
/ kaukaisella saarella |
on lombok / eh / a distant
island |
| |
|
|
|
de va tror ja första
gången någon ja va / några å tjuge
/
hade beskrivit för mej att de kunde vara en stor fördel
/ att vara / kvinna /
(P 16) |
that was I think the first
time anyone I was / a little over twenty / had described
to me that it could be a great advantage / to be / a woman / |
no / silloin / ensimmäistä
kertaa sain kuulla / että oli
etu / olla nainen
|
well / then /
for the first time
I heard / that it was an advantage / to be a woman /
|
deletion
generalisation
construction
Figure 6-1 Macrostructures in interpreting
The above sample is a good illustration of how the use of macrostructures,
i.e. basically a good ’summarising’ technique, makes interpretation fast
and efficient without too much information loss. In fact, the only new
factual information that is lost is that the island Lombok is in South
East Asia (the interpreter only says it is far away, "distant"). The speaker’s
age at the time is implicitly clear as she is talking about her undergraduate
studies, and in the context at hand, the deleted comment ’I was / a little
over twenty’ does not give any new information and is therefore redundant
(see section 7.1.1; cf. Krippendorff 1986).
This example is, however, an ideal situation. Very often the transcripts
give a more complicated, less clear-cut, picture of the process. We will
now present a couple of transcripts which show some typical interpreting
situations from our conference corpus. |
6.1.2 The interpreter as editor
|
From a layman’s perspective, it would seem obvious that the simultaneous
interpreter, because of time constraints, will have to almost mechanically
stick with the original speaker, more or less repeating what the speaker
says, albeit in another language, not having many opportunities to make
changes in the original text. From the results of our study, it is obvious
that this is a misconception. On the contrary, it is almost surprising
how much the interpreters actually edit in the original texts.
6.1.2.1 "Proof-reading"
There can be several reasons for an interpreter to "intervene". One type
of intervention is a kind of oral "proof-reading", when the speaker makes
false starts, mispronunciations, or makes an obvious slip of the tongue.
In these cases the interpreter — since s/he usually lags several seconds
behind the speaker — can make the text more soluble:
| Swedish original |
Translation of original |
Finnish interpretation |
Translation of interpretation |
... somliga börja
skriva jag / inte jagböcker förlåt de va / de va
/ önsketänkande di börja skriva barnböcker //
(W 15b) |
... some started
writing ’self’ / not ’self’ books sorry that was / that was / wishful
thinking they started writing children’s books // |
... he alkoivat sen sijaan
kirjoittaa lastenkirjoja / |
... they started instead to
write children’s books / |
Italics = deletion
Figure 6-2 The proof-reading interpreter
The reason for this slip of the tongue by the speaker is probably that
she has earlier been talking about "self poetry" by female authors.
This is a good illustration of Halliday’s observation (1987:69; see
section 3.4) that when producing spoken utterances you cannot "destroy
earlier drafts" as you can do in writing. As is obvious from this and other
examples in our study, the interpreter will most often ignore these "drafts"
and interpret what she understands to be the intended meaning — the "final
version" as it were. Cf. Chernov’s (1979) remark, that reduction of redundancy
in the interpreting process results in "lexical compression" in the target
text version (see section 7.1.2).
NB. In this kind of "controlled" spoken discourse it is also possible
that the speaker is actually making a joke by deliberately letting her
"tongue slip". But this is obviously not the way the interpreter interpreted
it.
6.1.2.2 Explicitation
Another important reason for editing is the need for the interpreter to
explain, to make something the speaker says more explicit in order for
the target audience to understand. And vice versa, the interpreter may
judge some information in the speech to be superfluous for the target audience,
and in that case it can be described in a more general way or omitted altogether.
The notions of explicitation, the tendency to spell things out, including
adding background information, and its antonym implicitation (or simplification),
are well-know features of translation and interpreting. They have been
described, inter alia, by Alexieva (1985). Textual standards that come
into play here are coherence, informativity and acceptability.
A simple example: ’grandmother’ in Finnish, as well as English, can
denote both father’s mother and mother’s mother. In the following extract
the interpreter has decided that it is important to make this clear:
| Swedish original |
Translation of original |
Finnish interpretation |
Translation of interpretation |
farmor som va blind
( T 2) |
grandmother [father’s mother]
who was blind |
isäni äiti oli
sokea |
my father’s mother
was blind |
Figure 6-3 Explicitation
6.1.2.3 Cohesion
Cohesive devices serve an important function in the understanding of texts
in that they define links and relationships between primary elements in
the text (cf. Shlesinger 1995). Adding cohesive markers is another form
of explicitation that is noticeable in our material.
| Swedish original |
Translation of original |
Finnish interpretation |
Translation of interpretation |
Type of cohesive marker
added |
du får inte börja
småskolan / ja fick gå i småskolan / ja fick gå
i storskolan
(T 3) |
they won’t let you go to infants
school / they let me go to infants school / they let me go to high school |
et pääse alakouluun
/ mutta minä sain käydä alakoulua / ja minä
sain käydä yläkoulua |
they won’t let you go to infant
school / but they let me go to infants school / and they
let me go to high school |
disjunction
conjunction |
på somrarna åkte
ja hem
(T 14) |
in the summers I went home |
ja mutta kesäisin
matkustin kotiin |
and but in the summers
I travelled home |
conjunction + disjunction |
bold: construction (additions)
Figure 6-4 Cohesive markers (junctions)
In the following extract, the interpreter adds several kinds of cohesive
markers, in Halliday & Hasan's (1976) terms both grammatical (reference,
conjunction) and lexical (reiteration):
| Swedish original |
Translation of original |
Finnish interpretation |
Translation
of interpretation |
Type of cohesive
marker added |
| hårda tider
/ före p-pillrens tid / ja ni vet / alla som e i min ålder // |
hard times / before
the pill / well you know / all who are my age // |
kovat
ajat / ennen -pillereiden aikaa niin tehän tiedätte / kaikki
jotka olette minun
ikäisiäni / mimmosta se oli |
hard
times / before the pill well you know / all who are my age /
how it was / |
anaphoric > hard times before
the pill; possibly also exophoric reference > historical facts |
| de här me politik / de
existera inte // |
this politics thing /
it didn’t exist // |
niin ja sitten
mitä tuli politiikkaan / sitä ei ollut / |
well and then
as far as politics goes / it didn’t exist / |
conjunctive expression |
| eeh de de de hade bara gubbar
hand om / å ryssar / |
eh it it it was done only
by old men / and russians / |
vain ukot ja /
venäläiset hoitelivat politiikkaa |
only old men and
/ russians did politics |
reiteration: repetition |
| gubbar som va i svarta paletåer
å ryssar / |
old men in black overcoats
and russians / |
tarkoitan noita
ukkoja
joilla oli mustat palttoot
ja sitten oli niitä venäläisiä / kaik_
ne oli niitä neukkuja |
I mean those
old men who wore black overcoats
and then there were those russians / ev_ they were those
soviets |
anaphora > old men and Russians;
conjunction;
anaphora > Russians;
reiteration: synonym
|
alla andra skulle / göra
/ alla andra skulle arbeta / från morron till kväll //
( T 7) |
everyone else had to /
do / everyone else had to work / from morning till night // |
kaikkien muiden
piti tehdä töitä
aamusta iltaan / |
everyone else
had to work from morning till night |
|
bold: construction (additions)
italics: deletion
Figure 6-5 Cohesion and coherence
With the first three additions: (you know) ’how it was’, ’well’, ’I
mean’, the interpreter fills out the elliptic style of the speaker, which
resembles her way of writing.
The fourth addition ’they were those Soviets’ is a special case. We
must keep in mind that the speaker is talking about her youth in Finland
immediately after World War II, and up till the end of the Soviet Union,
’Russians’ usually meant — in the circumstances the speaker is describing,
with a pejorative meaning — "commies" or "Soviets". The latter term never
made its way into Swedish, and therefore the interpreter chooses to add
the Finnish pejorative ’neukkuja’ ('neu-' < Fin. Neuovostoliitto, the
Soviet Union).
6.1.2.4 Other textual considerations: "Interpreter's edition"
The following extract from a speech at the writers’ conference shows clearly
how the interpreter can change the impact of a text with simple but efficient
textual tools. The speaker is a middle-aged female author who talks about
her youth in the 1970s when she moved to Sweden but went back home in the
summers to her birthplace in rural Finland. Her speaking style is almost
lapidarian at times, with little redundancy, and her language is straightforward,
and apparently not in the taste of the interpreter.
| Swedish original |
Translation of original |
Finnish interpretation |
Translation of interpretation |
å vi läste germaine
greer å hite å tite ursäkta nödrimmen / å vi
bildade kvinnogrupp å fredsgrupp å linje tregrupp (1)
å vi bejaka sexualiteten (2) å vi knulla me vem vi ville (3)
//
(T 13-14) |
and we read germaine greer
and hite and tite sorry for the bad rhymes / and we formed a women’s group
and a peace group and an alternative three group[11]
(1) and we affirmed our sexuality (2) and we fucked with whom we wanted
(3) // |
ja luimme germaine greeriä
ja hite ja tite:ia anteeksi nyt tämä on tämmönen hätäriimi
/ ja sitten me me muodostimme naisryhmiä ja rauharyhmiä ja sitten
me / palvoimme sekusuaalisuutta (2) ja m_ / hyppäsimme sänkyyn
kenen kanssa tahansa (3) / |
and we read germaine greer
and hite and tite sorry now this is a bad rhyme / and then we we formed
women’s groups and peace groups and then we / worshipped sexuality (2)
and l_ / jumped into bed with anyone (3) / |
| på somrarna åkte ja hem // ja försökte omvända
pappa // smeden / från hans borgerliga ideologi / |
in the summers I went home // I tried to convert daddy // the blacksmith
/ from his bourgeois ideology / |
ja mutta (4) kesäisin matkustin kotiin // ja (5) yritin eeh saada
isäni kääntymään hänhän (6) oli seppä
jolla oli porvarillinen ideologia (7) / |
and but (4) in the summers I went home // and (5) I tried eh to get
my father to convert since (6) he was a blacksmith who had a bourgeois
ideology (7) / |
| ja föreläste i senaste (8) jeansdress / om wilhelm reich
å darwin / |
I lectured in the latest (8) denim dress / about wilhelm reich and
darwin / |
ja olin eeh / pukeutunut viimeisein muodin mukaisiin (8) / eeh farkkuasuun
ja l_ pidin luentoja wilhelm reichista ja darwinista / |
and I was eh / dressed in a / denim dress according to the latest fashion
(8) and I l_ held lectures about wilhelm reich and darwin / |
| va fan (9) har du på dej för städrock sa han (10) // |
what the hell (9) is that housecoat you’re wearing he (10) said // |
mikä pahuksen (9) siivoustakki sinulla on ylläsi sanoi isä
(10) / |
what is that blasted (9) housecoat you are wearing father (10) said
/ |
| tror du vi kommer från aporna / sa han (12) // |
do you think we come from the apes / he said (12) // |
luuletko sinä että me olemme peräisin apinoista / vai
mistä (11) / huusi isä (12) / |
do you think we descend from the apes / or what (11) / father shouted
(12) / |
ta på dej en behå å va tyst / sa mamma / å
så börja ja skriva //
(T 14) |
put on a bra and be quiet / said mummy / and then I started writing
// |
käytä r_ rintsikoita sanoi äiti ja ole hiljaa / no niin
(13) sitten aloin kirjoittaa / |
use b_ a bra said mother and be quiet / well (13) then I started to
write / |
italics: deletions
bold: additions (constructions)
Figure 6-6 Interpreter's edition
The numbers within brackets (1) - (13) point at the corresponding sections
in the following analysis of the passage.
Analysis of the interpreter’s interventions
Since we have made this analysis only of the recorded material and its
transcript, we can only make (more or less educated) guesses of why the
interpreter chose to edit the text in this way. An interview with the interpreter,
and if possible, with some persons from the audience, would have helped
us in getting the full picture of what actually happened. But in the following
table we have tried to make a first, tentative analysis of the occurrences
in the preceding interpretation from a text linguistic point of view, which
could then be used as a back-ground for further investigation.
| Interpreter’s linguistic
action |
Possible reason for action |
Possible consequence for
audience |
| (1) Deletion of ’alternative
3 group’ |
The issue does not have an
interest for the Finnish audience. It was a local Swedish affair. |
Information loss. |
| (2) Change of ’affirmed sexuality"
to ’worshipped sexuality’. |
Immoral way of life? |
Gives a different (probably
more negative) impression than the original. |
| (3) Change of
’fucked with whom we wanted’ to ’jumped into bed with anyone’
|
Increase acceptability:
too harsh language.
Immoral way of life? |
Gives probably
another picture of the speaker’s peer group than intended: having sex with
’anyone’ is not the same as ’with whom we wanted’ |
| (4), (5), (6) Additions of
cohesive markers |
Increase cohesion = help understanding. |
|
| (7) Change of main clause
with direct action ’convert daddy the blacksmith from his bourgeois ideology’
to main clause with indirect action plus two causal relative clauses ’get
my father to convert because he was a blacksmith who had a bourgeois ideology’ |
|
Indirect form (’get my father
to convert’) implies a less active role than in original utterance. |
| (8) ’latest’ becomes ’according
to the latest fashion’ |
Remove possible ambiguity:
increase informativity |
No negative consequence. |
| (9) the four-letter word is
changed to a ’milder’ variant
|
Increase of acceptability:
too harsh language. |
May give wrong impression
of speaker. |
| (10) personal pronoun ’he’
is changed to ’father’ |
Increasing informativity by
removing potential ambiguity. |
|
| (11) addition: ’or what’ |
Increasing coherence. |
Gives a more aggressive picture
of the father than in the original |
| (12) ’he said’ changed to
’father shouted’ |
Compensation for missing "four-letter
words"? |
The negative picture of the
father (see above) is even more accentuated |
| (13) addition: ’well’ |
Increasing cohesion. |
|
Figure 6-7 Analysis of the Interpreter's edition
The style of the above passage from the conference implies that it probably
consists of citations from the speaker’s literary production. In other
words, it contains very little redundancy. It seems like the interpreter
is compensating for this lack of redundancy by adding cohesive markers
(’and’, ’but’) and improving coherence by explicitations (’father’ for
’he’, "according to the latest fashion’ for ’latest’). (Cf. the discussion
on acceptability in interpreting in section 4.3.2.)
But some changes in the interpreted version are undoubtedly precisely "interpretations"
by the interpreter, and should perhaps be assessed as such, in the same
way written translations of literary works are judged.
Conclusion
The Kintsch & van Dijk model is primarily a model for discourse
processing in general. While they mention translation as one of the linguistic
and psychological arguments which demonstrate the need for a "situation
model" encompassing both textual and social factors (Kintsch & van
Dijk 1994:338-339, 16-19), we also need models that account for the special
circumstances of the interpreting situation. Such models have been developed
by G.V. Chernov and Bistra Alexieva. They will be presented in the following
section. |
