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How to Do Interpreting Research?How to Do Interpreting Research?Ren Wen, Professor, PhDRen Wen, Professor, PhD
如何做口译研究如何做口译研究任文(四川大学外国语学院)任文(四川大学外国语学院)
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I. Why do we do interpreting research?
II. What is interpreting research?
III. How can budding scholars attempt interpreting research?
IV. Possible orientations for future research
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I. Why do we do interpreting research?
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1.1 Pragmatic reasons
1.2 Academic reasons: contributing to disciplinary development (Daniel Gile, 2001:2-3) :
1.2.1 Empirical contribution
1.2.2 Conceptual/Theoretical contributions
1.2.3 Methodological contributions
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Empirical contributions
-- desirable input speed for SI
-- the interpreter’s working memory span for CI without note-taking
-- anticipation and adjustment strategies for SI
-- the comfort zone of time lag in SI
-- internship as a transition from interpreting students to interpreting
professionals
…
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Information UnitsInformation Units
• 7±2 principle
2003 年 6 月 29 日 // ,中华人民共和国商务部 //安民 // 副部长 // 代表中国政府 // 与香港特别行政区 // 财政司 // 梁锦松司长 // 共同签署了 // 《内地与香港 // 关于建立更紧密经贸关系的 // 安排 // 》,总体目标包括 // 货物贸易 // 和服务贸易的 // 自由化 // ,以及贸易投资便利化三个方面 // 。
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Conceptual contributions
-- Why is interpreting quality perception by participants highly variable?
-- Why do the two primary parties tend to look at the interpreter when they are encouraged to look at each other and ignore the existence of the interpreter?
-- Why do interpreters choose to gatekeep certain information even if they are required to always produce verbatim or close renditions?
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Interpreters must relay accurately and completely all that
is said by all parties in a meeting – including derogatory
or vulgar remarks, non-verbal clues, and anything they
know that is untrue; not alter, add or omit anything from
the assigned work.
AUSIT (Australian Institute of Translators and Interpreters)
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Methodological contributions
-- new experimental designs
-- new statistical procedures
-- new models
-- new measurement tools
-- new analytical procedures
-- new categorisation tools
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II. What is interpreting research?
Research is a systematic approach to finding
answers to questions.
Hatch and Farhady, 1982, p.1
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Interpreting research is a
systematic approach to
finding answers to questions
arising from interpreting
practice, training, and research.
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Which scientific category does IS belong to?
Natural science studies
the universe or nature:
astronomy, biology,
chemistry, physics, etc.
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Social science studies
human society and
individual relationships
in society: sociology,
anthropology, political
science, economics,
linguistics, etc.
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Humanities studies
human values, spirit,
emotions, ideas:
literature, art, religion,
philosophy, ancient
and modern language,
etc.
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Nature science
Social science
Humanities
1. studies the objective existence
1. studies the society and social phenomena
1. studies the internal world of individual human beings
2. adopts logical methods and empirical methods
2. adopts logical methods and empirical methods
2. adopts analytical, critical, speculative, artistic or even imaginative methods
3. sets up general scientific theoretical system
3. proposes theories, hypothesis, laws, models, etc.
3. experiences, understands, and perceives the spiritual world of human beings.
Th
ree Scien
tific categories
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Spectrum of Interpreting StudiesNatural Sciences Social Sciences Humanities
Empirical
Logical thinking
Science
Speculative
Thinking in terms of images
Art
Interpreting studies
(Adapted from Prof. Liao Qiyi’s model in his lecture at SCU)
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III. How to do interpreting research
Choosing a research topicDeveloping research questions
Defining research purposes
Reading literature
Selecting research design
Collecting data
Analyzing data
Finding research resultsWriting research paper/thesis
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3.1 Choosing a research topic/developing research questions
3.1.1 Moving from a general topic to a specific one
* Identify a topic based on personal interest and close to baseline expertise; * Narrow down the topic by asking “who”, “what”, “how”, etc.
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e.g. General topic: Interpreter training
Who:
Who are the interpreters? SI or CI? Conference I or Liaison I?
What:
What kind of training do I wish to focus on? (classroom T? on-line
training? internship training? self training?)
What is the internship training I intend to talk about?
How:
How is internship training carried out? Is it effective?
How:
How will I go about finding internship training method and its effect?
Specific topic: A. Internship training for potential business interpreters:
forging partnership with employers
B. On-campus and off-campus internship training for would-be
consecutive interpreters
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3.1.2 Formulating a few research questions
* What is an internship training program?
* What are the differences and similarities between
classroom training and internship training?
* In what ways and to what extent can internship
training help trainees develop their interpreting skills?
* How to measure the results of internship training?
* How to forge partnership with employers?
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3.1.4 Some do’s and don’ts
A. A topic/question should be valuable (not too trivial/simple);
B. A topic/question should be original (not too old/repeatedly tackled);
C. A topic/question should be manageable/answerable (not too ambitious/unanswerable).
* The topic is too broad;
* The available resources are too limited;
* The topic is far beyond one’s research baseline expertise;
* The expected result would be too subjective/unscientific.
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Most studies “only” contribute one or a few
bricks to the building which is being erected
by many other members of the community,
and more comprehensive (albeit generally
provisional) answers generally result from the
efforts of dozens, if not hundreds of
researchers over long periods.
Daniel Gile, 2001:4)
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3.2 Define research purposes
Exploration
Description
Explanation
Prediction
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3.3 Reading literature
A. Three types of literature
a. Within the field of interpreting
b. In the related fields
c. About research methods
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3.3 Reading literature
B. Three types of reading
a. Occasional reading
b. Selective reading
c. Close reading
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Close reading/critical reading
A. Reading for comprehension
a. Understanding the author’s purposes
b. Understanding the methods used
c. Understanding the results/conclusion of the study
B. Reading for assessment
a. Assessing the author’s purposes
b. Assessing the methods used
c. Assessing the use of literature
d. Assessing the author’s inferences
Daniel Gile:, 2001:24-32
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C. Three types of notes
a. Notes for abstracts
b. Notes for critical comments
c. Notes for comments concerning
potential use
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3.4 Selecting research design
A. Deciding on a theoretical
framework
B. Choosing research methods
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A. Deciding on a theoretical framework
Theory: a judgment, conception, proposition, or formula by specula-
tion or deduction, or by abstraction and generalization from facts.
Webster’s, 1986: 2371
Only studies which are indeed carried out within a defined theoretical
framework deserve to be regarded as “research activities”.
Toury, 1991:184
“Theory” in interpreting is anything that is not practice.
Pöchhacker in Gile, 2001:200
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B. Choosing research methods
Research methodology/methods/techniques
Methodology: the systematic study of methods that are applied within a discipline.
Methods: different types of approaches to do research.
Techniques/tools: used for concretization and operationalization of a research method (also called
subtypes of research methods).
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methodology
techniques
methods
philosophical assumptionlogicparadigmobjectivity
questionnaireinterviewobservation case studycritical analysis
surveyexperimentfield workdocument study
Research m
ethodological system
(Adapted from Feng Xiaotian, 2001:8,9,13,16)
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3.5 Choosing research methods to collect data
A. Survey: In survey research, the researcher selects a sample of
respondents from a population and administers a standardized questionnaire to them.
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B. Experiment
An experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables. The method involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable.
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C. Field work
Field work, or field study, is aimed at collecting raw data for qualitative research. It involves face-to-face interviewing, direct observation, and a case study.
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D. Document study
Also called secondary research. It is an indirect study by obtaining and analyzing data from existing literature, such as newspapers, diaries, memoir, autobiography, letters, historical documents, etc.
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3.6 Analyzing data
• Quantitative research is empirical research where the data are in the form of numbers.
• Qualitative research is empirical research where the data are not in the form of numbers.
K. F. Punch,1998:4
Quantitative data can only be analyzed statistically while qualitative data can be analyzed both non-statistically and statistically.
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Transcribing tape-recordings for discourse analysis-- a typical way of data analysis in interpreting
Some commonly used transcription symbols:
[ ] simultaneous or overlapping talk
e: or e::: long or lengthened vowel sound
(.) short pause
(laugh) non-verbal feature
bear stressed syllable
italics English translation of talk in other languages
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G – guest, Mr. Louton, I – interpreter, H – host, 张总
I: Uh (.), Mr. Louton, look at this dish. It’s called Peacock
Welcoming the Guests, and
G: Wow!
I: and the bean-curd here is called Bear’s Paw
G: Ah::: I’m sorry, bear’s Paw?
I: (laugh) Well, the answer is both yes and no. My boss may explain
this to you. (to H) 张总,客人想知道这道菜为什么叫“熊掌豆 腐” , 是不是真的有熊掌在里面.还有,嗯,比方说,那道菜 为什么叫“孔雀迎宾”?跟孔雀有什么关系吗?
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3.7 Finding resultsWriting research paper/thesis
Research results are the answers to the research questions and the findings yielded from your study.
A thesis/dissertation is an argument in which different parts are logically related and all centered around research question.
Wen Qiufang, 2008:251
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IV. Possible orientations for future research
4.1 Paradigm shifts:
Social turn in China?
Sociological turn?
Ethical turn?
Technological turn?
Liaison interpreting turn in China?
Sign language interpreting turn in China?
China’s minority language interpreting turn?
Interpreting turn in translation studies?
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4.2 Research methods/techniques
-- sizeable audio-visual recordings of a specialized
interpreting setting (medical, business, legal, etc.),
transcriptions and critical analysis of data
-- user investigations (possibly in exchange for no-pay)
-- Experiments
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A sample research project
Research topic:
The non-verbal communication features of
conference interpreters and liaison interpreters
in consecutive mode.
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Step 1:
Please formulate 3-5 questions based on the topic.
Q1:
Q2:
Q3:
Q4:
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Step 1:
Please formulate 3-5 questions based on the topic.
A. What is NVC and how many types of NVC do we usually observed in daily interaction?
B. What are the most common NVC features observed in consecutive interpreters?
C. To what extent does the specific setting affect the interpreter’s NV behaviours?
D. Can the main differences between the NV features of conference interpreters and those of liaison interpreters be identified? If so, how?
E. How will these differences be interpreted?
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Main types of NVC observed in daily interaction:
A. Kinesics (facial expression, gesture, posture, eye gaze,
blinking, etc.)
B. Paralanguage (tone of voice, volume, rate of speaking, voice quality, coughing, laughing, throat clearing, pet phrases, chuckling, etc.)
C. Appearance or object language (clothing, hairstyles, choice of color, etc.)
D. Time and space
E. Touch
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X – 小向 , a local guide, C – a Chinese local official, I –
Interpreter, A – an American businessman
X: 你跟他讲,这个,如果他喜欢的话,我就送他了。一件 小礼物吧.C :这可是小向花了几个月的时间画的,别人管他要,他还 不给呢。I: If you like it, Mr. Xiang would like to give it to you as a
small gift. He spent months painting it. Normally he doesn’t
give it away even if asked for.
A: Don’t bother. (Walk away)
I: (Smile, softly) 不用了,不过非常感谢你的好意 .
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Step 2:
Define your working hypothesis and research
Purposes (exploration, description, explanation).
Hypothesis:
Liaison interpreters and conference interpreters
demonstrate different NVC features
Research purposes:
2 or all of the 3
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Step 3:
Specify the categories of the related literature
that you may need to read and study in order to
complete the project.
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Step 4:
Work out your research plan: think of the
possible theoretical framework for your
research topic and the research methods that
are likely to be adopted.
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Step 5:
Think of the research techniques or tools that
you may use for data collection.
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Step 6:
How would you do data analysis based on the
research techniques/tools that you’ve chosen?
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Step 7:
What are the possible research results that you
may draw from your research work? Are there
any possible implications to future interpreting
practice/training /research?
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Possible results/findings:
A. Liaison interpreters demonstrate more evident and
more varied NVC features than conference interpreters;
B. Liaison interpreters are more likely to exert more impact on the process and outcome of the interaction.
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References:
Gile, Daniel, et al. eds. Getting Started in Interpreting Research [C]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2001.
Hansen, Gyde, et al, eds. Efforts and Models in Interpreting and Translation Research [C]. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2008.
Hatch, E. & Farhady, H. Research Design and Statistics for Applied Linguistics [M]. Rowley: Newbury House Publishers, INC., 1982.
Pöchhacker, Franz. Working within a theoretical framework [A] in Daniel Gile, ibid. 199-219.
Pöchhacker, Franz. Introducing Interpreting Studies [M]. London: Routledge, 2004.
Punch, K. F. Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches [M]. London: Sage, 1998.
Wen Qiufang. Applied Linguistics: Research Methods and Thesis Writing [M], Beijing: FLTRP, 2008.
风笑天.社会学研究方法 [M] .北京:中国人民大学出版社, 2001.
林聚任等.社会科学研究方法 [C] .济南:山东人民出版社, 2004.
www.wikipedia.org
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Thank You!