통역사의 정보처리 전략과 동시통역의 정확도

Abstract

Interpreters must follow the path created by speakers when they are engaging in simultaneous interpretation (SI), which requires all of the interpreter's processing capacity reserving no ability. Therefore the interpreter's real-time strategy for every incoming segment might directly influence the fidelity of the SI. This paper investigates the relations between interpreters' information processing strategy and the accuracy of the sentence. To that end, temporal aspects of two SI in Korean for an English speech broadcasted on Korean TV were examined using voice editing software. Results show that the accuracy of SI by two interpreters was statistically different in that one interpreter omitted more sentences than the other and the quality of the interpreted version was also different. The interpreter who produced better SI spoke faster than the other and the former finished delivering the interpreted version spending the same or less time than the speaker used. The longer ear-voice-span (EVS) brought less satisfactory SI and vice versa. This result shows that the quality of a certain sentence might be sacrificed if interpreters spend more time than allowed in processing the segment. Therefore, one of the most important decisions for an interpreter is when to finish a sentence and move on to the next incoming message.