ADAPTATION IN CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING

Abstract

Standing at the centre of a dynamic process of communication between communicators from different cultures, consecutive interpreters adapt to the oral interpretational eco-environment through selective adaptation and selection. Providing exemplification and analyses from his own thirty-odd years of experience of work with English-Chinese and Chinese-English consecutive interpreting, the author first discusses the oral interpretational eco-environment and the interpreter's adaptation and selection to it. On this basis, he then classifies the interpreter's selective adaptation in consecutive interpreting into three types: i) adaptive replication; ii) adaptive reduction, and iii) adaptive addition. The interpretational and situational examples of adaptation and selection clearly demonstrate that when interpreting is regarded as a process of the interpreter's adaptation to the oral interpretational eco-environment, this leads to an effective rendition. This article not only confirms the theoretical approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection, but may also be helpful for students of interpreting as well as practicing interpreters by heightening their awareness of factors that have a bearing on their performance in specific situations.