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TRANSLATION IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Vuorikoski Anna-Riita.
Tampere University Finland
Discourse in the European Parliament is a specific genre with speech acts constituting an integral rhetorical element of the genre. Following an analysis of an authentic corpus comprising more than 100 speeches in four languages, delivered in the European Parliament, the theoretical framework of the present paper focuses on speech act theory, and the way it can be used to complement translation and interpreting theories in a close analysis of simultaneous interpreting (SI) performances. The aim of the analysis has been to use authentic data in order to obtain some specific information that could be applied to interpreter training, as well as suggesting an approach for interpreter quality assessment.
Observations from within the interpreters’ booth in the European Parliament (EP) inspired the author to record and analyze parliamentary rhetoric and the way it is conveyed by interpreters working in the simultaneous mode. The ultimate aim of this analysis has been to compile some tangible data relating to interpreting quality. The work focuses on the quality criteria of ‘accuracy’ and ‘faithfulness’. While these two concepts tend to be taken as the obvious core elements of high standard interpreting, field work in meetings, and recordings made of SI in those meetings, will shed some light on the way accuracy and faithfulness are realized by professional interpreters. The more representative, and the more carefully designed an SI corpus is, the more reliable results can be obtained. Consequently, conclusions can be drawn relating to the quality targets that are set for interpreting. A brief description of the real-life corpus underlying the analysis is followed by a short discussion of some key aspects of the theoretical framework and the methods of analysis that have been applied in studying speech acts that contain modals in English EP speeches. These are compared with the various SI solutions produced
by interpreters working into Finnish, German and Swedish. The results of the analysis are discussed with a view to their applicability to interpreter training.
Here let us just describe some final discussion. Shifts in the choice of the modal or the quasi-modal auxiliary verb abound in the corpus, as well as the omission or addition of these modal verbs. Some of these shifts are examples of spoken language register being the interpreter’s obvious, or natural choice of expression in conveying the scripted speech of the speaker. Furthermore, some omissions or shifts can be explained by the pace of the original speech as well as the density of the scripted speech. Yet, analyzing the target texts one cannot help thinking that maybe interpreters have not always been alerted to the role of the various types of speech act. Maybe the semantics of the modals do not get much attention in exercises on text analysis. Judging by the corpus, and the SI versions of the 120 speeches, one has the impression that there is room perhaps for more awareness of the role of modals, and their role in conveying the speaker’s stance, or attitude towards what s/he wants to say.
Political rhetoric provides rich material for study. The described experience at hand reports work in progress. In order to obtain a representative corpus study, it would be ideal to have a multi-skilled team to study parallel texts in different languages. For Interpreting Studies, it would be particularly interesting to focus on the prosodic features of spoken texts and their SI versions.
Finally, why all this fuss about modals? We would argue that modals are an important element of natural language communication, playing an essential role in conveying the speaker’s attitude towards his message. Kent Bach [1, p. 155] has expressed the essence of communication as follows: «Communication aims at a meeting of the minds not in the sense that the audience is to think what the speaker thinks but only in the sense that a certain attitude toward a certain proposition is to be recognized as being put forward for consideration».
Interpreter trainers could perhaps highlight this aspect of the function of interpreting, which is to allow the audience to have the opportunity to consider the attitude towards a proposition that the speaker has put forward. Conveying this attitude faithfully might be considered as one of the quality criteria of ‘accuracy’ and ‘faithfulness’. Yet, what may be lacking in SI accuracy in conveying the verbal elements of the Requests may be compensated for by means of prosody that is faithful to the original. Eventually, the right kind of prosody may be found to be even more important in conveying the speaker’s attitude toward what he is saying than the choice of the semantically equivalent lexical item.
References
1. Bach K. Speech acts and pragmatics / K. Bach // Guide to the Philosophy of Language / Devitt M., Hanley, R. - Oxford, 2003. - P. 147-167.
2. Vuorikoski A.-R. Fine-tuning SI Quality Criteria : Could Speech Act Theory be of any Use? / Vuorikoski A.-R. // Interpreting across Genres : Multiple Research Perspectives / Kellet Bidoli, Cynthyia J. — Trieste, 2012. — P. 152-170.
