1. 1. Brief notes about the history and developments of interpretation (Geneva, Georg (1952);2 nd ed. Revised &enlarged, 1968, 115p) J ean Herbert （冉 · 赫伯特）, author of The Interpreter’s Handbook: How to Become a Conference Interpreter, was the oldest and most distinguished interpreter working for French President Charles De Gaulle and later on serving the U.N. as the head of the Translation Department. The book is still regarded today as a ‘Classic’. The first book ever written about conference interpreter was published when the profession was in its infancy. In his book, Hebert states that there have been interpreters since the remotest antiquity, but conference interpretation developed into a recognized profession only during the First World War. Until then, all international meetings of any importance had been held exclusively in French. 1.2 Basic concepts & Features of interpretation

2. Hebert witnessed the birth of the profession and wrote one of the most authoritative early books about it mentioned above. Speeches, which occasionally lasted over an hour, were originally interpreted, consecutively. The first attempts to introduce simultaneous interpretation were made shortly before the Second World War. —— How Conference Interpretation Grow G erver and S inaiko 1978(30), 5-10 The other famous veteran interpreter is Danica Seleskovitch, who wrote an excellent book, Interpreting for International Conferences: Problems oflanguage & Communication.(Paris, Minard Lettres Modernes(1968), 263p) The other famous veteran interpreter is Danica Seleskovitch, who wrote an excellent book, Interpreting for International Conferences: Problems of language & Communication.(Paris, Minard Lettres Modernes(1968), 263p) The book is a popular and really accessible introduction to interpretation theory.

3. 2. Definitions of interpretation and variety of interpretations 1) “Interpretation, essentially, means an extempore oral reproduction, in one language, of what is said in another language.” —— 钟述孔，实用口译手册 ---- not merely a linguistic undertaking but communication: i) linguistic proficiency ii) encyclopedic knowledge ----immediate result is a speech reproduced orally in a language.(Transfer of the meaning of an utterance from one language (source language, and one culture) to another (target language)) (“Translation, essentially, is the faithful representation in one language, of what is written in another language.” —— Ibid.)

4. 2) Two major kinds of interpretations: Consecutive Interpretation & Simultaneous Interpretation ---- Consecutive Interpretation （即席 / 连续翻译） : In case the interpreter is under the instructions “to interpret between chunks of the original speech (immediately after the original speaker has completed a few sentences or in most cases, a fairly long paragraph), he is doing ‘consecutive interpretation’.” ---- Simultaneous Interpretation （同声翻译） : If he is instructed to interpret while the original speech is being made then he will be doing ‘Simultaneous Interpretation’. Compared with the two said interpretations, Consecutive Interpretation is more convenient, economical and widely-used while Simultaneous Interpretation is more often used for some formal, big, international conferences which usually need a set of equipment to do the jobs.

5. 3) Other minor types of interpretations O n-sight/ A t-sight/ S ight-Interpretation （视译） similar to “Simultaneous Interpretation” in approach basically W hispering Interpretation —— to whisper into the ear of one or two representatives.

6. A dvantages: a. Enjoy more freedom than the translator; b. Concentrate on the sense of a message rather than the words which convey it; c. Get helpful aids from the intonation, gesture and facial expressions of the speaker, redundancies (non-verbal language); d. Occasionally ask the speaker to repeat a word, a phrase or a sentence, or explain some points; Require less precision than that of a translator’s. 3. Typical Features of Interpretation

7. a Stress: i Concentrated listening, absorbing information and reproducing it; i Concentrated listening, absorbing information and reproducing it; ii Great demands on the interpreter ability to seize the essential meaning of a statement and to find an appropriate rendering; ii Great demands on the interpreter ability to seize the essential meaning of a statement and to find an appropriate rendering; iii Inadequate preparations. b Pressure: i Verbal message of transient nature; ii Rapid analysis and synthesis; iii Immediate communication; iv Psychological pressure. c Overall test of linguistic competence: SL & TL i English & Chinese: Phonological, syntactic and semantic difference between English & Chinese languages (figures, idioms, technical terms) ii Lack of general, cultural and background knowledge d Accent: different speakers with varied accents. DISADVANTAGE

8. 4. A summary of the features of interpreting compared with translation 1) The source is verbal in one case, written in the other. 2) The style of text and their content differ. 3) The target group is known to the interpreter, unknown to the translator. 4) The interpreter is compelled by time pressure to be brief, to the point; a translator may have a longer period of time. 5) An interpreter has the function of immediate communication alone, whereas the product of a translator, once committed to paper, acquires permanence. 6) Conveying the message effectively in the written form relies on precision in terms of punctuation, syntax and choice of words, in spoken form, the message can be conveyed with the help of intonation and paralinguistic features and therefore, such syntactic precision is not always so necessary. 7) Interpreters tend to be expeditious and less thorough, whereas many translators are punctilious and perfectionists.