Visson,
Lynn (1999): FROM RUSSIAN INTO ENGLISH: An Introduction to Simultaneous
Interpretation, Second Edition, Focus Publishing, R.Pullins and Company,
Newburyport MA, xxi-213p.
Brief
guide to: Lynn Visson's FROM RUSSIAN INTO ENGLISH: An Introduction to
Simultaneous Interpretation
Why
this book requires a "guide"
This
book by Lynn Visson requires a “guide” for the benefit of readers who are
not familiar with the Russian language, but who at the same time are interested
in the general issues and difficulties surrounding simultaneous interpretation
and the training of conference interpreters. The main hurdle facing such
a reader is that Lynn Visson's book features a mixture of English and Russian
texts (often without any translation from Russian into English). At the
same time the book is useful not only to Russian-English conference interpreters
but, to some degree, to anyone interested in the theory and practice of
conference interpretation in general.
Comparisons
are often made in specialist literature between the process of training
conference interpreters and that of training future professional musicians
or athletes. No-one would provide a complete novice with a cello and sheet
music to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and ask them for a professional performance.
Surprisingly enough, this is just what may happen to an unprepared or inexperienced
bilingual who is asked to interpret (simultaneously or consecutively) just
because they are bilingual. Lynn Visson discusses this comparison, illustrating
it with the opinions of a number of high-ranking officials responsible
for the interpreting services of the Administrative Office of the US Courts,
(a frequent user of interpreting services), and of the US State Department
(LV: xix-xx): "Contrary to what most people think, many interpreters are
not bilingual [from childhood – pk], and many bilinguals are incapable
of simultaneous interpretation. Some bilinguals cannot interpret the simplest
of conversations. …That's about as true as saying that if you have two
hands, you can automatically be a concert pianist." The second opinion
is as follows: "Every day people walk in here who are totally bilingual
[from childhood – pk] — and are totally incapable of interpreting…
They just can't do it." These are the kind of linguistic guidelines Lynn
Visson's book offers with respect to the training of Russian to English
conference interpreters. The wealth of general practical recommendations
given, as well as tips, rules and information, makes this book an extremely
useful tool for all practising novice interpreters, including those with
different language combinations, as well as for anyone else interested
in the theory and practice of conference interpretation. However, the abundance
of Russian words and quotations given without translation may cause such
a general reader some difficulty in reading the text.
This
book contains an introduction (11 pages), two substantial "parts", in turn
divided into chapters, and concludes with endnotes, a bibliography and
an annex, "Booth Behaviour", by Margaret Bowen et al. Lynn Visson's choice
of Margaret Bowen's “Booth Behaviour” deserves a special mention. The list
of practical tips for beginners in the booth contains many useful "DOs"
and "DON'Ts". It is something which could have been expanded on by Lynn
Visson, especially the section concerning technical equipment and interpreters'
ethics.
An
extended Introduction covers the following issues:
·History
of Soviet-Russian-American bilateral contacts;
·General
questions and problems in training conference interpreters;
·Bilingual
person vs good interpreter, and
·Interpreting
into and out of mother tongue.
Let
us analyse some issues that arise after reading the Introduction.
Page
xii features a comparative table, Translation vs Interpretation,
that does not distinguish between simultaneous and consecutive interpretation.
This can make it difficult for a novice interpreter to make a comparative
analysis. LV does not offer her definition of these differences until page
xiii: "There are basically two types of interpretation, simultaneous and
consecutive. In consecutive the interpreter takes notes while listening
to the speaker. When the orator pauses after a few sentences or paragraphs
the interpreter, relying on his notes and memory, reads out a translation
in the target language." Many would not agree with such a definition both
insofar as it refers to "reading out" and in terms of the word "translation".
University-level
training of professional interpreters and linguists in Soviet Russia and
in the US is discussed later in the Introduction, on page xv: "There are
more teachers of English in the Soviet Union than there are students of
Russian in the US." Figures are not provided for post-Soviet Russia.
Nor
can I agree with the author's statement that (LV: xvi) "Here the emigre
who arrived at a young age or an interpreter of Russian background naturally
has an advantage over Americans for whom the language is
acquired later." I myself have had the opportunity of meeting emigres from
the former USSR in the United States, whose "former" native language (Russian)
had suffered significantly during those years of emigration. Changes (interference)
were liable to strike at any level: vocabulary, idioms, grammar, and even
intonation. On the other hand, it is unfair to compare, for example, a
Russian bilingual emigre - who is already working professionally as a conference
interpreter, with an American student who is only a beginner in Russian
or is only just starting to master (the art of) conference interpreting.
It is unfair to compare two unequal things. Of course if we were talking
about highly professional bilingual conference interpreters (Russian and
American/British), theoretically there would not be a significant difference
between them. Both, if they are qualified professionals, must have a very
high level - indeed proficiency - in both languages.
I
make so much of this specific matter because in the Soviet Union in particular
the idea existed that Soviet interpreters were the best in the world ?
as were our planes, watches, pocket calculators, missiles etc. (At the
same time we in the USSR were joking that our pocket calculators were the
biggest pocket calculators in the world and our watches were the
fastest.) As for the interpreters, this idea of the supremacy of
home-grown Soviet interpreters who would work in both directions
(into and out of Russian) was, as we still believe today, important to
Soviet leaders for purely political and ideological reasons: they did not
trust anyone except "our own", "home-grown", "home-styled" and "home-accredited
and approved" employees.
Lynn
Visson's Introduction (LV: xvii) provides many examples taken from
Soviet text-books illustrating emasculated and defective English produced
by a number of Soviet translators and interpreters, e.g.: "He is always
making some or other plans" or "Have you settled nicely in your hostel?",
or even "But having visited the battle sites and learned about the appalling
trials and sufferings, and the courage of the Soviet people, [the
outstanding actor – this part was omitted by Lynn Visson -
pk] Burt Lancaster accepted the part in the film with joy"[1].
Several paragraphs illustrate the clumsiness of translation and interpretation
from mother-tongue Russian into second-language English: "Serious grammatical
errors, a limited vocabulary and halting delivery can make listening to
interpretation into a foreign language an extremely tortuous process."
(LV: xviii)
Part
I of Lynn Visson's book is called Practical problems. The following
main issues are analysed in Chapter I: The simultaneous interpreter:
who he is and what he does:
·History
of conference interpretation (mainly reformulating Gelii Chernov's view:
Chernov: 1978, 3-8);
·Telephone
ear;
·Description
of work in the UN;
·Difficulties
of simultaneous interpreting when you have a text in front of you;
·Working
with slides/films;
·Booth
behaviour and rules (in Bradford we call it "booth discipline")
(see also LV: 212-213);
·Interpreter
adapting to speaker's accent, "nationality" and cultural background;
·Testing
interpreter's nerves while working with Russian delegates and colleagues;
·What
is longer: English-Russian or Russian-English interpretation, and why;
·Speed
of delegate's delivery and speed of interpretation;
·Filling
speaker's pauses;
·Local
accents in Russian and phonetic difficulties;
·Lexical
and grammatical difficulties when interpreting from Russian into English,
and
·The
motto: "Do not abandon your listener halfway!"
Let
us proceed to some specific observations made after reading Chapter I.
The
so-called "telephone ear" (Lynn Visson does not use this expression) is
analysed on two occasions: firstly in Chapter I (p.3) and secondly in Chapter
XII (p.124). The main idea is as follows: "While he [the interpreter
- pk] is speaking the interpreter must simultaneously listen to his own
voice and concentrate on the speaker… Some interpreters prefer to use only
one earphone so that they can listen to themselves with the other ear;
others prefer the security of two headphones." (LV: 124) And earlier: "Learning
to listen to oneself while concentrating on the speaker is crucial to successful
interpretation." (LV: 3).
This
may be an appropriate point at which to reiterate that the actual process
of training conference interpreters is a multifaceted and multilateral
task. Coming back to the comparison with training athletes, one could say
that their training involves body (muscles plus strategy), breathing (lungs
plus strategy) and "head" (will, determination and mood). In some sense,
an interpreter's training has much in common. I would single out at least
two main differences in their training: linguistic and psycholinguistic.
The first implies learning different strategies for reformulating the source
text in the target language, taking into account its peculiarities of lexis,
grammar, style and intonation, while the second is designed to master automatically
such skills as listening and understanding in the source language, and
reformulating the message in the target language whilst delivering the
text in the target language without losing the new portion of the incoming
text in the source language. Each skill can be automated using a range
of training exercises that are, admittedly, based on linguistic material
resources and sources. At the same time, the main value of this
type of psycholinguistic training exercise is to develop important skills
and abilities like attention, concentration and memory. Lynn Visson's book
can be a very useful tool for the first aspect of training: linguistic.
The other aspect is not analysed in her book and only a few tips are given,
such as the "telephone ear" or the necessity of specific training for figures
and names.
Beginners
will find this book contains useful information concerning the "Van Doren"
tactic - that is, working with a previously prepared translation of a speech.
They will find fairly impartial comments on the extra difficulty of this
triple splitting of attention: audio source (coming through headphones)
plus written text (through the visual channel) plus monitoring one's own
delivery.
A
particularly important part of Chapter I opens with these words: "Booth
behaviour has its own rules." (LV: 4-6) "As opposed to children, interpreters
should be heard and not seen. (LV: 5) … The interpreter must try adapt
to the speaker's accent and take into account his nationality and cultural
background, whether he is being ironic, dispassionate, or deliberately
vague. No matter what he may think of the speaker or his ideas, while he
is working the interpreter is that speaker, and must convince the
listener that he is that person." (LV: 6)
Special
attention is given here to the peculiarities of an interpreter's work with
Russian delegates. Knowing the specific patterns can save an interpreter's
nerves and energy: "The interpreter's nerves may also be tested by Russian
delegates who monitor the interpretation and correct the interpretation…
at other times, unfortunately, he may be showing off what he thinks is
an excellent knowledge of English."
Chapter
I also encourages inexperienced young interpreters to approach the task
artistically. Lynn Visson uses a quote from Robert V. Ekvall's memoir Faithful
Echo "Interpretation at its best… is based on something very close
to inspiration… We are nothing if not artists and we operate under terrific
pressures. Those pressures, the sources from which they spring, and the
interpreter's reaction to them have a very large place in the problem of
interpretation." (Ekvall, 1960: 70-71)
In
the part which deals with the peculiarities and specific difficulties of
being an interpreter, Lynn Visson analyses both speedy and excessively
slow delivery. The author provides some very interesting and persuasive
ratio and correlation data comparing the length of Russian-English interpretation
with that of English-Russian interpretation: "The English-Russian interpreter
may have a harder time with a galloping speaker than does his Russian-English
counterpart, since the sheer length of Russian words and the structure
of the language make English-Russian interpretation thirty-three per cent
longer than Russian-English. Regardless of how fast the speaker is going,
however, it is of paramount importance that the interpreter finish or
"wrap up" his sentences." (LV: 8) Later, on page 12, we find: "A Russian
translator's injunction, 'Do not abandon your reader halfway' can be reworded
for the interpreter as 'Do not abandon your listener halfway'." Such examples
of the 'golden rules' of conference interpretation can be found
throughout the book. For example, on page 124: "Unless he has made a genuine
contresens, the interpreter should avoid correcting himself… In
front of the microphone, the interpreter cannot afford to be a perfectionist."
It might be better if these 'golden rules' were presented all together
in one paragraph.
Some
researchers even call into question the very essence of the simultaneity
of conference interpretation. They believe that the bulk of an interpreter's
verbal work takes place during micro and macro pauses in the speaker's
delivery. Lynn Visson quotes a Russian source (Shiriaev, 1979) that asserts
that only 20-30% of all the verbal work exceeds the limits of "simultaneity"
i.e. is performed non-simultaneously.
Chapter
II: How he works: the tricks of the trade focuses on the following
issues and practical problems:
Editing:
·Condensing,
and lexical and syntactical compression;
·Adding
and expanding;
·Metonymy
and synecdoche;
·Antonymic
inversion, changing positives to negatives and vice versa, and
·Grammatical
inversion and switching of grammatical categories.
"A
flair for editing is particularly important for Russian-English interpreters,"
says Lynn Visson (LV: 15), "because Russian tends to be more verbose and
English more condensed. Both the length of the individual words and the
grammatical constructions make for longer phrases in Russian." Later she
says (LV: 17): "While Russian-English interpretation tends to condense
rather than to expand, English grammar and structure may require the addition
of articles, auxiliaries or modals in compound tenses (e.g. we shall have
been doing this) or pronouns and possessives: - 'She raised
her hand' [in the original Russian text only two words 'raised
hand' were used - pk]."
Special
attention is given to various typical phenomena of Soviet and Russian life
that often need fleshing out for clarification (LV: 17): "On Monday the
Pioneers - members of the Soviet children's organization, or
Young Communist league - were leaving for summer camp." As the author
further remarks, "A literal translation, 'the pioneers went off to camp',
might convey some strange ideas of Wild West explorers visiting concentration
camps."
As
for antonymic inversion, it is a "very useful device for avoiding literal
translation". Lynn Visson illustrates this with many examples, like "You
mustn't say anything" instead of the more literal "You must be silent"
or "This happens often" instead of "It happens not so seldom"
(LV: 18). Here Lynn Visson offers a list of certain word combinations involving
verbal negation which can easily be dealt with using antonymic inversion,
for instance: "to take lightly" or "easy" instead
of "not to take seriously".
"Grammatical
inversion and the switching of grammatical categories, translating a verb
by a noun, a noun by a verb or an adjective by an adverb is another way
of avoiding mot-a-mot interpretation." (LV: 19) Issues relating
to syntactical inversion are analysed separately in Chapter X: Syntax.
Chapter
III: Interpreting Cultures covers the following main issues:
·Cultural
differences and words without translation or equivalents;
·Interpreter
as cultural mediator, and
·Language
in the service of Soviet Ideology: the labels "GOOD" and "BAD".
In
this chapter Lynn Visson explains the "cross-cultural" differences and
difficulties between "Communism" and "Capitalism" ?
very common during the Cold War ?
in terms of vocabulary and "notions". She doesn't describe "communists"
and "capitalists" in terms of being "Good" or "Bad", the only word she
uses is "different".
Again,
she encourages future interpreters with the following words (LV: 22): "The
interpreter's role as a mediator between cultures as well as languages
is of critical importance, and here his work is hardest and most rewarding…
Hence the need in the interpreting field for 'mediating men' or 'persons
with inter-cultural experiences.' The fact that cultural differences act
as a block to understanding, however, is often blithely ignored by both
conference participants and interpreters." I particularly liked an example
taken from a Japanese-American meeting, after which it was said with the
proper Japanese politeness: "You understood all the words correctly, but
you didn't understand the silence between them." (LV: 22)
In
this chapter the author offers a strategy for "vocabulary without equivalents"
clearly shown in the following example: "He explained these ideas in his
avtoreferat, the published summary of his thesis/dissertation"
(LV: 26), where the purely Russian word avtoreferat - which has
no English, French or Spanish equivalent - is used as it is and
followed up with a brief explanation.
The
very last page of Chapter III focuses on the hazards of cross-cultural
mot-a-mot rendition and of faux-amis - interpreter's "false
friends". Strangely enough, Lynn Visson borrows the French expression mot-a-mot,
butnever faux-amis.
Chapter
IV, Political Terminology, continues Lynn Visson's description of
"Good" and "Bad" labels, this time in Politics. The entire chapter could
easily be called "Manual of Language De-Ideologization". With a great deal
of tact and measure the author introduces the reader to the following main
points:
·Aggressiveness
and offensiveness of Soviet Russian language illustrated with the excessive
and abusive use of words such as "to fight", "sharp", "responsible", "irresponsible",
"task", "serious" etc. etc. This lexical analysis has particular relevance
for inexperienced interpreters just embarking on a career.
·Gorbachev's
typical socio-political terminology.
The
same chapter includes some excellent examples of editing work. I would
like to quote just one of many (LV: 30-31):
Literal
translation:
The
Soviet Committee for the Protection of Peace, being the most mass Soviet
nongovernmental organization, united in its ranks tens of millions of people.
This
long Russian sentence is subjected to some editing:
"The
first four words can be reduced to 'The Soviet Peace Committee', 'being'
here means 'as' and can safely be omitted. 'The most mass' is a fancy way
of saying 'biggest' or 'largest'. 'Unites in its ranks' boils down to 'brings
together' or 'unites'. 'Tens of millions' would be more idiomatic in English
as 'dozens', but neither 'tens' nor 'dozens' is really necessary. The point
is that a great many people are involved:
The
Soviet Peace Committee, the largest Soviet nongovernmental organization,
brings together millions of people."
Lynn
Visson continues with a very precise calculation: "The original Russian
text had 34 syllables, the literal rendering 44, and the reworked text
33." At the same time it is "both more idiomatic and saves eleven syllables,
a considerable economy when a speaker is talking quickly".
As
for Gorbachev's language, I would like to illustrate it for the reader's
pleasure with a condensed example taken from the book (LV: 50): "What
went before perestroika were years of stagnation. Russia had to
be born in suffering, and reached an historic turning point. The process
of perestroika was to be made irreversible, and had its pattern.
People were confronted by a host of evils: all-permissiveness, all-forgiving
attitude, idlers, parasites, loafers, hacks all acting with impunity, parochialism,
regionalism and overdepartmentalization and narrow institutional interests…"
This sentence could be continued if we had more space. Fortunately enough,
the vast majority of today's Russian politicians and economists, state
and cultural figures have managed to make the switch from old-style "Soviet"
Russian to modern de-ideologized language.
Chapter
V: Verbs and their Problems tackles the issues of Russian verbs
as, "Russian verbs, with their limited tense system, aspects, prefixation,
impersonal, participial and gerundive constructions, pose a large potential
stumbling block for the interpreter." (LV: 51) It discusses the following
main issues:
·Significant
differences in grammar between the Russian and English verbal systems;
·The
use of the verb to bein different
tenses;
·Conditional
sentences in Russian and English;
·Tenses
and temporal forms;
·The
mixed use of Perfective and Imperfective verbal forms in the same context;
·Russian
morphology vs. English lexical means (delat' - sdelat' vs to
do - to achieve), and
·Strategies
for dealing with present active participles, verbal adverbs, verbs with
complements (LV: 58): "Though students are traditionally taught that present
active participles are translated [pk] by an -ing form, the interpreter
can save time and words by using a prepositional phrase or short subordinate
clause, or by dropping the participle: The group with
such outstanding results is the pride of our institute."
Throughout
this chapter the author offers a number of practical tips and well-illustrated
strategies (LV: 57): "The interpreter should be alert to such [aspectual
- pk] distinctions and should not hesitate to use quite different words
- and tenses - to translate the members of an aspect pair. On the whole,
however, the highly reduced Russian tense system causes Russian-English
interpreters more problems than does aspect."
One
of the main aims remains the same: to economise the interpreter's time,
condensing where possible with grammatical and morphological tools (LV:
59): "The interpreter should be particularly sensitive to lengthy Russian
verbal constructions which can be reduced to a word or two in English:
to talk utter nonsense - 15 syllables in Russian vs 6 in English;
to alphabetize - 13 Russian vs 5 English. A Russian verb and adverb
or descriptive phrase may be condensed into a single verb: to glare
- 4 Russian : 2 English; to bludgeon - 7 : 3."
After
a chapter on verbs comes Chapter VI: Yesterday, today and tomorrow:
Time expressions, where Lynn Visson details a number of basic strategies
and rules (LV: 61): "Time expressions often require a good deal of rethinking
on the interpreter's part. Everyone knows that 'vchera vecherom'
is not 'yesterday in the evening' but last night."
The
main content of Chapter VII: SAYING "NO": Negative constructions,
could be summarized in these three blocks:
·Do
not get sick again!
·Double
negation.
·The
power of positive thinking.
The
next chapter deserves extensive commentary: Chapter VIII: Small and
Slippery Words: conjunctions, prepositions and particles because, as
Lynn Visson warns the reader, "Three categories of little words - conjunctions,
prepositions and particles - can cause interpreters big problems." (LV:
69) Prepositions and cases with different meanings are analysed in this
chapter. Such a scrupulous analysis is entirely justified as, "One study
showed that errors in the use of prepositions accounted for 28% of all
serious grammatical errors made by interpreters." (LV: 69 quoting Andrzej
Kopczynski, Conference Interpreting: some linguistic and communication
problems, Poznan: UAM, 1980) To illustrate the complexity of the problem,
I have chosen just one Russian preposition "po" which can
be translated into English in different contexts as under, about, along,
down, up, across, on, throughout, all over, from, because of, on account
of, for, in, according to, by, over, out of, at with all the subsequent
pitfalls and hurdles this may present the interpreter (LV: 73).
Particles and exclamations also form part of the body of this chapter.
Chapter
IX: Numerals and Names could easily be expanded to match the size
of the entire book because of its great difficulty and importance. There
are several levels of difficulty when dealing with numerals and names interpreted
from Russian into English. Psycholinguistic difficulty is one of these.
Lynn Visson recalls that "during World War II suspected spies were ordered
to solve dozens of math problems out loud in the hope they would break
down and under the pressure of the figures reveal their native language
and true nationality" (LV: 83). The author offers a number of useful well-illustrated
strategies like taking notes or rounding. Individual attention is given
to verbs and figures and phonetic difficulties. Among other important issues
figure:
·Change
of case: instrumental becomes nominative;
·Geographical
names and proper names;
·Strategy
for unknown towns, and
·Abbreviations
and strategies for dealing with abbreviations.
Trainee
conference interpreters will find useful guidelines such as (LV: 83): "The
way to learn to interpret figures, therefore, is by listening rather than
reading" or (LV: 84) "The way to interpret the number quickly and correctly
is to write it down" and (LV: 84) "Whether 3,493 or 3,494 foreign students
were enrolled last year in the University of Southern Patagonia may not
be critical to world history. But the number of missiles destroyed or inspected,
or the number of millions allocated to a government budget is not something
the interpreter can pass over in silence - or fudge. In military and political
negotiations figures mast be exact." The motto of this chapter is also
to be found in the book: (LV: 84) "The goal is to listen intelligently
[pk], using semantic context whenever possible."
"No
matter how good an interpreter's choice of words, poor syntax can make
him unintelligible," reminds Lynn Visson in Chapter X: Syntax (LV:
103), which deals with syntactical problems and presents the following
main issues:
·Brief
general description of Russian Syntax;
·Theme
- Rheme in Russian;
·Theme
- Rheme in Translation;
·Colloquial
Russian and its "inverted" syntax, and
·Prepositions
and cases.
Lynn
Visson highlights the syntactical differences between the translated and
the "interpreted" version of an English into Russian text. I would like
to quote one of her many examples (LV: 97):
Interpreted
text: What is fully justified is the conclusion… (close to the original)
or Something that would seem fully justified is the conclusion drawn
by the Secretary General in his recent report that … while the translated
text might sound like this: The conclusion made by the General secretary
in his recent report… is/seems fully justified…
A
particularly useful piece of advice is given on page 96: "To avoid committing
himself to a rigid sentence structure at the beginning of a long sentence
the interpreter can stall for time by using the very useful words 'something',
'that', or 'what' with the verb to be: Something which is extremely
dangerous is terrorism.
What
is extremely dangerous…
That
which is extremely dangerous is…"
To
conclude this chapter the author summarizes (LV: 102-103): "In dealing
with the huge problems posed by Russian syntax the interpreter must (to
use an old Soviet metaphor) make use of his entire arsenal of devices.
He mast be careful not to jump in too fast and find himself bogged down
in a hopelessly awkward sentence. The interpreter should acquire the habit
of… if necessary dividing excessively lengthy sentences into two or even
three short ones. Oblique initial objects should be turned into subjects…
Written translation is an extremely useful training device for the simultaneous
interpreter, since the restructuring of various syntactic patterns opens
up choices and possibilities which can be put to good use in the high-pressure
conditions of the booth." I would add only one further suggestion to this:
trainee interpreters must build up their own list of classified strategies
for dealing with different syntactical structures and ascertain which are
more frequent and cover more cases.
"To
some extent, stylistics is the icing on the interpreter's cake, for producing
exact stylistic equivalents in addition to listening, absorbing, finding
correct lexical items and restructuring sentences, may be asking too much."
(LV: 105) Chapter XI: High and Low: The Problem of Style covers
the following main issues:
·The
problem of borrowed words in Russian: "Today English is exerting a strong
influence on both spoken and written Russian, and English borrowings have
become part and parcel of the language of finance, computers, and the media."
(LV: 105)
·"Anti-grammatical"
colloquial Russian.
·How
typical is negation in Russian.
·Multi-stage
examples of different styles well illustrated by the author (LV: 108):
Neutral: They
set no store by
They
care nothing for
Colloquial:They
couldn't care less about
Too
colloquial/vulgar:They don't give
a damn about
Equivalent
but archaic in English:They don't
give a brass farthing for
They
don't give a tinker's dam[2]
for
·Good
and Bad lexically.
·Nouns
and Adjectives.
As
Lynn Visson remarks (LV: 105), "Russian written statements tend to fit
into categories of style much more neatly than English texts, although
in the last few years since the collapse of the Soviet system the boundaries
between [the three main - pk] styles have become much more fluid."
She offers several strategies, for example:
·(LV:
108): "If the interpreter is not 100% clear as to the speaker's precise
intent and tone, a neutral expression is preferable to a highly colored
one."
·(LV:
109): "Elevated language with Church Slavonic roots can be rendered on
an appropriate stylistic level by using words with Latin roots… 'Low' colloquial
Russian language can be rendered on an suitable stylistic level by giving
preference to Anglo-Saxon roots."
I
particularly liked her way of organising synonyms as rows (LV: 110-112):
"The interpreter should constantly be on the alert for more synonyms to
expand his repertory and stylistic range. A few examples for such mindstretching:
countless/myriad/numberless/infinite
deftly/skilfully/nimbly/agilely/aptly/cleverly
unmask/expose/bare/reveal/bring
to light."
On
page 110 Lynn Visson offers a short list of positive (Good) and negative
(Bad) "things" arranged again as rows of synonyms. Here are some examples
from that list:
huge/enormous/colossal/vast/significant/considerable
gloomy/sinister/dark/somber/black.
Lynn
Visson also proposes several strategies to deal with sayings and proverbs
(LV: 112-113): "If a Russian proverb has no English equivalent the interpreter
may provide a literal translation in the hope that listeners will accept
this as one more example of quaint Russian customs and the mysterious Russian
soul, e.g. 'If a woman gets off the cart it's easier on the horse.'
If time allows the interpreter can add an explanation - 'Or, as we say
in English, good riddance/one less headache/one less problem/think about.'"
At the same time, warns Lynn Visson (LV: 113), "Ironically enough,
those proverbs and sayings which seem to have perfect English equivalents
contain particularly dangerous pitfalls. The interpreter who seizes on
'a pig in a poke' may bitterly regret his flash of brilliance if
the speaker's cat [in Russian it is 'to buy a cat in a bag' - pk]
then proceeds to meow or arch its back - or climb a tree." The biggest
help she offers the trainee interpreter is to give him a hand with some
useful strategies, for instance (LV: 113) "the interpreter can say 'he
drinks like a fish - or as we say in Russian, like a shoemaker'". Coming
back to the example with a cat in a bag: "They want us to buy a cat in
a bag or, as we say in English, a pig in a poke." The interpreter should
be careful not to make a distinctly Russian proverb sound specifically
American - or any other nationality. Because of the widespread use of proverbs
and idioms in Russian, it may sometimes happen that the interpreter is
not familiar with one of them. Lynn has an answer to this eventuality too:
"In the worst of all possible worlds - when the interpreter has not understood
a single word of the Russian proverb - he can simply say, 'And in my country
we have a proverb appropriate to this occasion.' Full stop." (LV: 113)
Towards
the end of Chapter XI the author offers a list of 90 idioms and almost
60 proverbs (LV: 114-117) which can serve as a useful support for any language
student learning Russian.
Another
component Lynn Visson does not overlook is intonation, important because,
as she remarks on page 119, "Russian and English intonational patterns
are extremely different." Therefore a very short, condensed chapter (personally,
I would make it longer) is dedicated to Intonation, Delivery and Training
(Chapter XII). "The interpreter who unconsciously or consciously begins
to mimic the rise and fall of Russian intonational patterns in English
may sound jerky and singsong, as if he is making fun of the speaker. He
must transform Russian intonation into English intonation in the same way
that he transforms the lexical components of a Russian sentence into English."
(LV: 119)
The
brief description and linguistic analysis of Russian intonational constructions,
called IK, from the point of view of their importance for trainee conference
interpreter occupies five pages (pp.: 119-123).
The
importance of delivery is given special attention by the author (LV: 123):
"Insofar as possible, the subject and verb should be kept close together,
prepositions and their objects should not be unduly separated, and verbal
noise such as 'uh-uh', heavy breathing, and coughing should be avoided…
Staccato, rapid-fire, machine gun-monotonous delivery should be avoided."
Lynn
Visson formulates, as usual, a number of strategies and guidelines for
the interpreter (LV: 124-128):
·No
matter how boring or obnoxious he finds the subject - or the speaker -
he must not let personal feelings influence his delivery.
·There
is no reason to repeat a phrase just because he has found a perfect - instead
of adequate - adjective.
·If
he feels that he has lost a critical word or phrase the interpreter can
summarize an entire sentence rather than blindly spouting out a literal
translation of half of it.
·He
should chop excessively long sentences [very common in my language
- pk] into digestible units, listen carefully for nouns and verbs, and
cut back on strings of adjectives.
Who,
if anyone, has no chance of ever becoming a good interpreter? Do we have
to be born as conference interpreters or we can be trained? These are the
sort of questions Lynn Visson tackles in this chapter. She lists a number
of clear obstacles to success in the profession, like memory problems,
the inability to code switch, perfectionism and "translatoritis", stage
fright, speech defects, a strong regional or foreign accent, stuttering,
hoarseness and hearing problems among others. A person with the necessary
abilities who wants to become a professional interpreter will need special
training. Training will be particularly effective for those who have a
"flair for code switching and an excellent knowledge of source and target
languages". (LV: 124)
Lynn
Visson provides information on training course and schools for conference
interpreters (Russian - English), such as Monterey (USA), Geneva, Paris,
London, MISTI (Moscow) and others.
Chapter
XII poses a crucial question concerning training: who should teach
interpreting? Lynn Visson believes that "just as only an actor
can truly teach acting, only an interpreter can truly understand all the
problems interpreters face" in addition to being familiar with modern teaching
methods. (LV: 125)
In
this chapter trainee interpreters will find an answer to their question
How and where to start? Lynn Visson considers that shadowing and
paraphrasing with self-recording can serve as a good start for self-training.
If no tape with speeches is available she says, recordings of articles
can be used (page 126). I would beg to differ with this last assertion
bearing in mind the nature of the Russian press, a written genre which
differs from the oral style on many levels: vocabulary, syntax (including
word order), complexity and density, to name but a few differences.
The
only notion of Lynn Visson's I find hard to comprehend is her theory to
the effect that "the only way to learn to interpret is by interpreting"
(p.125). She offers so many techniques and useful strategies that contradict
her idea of "learning interpreting by interpreting" that I can only hope
it is simply a matter of "terminology". As far as I am concerned, the main
strengths and assets of Lynn Visson's book lie in the fact that she teaches
the student interpreter to work with both source and target language creatively.
I would add to her sentence "…by interpreting", the words "using the full
range of possible techniques outlined in this book", or something to that
effect. In that case I would be happy.
I
would like to conclude my brief guide to this first part of Lynn Visson's
book with one more quotation which I see as crucial (LV: 127): "Above all,
the student interpreter (the book is addressed to him or to her) should
be concerned with making sense."
Chapter
XIII provides an extensive (11-page) selection of Conference
terminology in both languages (Russian and English) prepared by the
author.
PART
TWO
occupies one third of the book and offers selected practice texts and vocabulary
from the UN. It seems to me that Part Two of the book lacks a number of
important elements. Sub-sections is one of these: for example, abbreviations
could have been presented in a sub-division of their own rather than appearing
in little clusters within each block.
At
the same time the reader will observe a large number of orthographic mistakes
(misprints) in the Russian texts. In general I would say that, if the purpose
of the book - especially Part Two - is for the student's practical work,
there are very few texts for self-training, nor do these come with a translation
(useful for checking against).
The
second half of Part Two is called Selected vocabulary (featuring
both languages), and is arranged by subject-matter: interpreting, political
systems, disarmament, social system, women's issues, religion, education,
economics, business, finance, the law, computers and electronics, medical,
environment, outer space, media, art and museums, theatre and movies, films,
music, sports, hunting, fishing, escorting delegation, greetings, introductions,
meeting a visitor, hotel registration, sample toasts, etc.
-----------
In
lieu of Conclusions:
As
a professional conference interpreting teacher at MA university level (University
of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK) I will be advising my future students
to use this book by Lynn Visson as one of their main reading materials
for Russian – English "linguistic" training. Furthermore, I hope the book
will find a grateful audience not just among specialists in this specific
field of conference interpretation (from Russian into English), but among
all manner of readers interested in the problems of simultaneous interpretation.
------------------------
Bibliography:
Chernov
G.
Teorija i praktika sinkhronnogo perevoda, Moscow, Ed.: Mezhdunarodnyje
otnoshenija, 1978 (in Russian)
Ekvall
Robert V.
(1960) Faithful Echo, New York: Twayne.
Pyadusova
G.I. Posobie
po perevodu dlya lits, govoryaschikh na anglijskom jazyke, Moscow,
Ed.: Russkij Yazyk, 1988 (in Russian)
Shiriaev
A.F.
Spetsializirovannaja rechevaja dejatelnost (psikholingvisticheskoje
issledovanije na materiale sinkhronnogo perevoda), Avtoreferat dissertatsii,
Moscow, 1979 (in Russian)
By
Dr Peter Kornakov,
University
of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK