政治口译中译员的“隐身”与“显身”——以中美高层战略对话口译员对比研究为例

Interpreter’s “invisibility” and “visibility” in political interpretation:A comparative case study of interpreters of Sino-U. S. senior strategic dialogue

本文以2021年中美高层战略对话中双方口译员的话语为例,针对双方译员的口译输出文本开展对比研究,旨在考察政治口译中译员的隐身性与中立性问题。研究发现:美方译员的翻译更具“显身性”,而中方则更趋“隐身性”。具体表现为两个方面:就话语共建而言,美方译员的重大偏差类型多样,数量众多;中方译员基本没有任何偏误,准确传递了原文用意;就情感重构而言,LIWC 2015的情感分析数据表明,美方译员的情感再现更强烈,表意更加消极、尖锐,而中方译员的情感重构则较为平缓,表意更趋稳重。上述发现对于政治口译中译员表现的分析与评价具有重要的参考意义。

This paper conducts a case study of the interpreters from China and U. S. during Sino-U. S.Senior Strategic Dialogue in 2021. On the basis of the interpreting texts from both sides, this paper aims to examine interpreter’s “ invisibility” and “ neutrality” in political interpretation through comparative analysis. It is found that the American interpreter is more “visible” while the Chinese interpreter tends to be more “invisible”. Specifically, on the one hand, in terms of discourse co-construction, various and numerous major errors are made by the American interpreter, while the Chinese interpreter basically conveys the original meaning in a correct and faithful way without making any errors. On the other hand, regarding emotional reconstruction,as indicated by quantitative analysis by LIWC 2015, the American interpreter behaves more fiercely in emotion through more negative and more acerb words. When reconstructing emotional veins of interpretation, the Chinese interpreter is more stable via bearing more mitigated expressions. These findings are significant for reference concerning the analysis and evaluation of interpreter’s performance in political interpretation.