策略應用抑或誤譯？：同步口譯中的省略現象探析

Analysis of Types of Omissions Occurred as Errors or Strategies in Simultaneous Interpreting

The frequency of the occurrence of omission in interpreting is relatively high, in a sense that for an interpreting novice, omission seems to be a fixed element that consists of part of the interpretation. Drawing on the work of Henri C. Barik (1971), this paper aims to discuss and analyze the occurrence of omission in interpreting, that is, whether it is used as a strategy to tackle oral rendition or it simply occurs due to the fact that the interpreter fails to comprehend the original message while trying to catch up with the incoming message, thus leading to the loss or even distortion of meaning. The definition of omission as an error or a strategy is sometimes ambiguous. Under what situation can omission be thought of as a coping strategy that mitigates the burden of an interpreter while conveying pretty much the same meaning of the original text, or under what circumstance can omission be regarded as an error that undermines the listeners' comprehension resulting in the loss in meaning; that is, when omissions occur, does an interpreter consciously or unconsciously detect omission as an intentional strategy that he employs to help tackle interpreting task, or as an error that he fails to avoid due to several factors. This is the main question that we are about to examine in this paper. Examples, which are based on the corpus of an interpreting student (abbreviated as IS), will be given as demonstration and will be further allocated to each subcategory of omission in terms of Barik's definition. This paper focuses on the analysis of the occurrence of each omission category, in an attempt to offer reasonable justifications to the happening of omission.省略這個現象或是技巧出現在口譯裡頭的頻率相當高，對於新手口譯員來說，譯文似乎都會省略某些原語的語意。這篇文章的論點是以Henri C. Barik（1971）的研究為基礎，旨在探討並且分析出現在口譯裡頭的省略現象；是否該現象是由於口譯者把省略視為因應口譯的策略、又或者只是因為口譯者無法理解原文的某些語意，基於要趕上接下來的內容而發生，造成部分語意流失。省略的定義有時候是很模糊的。究竟在什麼情況下，省略可以被視為減輕口譯者負擔的應對策略，而不至於影響聽眾對原文的理解；又是在什麼情況下，省略會被視為錯誤，破壞聽眾對原文的理解。意即，當省略現象出現時，譯者是否刻意使用省略作為應對策略，或者是因為譯者無法譯出原文的一些部份而出現省略，造成翻譯的錯誤和語意的流失；這將會是這篇文章要探討的主要問題。