Duration of Silent Pauses in Prolonged Turns

The summed and average durations of silent pauses in each turn in all messages are shown in Table 4.14. In message one, the summed duration of all silent pauses in the entire interpretation is 12 minutes. The average length of each pause is 3.2 seconds. The summed duration of silent pauses in the first turn is 4 minutes and 9.2 seconds, 4 minutes and 34.1

seconds in the second turn, and 3 minutes and 16.7 seconds in the last turn. The average length of each silent pause in the first turn is 3.3 seconds, which is the same as the average length of silent

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pause in the second turn. The average length in the third turn is 3 seconds. In message two, the summed duration is 6 minutes and 23.8 seconds, and the average length of each pause is 2.9 seconds. The summed duration of the silent pauses in the first turn is 2 minutes and 1.1 seconds, 2 minutes and 15.9 seconds in the second turn, and 1 minute 56.7 seconds in the last turn. The average lengths are 2.9 seconds, 2.7 seconds, and 3.2 seconds in the first, second, and last turn respectively. The summed duration of silent pauses in message three is 12 minutes 49.5 seconds and the average length of each pause is 3 seconds. In the first turn, the summed duration is 3 minutes 52.3 seconds; it is 5 minutes 1.5 seconds in the second turn, and 3 minutes 55.6 seconds in the third turn. The average lengths of each pause in different turns in message three are: 2.9 seconds in the first turn, 3 seconds in the second turn, and 3.1 seconds in the third turn. The duration of all pauses in message six amounts to 6 minutes 41.4 seconds, and the average length of each pause is 3.3 seconds. In the first turn of message six, the summed duration of all silent pauses is 2 minutes 11.2 seconds in the first turn, 2 minutes 53.3 seconds in the second turn, and 1 minute 37 seconds in the last turn. The average lengths of each pause are 3.2 seconds in the first turn, 3.4 seconds in the second turn, and 3.5 seconds in the third turn.

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Table 4 14 Summed Duration of Silent pauses in Each Turn

Message 1 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3 Turn (20:43)

Duration of Silent Pauses 04:09.2 04:34.1 03:16.7 Average length of each pause 00:03.3 00:03.3 00:03.0

Message 2 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3rd Turn (19:21)

Duration of Silent Pauses 02:11.1 02:15.9 01:56.7 Average length of each pause 00:02.9 00:02.7 00:03.2

Message 3 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3rd Turn (22:36)

Duration of Silent Pauses 03:52.3 05:01.5 03:55.6 Average length of each pause 00:02.9 00:03.0 00:03.1

Message 6 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3 Turn (09:54)

Duration of Silent Pauses 02:11.2 02:53.3 01:37.0 Average length of each pause 00:03.2 00:03.4 00:03.5

The descriptive data of the mean durations of silent pauses in the three turns are shown in Table 4.15. The mean durations of pause in each turn of the four messages are 3.1 seconds in the first turn, 3.1 seconds in the second turn, and 3.2 seconds in the third turn (rounded off to one decimal place). ANOVA test indicates that there is no significant difference in mean duration amongst the three turns, F = .68, p > .05. See Table 4.16.

Table 4 15 Descriptive Statistics on Mean Duration of Silent Pauses

Mean

Std.

Deviation N

Turn 1 3.1 .22 4

Turn 2 3.1 .31 4

Turn 3 3.2 .19 4

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Table 4.16 Tests of Within-Subjects Effects (Mean Duration of Silent Pauses) Duration

The summed and average durations of silent hesitation pauses in each turn in all four messages are shown in Table 4.17. In message one, the summed duration of all silent hesitation pauses in the entire interpretation is 55.9 seconds. The average length of each silent hesitation pause is 2.5 seconds. The summed duration of silent hesitation pauses in the first turn is 13.8 seconds, 27.2 seconds in the second turn, and 14.9 seconds in the last turn. The average length of each silent hesitation pause in the first turn is 2.3 seconds, of which in the second turn is 2.7 seconds. The average length in the third turn is 2.5 seconds. In message two, the summed duration is 37 seconds in all turns combined and the average length of each silent hesitation pause is 3.4 seconds. The summed duration of the silent hesitation pauses in the first turn is 7 seconds, 18.4 seconds in the second turn, and 11.6 seconds in the last turn. The average lengths are 3.5 seconds, 3.1 seconds, 3.9 seconds in the first, second, and last turn respectively. The summed duration of silent hesitation pauses of all turns in message three is 1 minute 35.4 seconds and the average length of each pause is 2.6 seconds. In the first turn, the summed duration is 40.5 seconds; it is 39.9 seconds in the second turn, and 15 seconds in the third turn.

The average lengths of each silent hesitation pause in different turns in message three are: 2.5 seconds in the first turn, 2.8 seconds in the second turn, and 2.5 seconds in the third turn. The

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duration of all silent hesitation pauses in message six amounts to 31.5 seconds, and the average length of each silent hesitation pause is 3.9 seconds. In the first turn of message six, the summed duration of all silent hesitation pauses is 7.1 seconds in the first turn, 13.2 seconds in the second turn, and 11.1 seconds in the last turn. The average lengths of each silent hesitation pause are 3.6 seconds in the first turn, 4.4 seconds in the second turn, and 3.7 seconds in the third turn.

Table 4.17 Summed Duration of Silent Hesitation Pauses in Each Turn

Message 1 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3 Turn (20:43)

Duration of Silent Hesitation Pauses 00:13.8 00:27.2 00:14.9 Average length of each pause 00:02.3 00:02.7 00:02.5

Message 2 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3rd Turn (19:21)

Duration of Silent Hesitation Pauses 00:07.0 00:18.4 00:11.6 Average length of each pause 00:03.5 00:03.1 00:03.9

Message 3 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3rd Turn (22:36)

Duration of Silent Hesitation Pauses 00:40.5 00:39.9 00:15.0 Average length of each pause 00:02.5 00:02.8 00:02.5

Message 6 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3 Turn (09:54)

Duration of Silent Hesitation Pauses 00:07.1 00:13.2 00:11.1 Average length of each pause 00:03.6 00:04.4 00:03.7

The descriptive data of the mean durations of silent hesitation pauses in the three turns are shown in Table 4.18. The mean durations in each turn of the four messages are 3.0 seconds in the first turn, 3.3 seconds in the second turn, and 3.1 seconds in the third turn (rounded off to one decimal place). ANOVA test indicates that there is no significant differences in mean pause duration amongst the three turns, F = .71, p > .05. See Table 4.19.

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Table 4.18 Descriptive Statistics on Mean Duration of Silent Hesitation Pauses

Mean

Table 4.19 Tests of Within-Subjects Effects (Silent Hesitation Pauses) Duration

Table 4.20 shows the durations and average lengths of juncture pauses in all four

messages. In message one, the summed duration of all juncture pauses in the entire interpretation is 11 minutes 4.1 seconds. The average length of each juncture pause is 3.3 seconds. The

summed duration of juncture pauses in the first turn is 3 minutes 55.5 seconds, 4 minutes 6.8 seconds in the second turn, and 3 minute 1.8 seconds in the last turn. The average length of each juncture pause in the first turn is 3.4 seconds, of which in the second turn is 3.3 seconds. The average length in the third turn is 3.1 seconds. In message two, the summed duration of all juncture pauses is 5 minutes 46.8 seconds and the average length of each juncture pause is 2.8 seconds. The summed duration of the juncture pauses in the first turn is 2 minutes 4.2 seconds, 1 minute 57.6 seconds in the second turn, and 1 minute 45.1 seconds in the last turn. The average lengths are 2.8 seconds, 2.7 seconds, 3.1 seconds in the first, second, and last turn respectively.

The summed duration of juncture pauses in message three is 11 minutes14.1 seconds and the average length of each pause is 3.1 seconds. In the first turn, the summed duration is 3 minutes

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11.8 seconds; it is 4 minutes 21.7 seconds in the second turn, and 3 minutes 40.6 seconds in the third turn. The average lengths of each juncture pause in different turns in message three are: 3 seconds in the first turn, 3 seconds in the second turn, and 3.2 seconds in the third turn. The summed duration of all juncture pauses in message six amounts to 6 minutes 10 seconds, and the average length of each pause is 3.3 seconds. In the first turn of message six, the summed duration of all juncture pauses is 2 minutes 4 seconds in the first turn, 2 minutes 40.1 seconds in the second turn, and 1 minute 25.9 seconds in the last turn. The average lengths of each pause are 3.2 seconds in the first turn, 3.3 seconds in the second turn, and 3.4 seconds in the third turn.

Table 4.20 Summed Duration of Juncture Pauses in Each Turn

Message 1 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3 Turn (20:43)

Duration of Juncture Pauses 03:55.5 04:06.8 03:01.8 Average length of each pause 00:03.4 00:03.3 00:03.1

Message 2 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3rd Turn (19:21)

Duration of Juncture Pauses 02:04.2 01:57.6 01:45.1 Average length of each pause 00:02.8 00:02.7 00:03.1

Message 3 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3rd Turn (22:36)

Duration of Juncture Pauses 03:11.8 04:21.7 03:40.6 Average length of each pause 00:03.0 00:03.0 00:03.2

Message 6 1st Turn 2nd Turn 3 Turn (09:54)

Duration of Juncture Pauses 02:04.0 02:40.1 01:25.9 Average length of each pause 00:03.2 00:03.3 00:03.4

The descriptive data of the mean durations of juncture pauses in the three turns are shown in Table 4.21. The mean duration in each turn of the four messages are 3.1 seconds in the first turn, 3.1 seconds in the second turn, and 3.2 seconds in the third turn (rounded off to one decimal place). There is no significant difference in mean pause durations amongst the three turns, F = .51, p > .05. See Table 4.22.

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Table 4.21 Descriptive Statistics on Duration of Mean Juncture Pauses Mean Std. Deviation N

Turn 1 3.1 .23 4

Turn 2 3.1 .32 4

Turn 3 3.2 .17 4

Table 4.22 Tests of Within-Subjects Effects (Mean Juncture Pause) Duration

of Juncture

Pause

Type III Sum of Squares

Df Mean

Square F Sig.

Turn Sphericity

Assumed .027 2 .01 .51 .63

Error (Turn)

Sphericity

Assumed .160 6 .03

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Chapter Five Discussions and Conclusions

The major findings of this research can be summarized as follows: 1) There were no significant changes in terms of number of omission when the interpreters worked for prolonged turns; 2) The number of silent pause (hesitation plus juncture) in the third turn was significantly greater than that in the first turn; 3) There were no significant changes in terms of number of hesitation pause when the interpreters worked for prolonged turns; 4) The number of juncture pause in the third turn was significantly greater than that in the first turn; 5) There were no significant differences in terms of the average length of both kinds of pause amongst turns.

The hypothesis that working in prolonged turns affect interpreter’s performance and thus causes the quality of interpretation to deteriorate cannot be inferred by the number of omissions and silent hesitation pauses in prolonged turns. Although juncture pauses are in nature less related to quality for they are sometimes necessary in facilitating fluent deliveries, too many of them can still be disturbing to listeners, as discussed in previous chapters. The reason why juncture pauses increase in prolonged turns could be the speakers’ reading from the outline, contributing to more juncture pauses in the source text, in turn affecting the number of juncture pauses in the target text. The fact that omissions and silent hesitation pauses did not increase and thus suggesting a stable performance for a session of 90 minutes might be due to the following reasons: 1) The speakers tended to read from the outline towards the end of a session. This might be due to time constraints. When speaker found out that he was running out of time yet still wanted to cover the entire message, he would read through the points. The interpreters were given the translated outlines beforehand, thus they were able to read through

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the Chinese outlines when the speakers read from the English ones. Chances for omission and hesitation pauses to occur were thus minimized. 2) The interpreters are themselves within “the Christian context”. Conference interpreters have to deal with all kinds of disciplines and topics.

They might not necessarily be the experts in the field of their assignments. Interpreters in the Local Churches, however, are believers who are familiar with not only the church trainings, conferences, and meetings, but also the Christian teachings and the content of the Bible.

Interpreter A’s participating in the translation of the Recovery Version of the Bible would certainly help him in interpreting in church settings. All the conferences and trainings are centered on the Bible. Thus, the experience interpreting in one conference or training helps build up the vocabulary and background knowledge needed for the next one. This is very

different from conference interpreting in which the interpreters have to prepare themselves to be challenged by a new topic. The assumption of this research that familiarity with topic does not affect performance and quality thus needs to be re-examined.