earticle

영어

Target utterances in interpretation are produced in a spoken language. One of the resources used to convey the formality of the honorific target language is the final ending of sentences ― seup-ni-da/p-ni-da in Korean and desu/masu in Japanese. The source language, on the other hand, can be written as well as spoken. When the source language is uttered orally, the honorific endings, eup-ni-da/p-ni-da and desu/masu, are used, since the interpretation usually takes place in official settings such as international conferences. In case of a source speech based on a written script or interpreter training situations where selected written texts are used, however, the source language can be non-honorific (the sentence ending -ida in Korean). Texts used in interpretation classroom, such as news articles, often employ non-honorific sentence endings, and these endings are often replaced with honorific ones in reading out loud, interpreting and sight-translating the source text. Simple switching into eup-ni-da/p-ni-da or desu/masu, however, often creates awkwardness. Japanese adjectives, in particular, can be made honorific, in grammatical terms, by affixing desu, and yet, this 'adjective+desu' form, which has been allowed for use only recently, is not fully received as natural. Although it seems to sound normal in informal oral conversations, it is rarely used in formal contexts with sizable audiences, such as speeches, lectures and news briefings. Nevertheless, interpreter trainees are often observed to rely on simple switching into the 'adjective+desu' form when carrying out in-class activities. This paper examines how adjectives are expressed as honorific in speeches, lectures, news articles and essays, and discusses their implications to interpreter training.