Abstract：Abstract: In C-E consecutive interpreting, interpreters frequently employ chunks to reduce cognitive load caused by the bilingual transfer. This study explored into the chunks used by interpreting trainees and extracted continuous 4-gram chunks from PACCEL by Antconc 3.4.4. Based on their interpreting scores, trainees were divided into 4 groups. What followed were major findings: 1) Significant difference was found among three categories of chunks, among which category III and I more frequently used were more likely to be applied in literal translation. 2) There was a significant difference in the use of three categories of chunks among 4 groups. With interpreting proficiency increasing, the number of chunks per person was rising. 3) The tendency of lexical varieties illustrated U-shape curve with interpreting proficiency increasing. Based on the aforementioned findings, it is noted that the higher interpreting proficiency, the better ability trainees have to take advantage of fast processing to allocate adequate attention and use chunks as interpreting tactics to buy time and alleviate cognitive load in order to achieve the fluency of interpreting delivery.
Key words: chunks; interpreting proficiency; C-E consecutive interpreting corpus; trainee
