论文部分内容阅读
【Abstract】The thesis aims to provide the interpreter trainees with an effective way of learning during and after their training process by observing and explaining how the learning as well as practice is promoted effectively and consciously through reflective activities.
【Key words】reflective learning； reflective practice； interpreter training； interpreter trainees
1.Introduction
In this thesis，the central theme of how interpreter training can be effectively and consciously promoted in terms of the trainee is introduced and analyzed on the theoretical basis.
2.What is an Interpreter
The origin of interpretation in its broader sense can be dated back into ancient time when people speaking different languages need do communicate with each other for purpose of trading or learning.However，the interpreter is not regarded as a professional until World War I when professional interpreters were recruited for the Paris Peace Conference.The role of the interpreter tends to be underestimated as merely linguistic transmitting.The truth，however，which has been discussed by lots of researchers （see Bell 2001，Bassnett 2004，Nida 2001 and Newmark 2001 etc.） is that the obstacles to communication as well as the role of Translator are more than linguistic aspect.
Since interpreting is a kind of communication （see Jones 2008，Gile 1995，etc.），the role of interpreters is related to removing the obstacles to communication and facilitating the communication.In Jones’words，‘in all of their work，interpreters must bridge the cultural and conceptual gaps separating the participants in a meeting’ （ibid）.For Gile （1995），what interpreters do is to provide communication service for the purpose of informing，explaining and/or persuading the listeners with the ideas of the speakers.
3.An Overview of Interpreter Training
In order to work independently as a professional interpreter after formal training，the goals and objectives that should be achieved during the training process are described by Sawyer as ‘the development of the knowledge and skills required to interpret and the development of an awareness of appropriate conduct and membership in a professional community’ （2004： 59）.
To achieve the objectives mentioned above and equip the trainees with necessary expertise，the process，rather than the results of the interpretation training is emphasized by many （See Gile 1995，P?chahacker 2004 and Sawyer 2004）.
3.1 What to Learn in the Training Process Jones （2008） defines the three basic principles of a consecutive interpreter’s work as understanding，analyzing and re-expressing.He also points out that simultaneous interpretation is to some degree the same as consecutive interpretation，‘in that booth mean listening，understanding，analyzing and re-expressing’ and the interpreter in both cases ‘is fulfilling the same function as a conduit for communication’ （Jones，2008： 66）.
By understanding，Jones （ibid） refers to the understanding of ideas，but not of words，for ‘it is ideas that have to be interpreted’ （ibid： 11）.In order to follow the ideas of the speaker，one has to be trained for sufficient acquaintance with the words，the grammar and the syntax of the speaker’s language.At the same time，the interpreter‘must not pay attention to individual words as words，but must listen to the overall sense of a speech，identifying the ideas that are expressed through the words …’，which has to be achieved through ‘constant active listening’（ibid： 14）.
In the stage of analysis，interpreters have to first analyze the type of the speech which might be an argument，narration，description or more usually，hybrid of different types to decide the style of their output.Then，they have to identify important comments and essential parts of the speech to include the main ideas，adjust the content and structure their recall in their reproducing work.
Having fully understood and analyzed the original speech，the interpreter comes to the position of re-expressing the speech ‘efficiently，clearly and elegantly’ （ibid： 37）.For Jones （ibid），the interpreter should deliver the reproduction in the same manner of a public speaker，speak at an appropriate pace，and use their own words freely to present the original ideas.It is thus necessary for interpreters to enrich their vocabulary and improve their style to have sufficient resources in the target language.
Taking the basic principles introduced above as the guidelines of the interpreter training，the curriculum should be designed to foster the trainees’ ability of comprehension and analysis，the focus of the training should be on the process rather than on the results of the interpreting，and the content of the training should include the acquisition of language，knowledge and skills of coping with the interpreting situation.
3.2 How to Learn in the Training Process
In attempting to explain the difficulty for the interpreter，Gile （1995） comes up with the Effort Models in interpretation for the purpose of facilitating ‘the selection and development of strategies and tactics toward better interpreting performance’ （ibid： 159）.In a process-oriented training process，trainees are faced with the same problems and have to make the same efforts in the situational practice. （1）An effort model of simultaneous interpretation
SI = L P M C
SI simultaneous interpretation
L the Listening and Analysis Effort
P the Speech production Effort
M the Short term memory Effort
C Coordination Effort
（Gile，1995： 169）
We can see from the model above that Gile’s efforts correspond to Jones’（2008） three stages in interpretation，namely understanding，analyzing and re-expressing.
（2）An effort model of consecutive interpretation
Phase one
Interpretation = L N M C
N Note-taking
Phase two
Interpretation = Rem Read P
Rem Remembering
Read Note-reading
P Production
（1995： 179）
In model （2），we see the major difference between simultaneous and consecutive： understanding and re-expressing of the speech is separated and skills like note-taking are involved.However，the efforts should be made and the problems might be triggered are generally the same： processing capacity management and the capacity requirements.
It means that a passive acceptance of knowledge is far from being enough for trainees.Responsible attitude，active participation，experience in practical exercises as much as possible，making decisions consciously and reflect upon the performance as well as the procedures are all necessary components during the training process in terms of how to learn for trainees.
3.3 Quality in Interpretation
Quality evaluation is crucial during interpreter training programs for a purposeful and fruitful result，but there are no absolute quality criteria of interpreting，since interpreting activity involves lots of elements and aspects which will influence its results and evaluation （Gile，1995）.However，some generally accepted quality criteria do exist.The importance and the sequence of the criteria will vary in terms of different expectations of the users，senders，interpreters and receivers （Gile 1995）.
Gile emphasizes the importance of faithfulness in interpretation quality as well as the ‘well-known technical and philosophical difficulties this task involves’ （1995： 40）.He then makes the corollaries resulted from professional loyalty that ‘Translators’ loyalty is due first and foremost to the author or speaker’（ibid： 41） and ‘Quality is a function of communication efficiency from the Sender’s viewpoint，and both package and content of the message in the target language should be optimized with a view to fulfilling the Sender’s objectives’ （ibid）. In Gile’s （ibid） view，interpreter trainees should be made aware of the aspects of quality from the beginning of the training.For this purpose，the communication context should be established first.
4.Conclusion
Drawing on Jones’ principles and Gile’s effort models that are illustrated above，we can conclude that the requirements for interpreters as well as interpreter trainees are mainly linguistic ability，background knowledge and technical skills of interpretation.The former two are necessary to fully understand the original speech，and contribute to a faithful as well as fluent re-expression together with the latter one，which refers to the skills and abilities like note-taking，decision-making，short-term memory，language maintenance and problem-solving.
In conclusion，a life-long experience of learning and practice is necessary for interpreters.At the same time，in order to enhance the learning，promote the proficiency and improve the outcome，reflective learning and reflective practice in and after the training process are extremely crucial.
References：
[1]Gile，D.Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training.Philadelphia： John Benjamins B.V.1995.
[2]Jones，R.Conference Interpreting Explained.Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.2008.
[3]Sawyer，D.Fundamental Aspects of Interpreter Education.Amsterdam/Philadelphia： John Benjamins Publishing Company.2004.
【Key words】reflective learning； reflective practice； interpreter training； interpreter trainees
1.Introduction
In this thesis，the central theme of how interpreter training can be effectively and consciously promoted in terms of the trainee is introduced and analyzed on the theoretical basis.
2.What is an Interpreter
The origin of interpretation in its broader sense can be dated back into ancient time when people speaking different languages need do communicate with each other for purpose of trading or learning.However，the interpreter is not regarded as a professional until World War I when professional interpreters were recruited for the Paris Peace Conference.The role of the interpreter tends to be underestimated as merely linguistic transmitting.The truth，however，which has been discussed by lots of researchers （see Bell 2001，Bassnett 2004，Nida 2001 and Newmark 2001 etc.） is that the obstacles to communication as well as the role of Translator are more than linguistic aspect.
Since interpreting is a kind of communication （see Jones 2008，Gile 1995，etc.），the role of interpreters is related to removing the obstacles to communication and facilitating the communication.In Jones’words，‘in all of their work，interpreters must bridge the cultural and conceptual gaps separating the participants in a meeting’ （ibid）.For Gile （1995），what interpreters do is to provide communication service for the purpose of informing，explaining and/or persuading the listeners with the ideas of the speakers.
3.An Overview of Interpreter Training
In order to work independently as a professional interpreter after formal training，the goals and objectives that should be achieved during the training process are described by Sawyer as ‘the development of the knowledge and skills required to interpret and the development of an awareness of appropriate conduct and membership in a professional community’ （2004： 59）.
To achieve the objectives mentioned above and equip the trainees with necessary expertise，the process，rather than the results of the interpretation training is emphasized by many （See Gile 1995，P?chahacker 2004 and Sawyer 2004）.
3.1 What to Learn in the Training Process Jones （2008） defines the three basic principles of a consecutive interpreter’s work as understanding，analyzing and re-expressing.He also points out that simultaneous interpretation is to some degree the same as consecutive interpretation，‘in that booth mean listening，understanding，analyzing and re-expressing’ and the interpreter in both cases ‘is fulfilling the same function as a conduit for communication’ （Jones，2008： 66）.
By understanding，Jones （ibid） refers to the understanding of ideas，but not of words，for ‘it is ideas that have to be interpreted’ （ibid： 11）.In order to follow the ideas of the speaker，one has to be trained for sufficient acquaintance with the words，the grammar and the syntax of the speaker’s language.At the same time，the interpreter‘must not pay attention to individual words as words，but must listen to the overall sense of a speech，identifying the ideas that are expressed through the words …’，which has to be achieved through ‘constant active listening’（ibid： 14）.
In the stage of analysis，interpreters have to first analyze the type of the speech which might be an argument，narration，description or more usually，hybrid of different types to decide the style of their output.Then，they have to identify important comments and essential parts of the speech to include the main ideas，adjust the content and structure their recall in their reproducing work.
Having fully understood and analyzed the original speech，the interpreter comes to the position of re-expressing the speech ‘efficiently，clearly and elegantly’ （ibid： 37）.For Jones （ibid），the interpreter should deliver the reproduction in the same manner of a public speaker，speak at an appropriate pace，and use their own words freely to present the original ideas.It is thus necessary for interpreters to enrich their vocabulary and improve their style to have sufficient resources in the target language.
Taking the basic principles introduced above as the guidelines of the interpreter training，the curriculum should be designed to foster the trainees’ ability of comprehension and analysis，the focus of the training should be on the process rather than on the results of the interpreting，and the content of the training should include the acquisition of language，knowledge and skills of coping with the interpreting situation.
3.2 How to Learn in the Training Process
In attempting to explain the difficulty for the interpreter，Gile （1995） comes up with the Effort Models in interpretation for the purpose of facilitating ‘the selection and development of strategies and tactics toward better interpreting performance’ （ibid： 159）.In a process-oriented training process，trainees are faced with the same problems and have to make the same efforts in the situational practice. （1）An effort model of simultaneous interpretation
SI = L P M C
SI simultaneous interpretation
L the Listening and Analysis Effort
P the Speech production Effort
M the Short term memory Effort
C Coordination Effort
（Gile，1995： 169）
We can see from the model above that Gile’s efforts correspond to Jones’（2008） three stages in interpretation，namely understanding，analyzing and re-expressing.
（2）An effort model of consecutive interpretation
Phase one
Interpretation = L N M C
N Note-taking
Phase two
Interpretation = Rem Read P
Rem Remembering
Read Note-reading
P Production
（1995： 179）
In model （2），we see the major difference between simultaneous and consecutive： understanding and re-expressing of the speech is separated and skills like note-taking are involved.However，the efforts should be made and the problems might be triggered are generally the same： processing capacity management and the capacity requirements.
It means that a passive acceptance of knowledge is far from being enough for trainees.Responsible attitude，active participation，experience in practical exercises as much as possible，making decisions consciously and reflect upon the performance as well as the procedures are all necessary components during the training process in terms of how to learn for trainees.
3.3 Quality in Interpretation
Quality evaluation is crucial during interpreter training programs for a purposeful and fruitful result，but there are no absolute quality criteria of interpreting，since interpreting activity involves lots of elements and aspects which will influence its results and evaluation （Gile，1995）.However，some generally accepted quality criteria do exist.The importance and the sequence of the criteria will vary in terms of different expectations of the users，senders，interpreters and receivers （Gile 1995）.
Gile emphasizes the importance of faithfulness in interpretation quality as well as the ‘well-known technical and philosophical difficulties this task involves’ （1995： 40）.He then makes the corollaries resulted from professional loyalty that ‘Translators’ loyalty is due first and foremost to the author or speaker’（ibid： 41） and ‘Quality is a function of communication efficiency from the Sender’s viewpoint，and both package and content of the message in the target language should be optimized with a view to fulfilling the Sender’s objectives’ （ibid）. In Gile’s （ibid） view，interpreter trainees should be made aware of the aspects of quality from the beginning of the training.For this purpose，the communication context should be established first.
4.Conclusion
Drawing on Jones’ principles and Gile’s effort models that are illustrated above，we can conclude that the requirements for interpreters as well as interpreter trainees are mainly linguistic ability，background knowledge and technical skills of interpretation.The former two are necessary to fully understand the original speech，and contribute to a faithful as well as fluent re-expression together with the latter one，which refers to the skills and abilities like note-taking，decision-making，short-term memory，language maintenance and problem-solving.
In conclusion，a life-long experience of learning and practice is necessary for interpreters.At the same time，in order to enhance the learning，promote the proficiency and improve the outcome，reflective learning and reflective practice in and after the training process are extremely crucial.
References：
[1]Gile，D.Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training.Philadelphia： John Benjamins B.V.1995.
[2]Jones，R.Conference Interpreting Explained.Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.2008.
[3]Sawyer，D.Fundamental Aspects of Interpreter Education.Amsterdam/Philadelphia： John Benjamins Publishing Company.2004.