论文部分内容阅读
摘要：Interpretation is one of the important means resorted by people when they communicated with other foreigners. A professional interpretation needs the interpreter not only have a highly sense of responsibility, but also proficiently mastered the two concerned languages, have a wide range of knowledge and be skilled in some basic regular patterns and skills. This paper regards the cognitive factor (memory) in the process of interpretation as the basic point, dialectically analyzes the basic regular patterns and techniques in memory and interpreting, and posed the feasible concrete methods.
关键词：Interpretation；Cognitive Factor；Memory
中图分类号：H31 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-0118（2011）-10-0-01
1.Basic Qualities Required of an Interpreter
Interpretation “requires a much quicker response” than translation does, and that anyone who wants to be a qualified interpreter has to acquire a combination of some qualities. The basic qualities required of the interpreter aren’t extremely rare. However, their combination is by no means common and can only be achieved through an arduous process of intensive training and practice. These basic qualities include:（1）A strong sense of duty.（2）A good command of the languages involved.（3）An encyclopedic knowledge.（4）Acute hearing.（5）A good articulation.（6）Familiarity with simultaneous note-taking.（7）A good memory.（8）Quick and accurate response.
2.A Cognitive Factor in the Process of Interpretation: Memory
（1）Processing in the Short-Term Memory System
When information units are passed to the short-term memory system, it will soon be recognized according to its features and patterns. And it is believed that it is in the short-term memory that grammatical structure and the tense of the information units are recognized. For example, when the interpreter hears `China develops quickly', he may soon recognize the suffix of the verb ‘develops’, and the suffix of the adverb `quickly'. And then these two words will be `sent' to the verb and the adverb category respectively, waiting to be finally passed to the long-term memory. And since the minimum structure of a sentence can be a single verb, these information units will be recognized as a complete sentence.
People usually hold that the very feature shared by translating and consecutive interpreting is both the translator and interpreter needn't work until they have received all the information of the original discourse. But it is not true for a consecutive interpreter. When giving a speech, the interpreter can control neither the rate nor the quantity of the incoming information units. Thus, a lot of information units are transmitted to the short-term memory to be recognized in a very limited time. And there are also many processed information stored in it. As we have discussed that since human short-term memory is severely limited in size and short in retention, the interpreter has to interpret in his mind as soon as possible, or the old information units will soon be replaced by the new one. Thus, we can see from this respect that consecutive interpreting is closer to simultaneous interpreting, but not the translating.
（2）Processing in the Long-Term Memory
In consecutive interpreting, useful input information will be finally sent to long-term memory which can be compared to a tremendous database with unlimited size. There, input information will be analyzed and compared with our knowledge to examine meaning and thus to get the idea of the original speech. Usually, more complicated the information is, more time the long-term memory spends on it. For example, it takes an interpreter more time in examining the meaning of a metaphoric word than that of a verb. After having distinguished the information, the long-term memory will decide whether the processed information will be sent to semantic memory or to the episodic memory, or back to the short-term memory or be erased. For the interpreter, the terms that frequently occurred in the speech will be stored in his semantic memory; the main ideas of the speech will be stored in his episodic memory; numbers, a list of names will be hold in the short-term memory, and the unimportant things such as the over-elaborated modifier will soon be erased from his memory. And for the consecutive interpreter, it's very important to erase the unimportant information to relieve his memory for the constantly coming new one. Scientists have found that the capacity of long-term memory can be increased by rehearsal or recoding, which points out a good direction for interpretation training.
All in all, from what we have discussed in this paper, we have an understanding on how the information is processed and the cognitive factor-memory have been involved. It will also be of interest to those who wish to deepen their knowledge of interpretation learning. This, in turn, may lead to an improvement of the quality of interpreting.
关键词：Interpretation；Cognitive Factor；Memory
中图分类号：H31 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-0118（2011）-10-0-01
1.Basic Qualities Required of an Interpreter
Interpretation “requires a much quicker response” than translation does, and that anyone who wants to be a qualified interpreter has to acquire a combination of some qualities. The basic qualities required of the interpreter aren’t extremely rare. However, their combination is by no means common and can only be achieved through an arduous process of intensive training and practice. These basic qualities include:（1）A strong sense of duty.（2）A good command of the languages involved.（3）An encyclopedic knowledge.（4）Acute hearing.（5）A good articulation.（6）Familiarity with simultaneous note-taking.（7）A good memory.（8）Quick and accurate response.
2.A Cognitive Factor in the Process of Interpretation: Memory
（1）Processing in the Short-Term Memory System
When information units are passed to the short-term memory system, it will soon be recognized according to its features and patterns. And it is believed that it is in the short-term memory that grammatical structure and the tense of the information units are recognized. For example, when the interpreter hears `China develops quickly', he may soon recognize the suffix of the verb ‘develops’, and the suffix of the adverb `quickly'. And then these two words will be `sent' to the verb and the adverb category respectively, waiting to be finally passed to the long-term memory. And since the minimum structure of a sentence can be a single verb, these information units will be recognized as a complete sentence.
People usually hold that the very feature shared by translating and consecutive interpreting is both the translator and interpreter needn't work until they have received all the information of the original discourse. But it is not true for a consecutive interpreter. When giving a speech, the interpreter can control neither the rate nor the quantity of the incoming information units. Thus, a lot of information units are transmitted to the short-term memory to be recognized in a very limited time. And there are also many processed information stored in it. As we have discussed that since human short-term memory is severely limited in size and short in retention, the interpreter has to interpret in his mind as soon as possible, or the old information units will soon be replaced by the new one. Thus, we can see from this respect that consecutive interpreting is closer to simultaneous interpreting, but not the translating.
（2）Processing in the Long-Term Memory
In consecutive interpreting, useful input information will be finally sent to long-term memory which can be compared to a tremendous database with unlimited size. There, input information will be analyzed and compared with our knowledge to examine meaning and thus to get the idea of the original speech. Usually, more complicated the information is, more time the long-term memory spends on it. For example, it takes an interpreter more time in examining the meaning of a metaphoric word than that of a verb. After having distinguished the information, the long-term memory will decide whether the processed information will be sent to semantic memory or to the episodic memory, or back to the short-term memory or be erased. For the interpreter, the terms that frequently occurred in the speech will be stored in his semantic memory; the main ideas of the speech will be stored in his episodic memory; numbers, a list of names will be hold in the short-term memory, and the unimportant things such as the over-elaborated modifier will soon be erased from his memory. And for the consecutive interpreter, it's very important to erase the unimportant information to relieve his memory for the constantly coming new one. Scientists have found that the capacity of long-term memory can be increased by rehearsal or recoding, which points out a good direction for interpretation training.
All in all, from what we have discussed in this paper, we have an understanding on how the information is processed and the cognitive factor-memory have been involved. It will also be of interest to those who wish to deepen their knowledge of interpretation learning. This, in turn, may lead to an improvement of the quality of interpreting.