OnTrainingMethodsofShortTermMemoryinConsecutiveInterpreting交替传译中短时记忆的训练方法

1、On Training Methods of Short Term Memory inConsecutive Interpreting交替传译中短时记忆的训练方法目录ABSTRACT 21.Introduction 42.Brief Introduction of Interpreting 42.1Background information 42.2Interpreting53.Memory System73.1Short term memory 73.2Short term and long term memory83.3The Effort Eodels by Daniel Gile 9

2、4.Characters of short term memory 114.1Input of information 114.2Capacity 114.3Modality 114.4Information Loss 124.5Retrieval 125.Memory Training 135.1Visualizing materials: 145.2Retelling in the Source Language145.3Mnemonic to Memory 155.4Grouping information together 165.5Association166.Conclusion

3、17Bibliography 错误！未定义书签。ABSTRACTInterpreting is important and popular nowadays owing to its communicative function in fields of politics, economy, culture, educationand so on. However, it s not easy to be a qualified interpreter because the training methods are not systematically completed. This the

4、sis is mainlydealing with the methods of training short-term memory in consecutive interpreting (CI). According to Effort Model from Daniel Gile, the short term memory is an essential part in the process of interpreting. In order to be a qualified interpreter, student interpreters need large quantit

5、y of practice and skills. Considering of this, the author makes some research about the training of short term memory and hopes this training can help student interpreters improve short term memory.Key words: consecutive interpreting (CI); short term memory; Effort Model; training methods口译因其在政治、经济、

6、文化、教育等方面有着重要的交际功能，因此在当今社会越来越显示出其重要性并且逐渐受到人们的重视。然而，由于目前口译训练方法仍然不够系统和完整，因此想成为一名合格的口译人员实属不易。本论文主要介绍了交替传译中短时记忆的训练方法。根据Daniel Gile的精力分配模式，短时记忆在口译过程中起到举足轻重的地位。为了成为一名合格的译员，训练者需要进行大量的练习并且掌握口译技巧。考虑到这个问题，笔者通过搜集整理和自己的亲身经历总结了短时记忆的训练方法，希望能够帮助训练者提高短时记忆。1. IntroductionThere are three kinds of memory system and sho

7、rt term memory is the essential part in interpreting, so in this paper the author mainly does research about the short term memory. Chapter 1 is an introduction about planning of this paper. In Chapter 2, it shows a general introduction about interpreting and its current situation in China. This hel

8、ps us to get a more clear understanding about advantages and disadvantages of CI in order to find the weaknesses. According to the analysis in Chapter 2, the author believes that the memory training is a big obstacle encountered by the student interpreters. Considering of this, the author decides to

9、 start with the memory system, so in Chapter 3, it mainly shows three types of memory systems as well as how they work and what functions they have and the illustration is focused on the concrete connections between the short term memory and CI. In Chapter 4, the author shows the characters of short

10、 term memory and the problems interpreters meet due to the characters. In Chapter 5, according to all above and research, the author finds some methods dealing with the problems. Finally is the conclusion and some suggestions in future research.2. BriefIntroduction of Interpreting2.1 Background info

11、rmationInterpreting becomes a very popular job nowadays due to the world globalization in fields of economy, politics, culture and s on. With therising position of China, especially hosting of 2008 Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo as well as entering WTO, China plays more and more importan

12、t role in the world, so international communication become more frequently. This brings large requirement of interpreting which is considered responsive and practical, both quality and quantity. However, interpreting industry is facing serious situation: lacking of systematical training methods and

13、high quantity of teachers.2.2 Definition of InterpretingInterpreting is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages. The process is described by both the words interpreting and interpretation. Professional Inte

14、rpreting can be mainly classified into simultaneous interpreting and consecutive interpreting in terms of the way of interpreting. In consecutive interpreting (CI), the interpreter speaks after the source-language speaker has finished speaking. The speech is divided into segments, and the interprete

15、r sits or stands beside the source-language speaker, listening and taking notes as the speaker progresses through the message.When the speaker pauses or finishes speaking, the interpreter then renders a portion of the messageor the entire messagein the target language. A qualified interpreter is req

16、uired to cover various fields of knowledge and possesses good psychological quality as well as a strong memory. Due to this requirement, interpreting is a challengeable work.2.3 Quality of a good interpreterProfound knowledgeAs a good interpreter, the basic quality is to master the source language a

17、nd target language. Moreover, an interpreter should have a good knowledge of the culture of both countries, such as the customs, the history, the humorous expressions as well as the current event and popular tendency. For example, when interpreter heard“Baudelaire s translation of Poe may be better

18、poems than those Poe wrote; but those who read them have read Baudelaires version of Poe; not Poe”.In this sentence, there are two namesBaudelaire and Poe. Baudelaire is a French writer, who is famous for translating the works by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and is acknowledged better than theori

19、ginal works.If the interpreter knows this, it is not difficult to translate it as波德来尔所译的爱伦坡的诗，也许比爱伦坡自己所写的更好；但读那些诗的人只是读了波德来尔所译的爱伦坡；而不是真正的爱伦坡.Therefore, a good interpreter should self enriching greatly and improving continuously.Owing to the special characteristics of interpreting, interpreter should

20、have a strong memory. On the one hand, interpreter has to master a largeamount of vocabulary and idioms, such as画蛇添足 to paint the lily ；用小虾钓大鱼 to throw a sprat to catch a whale. Besides, for some Chinese idioms,interpreters should remember the original story, such as东施效颦 Tung Shihimitates Hsi Shih.

21、Hsi Shih was a famous beauty in the ancient kindgdom of Yueh. Tung Shih was an ugly girl who tried to imitate her ways. The ugly imitates the beautiful in such a distorted way that the ugliness of the uglybecomes even worse. On the other hand, interpreters should have a good memory to express the me

22、aning speakers said. Owing to the limited time, note-taking can only write down the main point and the whole meaning can only be expressed though the strong memory.3. Memory System3.1 Short term memoryShort-term memory (or primary or active memory) is the capacity for holding a small amount of infor

23、mation in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. The duration of short-term memory (when rehearsal or active maintenance is prevented) is believedto be in the order of seconds. In an early and highly influential article, The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two, th

24、e psychologistGeorge Miller suggested that human short-term memory has a forward memory span of approximately seven items plus or minus two and that was well known at the time.David A. Sousa, in his book ,how the brain works refers to the term short term memory as all of the early steps of temporary

25、 memory leads to long term memory. According to his idea, short term memory can be divided into sensory memory and working memory. Sensory memory isthe very first step for the source information coming into onethe shortest duration and can hold a certain amount of information, but s bthese informati

26、on can only lasts 0.25-2 seconds and disappears rapidly.Working memory refers to information stored for further processing.Working memory boasts both storage and processing functions. The two functions are interrelated with each other. When encountered with new or difficult tasks, then more processi

27、ng capacity is required, thus leaving less capacity for storage function (David W. Carroll, 2000.49). During the researching, the authors doubts that decay causes forgetting from short-term memory often offer as an alternative some form of interference: When several elements (such as digits, words,

28、or pictures) are held in short term memory simultaneously, their representations compete with each other for recall, or degrade each other. Thereby, new content gradually pushes out older content, unless the older content is actively protected against interference by rehearsal or by directing attent

29、ion to it.3.2 Short term and long term memoryPsychological studies of human memory make a distinction between short term memory and long term memory. The idea of short term memory simply means that you are retaining information for a short period of time without creating the neural mechanisms for la

30、ter recall. Long-Term Memory occurs when you have created neural pathways for storing ideas and information which can then be recalled weeks, months, or even years later. To create these pathways, you must make a deliberate attempt to encode the information in the way you intend to recall it later.

31、Long-term memory is a learning process. And it is essentially an important part of the interpreters acquisition of knowledge, because information stored in long term memory may last for minutes to weeks, months, or even an entire life. The duration of short term memory is veryshort. It is up to 30 s

32、econds. Peterson (1959) found it to be 6 - 12 seconds, while Atkinson and Schifrin (1968) and Herb (1949) state it is 30 seconds. Memory in CI only lasts for a short time. Once the interpreting assignment is over, the interpreter moves on to another one, often with different context, subject and spe

33、akers. Therefore, the memory skills which need to be imparted to trainee interpreters are short term memory skills.Another difference is that short term memory is processed largely in terms of speech sounds, while long term memory depends mostly on meaning. In the early 1960s, Conrad, in connection

34、with work for the British Post Office, conducted experiments on memory for letter codes.Conrad subjects were presented visually with sequencesof unrelated consonants and were required to write them down immediately afterwards. He noticed that the short term memory errors made were not random, but si

35、milar in the sound to the correct item. Subjects mistakenly remember the words as words with similar pronunciation more than similar spelling. This indicates that the material is more easily remembered in terms of their sound rather than their visual appearance. Since the interpreters deal with the

36、vocal materials, short term memory can do well to training.3.3 The Effort Eodels by Daniel Gile(1)C=KL+ELK+AComprehension =Knowledgeforlanguage+ Extra-linguisticLanguage +Analysis(2)CI=L+N+M+CConsecutiveInterpreting=ListeningAnalysis+Note-taking+Short-termMemory+CoordinationIn consecutive interpreta

37、tion, the interpreter takes notes while the speaker speaks, then delivers speech to the listener in the target language according to his or her memory and notes. Consecutive interpretation is performed in two phases, the listening and note-taking phase, and the speech production phase.(3) CI = Rem +

38、 Read + PConsecutive Interpreting=Remembering+ Note-reading+ Speech ProductionIn phase two, high capacity in taking notes is beneficial to the Rem component, since good note-taking reduces the capacity requirements for Rem. Besides, mastering a certain amount of linguistic and extra-linguistic knowl

39、edge will lead to successful transferring form source language to target language.Since short term memory plays an important role in CI, the author decides to take a further step on short term memory.4. Characters of short term memory4.1 Input of informationIt is generally held that information ente

40、rs the short term memory as a result of applying attention to the stimulus, which is about a quarter of a second according to the findings of both Sperling(1960) and Crowden(1982). However, McKays (1973, in Radford and Govier, 1991:findings do not fully support this, asserting that unattended inform

41、ation may enter the short term memory.4.2 CapacityAs mentioned in the previous section, the capacity of short term memory is limited and small. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) propose that it is seven items of information (give or take two). Miller (1956) says it is seven chunks. Another possibility ma

42、y be that the limiting factor is not the short term memorys storage capacity, but its processing capacity (Gross: 1990:55).4.3 ModalityTo store information in short term memory, it must be encoded, and there is a variety of possibilities as to how this operates. There are three main possibilities in

43、 short term memory: (1) Acoustic (Phonemic) coding is rehearsing through sub-vocal sounds (Conrad, 1964 and Baddeley: 1966). (2) Visual coding is, as implied, storing information as picturesrather than sounds. This applies especially to nonverbal items, particularly if they are difficult to describe

44、 using words. In very rare cases some people may have a photographic memory, but for the vast majority, the visual code is much less effective than this (Posner and Keele: 1967). (3) Semantic coding is applying meaning to information, relating it to something abstract (Baddeley: 1990, Goodhead:1999)

45、4.4 Information LossThere are three main theories as to why we forget from our short term memory: (1) Displacementexisting information is replaced by newly received information when the storage capacity is full (Waugh and Norman: 1965) (2) Decay information decays over time (Baddeley, Thompson and B

46、uchanan, 1975). (3) Interferenceother information present in the storage at the same time distorts the original information (Keppel and Underwood: 1962).4.5 RetrievalThere are modes of retrieval of information from short term memory:Serial searchitems in short term memory are examined one at a time

47、until the desired information is retrieved (Sternberg: 1966). (2) Activation dependence on activation of the particular item reaching a critical point5. Memory TrainingThe purpose of short term memory training in CI is to achieve a better understanding of the source language, which will lead to adeq

48、uate interpreting. As Lin Yuru et al. put it, Memory in consecutive interpreting consists of nothing more than understanding the meaning, which is conveyed by the words (Lin et al., 1999:9). Understanding is the first step in successful interpreting; therefore, memory training is to be provided in t

49、he early stage of interpreter training. Memory functions differently in consecutive and simultaneous interpreting because the duration of memory is longer in CI than in SI. There are different methods of training short term memory for CI and SI respectively. Interpreting starts with the encoding of

50、the information from the original speaker. According to Giles Effort Model, interpreting is short term memory-centered activity; the process of interpreting could be re-postulated into:Encoding of information from the Source Language + Storing Information + Retrieval of Information + Decoding Inform

51、ation into the Target languageIn Consecutive Interpreting, there is probably up to 15 minutes (depending on the speakers segments) for the interpreter to encode and then store the information. This is the first phase of Giles Effort Model for CI. In the second phase of Giles Model, the interpreter s

52、tarts to retrieve information and decode it into the target language.According to the previous description, there are three main possibilities of storing information in short term memory: (1) Acoustic Coding; (2) Visual Coding and (3) Semantic Coding. Visual coding may be used by interpreters in con

53、ference situations with multimedia. Notes in interpreting are to assist in such visual coding of information. But in most interpreting contexts, interpreters will depend on acoustic and semantic coding. Therefore, exercises should be designed for this purpose. The following methods are recommended:5

54、.1 Visualizing materials:Visualizing means that to visualize what the speaker is speaking, for instance, to form a scene to strengthen the short term memory of the interpreter. A British psychologist named Frederic C.Bartlett(1998:279) regarded memory as the reconstruction of an image. The conclusio

55、n of the study showed that the capacity of memory of pictures viewed and images is easier to remember than vocabulary and expressionsThis kind of exercise aims to promote the ability of an interpreter to actualize and visualize the information he listened, which is designed tosensibility of human s

56、brain to image of language resources.5.2 Retelling in the Source LanguageThe instructor either reads or plays a recording of a text of about 200 words for the trainees to retell in the same language. The trainees should not be allowed to take any notes. In the first instance, trainees should beencou

57、raged to retell the text in the same words of the original to the largest possible extent. The following tactics should be used by the trainees after a certain time of training on retelling: Categorization: Grouping items of the same properties; Generalization: Drawing general conclusions from parti

58、cular examples or message from the provided text; Comparison: Noticing the differences and similarities between different things, facts and events;Description: Describing a scene, a shape, or size of an object, etc. Trainees are encouraged to describe, summarize, and abstract the original to a large

59、 extent in their own words in exercises.5.3 Mnemonic to MemoryMnemonic is a device, such as a formula or rhyme, used as an aid in remembering. Mnemonics are methods for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall. A very simple example of a mnemonic is the 30 days hath Septem

60、ber rhyme. The basic principle of Mnemonics is to use as many of the best functions of the human brain as possible to encode information.The human brain has evolved to encode and interpret complex stimuli images, color, structure, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, spatial awareness, emotion, and langua