Дипломная работа: Listening and memory training in translation

The practical significance of the work can be concluded in the following items:

a) The work could serve as a good source of materials for additional reading by students at schools, colleges and lyceums.

b) The problem of listening and memory training could be a little bit easier to understand, since our qualification work includes the chapter concerning the question mentioned.

c) Those who would like to possess a perfect knowledge of English will find our work useful and practical.

d) Our qualification work is a general review of the investigations made earlier.

Having said about the scholars who dealt with the same theme earlier we may notion Anderson, J.R, Gile D, Zhong W, etc.

If we say about the methods of scientific approaches used in our work we can mention the method of general analysis was used.

The newality of the work concludes in including the modern interpretations of the play.

The general structure of our qualification work looks as follows:

The work is composed onto four major parts: introduction, main part, conclusion, and bibliography. Each part has its subdivision onto the specific thematic items. There are two points in the introductory part: the first item tells about the general characteristics of the work, while the second paragraph gives us some words about the aims of the work and the general description of the latter. The main part of our qualification work consists of three chapters, which, in their [1] turn, are subdivided into several thematic paragraphs. The first chapter of the main part discusses the memory training as the aspect of learning foreign languages. Here we gave the general description of the memory and analyzed the two types of memory: long and short. We also studied the modern methods used for improving of the short memory. The second chapter thoroughly takes into consideration the peculiar features of listening techniques and gives a comparatively large number of practical recommendations for improving listening skills. We also mentioned the scholar’s opinions concerning the investigating subject. The third chapter is meant by itself as a compilation to the previous twos and studies the question of the Russian influence onto the enlarging of the English language and the questions of translation caused with it. We also mentioned here the question connected with the problem of teaching translation skills at schools. In conclusion to our work we notioned some meaningful words concerning the thematic content of the work (the first item) and the concluding results of our investigation (the second item) At the very end of our qualification work we supplied our work with the bibliography list and the internet materials.

If we say about the practical wais of applying our qualification work we would like to say that our qualification work can be applied and used by the following:

1) The work can be useful for all the teachers of foreign languages when they teach their students to translate the written sources of information or when the letters are taught to speak and transmit the information in foreign languages.

2) All the students of foreign languages department would be able to use the work for better knowledge of English or when they have practical classes on foreign language.

3) Translators and interpreters might find a lot of useful information for the improvement of their professional activity.

4) The qualification work will be useful for everyone who wants to make perfect in learning foreign languages.

2.1. This paper discusses the role of memory training and listening in interpreting. According Gile's Effort Model (a Processing Capacity Account), short-term memory is an essential part in the process of interpreting. This paper analyzes the major characteristics of Short-term Memory (STM) and their implications for interpreters' memory training. We believe that interpreting is an STM-centered activity, which includes encoding of information from the Source Language, storing of information, retrieval of information, and decoding of information into the target language. The training of STM skills is the first step in training a professional interpreter. Tactics for memory training for interpreters like retelling, categorization, generalization, comparison, shadowing exercises, mnemonics, etc. are presented in this paper. The key words for our investigation can be the following: Interpreter Training, Memory Training, Short-Term Memory, Effort Model, Listening techniques.

The Main part

1.2. Interpreting is defined as "oral translation of a written text" (Shuttleworth & Cowie: 1997:83). Mahmoodzadeh gives a more detailed definition of interpreting: Interpreting consists of presenting in the target language, the exact meaning of what is uttered in the source language either simultaneously or consecutively, preserving the tone of the speaker (1992:231).

Whether novice or experienced, all interpreters find this profession demanding and challenging. Phelan says that "when an interpreter is working, he or she cannot afford to have a bad day. One bad interpreter can ruin a conference" (2001:4). In discussing the qualifications required for an interpreter, Phelan mentions that:

"The interpreter needs a good short-term memory to retain what he or she has just heard and a good long-term memory to put the information into context. Ability to concentrate is a factor as is the ability to analyze and process what is heard" (2001:4-5).

Mahmoodzadeh also emphasizes that a skillful interpreter is expected to "have a powerful memory." (1992:233). Daniel Gile (1992,1995) emphasizes the difficulties and efforts involved in interpreting tasks and strategies needed to overcome them, observing that many failures occur in the absence of any visible difficulty. He then proposes his Effort Models for interpreting. He says that "The Effort Models are designed to help them [interpreters] understand these difficulties [of interpreting] and select appropriate strategies and tactics. They are based on the concept of Processing Capacity and on the fact that some mental operations in interpreting require much Processing Capacity."(1992:191) According to Gile, Consecutive Interpreting consists of two phases: a listening and reformulation phrase and a reconstruction phase (1992:191, 1995b:179):

Phase One: I=L+M+N

I=Interpreting, L=listening and analyzing the source language speech, M=short-term memory required between the time information is heard and the time it is written down in the notes, and N=note-taking.

Phase Two: I= Rem+Read+P

In this Phase Two of Consecutive Interpreting, interpreters retrieve messages from their short-term memory and reconstruct the speech (Rem), read the notes (N), and produce the Target Language Speech (P). Gile's Effort Model for Simultaneous Interpreting is:

SI=L+M+P

SI=Simultaneous Interpreting.

L=Listening and Analysis, which includes "all the mental operations between perception of a discourse by auditory mechanisms and the moment at which the interpreter either assigns, or decides not to assign, a meaning (or several potential meanings) to the segment which he has heard."

M=Short-term Memory, which includes "all the mental operations related to storage in memory of heard segments of discourse until either their restitution in the target language, their loss if they vanish from memory, or a decision by the interpreter not to interpret them."

P=Production, which includes "all the mental operations between the moment at which the interpreter decides to convey a datum or an idea and the moment at which he articulates (overtly produces) the form he has prepared to articulate" (1995a:93).[2]