Transcript 英语口译教程 - 扬州大学国家级精品课程

英语口译教程
Lecture One: An Overview
Lecturers: YU Hongliang, Xu Zhan,
Zhang Yan, Tang Lei
Interpretation Course
 Course Objectives:
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Introduces learners to skills and processes required to
produce consecutive interpretations.
Focuses on developing basic cognitive, semantic, and
dual tasking abilities required to interpret rehearsed
and/or spontaneous texts.
Train learners to incorporate semantic choice, register,
and ethical behavioral decisions and understand how
they impact their interpretations.
 Time allotment: 1 semester (36 periods); two periods
per week
Unit 0
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Types of interpreting
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A Brief history of conference interpreting as a modern
profession
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What Makes A Good Interpreter?
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Professional Code of Conduct
Types of Interpreting
 Conference Interpreting: Simultaneous /Consecutive
Most frequently used for large conferences or meetings,
simultaneous interpreting requires that the linguist “translate”
what the speaker is saying, as they speak.
Thus, the interpreter is both listening and speaking at the same
time. This takes intense concentration; simultaneous
interpreters often work in teams, taking breaks every 30 minutes
or so.
Simultaneous interpreting generally requires equipment such as
microphones, headsets, and in some instances booths.
Consecutive Interpreting
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Most appropriate in a smaller setting, the speaker
will speak for a few minutes (a few paragraphs),
then pause.
The interpreter takes notes and then translates the
speaker's message during the pause.
The key element in consecutive interpreting is
note taking: the interpreter must record ideas and
then translate them back into the words of another
language without pause.
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Escort Interpreting
Another form of consecutive interpreting is often called
escort interpreting. If you are hosting a delegation of
visitors from another country, you may want to use the
services of an escort interpreter for meeting clients at the
airport, city tours, and shopping excursions.
Escort interpreters generally translate informal
conversations.
A Brief history of conference interpreting as a
modern profession
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The oldest and youngest profession.
 At the time the course was founded, conference
interpreter training was still in its infancy with the first
simultaneous interpretation having been used after
World War II at the Nuremburg Trials (English, French,
Russian and German).
 In the interwar years consecutive interpretation alone
was provided at International gatherings, such as at
meetings of the League of Nations in Geneva where
English and French were used.
 The first interpreters were not trained but entered the
profession on the strength of their mastery of languages,
prodigious memory, and their impressively broad cultural
background. Some of the legendary figures of the world of
interpreting include Jean HERBERT, André KAMINKER
and Prince Constantin ANDRONIKOF, who was personal
interpreter to Général de Gaulle and one of the founders of
AIIC, which was established in 1953.
 With the setting up of international and European
organizations (United Nations-1945, Council of Europe-1949,
European Community-1957) there was a growing need for a
much larger number of trained professionals. To meet this
continuing challenge, the course has expanded and now
encompasses the languages of the European Union
including accession countries and the UN family.
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Two historical events stimulated the development
of the profession.
 The Paris Peace Conference of 1919;
 The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals.
The symbols of the formal establishment of
conference interpretation as a profession:
 The first interpreting school was set up in 1950 in
Geneva, Switzerland;
 AIIC, the International Association of Conference
Interpreters, was founded on Nov. 11, 1953 with its
Secretariat in Geneva.
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Interpreting, as an internationally recognized
profession, began to take shape only around the
turn of the twentieth century.
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Chronologically, Consecutive Interpreting (CI)
antedates Simultaneous Interpreting (SI). The
Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was conventionally
cited as consecutive interpreting official debut .
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Between the two World Wars, consecutive
interpreting had predominant status.
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The first attempt to introduce SI was made shortly
before the Second World War. SI was first patented as a
technique by IBM in 1926, and its first implementation
(in whisper form) was at Geneva in a tentative form in
1927 and, on a larger scale, in the former USSR in 1928
for the Sixth Congress of Comintern.
However, it was during the Nuremberg trials of the
Nazi war criminals, which were conducted in English,
French, Russian, and German that real full-scale
simultaneous interpretations was first used. From 1947
onward, simultaneous interpretation had come to stay
at the United Nations.
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In the years after the Second World War, with the
establishment of the United Nations (UN),
European Union (EU), Organization of Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) and many
other international organs, there was a growing
need for new interpreters to join the ranks of the
first generation of highly skilled but untrained
conference interpreters.
Several training institutions were founded in
Europe. Since then the training institutions for
conference interpreter have sprung all over the
world.
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The earliest establishment of “interpreting
officials“ in China goes as far back as the Zhou
Dynasty (1100--770 BC).
According to written records, there was an official post
called “寄”, “象”, “译” and “象胥首” , “重译”
and “舌人” respectively in the eastern, western,
southern and northern part of China. These
interpreting officials had, at that time, dual function:
interpreting for internal and external purposes.
The internal purpose referred to the interpreting
activities between the central imperial government and
the various ethnic nationalities, while the external
purpose was for communication between the central
imperial government and its neighboring states.
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The oral form of translation came into being
earlier than the written translation, which appeared
in ancient China in the Spring and Autumn period
(770 – 476 BC).
However, regarding the training of conference
interpreters, China is a relatively newcomer; the
People's Republic of China did not start until the
late 1970s.
The first such programme began in Beijing after
China was accepted as working language of the
UN.
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The profession of conference interpreting was
formally introduced into China with the
establishment of the United Nations Training
Programme for Interpreters and Translators in
1979.
Set up as a joint project between the UN and the
Chinese government to train professionals for the
United Nations, the programme turned out 98
interpreters (out of 217 graduates), many of whom
are now working for the UN and other
international organisations, some for the Chinese
government, and a few as full-time freelances.
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In 1994, the UN programme was reconstituted as the
Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation of
Beijing Foreign Studies University (“Bei Wai“).
It continues to offer a two-year course of professional
training in conference interpreting at the MA level, but
its graduates (32 in conference interpreting out of 57
to date) are now responsible for securing their own
employment.
Most become staff interpreters or officers in
government ministries and agencies, with a minority
taking positions in the private sector; it is still rare for a
graduate to go freelance.
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To date, the majority of China's professional
interpreters have been trained at Bei Wai, but these
make up only a fraction of the large number of
practitioners, including government officers and
corporate personnel who perform interpretation duties.
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Now as we are approaching the 21st century, the
globalization of the world economy has become an
irreversible trend.
Economic activities such as investment, banking, business
and trade are increasing rapidly, the transformation of
science and technology and the training of personnel
continue apace, and international exchanges in politics,
foreign affairs and culture are flourishing. All of these
would be impossible without the involvement of
interpreters and translators.
 Furthermore, with the implementation of economic
reform and its opening up policy, China' s demand for
qualified interpreters and translators has become all the
more urgent.
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Practice Texts
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Reading: The Art of Interpreting
Berris makes a distinction between translation and interpreting, and she
looks at a host of potential problems that can impede intercultural
communication. Among the more serious issues is the problem of not
having enough interpreters for long sessions. She also discusses the
importance of proper preparation, the differences between precise
translations and simple paraphrasing, and nonverbal communication and its
role in interpretive events.
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Listening: At the Shoulder of History
An interview of the BBC correspondent with world famous interpreters.
Listen to the recording 2- 3 times and you will gain a better understanding of
the profession.
The Art of Interpreting
Interpreting, is a physically exhausting and often emotionally
draining art. But those who work with interpreters can do a great
deal to help maximize the interpreter’s effectiveness and minimize
his or her weaknesses.
——JAN CAROL BERRIS
former Vice President of
the National Commission on U.S. – China Relations
Jan Carol Berris has been with the National
Committee on United States-China Relations since
1971 - first as program associate, then program
director, then vice president. She is responsible for
directing all program activities of the Committee.
Ms. Berris has been actively involved in
preparation and operations for the visits to the
United States of hundreds of Chinese delegations,
including the 1972 Chinese Ping Pong Team, the
first PRC group to come to this country.
At the request of the State Department she
coordinated Chinese press activities during
Premier Deng Xiaoping's February 1979 visit to
the United States. And she has overseen the visits
of hundreds of American delegations to China. She
herself has traveled to China about seventy times
since 1973, with people and groups as diverse as a
tennis team and a Supreme Court Justice.
http://www.ncuscr.org/articlesandspeeches/Articlesandspeeches.htm
Jan Carol Berris
I. What Makes A Good Interpreter?
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Bilingualism and biculturalism
 A good command of both languages and alertness to their
constant evolution is the foundation of effective
interpreting.
 A good interpreter is more than a translator of words,
since language skills are only a part of the process of
communication. Biculturalism sensitivity to cultural and
social differences is often as important as bilingualism.
 Another important aspect of biculturalism is knowing
what makes people laugh in the other culture.
 Political sensitivity is also an essential aspect of
biculturalism.
 Bilingualism and biculturalism can be learned though
often only by a process of osmosis during long years
of study and/or living in another country. But there are
other, more innate characteristics that contribute to
the making of a good interpreter.
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A special kind of personality, or a somewhat
schizophrenic one.
 and aggressive enough to be relaxed
 of submerging their own egos and take on the
personalities of the speakers
Projection
 Being able to do two (or more) things at one time
is important.
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Listen;
 Jot down key words to jog their memories;
 Look up unknown words in a small dictionary
(which usually appears magically out of a pocket);
 Juggling notebook and dictionary, write down the
unfamiliar word so if it is repeated later the
dictionary will not have to be hauled out again.
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speaking of writing things down,
interpreters should always carry notebooks and
use them.
 Obviously interpreters should be matched to
specific jobs
II. THE INTERPRETING SITUATION
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Preparation
Pacing
Precision Versus Paraphrase
 The interpreter should always be given a sense of how
precise a translation is expected.
 Another aspect of this issue is when to translate and
when to leave people alone.
Sometimes we encounter interpreters who feel the need
for great precision and will take several seconds (which
always seem like eons to listeners) to think of the word
or phrase carrying the precise nuance of the situation.
 Another kind of interpreter is the paraphraser or editor
who tends to give the gist of what the speaker is saying,
ignoring the details.
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Supplying Background Information
Sometimes, trying to be helpful and fill in gaps in the
audience's understanding, interpreters will add background
information not supplied by the speaker.
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Length of Speech Units
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Invisibility of Interpreters
Interpreters should confine themselves to facilitating
communication, and not (except in unusual situations) add
their own personal comments.
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Direction of Translation
Numbers
Translating Substance
Questions
Nonverbal Communication
Helping with Problems
Qualifications of a good interpreter
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Knowledge of the general subject of the speeches
that are to be interpreted.
General erudition and intimate familiarity with both
cultures.
Extensive vocabulary in both languages.
Ability to express thoughts clearly and concisely in
both languages.
Excellent note-taking technique for consecutive
interpreting.
At least 2-3 years of booth experience for
simultaneous interpreting.
Listening
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An interview of the BBC correspondent with world
famous interpreters. Listen to the following recording
2- 3 times and you will gain a better understanding of
the profession.
Professional Code of Conduct
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Serve the interest of their organization;
Scrupulously observe the secrecy to which they are already bound
to their professional code;
Maintain the professional standards of their work by keeping
abreast of organization activities, of subjects under discussion and
of relevant terminology;
Prepare for meetings with the help of duly supplied documents and
by obtaining additional papers for meetings of exceptional
technical or linguistic difficulty;
Liaise with free-lance interpreters, when called upon to do so;
Act as interpreters outside the organization only with the latter's
consent and in compliance with the local working conditions of
free-lance interpreters who are AIIC members.