口译学期论文

《口译教程》学期论文

Name:高露露

Student ID No.:1012011030

Class:10级外语系英本（1）班

How to Be a Good Interpreter

Abstract

Undoubtedly, the exchange of information now has played an essential role in people's daily life and international affairs. Based on this fact, the function of interpretation has become significant. Therefore, being a good interpreter is a very urgent issue for us English learners. But just as the Chinese saying goes “Rome is not build in a day”, an interpreter must meet most of qualifications before they could cut a figure on the stage. This paper mainly focuses on some important qualities a good interpreter should pay attention to and some about my own feelings of interpreting learning.

Key words: interpreting interpreter some qualities

1.A Brief Introduction of What I Have Learned In This Semester

During this semester, with the guidance of our interpreter-course teacher, we have learned some fundamental interpreting skills we require to be a competent interpreter. It can be mainly summarized as five points:

First, we’re supposed to be familiar with the general process of the interpretation, which will guide our actions from beginning to end. We should focus on four aspects: listening, memorizing, processing, and delivering. What we should do most is to get the message through listening.

Second, we practices a lot about the memory training, which aims is to achieve a better understanding of the source language and lead to adequate interpreting.

Third, regarding the specific interpreting tactics, how to take notes proficiently is no doubt the key to good interpretation. In the course of interpretation, teachers remind us that we should note down the main points instead of the original sentences, and some abbreviations of the words and special marks are used frequently.

Fourth, we also learned about the figures interpreting. Figures interpretation is considered as an interpreter’s big headache. Figures interpreting include Comparison Expressions, Measurement Units, Cardinal Numbers, Fractions, Decimals, etc.

Finally is about the coping tactics in interpreting which help to deal with some dilemma such as fail to hear, fail to understand, fail to memorize and fail to express.

2.Several Qualities of a Good Interpreter

Being a good Interpreter is not an easy job to do. Baring several important qualities is very necessary.

Firstly, the interpreter should possess high level of linguistic proficiency. a good Interpreter has to concern himself with what is happening at home and abroad all the time. he should constantly broaden his horizon and improve his comprehension and interpretation. The interpreter should have a good command of a large quantity of vocabulary of the language, involving the related as well as unrelated fields in interpretation.

Secondly, Wide-ranging knowledge is as important as the command of languages. An interpreter is supposed to be a “walking encyclopedia”. The interpreting process is largely dependent on interpreter’s encyclopedic knowledge which is stored in his cognitive environments for interpretation. The more knowledge the interpreter shares with communicators, the better he will do the job.

Thirdly, a good interpreter should be aware of the possible cultural diversities in the speech and know how to remove these cultural difficulties effectively. As a cultural mediator, he or she will need to be a specialist in negotiating understanding between cultures.

Finally, the interpreter should keep on learning. He has to make every effort to keep touch with the linguistic, cultural, and social development through the media and the internet. He should also learn much about different specialized topics such as economics, law and technology, and develop deeply into the one he interprets.

Except for the qualities mentioned above, there are some basic ones which

every interpreter should bare in mind. A good interpreter should interpret with a standard and clear pronunciation. The first demand of interpreting is to be accurate, so a graceful and fluent voice is a necessary diathesis for an interpreter. Of course, everyone has his own trait in intonation, even a native speaker’s pronunciations differ from other natives, let alone a second language learner. But being an interpreter, one should spare no efforts to hold a standard pronunciation including stress in words and sentences, tones to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding. Besides, A good interpreter should always keep ready to be in accordance with demands of the time. The interpreting task usually comes suddenly, and interpreter has no more time to prepare before working. Even that it leaves few minutes before guests’ arriving. It means that interpreters should always keep ready in both the mind and professional skills. Of course good manners and a strong sense of responsibility are also necessary qualities of an interpreter.

3.Conclusion

Considering the extraordinary flexibility of interpretation, we have to make good preparations, including linguistic preparations and psychological preparations before we do the interpreting job. Interpretation is just like a communication, the only difference is you should exchange two kinds of languages flexibly. To achieve this goal, the interpreter must study hard to grasp those qualities.

Maybe it is easy to be an interpreter, but it may be difficult to be a good interpreter. we should initiatively practice our interpreting skills both in and out of school, and always keep in mind that interpreting is an endless work and we still have a long way to go.