Difficulties in oral translation faced by senior english majors at hanoi pedagogical university 2 = những khó khăn thường gặp trong phiên dịch của sinh viên chuyên ngữ năm cuối trường đại học sư phạm hà nội 2

HA NOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
= = == = =

LUONG NGOC PHUONG

DIFICULTIES IN ORAL TRANSLATION FACED BY
SENIOR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI
PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN THƯỜNG GẶP TRONG PHIÊN DỊCH
CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGỮ NĂM CUỐI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI
HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI 2)

GRADUATION THESIS
Field: English Linguistics

Ha Noi, 2019


HA NOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
= = == = =

LUONG NGOC PHUONG

DIFICULTIES IN ORAL TRANSLATION FACED BY
SENIOR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI
PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN THƯỜNG GẶP TRONG PHIÊN DỊCH
CỦA SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGỮ NĂM CUỐI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI
HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI 2)

GRADUATION THESIS
Field: English Linguistics
Supervisor:

Mrs. Tran Thi Ngan

Ha Noi, 2019


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

During the period of doing this graduation thesis, I received a plenty of enthusiastic
help and support that guide me to overcome all difficulties to finish this work.
First and foremost, I would like to express my grateful thank to Mrs. Tran Thi
Ngan, my supervisor; and Mrs. Do Thi Thanh Dung, my co-supervisor. This paper
would have never been accomplished without their dedicated help and assistance.
Once again, I would like to thank you very much for your support and
understanding for the past four-year learning and training of mine in Hanoi
Pedagogical University 2.
Secondly, sincerely thank to the Council of Faculty of Foreign Languages including
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong Nhat, Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages; Mr.
Nguyen Van Den, Mrs. Tran Linh Chi, Mrs. Pham Thi Tuan, and Mr. Leonard Reeg
for creating favorable conditions for me to conduct this paper. You are enthusiastic
teachers, your guidance and orientation is the motivation for me to continuously
improve myself.
Finally, I would also like to thank 38 members of class K41-English Linguistics for
providing the information for my study to conduct this thesis.

3i

ABSTRACT

This research aims to investigate the common issues that students often have to face
during Consecutive Interpretation classes in Hanoi Pedagogical University 2.
Consecutive Interpretation is among the official subjects of English Linguistics field
in the HPU2. In obtaining the data, the researcher uses survey questionnaire,
interview form and observation of Consecutive Interpretation practice classes.
There are two results of this research. The first result show that students often have
to face with 4 main problems namely, listening, short-term memory, note-taking,
and idea-expressing issue. The second result is that those problems happen quite
frequent in Interpreting classes which affect badly to the students’ performance.
Therefore, the researcher suggests readers some useful tips and techniques to
overcome those difficulties when doing a Consecutive Interpretation. For further
research, it is suggested that the study will be conducted in a larger scope and with a
more detailed inside into Consecutive Interpretation.
Keywords: Consecutive Interpretation, difficulties, listening, short-term memory,
note-taking, idea-expressing.

4i


LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

Item No.

Abbreviation

Explanation

1

I.L.O.

International Labour Organization

2

WHO

World Health Organization

3

HR

Human Resources

4

SOAS

School of Oriental & African
Studies

5

ET&I

English Translation & Interpretation

6

HPU2

Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

7

EU

European Union

8

WTO

World Trade Organization

9

WHO

World Health Organization

10

UNICEF

United Nations Children’s Fund

11

APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... ii
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS...................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................1
1.1. RATIONALE .......................................................................................................1
1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................1
1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ....................................................................................2
1.4.
DESIGN
OF
..................................................................................2

THE

STUDY

1.5. SCHEDULE OF CONDUCTING THE STUDY ................................................2

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................3
2.1. Characteristics of interpretation ...........................................................................3
2.1.1. Theories of interpretation ..................................................................................3
2.1.2. Types of interpretation ......................................................................................5
2.1.3. Modes of interpretation .....................................................................................6
2.1.4. Modalities of interpretation...............................................................................8
2.1.5. Consecutive translation .....................................................................................9
2.2. Situations to interpret. ........................................................................................10
2.3. Interpreting procedures ......................................................................................11
2.3.1. Steps ................................................................................................................11
2.3.2. Key Skills ........................................................................................................12
2.4. Some important issues of Consecutive Interpreting ..........................................14
2.4.1. Knowledge ......................................................................................................14
2.4.2. Powerful Listening ..........................................................................................15
2.4.3. Memory ...........................................................................................................15
4


2.4.4. Note-taking......................................................................................................15
2.4.5. Time ................................................................................................................16
2.4.6. Pronunciation ..................................................................................................16
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................17
3.1 Research methods................................................................................................17
3.1.2. Research instruments ......................................................................................17
3.1.3 Questionnaire ...................................................................................................17
3.1.4 Interview ..........................................................................................................17
3.1.5 Observation ......................................................................................................17
3.1.6. Research Participants ......................................................................................17
3.2. Research questions .............................................................................................17
3.3. Research instruments .........................................................................................18

3.3.1. Questionnaire ..................................................................................................18
3.3.2. Interview .........................................................................................................18
3.3.3. Observation .....................................................................................................19
3.4. Data collection ...................................................................................................19
3.5. Data analysis ......................................................................................................19
3.5.1. Questionnaire data...........................................................................................22
3.5.2. Interview data..................................................................................................27
3.5.3. Observation data..............................................................................................28
CHAPTER IV: SUGGESTIONS ..............................................................................30
4.1. Listening skills ...................................................................................................30
4.2. Note-taking skills ...............................................................................................31
4.2.1. Always know what is to note down ................................................................31
4.2.2. Set the links between ideas .............................................................................31
4.2.3. Pay attention to verb tenses.............................................................................31
4.2.4. Use symbols, abbreviations.............................................................................31
v


4.2.5. Mapping note-taking .......................................................................................32
4.3 Speaking skills ....................................................................................................32
4.4 Memorizing skills................................................................................................33
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION.................................................................................35
5.1. Conclusions ........................................................................................................35
5.2. Limitation of the study .......................................................................................35
5.3. Recommendations ..............................................................................................36
5.3.1. To students ......................................................................................................36
5.3.2. To teachers ......................................................................................................36
5.3.3. To researchers .................................................................................................36
APPENDICES...........................................................................................................37
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................40

66


CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. RATIONALE

77


Nowadays, it cannot be denied that our world is growing rapidly in every aspect.
Particularly, when global integration is becoming a trend, results in the need for
large enterprises and international organizations to expand cooperation and
international relations. Thus, there is a need for more understanding in intercultural
relations and communication, inter-language and interpreters are the bridge
connects the outside world. As a well-known translator Anna Rusconi said “Words
travel worlds, and translators do the driving” (Anna Rusconi, 2016). And so, the
world view of the interpreter has changed a lot, far different from the old days since
it was excelling in most areas such as: Businesses, math, physics, science and
technology. Interpreters has become disciplines in universities and colleges, learners
will be trained to become future interpreters.
In Vietnam, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 is one among the schools with the
training of interpreting skills in the language learning industry. The curriculum
includes interpreting and related courses such as: note-taking, translation theories,
and discourse analysis. The main course, interpreting, is divided into theoretical and
practical periods which provide not only basic knowledge but also experience in
real translating situation with foreign teachers. However, during the study, many
difficulties still appear in the training and learning sessions of students, especially
for senior majors when certain level of skills is required to be ready for work after

graduation.
This paper will provide a brief look of interpretation and its other aspects.
Moreover, the study will focus mainly on common difficulties senior English
majors in the context of this study are facing and give some solutions and strategies
in order to help them overcome the problems.

1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
 ointing out commons difficulties senior English-majored students often face.
P
Suggesting useful tips and strategies to help students overcome the difficulties.
To archive the aims of the study, these following questions have been raised:
- What are the most common difficulties that senior majors face in interpretation?

88


- To what extent do those obstacles affect students’ performance?
1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study will focus mainly on regular problems students commonly
have in terms of English Interpretation in the scale of Hanoi Pedagogical University
2. Also, the study will provide English learners with basic theories of interpretation
as well as its aspects.

1.4. DESIGN OF THE STUDY The
study is divided into 4 chapters: Chapter
1 is the introduction of my study.
Chapter 2 will give some theoretical background knowledge of interpretation.
Chapter 3 is the procedures of conducting the study, as well as the data analyzing
process after collecting responses from the questionnaire and interviews.
Chapter 4 is the final one in which I will give some practical tips and suggestions to

help senior majors overcome the problems they face.

1.5. SCHEDULE OF CONDUCTING THE STUDY
Timeline

Work to do
- Finding related references

November, 2018

- Reading the materials to get ideas about the
study
- Writing the outline of the study

December, 2018

- Finishing chapter I of the study
- Finding references for study

January, 2018 to Aril
2018

- Doing survey research
- Designing survey questionnaire

April, 2019
May, 2019

- Finishing chapter II of the study
- Finishing chapter III and chapter IV of the

study

22


CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
Consecutive interpreting requires large number of concentrative and cognitive and
psychomotor processes, since those are challenges that the interpreter has to deal
with simultaneously. During the process, the interpreter has to confront with
unexpected situations while he/she is already working in his/her available capacity.
Therefore, it is crucial that interpreters should develop a series of useful strategies
or tactics that can be used to overcome the problems encountered.
The fact is, even top translators make mistakes and errors occurred when their
cognitive processing capacity is limited. Because we can only attend to so much
with our conscious processes, we automatist as much as possible to leave our minds
free for more difficult tasks. That means that our attention is directed to only some
of the things we are doing at the same time (Shlesinger, 2013).
Many previous researches have been conducted to study aspects of translation, such
as processing overview, translation strategies, obstacles when doing interpretation
in many situations, cases. However, after a certain period of time reviewing some
former articles, researches of Marta Arumí Ribas (2012), Debra Russell (2005),
Pöchhacker, Franz (2004) , and related studies of interpretations, the author found
that there are still some problems that the previous studies did not go into research.
One of that is about common difficulties when interpreting, but in a smaller and
more specific scope, it is for students who are in the process of training to become
translators, translators in the future.
Most of the previous works have mentioned this topic, but in a larger category, and
are more academic, more professional. While in the environment of university
training, students do not have much the experience. Since then, there has been a

need for a number of listed information, from which students can grasp as soon as
they are in the process of being trained to orient and change themselves to adapt
earlier with changes after graduation.
Since there is a limited number of researches about this field, it is the suitable
context for the author to conduct this study

2.1. Characteristics of interpretation
2.1.1. Theories of interpretation

33


2.1.1.1. A brief history of interpretation
Interpreting is an ancient human practice which preludes the origination of writing
and translation. Interpreting seems to have been existing since the Ancient Egypt,
according to Pochhaker, the word “interpreter” in English is actually derived from
the word “interpres” in Latin means a special person who explain what is
ambiguous.
Interpreting has existed since people use spoken language and its origins go back to
rd

the beginning of the mankind. Dated back to Ancient Egypt during the 3
millennium, the first sign of language interpreting was in the form of Egyptian lowrelief sculptures in a prince’s tomb that made reference to an interpreter supervisor.
Since significant importance of good business changed the way of communication,
and the interpreters began to made their first appearance. Interpreters continued
their work till the Age of Discovery, when the exploration of new continents leads
to the find-out of new native languages, and they became the tools to negotiate with
the native peoples. For ancient Greeks and Romans, it was unacceptable to learn the
th

language of the people they are conquering. Thus, during this time up until the 17
century, Latin was the language of diplomacy, and therefore all nations needed to
have or capture some people who can spoke Latin so as to maintain diplomatic
relations. In real-time, interpreters are also having the same mission which is
making the bridge of the relationship between organizations and enterprises and
also, countries.

2.1.1.2. What is interpretation
There are so many ways to define what interpretation is. Gentile said “Interpreting
is the oral transfer of messages between speakers of different languages”.
Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final
translation on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source
language.
The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous interpreting, which
is done at the time of the exposure to the source language, and consecutive
interpreting, which is done at breaks to this exposure.
Interpreting takes place when a person orally translates what he or she hear from
speaker into another language. In such today’s globalization era, almost everyone is

44


to communicate and interact with each other despite the distance of geographic,
language, and culture, interpreting is needed to solve that distance.

2.1.2. Types of interpretation
2.1.2.1. Conference
Conference interpretation refers to interpreting at a large meeting, or conference,
simultaneously or consecutively. There are professional conference interpreters who
provide the interpreting service in international conference.

Nowadays, there is an overwhelming number of conference using simultaneous
interpreting since the interpreters sit in booths wearing headphone and
simultaneously translate the speech.
Usually, interpreters who specialize in conference interpretation have a Master’s
degree of conference interpretation.

2.1.2.2. Judicial (Legal Interpreting)
Judicial, or legal interpreting occurs in courts or wherever a legal proceeding is
held.
Judicial interpreting can be consecutive interpretation of witnesses’ declaration or
the simultaneous interpretation of the proceedings, using mics and electronic
accessories, for the people. In such legal context, a minor wrong translation can lead
to several consequences, accuracy is the first priority.

2.1.2.3. Escort
Escort interpreters can be an assistant, helping clients to solve the language issues
while they are on a trip or business tour. The work session of an escort interpreter
may run for days, weeks, even months, based on the period of the client’s visit.
These interpreters are needed in presentations, meetings, and negotiations. Financial
and business knowledge are required in order to best understand and translate the
messages.
Escort interpreters are not just interpreters, but also act as cultural guide, a liaison
interpreter.

2.1.2.4. Public
Public interpretation, also known as community interpreting, often occur in fields
such as legal, social, health, education, and welfare services. In community
55

interpreting, factors can affect the language production of the interpreter, speech’s
emotional content, current social surroundings, its created stress, the power
relationship among participants, and the level of the interpreter’s responsibility. In
certain circumstances, even a life of a person will partially depend on the
interpreter’s work.

2.1.2.5. Sign language
The mission of a sign language interpreter is to convey the messages accurately
between two different languages, for both deaf and hearing individuals. This occurs
when a hearing person speak, and the interpreter translate the speech using sign
language, or other form used by the deaf. The interpreting also happens in reversed
procedure when a deaf person expresses a message using sign language, and the
interpreter renders the meaning to the hearing party in oral language. The
interpreting may be performed as both simultaneous and consecutive interpreting.
Normally, sign language interpreters will position themselves in a place that allow
them to be seen by the deaf party and heard by hearing party as well as be in a
position that they can hear and see the speaker clearly.
Depends on circumstances, an interpreter may have to translate one language to
another language such as English to American sign language, Spanish to English
sign language, or Egyptian sign language to English, and so on.

2.1.2.6. Media
Media is conducted in the simultaneous mode. This form of interpreting is
particularly for live television program such as conferences, live interview with
famous politicians, musicians, artists, businessman. To perform this, the interpreter
has to sit in a small sound-proof booth or cabin where he/she can see the speaker
through a monitor. The interpreter interprets what he/she hears on the TV monitor,
in this case, background noise can be a serious problem and it is crucial to make
sure that the interpreter is listening to one channel only. To work for the media, the
interpreter has to be professional and confident as a real television presenter.

2.1.3. Modes of interpretation
2.1.3.1. Simultaneous interpreting
In simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter is to translate the source language
sentence into the target language while listening to and comprehending the next

66


sentence. In this type of interpreting, interpreters cannot start interpreting until they
get the general meaning of the source language sentence.
Simultaneous interpreters sort out and memorize the words that the source-language
speaker is saying at the moment, while concurrently outputting the target language
the translation of words the speaker said 5-10 seconds ago. The aim of this type of
interpreting is to convey the exact meaning of the speech, not to paraphrase the
sentence.
Simultaneous interpreting is used in big meetings, conferences or trade shows.
Typically, when doing simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter will sit somewhere
around the speaker, wearing headphones and speaks into a microphone to interpret
the sentence simultaneously.
The interpreters must be decisive because there is no time to consider the variant of
to memorize the details. If there is any delay, some words that the speaker uttered
could be lost.

2.1.3.2. Consecutive interpreting
In consecutive interpreting, the interpreter is to hear the speech uttered by speaker
and then start to interpret when the speaker pauses. Therefore, the time needed is
more than usual since it may take double of the needed time for the hearing and
translating. Traditionally, the interpreter sits or stands nearby the speaker.
In consecutive interpreting the speaker usually stop every 1–5 minutes (at the end of

every “paragraph” or a complete thought), and then the interpreter step in to orally
translate what was said.
Consecutive interpreting may be used in small business meeting. This is a situation
in which speakers of multiple languages will take turns to speak and then be
interpreted.
A key skill involved in consecutive interpreting is note-taking skills, as few people
can memorize the whole paragraph in just one hearing without losing any details.

2.1.3.3. Whisper interpreting
Whisper interpreting is almost the same as simultaneous interpreting but the
interpreter does not use a headset or microphone, the interpreter will sit next to the
person (or group of people) who need interpreting and whispers or speaks softly
while orally translating the messages. In this form of interpreting, the quality of the
77


translation will be partially affected by the voice of the interpreter and surrounding
noises.
This is often used for a business meeting where just one person requires
interpreting, or for example, in a conference room where somebody in the back of
the room needs interpreting so as to understand what is being said on the stage.

2.1.4. Modalities of interpretation
In real-time, interpretation can occur in multiple of modalities. The most common
modality of interpretation is on-site interpreting.

2.1.4.1. On-site
Also called "in-person interpreting" or sometimes "face-to-face interpreting", this
delivery method requires the interpreter to be physically present in order for the
interpretation to take place. Each party will takes turn to speak and the interpreter

then begin to orally translate to convey the meaning.
In on-site interpreting, all of the parties who wish to speak to one another are
usually located in the same place. This is by far the most common modality used for
most public and social service settings due to the convenient and effectiveness and
that it brings.

2.1.4.2. Telephone
Also called “over-the-phone interpreting,” “and “tele-interpreting,” telephone
interpreting enables interpretation via telephone. This form of interpreting can be
used in community settings as well as conference settings.
Telephone interpreting can be either simultaneous or consecutive and may be used
in place of on-site interpreting when no on-site interpreter is readily available at the
location where services are needed. However, it is more common when all parties
who wish to communicate are already speaking with others though telephone such
as in conference call between parties, or in a tele-meeting of a company with
customers’ team.
If the participants of a call can hear only the voice of the interpreter, this telephone
interpreting can be conducted in simultaneous mode; or else the interpreting should
be consecutively.

88


2.1.4.3. Video
Interpretation via Video are useful for spoken language where visual-cultural
recognition is relevant, and even more applicable where one of the parties
is deaf, hard-of-hearing or mute.
In such cases the direction of interpretation is normally within the same principal
language, such as English Sign Language to spoken English and Japanese Sign
Language to spoken Japanese. Such activities involve considerable effort of the

translator, since sign languages are distinct natural languages with their own
construction and syntax, different from the aural version of the same principal
language.
With video interpreting, interpreters work with live video and audio feeds, so that
the interpreter can see the deaf or mute party, converse with the hearing party.
Much like telephone interpreting, video interpreting can be used for situations in
which no on-site interpreters are available. However, video interpreting cannot be
used when all parties are speaking via telephone only. Video interpretation requires
all parties to have the needed equipment such as camera, microphone. In cases,
video interpreting is also applied for distance interview.

2.1.5. Consecutive translation
Consecutive interpretation is defined as the process of interpreting after the speaker
or signer has completed one or more ideas in the source language and pauses while
the interpreter transmits that information. It is a highly complex discourse
interchange where language perception, comprehension, translation and production
operations are carried out virtually in parallel. In a real situation of consecutive
interpreting, the interpreter will wait for the speaker to make a pause in their speech,
and interpret what has been said and then wait for the pause again to interpret. The
number and frequency of pauses will vary but usually the speaker will stop after
making a few sentences. There may be 2 cases of consecutive interpreting, Short
Consecutive Interpreting and Long Consecutive Interpreting. In Short Consecutive
Interpreting, the interpreter mostly replies base on short-term memory while in
Long Consecutive Interpreting, most interpreter will rely on note-taking. The notes
must be not only eligible so that the interpreter can easily conduct the translation
based on what he/she had noted down but also short in order to catch the speed of
the speaker.

99

In case the speaker is talking for long period of time, the interpreter will have to
note down some details in order to render an accurate translation.
Advantages of consecutive translation is that there is no need for any technical
equipment or accessories, and in most circumstances an interpreter is all that is
needed. Also the cost will be considerably brought down because only one
interpreter is hired to communicate back and forth and no equipment is needed.
Moreover, listeners will have more time to absorb the information, especially in
sensitive situations.
Disadvantages of Consecutive Interpreting is that since consecutive interpreting
requires the speaker to make pauses and wait for the interpreter to translate what
was said, then continue the speech, this form of interpreting significantly lengthen
the duration of events, usually twice longer than using simultaneous interpretation
and, double the cost needed for the event. Thus, consecutive interpreting is not
suitable when there is need to interpret into multiple languages.

2.2. Situations to interpret.
In real-time, interpretation is no longer of the old type, it has become a modern,
professional service which is widely used in the world.
There are so many cases that interpret can occur, depends on the demand of society
since interpret nowadays has become a common service.
Bellows are some common situation that interpretation is suitable to occur:
- Job interviews
- HR meetings
- Parent-teacher conferences
- Legal negotiations.
- Court depositions
- Client-attorney meetings
- Medical consultations Interviews
- Touring/Travel

- Escort
- High level political talks between heads of state or governments
- In international organizations such as the Council of Europe, I.L.O.,
W.H.O.
- Drafting committees.
10
1
0


-

Press conferences (with foreign journalists).
At translation agencies.
By government agencies.
By private corporations.

2.3. Interpreting procedures
2.3.1. Steps
Overall, there are 4 stages in interpreting process.

2.3.1.1. Take in source language message
In this stage, the main objective of an interpreter is to listen to the speaker to get the
messages that is needed to be interpret, which is the source language. In translation
and interpretation, source language is simply the language being translated from. It
is the antonym of target language which is to be translated into.
In this first stage, interpreter need to fully pay attention to the speaker in order not
to miss any words or information. Notes are needed in case the speaker speak too
fast, or the interpreter need more accurate details to convey a better message.

2.3.1.2. Short-term memory
In this stage the income source language comes into the interpreter’s memory
system, information need to be encoded, or changed into a form that it can be
stored. Short-term memory or working memory is a work space with limited
capacity that can handle information processing and temporary storage. After the
information get into the short-term memory, it will be analyzed and processing in
order to give out a main idea of the spoken message. Through that, the interpreter
can get the most basic understanding of the utterance.

2.3.1.3. Long-term memory
In this stage, processed information then will be stored in a larger storage, long-term
memory. Seleskovitch (1998: 34) claimed that “in consecutive interpretation, the
memory consists of nothing more than understanding the meaning the words
convey”. At this stage, the interpreter already had the basic meaning of the source
language. This piece of information is then confronted with former cultural,
grammatical, lexical and linguistic knowledge that the interpreter has acquired to
alter the meaning to make the outcome target language most suitable with the
situation the message is said.
11
1
1


2.3.1.4. Deliver the message in target language
After the outcome language is altered to its most favorable form, the interpreter is to
re-express the source language from the former speaker to another listener or party.
The meaning of the outcome message must stay the same as it was uttered at the
beginning, minor modification is acceptable in case there is no equivalent source of
language to express the original meaning.

2.3.2. Key Skills
2.3.2.1. Active Listening
As Setton and Dawrant said in their former research in 2016, “learning to interpret
begins with learning how to listen effectively”. When begin to practice listening
skills, a person should be aware of difference between passive and active listening
in consecutive interpreting. Types of practicing exercises such as Idiomatic Gist,
Listening Cloze, Discourse Modelling, Outlining and Compression had been
mentioned in the research of Setton and Dawrant also, by practicing these exercises
active listening will become a default listening mode.
So what is active listening? Active listening means, simply as its name, actively
listening,
putting full concentration on what is being said rather than just sit still and hear the
speech. By giving full attention to the speaker, it is also vital that the interpreter be
seen to be listening or else the speaker would think that what they are speaking in
not interesting to the listener.
The term “Active listening” was first mentioned by Carl Rogers and Richard Farson
in 1957 in a paper with the same name (reprinted in 1987 in “Communicating in
Business Today”). In the article, they wrote: “Active listening is an effective way to
bring changes to people. Despite the notice that listening is a passive approach,
researches and studies clearly shows that active listening is a most effective mean
for group development and individual personality change”.
In order to become an active listener, some tips are suggested below:
- Using eye-contact: It is encouraging for the interpreter to look at the speaker.
Generally, one should maintain eye-contact for about 60-70% of the listening time.
An occasional head-nodding or body lean toward the speaker would be a good
“feedback” to the speaker, make he/she feel more open.

12
1
2

- Paying attention to non-verbal behavior: During the speech, the speaker’s facial
expressions, tone of voice may tell more than just words.
- Asking questions: Open-ended questions can be useful since it not only help
clarify what is said but also encourage the speaker, showing that the listener is
concentrating on the speech. Yes-or-no questions should be avoided since they tend
to shut down the conversation.

2.3.2.2. Public speaking
Public speaking is also a key skill to be practiced, as according to Herbert: “A good
interpreter must be a trained public speaker” (Herbert 1952: 59).
Public speaking is very stressful itself but dealing with interpreting and speaking
simultaneously is even harder. The reason is, an interpreter has to stay calm so as to
hear and process what is said then find suitable equivalents, arrange the words in
grammatically structured utterance to convey the message.
An interpreter can benefit from speech-conducting skills and nervousness
management in public. In fact, interpreters have to face many situations and meet
people with different backgrounds, different understanding of the language
exchange.
In fact, surely nobody will show their faith to an interpreter who speak with a voice
that is not confident, and without assertiveness and calm demeanor.
To have a better public speaking, one should:
- Notice that stage fright is just a physiological reaction: The fear will simply go
away sooner or later a few minutes since your speech, and you cannot do much to
terminate it. A correct deep breathing can help to calm one’s self down, give a
better condition for the translation and better self-confidence. A shallow breathing
usually lower voice quality and result in an unfavorable impression.
- Try to connect with the audience: Imagine that the audience are friendly, and try to
use eye-contact by looking at people from different distances.

- Make the speech spontaneously: Script-based speech is not suggested, although
most people need to plan carefully. Without the help of a prepared piece of paper,
the interpreter’s voice would be more persuasive and natural.

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2.3.2.3. Memorizing
Memory is, one of the most crucial factors that affect the language interpretation, “a
skillful interpreter is expected to have a powerful memory”, according to
Mahmoodzadeh (1992:233). Greater memory capacity allows the interpreter to
retrieve, and store more information for processing.
There are two main types of memory, short-term and long-term. Short-term memory
is the contemporary central processing unit to retrieve provisional information from
the speaker for later processing. Long-term memory allows the information to be
held, not just for seconds but maybe for days, months.

2.3.2.4. Note-taking
During the interpreting process, memory and notes should be both used. However,
memory is more crucial to the interpreter and notes can be a certain support. Not
until 1956, when Rozan published his fundamental principles of note-taking and
solidified by Seleskovitch in 1975, did the importance of note-taking in consecutive
interpretation became well-recognized. Distance from simultaneous interpretation,
the consecutive translation of a longer speech requires some note-taking as an aid
for the memory. Of course, this will be based on personal need of the translator.
Note-taking is very useful for consecutive interpretation since it helps to improve
concentration, and preventing the listener from being distracted by surrounding
factors. Besides, notes are helpful to keep information due to the fact that short-term

memory only stores details for a limited amount of time. By noting down some
special information such as numbers, proper names, special terms, etc. Notes enable
the interpreter to re-construct the idea for translation.

2.4. Some important issues of Consecutive Interpreting
2.4.1. Knowledge
Knowledge is crucial to interpretation, a speech or spoken utterance can contain
cultural relation and an interpreter cannot convey the message correctly if he/she
does not know anything about the cultural context of the source languages.
According to Pochacker, (2004) knowledge therefore for practice or further career
can only be acquired through special training. A professional interpreter must be
trained in a professional environment.

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Gile (1995) mentioned that in interpreting, the knowledge acquisition process must
be completed before the interpretation starts. In other words, interpreters should get
as much specific knowledge as possible before starting their works, while
oppositely, translators can gain knowledge through translating the text, or writing.

2.4.2. Powerful Listening
Listening certainly is the very first step to be able to communicate with each other.
To be able to interpret, an interpreter must have a good listening ability since it is
one of the most basic and important skills that he/she should have.
In real situation, a consecutive translator will have a lot of difficulties
comprehending the speech. Misunderstanding of difficult-pronounced words,
gestures can be avoidable if the interpreter has good listening skills. Listening can

help interpreters to adapt themselves to the speaker’s delivery to cope with both
external and internal distractions, to get a deep understanding of the message, and to
convey their translations.

2.4.3. Memory
An excellent memory is crucially an important trait for an interpreter. There are
long-term memory and short-term memory (or working memory), both of them are
the chief factors in interpreting. Short-term memory capacity is the main central
processing unit for not only consecutive but also simultaneous interpreting although
these two modes are different. When it comes to an interpreting, the information of
the source language must be retrieve or it will be forgotten.
During the interpretation, short-term memory works continuously to retain the
information for later uses. It is critical that short-term memory is responsible for
storing immediate details, information of the utterance while long-term memory
enable the interpreter to access the grammatical or lexical storage to reconstruct the
message in target language.

2.4.4. Note-taking
An interpretation process consists of 3 main stages, understanding, analysis, and reexpressing. In order to fulfill the mission to convey an accurate translation, notes
are certainly useful aid to the work as it helps to free the interpreter’s memory.
In some situations, the interpreter might have the full understanding of the speech
but it is impossible for him/her to remember the details, or any specific information,

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especially when it contains numbers, addresses, post codes, and so on then notes
can help. Real interpreting allows no chances to write down all the words that have

been said, so some words that plays key roles in the sentence are to be noted down.
Usually, an interpreter will use abbreviations for time-saving, as much as possible
providing that he/she can read them later.
In short, it is essential to bring the sense of the speech or utterance to the note, not
to use that as a mean for later recalling but for a more coherent utterance
expressing.

2.4.5. Time
“Time is the most restriction in interpretation” Riccardi (2002). In translation, the
process can be carried out repeatedly, it can be corrected again and again but in
interpretation the source language is uttered for once and it can only be corrected
partially because of the pressure of time, especially for simultaneous interpreting
when the translator has to simultaneously convey the message.
Interpreters do not have chance to read or hear the source language many times or to
stay paused for long to reconstruct the sentence inside their head. While in
translation, the situation if totally different. The translator can require all the needed
document to pre-translation preparation. For interpreters, time is simply the only
enemy that cannot be defeated.

2.4.6. Pronunciation
The mission of pronunciation is to develop communication ability, speech ability,
and to improve self-confidence. An easily understood pronunciation is a requisite
factor in communication ability.
In terms of interpretation, Elson (1992) mentioned that, in order to make the
interpreters themselves understood, pronunciation is clearly a central factor.
World-widely, professional interpreters are able to understand all the working
language variants but they also have a standard way of pronunciation with any of
the accents that are internationally recognized so as to be easily understood by
speakers of these languages.
Besides having to produce a standard pronunciation, interpreters should be able to

utter the words correctly and clearly.

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