How can senior students improve consecutive interpreting skills

Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to improve the interpretation skills of senior students in Faculty of English, H.O.U.. What are some solutions to improve consecutive inte

HOW CAN SENIOR STUDENTS IMPROVE CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING SKILLS

Supervisor : Nguyễn Thị Kim Chi, M.A Student : Phạm Khắc Vĩ

Date of birth : 20/3/1993 Course : K18A4 (2011-2015)

Hanoi, 2015

CODE: 04

Graduation Thesis

DECLARATION

Title: HOW CAN SENIOR STUDENTS IMPROVE

CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING SKILLS

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Hanoi, 4 May, 2015

Student Supervisor

I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Mrs Nguyễn Thị Kim Chi, whose reference materials, support, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me in all stages of this research

My classmates from class K18A4 (2011-2015) supported me a great deal and I want to thank them for all their support, cooperation and valuable suggestions I would like to express my sincere appreciation to other fellow students of Faculty of English for providing me honest answers to my questionnaire Especially, I am thankful to my friends who looked closely at the final version of the thesis for English style and grammar, correcting both and offering suggestions for improvement

Finally, I cannot fully express my gratitude to all the people who directly and indirectly support helped me complete my thesis in time

Graduation Thesis

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES PART A – INTRODUCTION…… 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 1

4 Research question 2

5 Method of the study 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART B – DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW 3

1.1 The definition of interpretation 3

1.2 Interpretation and translation 3

1.2.1 Spoken and written 3

1.2.2 Real-time and delay 4

1.2.3 Level of accuracy 4

1.2.4 Direction and fluency 4

1.2.5 Intangibles 5

1.3 Modes and types of interpretation 6

1.3.1 Modes of interpretation 6

1.3.1.1 Simultaneous 6

1.3.1.2 Consecutive 8

1.3.1.3 Whispered 10

Graduation Thesis

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4

1.3.1.4 Relay 10

1.3.1.5 Liaison 10

1.3.2 Types of interpretation 1.3.2.1 Conference 11

1.3.2.2 Judicial 11

1.3.2.3 Escort 12

1.3.2.4 Public sector 13

1.3.2.5 Medical 13

1.3.2.6 Sign language 14

1.3.2.7 Media 14

1.4 Senior students’ common interpretation problems 1.4.1 Difficulties in understanding source language 15

1.4.2 Limited vocabulary 16

1.4.3 Inefficient note-taking skills and bad memory 17

1.4.4 Speaking anxiety 18

1.5 Summary 20

CHAPTER 2 – The Study 21

2.1 Subject of the study 21

2.2 Method of the study 21

2.3 Data analysis 22

2.4 Summary 31

CHAPTER 3 – Suggestions for improvement for senior students of Faculty of English, H.O.U 32

3.1 Strategies to improve listening skills 32

3.1.1 Pre-listening 33

3.1.2 While-listening 39

3.1.3 Post-listening 43

3.2 Strategies to develop interpretation skills 44

3.2.1 Improving memorizing skills 45

3.2.2 Improving note-taking skills 53

Graduation Thesis

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4

3.2.3 How to overcome speaking anxiety 59

3.2.4 How to broaden your vocabulary and background 64

3.3 Summary 70

PART C – Conclusion 71 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

Today, English plays an important role in our daily conversation because the demand to communicate with foreigners is increasingly rapidly Therefore, those who are bilingual have much greater job opportunities

However, a great number of senior students at HOU find it difficult to learn Consecutive Interpreting There are a lot of causes contributing to their fear of interpreting, both subjectively and objectively Therefore, this study

is made to help them

2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to improve the interpretation skills of senior students in Faculty of English, H.O.U Moreover, this also aims to help them understand the relation between listening, note – taking and speaking as well as how to do all these tasks simultaneously

3 Scope of the study

Based on my own knowledge as well as textbooks and reference books, I would like to give some suggestion to help fourth-year students tackle their problems Therefore, the subjects of this graduation paper are students who are not very good at interpreting

2 What are some solutions to improve consecutive interpreting skills

of K18 students in Faculty of English, H.O.U?

5 Design of the study

The study consists of 3 parts It begins with the introduction which deals with the rationale and the structure of the study

The next part is the main study which is divided into 3 chapters:

Chapter 1: Giving a review of literature, the differences between

translation and interpretation, types and modes of interpretation and the problems students have when dealing with consecutive interpreting

Chapter 2: Finding and analyzing data, describing the current

situation of students in Faculty of English

Chapter 3: Suggesting some effective strategies to improve

interpreting skills for senior students in Faculty of English

The last part is the conclusion which gives brief summary of the study

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 3

PART B – DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 The definition of interpretation

Interpretation is the act of explaining, reframing, or otherwise showing your own understanding of something A person who translates one language (source language – SL) into another (target language – TL) is called an interpreter because they are explaining what a person is saying to someone who doesn't understand Interpretation requires you to first understand the piece of music, text, language, or idea, etc and give your explanation of it

Interpretation can be defined in a nutshell as conveying understanding Its usefulness stems from the fact that a speaker’s meaning is best expressed in his or her native tongue but is best understood in the languages of the listeners

1.2 Interpretation versus translation

People often confuse translation with interpretation While both services involve adapting from one language to another, there are a number

of important differences

1) Spoken versus written:

Interpretation is the transference of meaning between spoken languages, while translation is the transference of meaning between written languages

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2) Real-time versus delay:

Interpreting occurs in real time It happens in person, on the phone, or through a television/video service Because translation involves the written word, it typically takes place long after a text is created, which gives the translator time to access resources (dictionaries, glossaries, subject matter experts, etc.) to produce an accurate and effective end document (or website, help file, etc.)

3) Level of accuracy

Interpretation and translation demand different levels of accuracy While interpreters aim to be completely accurate, it’s difficult to achieve in a live conversation They may omit some details of the original speech as they interpret into the target language Conversely, translators have time to evaluate and revise each word and sentence before delivering their product,

so they can achieve a greater level of accuracy and greater fidelity to the original

4) Direction and fluency:

An interpreter must be fluent enough in both the original language and the target language to be able to translate in both directions, on the spot, without any reference material Interpreters are highly qualified people, and the work is quite demanding It’s so demanding that interpreters work in pairs and must switch off every 20 minutes or so to prevent mental fatigue

5) Intangibles:

Both translators and interpreters are faced with the challenge of making metaphors, analogies, and idioms understandable to the audience in the target language However, interpreters must also capture tone, inflection, voice quality, and the other intangible elements of the spoken word and convey those meaningfully to the audience Despite the differences in the skills of translators and interpreters, both are bilingual professionals who share a passion for conveying meaning to people who would otherwise be unable to understand the information at hand

At the dawn of interpretation research, there have been debates over the simultaneity of SI Some suggested that SI is not truly “simultaneous” Such arguments emphasized the fact that there were pauses in speaker’s speeches, and that interpreters speak during these pauses If interpreters try

to put as much as possible into these pauses, the nature of SI is not speaking and listening at the same time, but speaking when there is no need to listen (Paneth 1957, Barik 1975)

These arguments were later refuted by Gerver (1971, 1975) Through his experiments, Gerver found that interpreters have to split their attention and that there is a limited total processing capacity available (Gerver 1971)

It is also proposed that the pauses in source speeches are too short for interpreters to say very much In fact, more than 75% of the time interpreters are speaking and listening at the same time (Gerver 1975)

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One of Gerver’s important findings is that interpreters can recall more

of the content of the speech after listening, than after simultaneous interpreting In one experiment, nine interpretation trainees were required to listen to, shadow (repeat it as they heard it) or simultaneously interpret from French to English After each task, they were immediately given questions that test their comprehension and recall of the original speech The result showed that their score of the test after listening is significantly higher than after simultaneous interpretation (Gerver, 1974)

This study should make it evident how difficult the task of the interpreter really is: the interpreter must translate the sentence into the target language while simultaneously listening to and comprehending the next sentence You can experience the difficulty of the task even if you only speak one language: try paraphrasing someone's speech with a half-sentence delay while making sure you understand the next sentence and paraphrasing the previous one

One of the key skills of the simultaneous interpreter is decisiveness: there is simply no time to weigh the merits of variant translations, or to recall just the right idiom in the target language Any delay and a few words (and possibly a complete thought) that the speaker uttered could be lost, and since the speaker may be far away, or even in a different room than the interpreter, the loss may be permanent

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1.3.1.2 Consecutive

During Consecutive Interpreting the speaker stops every 1–5 minutes (usually at the end of every "paragraph" or complete thought) and the interpreter then steps in to render what was said into the target language A key skill involved in consecutive interpreting is note-taking, since few people can memorize a full paragraph in one hearing without loss of detail Interpreter's notes are very different from those of, say, a stenographer, because writing down words in the source language makes the interpreter's job harder when he has to translate the speech into the target language

Many professional interpreters develop their own "ideogramic" symbology, which allows them to take down not the words, but the thoughts

of the speaker in a sort of language-independent form Then the interpreter's output is more idiomatic and less source-language bound

Consecutive Interpreting is divided into "short CI" or "long CI" In short CI, the interpreter depends on his/her memory and every message fragments being sufficiently brief to remember In long CI, the interpreter takes notes of the message to support rendering long passages In general, clients lean toward long CI as they don't need to interruption frequently These casual divisions are made with the client before the interpretation is done, contingent on the subject, its unpredictability, and the purpose of the interpretation

Consecutively interpreted speeches, or sections of them, have a tendency to be short Fifty years prior, the CI interpreter would render speeches of 20 or 30 minutes; today, 10 or 15 minutes is considered too

On the contrary, full consecutive interpreting of whole thoughts enables the full meaning of the source-language message to be understood before the interpreter renders it in the target language This affords a truer, more accurate, and more accessible interpretation than does simultaneous interpretation However, this particular method requires interpreters to have extraordinary memory

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1.3.1.3 Whispered

The speaker keeps speaking while the interpreter follows it in a whispering voice Because the interpreter simultaneously hears both his/her own voice and the speaker, accuracy tends to suffer, especially when the acoustics are poor This is a great mode of interpreting natural speech (not reading from speech notes) when the atmosphere is relaxed and accuracy of numbers and facts is of less importance The listener receives a more immediate feel of what is going on However, whispering may interfere with the listening of other people in the same room, and for this reason the use of

a wireless device is recommended Whispering requires a team of at least two interpreters

1.3.1.4 Relay

Relay interpreting is usually used when there are several target languages A source-language interpreter interprets the text to a language common to every interpreter, who then renders the message to their respective target languages The chosen common language usually is English For example, a Japanese source message first is rendered to English

to a group of interpreters, who listen to the English and render the message into Arabic, French, Vietnamese and other target languages Relay interpreting is used extensively in multilingual meetings

1.3.1.5 Liaison

Liaison translating includes relaying what is spoken to one, between two, or among numerous individuals This could be possible after a short

Conference interpretation is separated between two businesses: the institutional and private International institutions (EU, UN, EPO, and so forth) hold multi-lingual gatherings and regularly support translating foreign languages to the translators' native languages Local private markets have a tendency to bi-lingual gatherings (the local language in addition to another) and the interpreters work both into and out of their mother tongues; the businesses are not fundamentally unrelated The International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) is the only worldwide association of conference interpreters Established in 1953, it assembles more than 2,800 expert conference interpreters in more than 90 nations

Judicial or court interpreting happens in courts of equity, authoritative tribunals, and wherever a lawful continuing is held (i.e., a police headquarters for an examination, a gathering space for a deposition, or the locale for taking a sworn statement) Legal interpreting can be the consecutive translation of witnesses' affirmation, for instance, or the

In the US, contingent on the regulations and gauges stuck to every state and venue, court interpreters generally work alone when interpreting consecutively, or as a team, when interpreting simultaneously Not withstanding reasonable dominance of the source and target languages, intensive learning of law and legal and court procedures is needed of court interpreters They are regularly required to have formal approval from the State to work in the Courts — and afterward are called certified court interpreters In numerous courts, the interpretation is viewed as a fundamental piece of the proof Negligent interpretation, or basically inability to swear in the interpreter, can cause a mistrial

In escort interpreting, a translator goes with an individual or a delegation on a visit, on a tour, or to an interview or meeting An interpreter

A sign language interpreter should precisely pass on messages between two distinctive languages An interpreter is there for both deaf and hearing individuals The act of translating happens when a hearing individual speaks, and an interpreter renders the speaker's speech into sign language, or other forms used by the deaf party The translating likewise happens backward: when a deaf person signs, a translator renders the meaning in the signs into the oral language for the hearing party, which is in some cases referred to as voice interpreting or voicing This may be performed either as simultaneous or consecutive interpreting

By its very nature, media interpreting has to be conducted in the simultaneous mode It is given especially for live television coverage such as press conferences, live or taped interviews with political figures, artists,

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musicians, sportsmen or people from the business circle In this sort of interpreting, the interpreter has to sit in a sound-proof booth where ideally he/she can see the speakers on a monitor and the set All gear ought to be checked before recording starts In particular, satellite connections have to

be double-checked to ensure that the interpreter's voice is not sent back and the interpreter gets to hear only one channel at a time In the case of interviews recorded outside the studio and some current affairs program, the interpreter interprets what he or she hears on a TV monitor Background noise can be a serious problem The interpreter working for the media has to sound as smooth and sure as a television presenter

Being competent in interpreting is the ultimate goal of every English learners Interpreting requires the learners to be good at not only the source language (SL) but also the target language (TL) as well However, a majority of senior students of Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University are facing a number of problems which hinder them from delivering a good interpretation

1.4.1 Difficulties in understanding source language

Interpreters cannot fulfill their role if they don’t understand the source language A considerably amount of interviewed students shared that the inability to understand the given discourse, together with poor speaking skills, are their most common phobias Sadly, of all four language skills

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 16

(speaking, listening, reading, and writing), listening is often neglected and it

is the exact cause of difficulties in understanding source language

The neglect of the listening skills was accompanied with an ongoing debate about which of the four language skills is the most crucial for the learning and acquisition of a second language However, past research has thus far revealed that a large proportion of the research findings indicates that listening is the most important skills for language learning because it is the most widely used language skills in normal daily life (Morley 2001; Rost 2001), and it develops faster than the three other language skills, which in turn suggests that it can facilitate the emergence of the other language skills (Oxford, 1990)

1.4.2 Limited vocabulary

“You can't build a house without nails and wood” Vocabulary plays and indispensable role in any fields related to foreign languages and an interpreter is the one that needs the broadest vocabulary When learning a foreign language, it is recommended to constantly enrich our vocabulary as Henry Widdowson’s saying: “The more one considers the matter, the more reasonable it seems to suppose that lexis is where we need to start from, the syntax needs to be put to the service of words and not the other way round.” (Widdowson in Lewis, 1993: 115)

Vocabulary teaching and learning is a constant challenge for teachers

as well as students because historically there has been minimal focus on vocabulary instruction in classroom Due to this, an increased emphasis on

1.4.3 Inefficient note-taking skills and bad memory

“Why should I take note?” is the question students often ask themselves most Early on in our academic careers we learned that we need

to take notes But have you ever stopped to think about why note taking is important? Is there really value in taking notes during a lecture, a listening task or is it just what you’re “supposed” to do? Are the students who sit in class without taking notes going to score better than you, the traditional note taker? Do we really need to develop clear strategies or we just try to write down as many words as possible?

Most students tend to use “hack and slack” method They try to write down everything they hear, even a complete sentence Rarely does someone use their own abbreviations That is exactly where the problem lies We can’t properly handle two things at the same time and at the moment we put

- Their negative attitude towards studying

Our attitude greatly affects us in everything we do It is much better to approach learning with positivity and activity rather than put ourselves in passive roles

- Their laziness

The human mind is limitless but laziness limits it It is worrying to see some students only listen to English news in their class and do nothing English-related at home It goes without saying that one-and-a-half-hour Interpretation class a day (when you’re at school and are “forced” to study) cannot make you a good interpreter

- Subjective reasons

Experts use to believe that memory loss resulted from inactivity, but many experts now believe that stress, anxiety, and environmental distractions contribute more to memory loss than inactivity Mental distractions can be reduced with focused reading and studying, personal reflection, meditation, and organized study sessions It’s important to avoid cramming and unorganized studying In fact, this will increase stress, thus, inhibiting memory retention

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 19

In the end, your memory probably isn't as bad as you think It just takes some regular maintenance and a little training to keep it in shape You can't magically just improve your memory by studying If you're the type who forgets your keys, you'll probably always do so That said, you can employ certain techniques to help you with memory retention, and perhaps more importantly, your initial perception We've talked about this later

1.4.4 Speaking anxiety

Speaking anxiety has a great impact on one’s self-confidence since it often makes one experience failure when not being able to speak out and show what one knows Irregular heartbeat, perspiration, stumbling and an inability to act are a few symptoms that block ones capacity to act and speak This issue often turns into a vicious circle because one bad experience from speaking often becomes a reminder when the next opportunity arises If a student with speaking anxiety experience failure he or she will rather remain quiet than take the risk of failing again This situation drags them into a silence that becomes more and more difficult to break since it contributes to

a role as “the quiet one” in class Speaking anxiety creates a low confidence which makes students remain quiet in all situations, even if they have the capacity to express themselves and knowledge that is worth hearing

self-Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 20

All in all, consecutive interpreting is such a task that requires all language skills: listening, vocabulary, note-taking, speaking, etc… Consequently, it is considered the ultimate goal of English learners However, most of us are not ready to be an interpreter yet That’s why we need to tackle our underlying shortcomings immediately This thesis will provide you with not only the strategies to solve our problems but also the confidence to become competent interpreters in the near future

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 21

CHAPTER II – THE STUDY

The purpose of this chapter is to present the findings of the study and

to discuss their significance within the research environment This chapter deals with questionnaire to obtain valid data and analysis It begins with the presentation of subject and data collection methodology of the study and then the collected data are analyzed to find out problematic area and suggestion to the new solution

2.1 Subject of the Study

This survey targeted 200 K18 students in Faculty of English They are senior students aged 22-24 These students were asked about their attitudes towards Consecutive Interpreting and what needed to be done in order to improve their interpreting skills 200 copies of the questionnaire (see Appendix) were distributed but only 191 returned

2.2 Method of the Study – Questionnaire

The purpose of using questionnaire was to investigate the attitude of students towards Consecutive Interpreting The questionnaires were chosen

to collect data from students in a short time and the analysis of the answers

to closed questions is straightforward

The questionnaires (see Appendix) were made up of ten questions They were carefully designed to identify the students’ lack and problems

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 22

when interpreting, as well as their attitudes and strategies to improve their skills Question 1 is to find the general attitude of K18 students when dealing with Consecutive Interpreting Question 2 aims to identify students’ problems

Question 3 is intended to find the preferred news sources, the ones students prefer to take in class and question 4 reveals the favourite sub-listening skills of them Question 5 shows what topics they like most; question 6 highlights the importance of note-taking skills; question 7 is for students to self-evaluate and question 8 is there to measure their level of confidence and proficiency

Question 9 reveals the students’ strategies to improve their interpreting skills and finally, question 10 points out what kinds of new sources/programs they take at home to build up their skills

2.3 Data Analysis

This section presents and analyses the data collected by the questionnaire The problems will be put under microscope and suggested solutions will be discussed in the next chapter

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 23

Table 1 Student’s attitudes towards Consecutive Interpreting

Question 1 What do you think about the Consecutive

Interpreting subject?

Answer percentage

Table 2 Problems when doing Consecutive Interpreting

A Difficulties in understanding source language 48%

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Once again, the very first process, listening, is the biggest obstacle on the road to become a good interpreter There are so many factors contributing to this problem: bad listening skills itself, inexperience, the lack

of background knowledge, cultural differences, etc… About a half of surveyed students thought they are not good enough at listening What also equally worrying is that, 42% said they may understand some words but they don’t know how to interpret it or in other word, those students have limited vocabulary

In addition to that, the underestimation of note-taking skills extremely needs considering Nearly two thirds (65%) of K18 students shared that they

do not often take note when interpreting This is a bad habit as it is next to impossible to remember all words, all details without writing them down The result is evident: students can only remember some words of the first sentences; when the tape stops, they hardly retain anything

It’s not a surprise that VOA Special English is the trusted news source

of not only students but also lecturers VOA Special English is popular in Vietnam as it offers appropriate reports for non-native speakers which cover

a very broad range of topics: agriculture, economics, education, health, technology and general interest These reports are up-to-date and interesting Besides, VOA and BBC reports are also used in class from time to time

Table 4 Preferred sub-listening skills

Question 4 What kind of sub-listening skills do you

prefer?

Answer percentage

Table 5 Favourite topics

Question

5 What topics/themes do you like most?

Answer percentage

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4

According to the survey, most students feel certain that they can do their best when dealing with culture & tourism reports If given

social reports, nearly

commerce, science and sports are the least preferred topics

Figure 1 Student’s attitudes towards note

It’s surprising taking is the most important skill

There is only one possible explanation: they are aware of its importance but they are too afraid of losing concentration on l

Do you think the note

According to the survey, most students feel certain that they can do their best when dealing with culture & tourism reports If given

one of five students said they could do well However, commerce, science and sports are the least preferred topics

Student’s attitudes towards note – taking skills

that nearly two out of three K18 students think notetaking is the most important skills yet only 10% prefer it as table 4 shows There is only one possible explanation: they are aware of its importance but they are too afraid of losing concentration on listening if they take notes

64 36

Do you think the note-taking skills

is the most important?

that nearly two out of three K18 students think

note-yet only 10% prefer it as table 4 shows There is only one possible explanation: they are aware of its importance but

istening if they take notes

Yes No

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4

Figure 2

It is obvious that not many students are satisfied with their CI approaching method Some students shared that although they tried very hard, they couldn’t be as good as they wanted Only one fourth

are on the right track Luckily, this thesis

their interpreting skills step by step

Is the way you’re approaching Consecutive Interpreting suitable?

Figure 2 Student’s self-evaluation

It is obvious that not many students are satisfied with their CI approaching method Some students shared that although they tried very hard, they couldn’t be as good as they wanted Only one fourth

are on the right track Luckily, this thesis will show them how to improve nterpreting skills step by step

will show them how to improve

Yes No

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4

Figure 3

Listening is the exact problem of nearly threestudents 46% shared they can only get a quart

28% said they can barely g

75% of information or more and this once again shows the indispensable role of listening skills

Table

Question 9

What are your strategies to improve your

(can choose more than one answer)

How good students are at listening

Listening is the exact problem of nearly three fourth of surveyed

% shared they can only get a quarter of information or less and

% said they can barely get a half About one out of five (19%)

75% of information or more and this once again shows the indispensable

s

Table 6 Strategies at home

What are your strategies to improve your

interpreting skills at home?

(can choose more than one answer)

Listening to English news

Improving listening sub-skills

Answer percentage

41%

20%

25% or less 50%

75%

90%

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 30

This table clearly shows that people tend to do what they are interested in Film and music are not only some good ways to entertain but also effective tools to improve one’s English and a half of the students watch films and listen to English music at home 41% also listen to English news

as this is the closest way to simulate a real interpreting session

Table 7 Kinds of news sources/programs students take at home

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Films and music are their most favourite way to improve interpreting skills (52% students choose these) In contrast, interview is the least preferred with only 5% take it at home VOA Special English still is the trusted news source (31%) but BBC comes really close with just more than a quarter of surveyed students takes it

We can’t tackle our problems without looking at the situation realistically The questionnaire has shown the exact challenges most K18 students are facing: listening and note-taking skills However, there is another big obstacle: the fear of public speaking Fortunately, this thesis deals with all these problems by suggesting effective solutions in the next chapter

Phạm Khắc Vĩ – K18A4 32

senior students of Faculty of English, H.O.U

Chapter 3 introduces some effective solutions to specific problems K18 students often have when interpreting Please note that the following suggestions are not the only ways to improve senior students’ interpreting skills

3.1 Strategies to improve listening skills

Underwood (1989) outlines seven potential problems that could hinder listening comprehension

First, the speed of delivery is beyond the control of interpreters Underwood says, “Many language learners believe that the greatest difficulty with listening comprehension, as opposed to reading comprehension, is that listener cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks” (Underwood, 1989, p.16)

Second, it is not always possible for learners to have words repeated This is a major problem in learning situations In the classroom, it is the teacher who decides 3 whether or not a recording or a section of recording needs to be replayed It is “hard for the teacher to judge whether or not the students have understood any particular section of what they have heard”

Fourth, the interpreter may not recognize the signals that the speaker

is using to move from one point to another, give an example, or repeat a point Discourse markers which are utilized in formal situations (i.e., firstly, and after that) are relatively clear to interpreter However, in informal situations, signals such as gestures, increased loudness, or a clear change of pitch are very ambiguous

Fifth, it can be very challenging for interpreters to concentrate in a foreign language It is generally known that in listening, even a slight break

or a wander in attention can impede comprehension When the topic of the a speech is interesting, it can be easier for interpreter to concentrate and follow; however, interpreter sometimes feel that listening to the speaker is very challenging even when they are interesting in the topic because it requires a lot of effort to figure out the meaning intended by the speaker

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Sixth, learning habits emphasized in the classroom such as a desire to understand the meaning of every word Teachers oftentimes want students to understand every word they encounter while listening by pronouncing and repeating words clearly and carefully, and by speaking slowly and so forth

As a result, students tend to feel worried when they fail to recognize what a particular word means and may further be discouraged by the failure Students should therefore, be instructed to tolerate incompleteness and vagueness of understanding

Seventh and last, comprehension problems arise when interpreters lack contextual knowledge Even if interpreters can understand the main idea

of the discourse, they may still find it difficult to comprehend the whole meaning of the text Interpreters from different cultural backgrounds can also misinterpret nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, gestures, or tone

of voice In order to overcome these listening comprehension problems, interpreters need to develop techniques known as “listening strategies” These strategies are mental processes that enable learners comprehend the aural text despite their lack of knowledge

Listening should’ve been highlighted in every school curriculum more than speaking since eighty percent of what you know is learned by listening Listening is a complex process in which listeners interact with a speaker to construct meaning within a particular context Students should be aware of the listening process In fact, they are more likely to recognize their own listening abilities and engage in activities that prepare them to be active