A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN INTERPRETATION SKILLS FACED BY SENIORS IN ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

That's the reason why the requirements for this profession are increasing.Just knowing English does not mean you can become a good interpreter, it must be fluent and fluent in both words

Today, in the context of enhanced globalization and integration throughoutthe world, the role of interpreters in international relations is also increasinglyenhanced The interpreters play important role in interpreting in importantdiplomatic and political conversation, directly affecting the image of the country

in the eyes of international friends or interpreting commercial deal, contribute tothe overall economy of the country

That's the reason why the requirements for this profession are increasing.Just knowing English does not mean you can become a good interpreter, it must

be fluent and fluent in both words and grammar in both mother tongue andforeign language, knowledge of diplomacy and international integration, as well

as understanding the differences between the two cultures to be able to conveycontent from words source language into the target language completely

However, there are many seniors who have to face certain problems ininterpretation skill Recognizing the negative impact of these difficulties, theresearcher conducted a small study to identify some common problems duringinterpreting The purpose of the research is to identify and explain thesedifficulties, and to provide some methods for students to be good at interpretingand have their own experience in the following working process There are 120people who are the fourth – year students of English Majors at ThuongmaiUniversity participate in this study They have taken the interpretation courseand have experienced with doing interpreting test

Therefore, in the hope of improving the students' interpreting competencewith the enthusiastic help of participants, the researcher hopes this study will beuseful for everyone

First and foremost, I would like to show my gratefulness to my supervisor,

Ms Phan Tu Lan, whose give me assistance, guidance, precious ideas,encouragement and kept me confident to accomplish successfully this study.Also, I would like to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers at Englishfaculty, Thuongmai University, who has given me useful knowledge and lessons,whole – hearted advice during four years studying here

I’m grateful to fourth – year English majors at Thuongmai University fortheir enthusiastic participation and help Their sharing has been the primesources of data in my study

Last but not least, I would like to thank to my family, my friends whoalways support and become a great motivation to help me overcome difficulties

in the process of doing this research

Because of the limited time, knowledge and practical experiences, therewill have some defect and mistakes in this study Therefore, I sincerely hope totake your remarks and suggestions for my better graduation paper

Ha Noi, April 24th, 2020

Student

Vu Thi Hoa

TABE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH

1.1 Research issues and reasons for selecting topics

1.1.1 Research issues

In 2016, the app iTranslate Converse was launched The app iTranslateConverse has the ability to translate and speak languages directly on the deviceand supports translating/ interpreting more than 100 different languages Usingthis tool is very simple: Users only need to select the source language and targetlanguage, then hold down the screen and start speaking The length can be in asentence, a word and released after speaking The application will interpret thetext displayed on the screen and pronounce it for the opposite person, but thistool will not replace the role of the interpreters, because it is essentially asystem It is just a system, so it cannot fully understand the meaning ofsentences, especially when in sentences, paragraphs using cultural elements orwords with multiple levels of meaning So sometimes this tool produces veryfunny interpretation results, for example, the word "bánh ít" which refers to atype of cake (glutinous rice cake), but this app interpreted this word intoEnglish: "little cake" because it does not understand the word "ít" does not meanlittle Only interpreters who have undergone a thorough training in language andinterpretation skills can see it Interpretation is a job that requires logicalthinking about language and skill in using fluent and fluent language, so it cannever be "dead" and cannot be replaced by technology

Recognizing the importance of interpreting in areas of life, ThuongmaiUniversity has standards for students in the English Faculty All students ofEnglish Faculty must pass interpretation course in the final year In my opinion,this is a great preparation for career in the future

However, during the learning process, due to various reasons, students haveencountered many problems leading to poor academic results These issues arelargely related to differences in English and Vietnamese language and culture

Recognizing these difficulties, the researcher wishes to find the right solution tosolve an important contribution to help students learn better in this subject,thereby equipping themselves with good knowledge and experience Almost ofstudy is about interpreting English into Vietnamese and contrary action.

1.1.2 The reason to choose the topic

As we all know, the high marks of interpretation course of seniors ofEnglish Faculty is slightly rare It is easy to see the reason here is that the newsubject, many students cannot adapt immediately so the learning results are nothigh And there are many other reasons The bad study of the interpretationsubject may be due to the fact that students have not actively learned andimproved subject knowledge or have not studied well the subjects which areprerequisites or parallel to the Interpretation subjects such as Translationpractice, Specialist English leading to uncertain knowledge about English andVietnamese, which makes it impossible to learn interpretation Vietnamese is thelanguage that is from the East and English is from the West, there are markeddifferences in grammatical structure, vocabulary & reflection in these differentcultures If you learn interpreting without good foundation as well as you are notreally hard to learn, the results will not be high In addition, complex sentencestructures and specialized words are also a big obstacle for students, becausehaving to work with a language that is strange to the everyday language makes itdifficult for many students Therefore, in this study, the researcher wants todelve into some of the main issues in the interpretation skills: issues frommajors, language differences, sentence structure and cultural factors At the sametime, the researcher also suggests some solutions in the hope that enable partlysolve these difficulties, thereby improving their academic results

1.2 Previous studies

1.2.1 Previous studies abroad

In the foreign context, the Marta Arumí Ribas's study (2013) wrote aboutproblems and strategies in consecutive interpreting The study looks intoproblems (objective obstacles) and difficulties (subjective obstacles) thatsimultaneous interpreters have in order to establish certain universalities as well

as to address the issues related to skill acquisition The results are drawn from anexperiment that was carried out with 18 interpreters (10 students and 8professionals).This study mainly aims to identify some general patterns in theemergence of problems and strategies reported by students at two differentstages of training in consecutive interpreting This study has shown that there aresome commonalities among all the students when tackling certain problems,novice students report more problems than the advanced students and theproblems that crop up tend to be different in kind, depending on the level oftraining

In the studies published in 2002 and 2009, Gile analyzed interpretingdifficulties and strategies through his Effort Model In this Model, Gile talkedabout processing capacity, which is finite and which enables us to see the faults

in the interpretation process and propose solutions to these difficulties

In 1996, Alessandra Riccardi had a study that talk about the problemsencountered and the strategies brought to bear by interpreters with differingdegrees of experience as they tackle a simultaneous interpreting task From amore theoretical point of view, in 1998 Riccardi has reflected on the creativecomponent in interpreting strategies In her study published in 1999, Riccardiemphasized that there are general strategies, which are applicable to all languagecombination, and specific strategies applicable to the individual language pairs

in question

1.2.2 Previous studies in Viet Nam

In Vietnam, there are some research articles on this topic The first studythe researcher wants to mention is the study which is finished by Tran ThiHuyen (2017) This study was an attempt to identify difficulties caused bycultural differences in interpreting Vietnamese into English faced by Englishmajored final year students at Ha Tinh University It gained significant results.The writer clarified how English-majored seniors overcome cultural differencesdifficulties in interpreting As a result, some useful solutions to deal with thesekinds of problems were presented in this study

Another study the researcher wants to mention is the study of Nguyen ThiMai Anh (2012) This study finds out the main difficulties in learning English –Vietnamese consecutive interpreting for the third-year English majors atHaiphong Private University and suggested solutions The study has the aim ofimproving interpreting performance, the teaching and study quality ofinterpretation, this research discusses the interpreting students’ difficulties thatoften occur in learning English –Vietnamese consecutive interpreting andsuggested solutions

Clearly, all of these studies have one thing in common: an analysis ofdifficulties in interpretation However, the objects of these studies are slightlycommon and not specific In my study, I want to research in a more deep way alldifficulties that fourth-years students, particularly students of English Faculty inThuongmai University have to encounter

1.3 Research questions

This thesis firstly focuses on the general knowledge of the subject ofinterpretation skills, then, highlights the practical difficulties that seniors have toface This study was conducted at the time this group of students had justcompleted the Interpretation course Therefore, the writer poses three researchquestions as follows:

1 What problems did seniors encounter during interpretation course? Howcan these problems be categorized?

2 What are the reasons for these difficulties?

3 What should be done to help students to overcome difficulties andimprove interpretation skills?

1.4 The aims of the study

This study has three main purposes:

-Firstly, the researcher wants to analysis the basic knowledge aboutinterpretation

-Secondly, the researcher finds and points out the common difficulties offourth-year students of English Faculty, Thuongmai University in learninginterpretation, as well as classifies them and explains the reasons for thesedifficulties

-Thirdly, the researcher proposes some solutions to help students overcomethe above problems

1.5 Significance of the study

The purposes of the study are to find out the difficulties and then proposesome solutions to improve interpretation skills in the interpretation course.Therefore, this research is expected to bring significant benefits and become auseful resource for both students and teachers

Firstly, for students, through this research, they will find out theirweaknesses when doing an interpreting test so that they come up withappropriate solutions and apply it to fix their problems

Secondly, when this research has been completed, its findings andsuggestions will become one of the most effective tools to help the further anddeeper investigations

1.6 Scope of the study

The study focuses on the interpretation skills in interpretation course offourth-year students, English Majors at TMU However, to make the study be

clearer and more detailed, the researcher makes some comparisons andexamples Because of the limitation of time as well as knowledge, the shortage

of information, this study cannot cover all of them It is mainly aboutinterpreting skills in interpreting course of Thuongmai University In addition,due to a large number of students in TMU, it cannot investigate all of them whotook interpretation course Therefore, this study only focuses on the seniors ofEnglish majors at TMU

- The study includes survey questionnaires and interview questions forstudents who are seniors of English faculty at Thuongmai University The surveyinvestigates 30 students at TMU who took or are taking the interpretationcourse

After getting results from survey, the researcher will amass and startanalyzing them by using tables and charts

1.8 Organization of the study

Except for chapter 1 (introduction) introduced above, the rest of the studyconsists of four chapters as below:

- Chapter 2, the literature review, it has the theoretical background ofinterpreting skill which is the basic foundation of data analysis

- Chapter 3, Data analysis and research findings, present the method usedfor data collection and data analysis process Besides, it will discuss the findings

of data analysis

- Chapter 4, recommendation and suggestion, it will give some solutions

to improving interpreting skills in tests

- Chapter 5, conclusion, it has the summary of the whole study,limitations of the study, and suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Interpretation skills

2.1.1 Definition of interpretation

By studying some linguistic scholars’ works on subject of interpretationand translation, I have to conclude that there is not any regular definition ofinterpreting To give a clear definition of interpreting, at first, I will relate it totranslation which interpretation is often mistaken for Pochhacker (2004) statedthat interpretation is a special form of translation or "it is immediate oraltranslation" as Roderick Jones (2002, p 3) said So, the main difference is thattranslation is written, while interpreting is verbal Mahmoodzadeh gave moredetailed definition of interpreting: "Interpreting consists of presenting in thetarget language, the exact meaning of what is uttered in the source languageeither simultaneously or consecutively, preserving the tone of the speaker (1992p.231)

In all my knowledge, interpreting is the act whereby an interpretertranslates a sentence, a piece of text from one language into another languagebut their meaning does not change Interpretation is completely different fromtranslating word for word

The person who performs the interpretation is called an interpreter Goodinterpreters are those who are always flexible They know how to handlesituations when interpreting, so they can still keep the meaning of sentences andparagraphs intact The product of interpreting is verbal - it's a verbalconversation from one language to another Interpreters work directly withcustomers, sometimes by phone or other means The interpreting process can bedone in two ways: simultaneously or consecutively

2.1.2 Main types of interpretation

In interpretation, there are many different types of interpreting When youselect type of interpreting for a meeting or event, it is extremely important to

consider specific conditions, goals and communication environment In myresearch, I want to introduce four most common types of interpreting.

2.1.2.1 Consecutive interpreting

During consecutive interpreting the speaker stops every 1–5 minutes(usually at the end of every “paragraph” or complete thought), and theinterpreter then steps in to render what was said into the target language

Consecutive interpreting may be used for a small space with fewparticipants such as an interview, human resource training, press conferences,presentations, trade deals, smaller business meetings or in court on the witnessstand This is a back and forth style of interpreting, with speakers of multiplelanguages taking turns speaking and being interpreted

2.1.2.2 Simultaneous interpreting

In simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter must translate the speech intothe target language while simultaneously listening to and catching on the nextsentence Strictly speaking, “simultaneous” is a inaccurate name: the interpreterscannot initiate interpreting until they understand the general meaning of thesentence

Simultaneous interpreters process and memorize the words that the language speaker is stating now, while simultaneously outputting in the targetlanguage, the translation of words the speaker said 5-10 seconds ago The goalfor simultaneous interpreting is not to paraphrase, but to convey the exactlanguage Simultaneous interpreting is used for big congresses, meetings ortrade shows

source-2.1.2.3 Relay interpreting

Relay interpreting is similar to simultaneous interpretation but it is morecomplex The interpreter will not only translate one, but must translate morelanguages than two For example, a meeting has delegates from four countries ofVietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the US There will have three relay interpretcabins, using English as a common language: English-Vietnamese cabin,

English-Lao cabin, English-Cambodian cabin When delegates speak English,all three interpreters simultaneously interpreted into Vietnamese, Lao, andCambodian to the delegates of these countries Then, when a Vietnamesedelegate speaks, an interpreter in Vietnamese cabin will interpret the speaker'sspeech into English At the same time, interpreters in English-Laos and English-Cambodian cabins have to listen to the interpreter from the Vietnamese cabinand interpret English into Lao and Cambodian.

This type of interpretation maybe causes discrepancies, as manyinterpreters are involved in the interpretation process It is used for big meetings,conferences or trade shows…

2.1.2.4 Whisper interpreting

Whisper interpreting is similar to simultaneous interpreting but theinterpreter does not use a headset or microphone, rather the interpreter take aseat next to the person (or groups of people), who require interpreting and coo orwhispers softly while outputting in the target language

This is often used for a business meeting where just one person requiresinterpreting, or for example, in a courtroom…

2.1.3 The importance of interpreting

In the past, interpretation was the continued transition from one language toanother Today, interpreting directly participate in all of stages of thedevelopment process of society: Economics, culture, politics, commerce

Just imagine if there was no interpreting on one day, the Third World Warwould be triggered by the climax of political conflict and language barrier.People will be increasingly limited in the land of their barren language.Therefore, interpreting is a language bridge that has responsibility to operate all

of activities such as economic, cultural, political or commercial Interpretingcreates opportunities for continuous development, updating the trend of moderntechnology and new chemical Interpreting play an important role as a linkbetween people, we exchange information and understand each other and

cooperate with each other When peoples have the same language, everythingbecomes extremely easy Interpreting also increase professionalism in eachconference, government

In that context, interpreters are thought that have an extremely importantrole That is the reason why interpreters should keep tireless efforts to improveinterpreting skills

2.1.4 Factors affecting to interpretation

To have a good translation, we need a harmonious combination ofelements Each element has a certain level of contribution so you can improveyour interpretation skills

2.1.4.1 Grammar structure and vocabulary

These are the two great factors that contribute to 50% into improving yourinterpretation skills In other words, this is a very important factor To become agood interpreter, you need to master these factors You should improve yourgrammar structures ability and cultivate a great deal of vocabulary for bothsource and target languages

In interpretation, just using the correct word to express is not enough, butyou need to use different sentence structures to convey appropriately andsmoothly For English, a word can have many separate meanings that are notrelated to each other Therefore, mastering all the meanings of each word isextremely important It is also necessary to help you using language fluently,thereby improving your interpreting skills It can be said that vocabulary andgrammar are foundation and framework for all the remaining issues Thiselement must be good, you can achieve other things

2.1.4.2 Differences between source language and target language

About 30% of the success of the interpretation is affected by this element.This difference includes differences in the use of words, words, tones andespecially cultural differences .This requires you to understand all theselanguages as well as the customs between the two countries in order to use

words appropriately In other words, many words, phrases or sentences in onelanguage seem to be understandable, but it is not easy to put them into the ear inanother language For example, in Vietnamese, one of the top notes that isalways mentioned when you interpret or translate English texts into Vietnamese

is translating so that it is "pure Vietnamese"

2.1.4.3 Experience and knowledge

The rest that determine the perfection of interpretation, are interpreter'sexperiences and knowledge Experiences include life experiences, experiences

in interpreting services Simply, when you have no experiences on a field, thefirst time you hear it, you will not be able to understand, let alone interpret intoanother language properly

Experiences will help you handle situations in more easily way, and onlyexperience will help you access such knowledge quickly Knowledge includesboth basic knowledge and in-depth knowledge Each person has his or her forteareas that directly related to the job If you have only the basic knowledge, itwill not be easily to deal with the fields that require intensive knowledge.Therefore, you need to cultivate knowledge to keep flexibility in all ofsituations

2.1.5 How to interpret effectively?

In order to interpret effectively, the interpreters need to have interpretationskills According to the study that is published in 2013, Jing Ma identified thatthere are four main groups of skills which make a perfect interpretation Thesegroups include listening skills, decoding skills, recording skills, re-expressionskills In each group, Jing Ma mentions all of specific skill However, in myresearch, I prefer dividing interpretation skills into four skills and they are thekey tools to help us interpret effectively They are listening skill, memorizationskill, note-taking skill and re-expression skill

2.1.5.1 Listening skill

Listening in interpretation has many similarities with normal listeningcomprehension however it has its own characteristics In order to understand thecontent of the message accurately and interpret, interpreters need to practicemany important operations such as psychological preparation, prediction andlistening selectively

Effective listening is very important for comprehending the discourse.However, it is quite possible that the interpreters will get nervous when they arelistening to the speaker’s speech So, psychological preparation is extremelyimportant The interpreters should set up confidence and enhance spirit toovercome difficulties They should learn how to listen effectively To listeneffectively needs attention and concentration Concentrating properly does notmean adopting a certain posture, frowning and straining with clenched fist, but itmeans to focus on the speaker’s speeches When interpreters hear an idea that isnot immediately clear to them, or miss an idea in the heat of the moment, theinterpreters should keep calm and cautiously

Prediction is an important means that helps the interpreter to relieve the line memory load so that the processing capacity can be preserved for otherefforts During the interpreting process, we can anticipate and prepare for somecontents that may be mentioned Thus, when the speaker mentions that fields we

on-do not feel strange and grasp information easily

Besides, listening selectively is also an important skill Jing Ma (2013) said

"Interpreting work requires concentrated or discriminative listening, also known

as active listening, which means avoiding all distractions and learning to bealert The redundancy present in speech is a great advantage for the interpreters

In other words, they should learn to distinguish useful information fromredundant information, and only concentrate their attention on the essentialinformation." The interpreters need to select and classify any information thatthey hear

2.1.5.2 Memorization skill

It is undeniable that listening to and repeating exactly what you just heard

is too difficult for any learner However, the exact and full repetition is not reallynecessary Because listeners only need to memorize main ideas, key words, andconvey information to their mother tongue or to a language on demand As youlistening selectively and categorize information, you'll know you need toremember more important information and skip any information that can beignored Therefore, memory skills are also understood as skills to draw out themain idea of the listening lesson

2.1.5.3 Note-taking skill

Similar to the memorization skill, the note-taking skill does not mean torecord all information that you hear In fact, this is almost impossible, becausethe speed of speaking will always be faster than the speed of writing So, howshould interpreters take note? Here the note should be made in two basic steps:shorthand and note taking Based on the ability to remember and draw the mainidea above, the interpreter just needs to write down a summary of what he hasjust heard and processed Interpreters also need to choose for themselves themost effective way of writing shorthand

2.1.5.4 Re-expression skill

Paraphrasing and explaining is an important step in interpreting Because ofthe limitation of one’s processing capacity, it is quite possible that the interpretermay miss some information On such occasions, the interpreter may reformulatethe main idea in a general way Though the accuracy of the discourse decreases,the audience can still get a whole picture of what the speaker has said If theinterpreter understands the meaning of the terms used in source language, butcan hardly find the equivalent words in the target language, they can useparaphrasing or explaining method to get the meaning across (re-expressionskills)

2.2 Difficulties in interpreting

2.2.1 Difficulties in listening to the speech

There are many difficulties in the process that the interpreters listen to thespeaker's speech These difficulties affect directly to interpretation's result

2.2.1.1 The interpreters do not recognize English sounds

When the researcher asked about the causes of difficulties with Englishsounds, some interpreters coughed that they could not distinguish Englishsounds, homophones, especially the sounds that have same pronunciation Inparticular, the confusion between positive and negative forms is the main reason,especially they don't recognize the main information because of somecharacteristics of connected speech such as : elision, weak form, assimilation,contraction, linking

Thus, the learners do not recognize English sounds because: they cannotdistinguish homophones and words with similar pronunciation, they confusepositive and negative form, especially some characteristics of connected speech.Besides, an interpreter with limited vocabulary and poor grammar structurealso make him/her do not recognize English sounds May the interpreters havelearned quite a bit of vocabulary, but when listening to a foreigner saying, theywere "frozen", and wondering "what words are they saying?" Sometimesinterpreter may be mistaken for a lot of vocabulary They know a lot of wordsabout tourism, economics, and sewing but they have limited vocabulary to use inthe fields that the speaker mentioned, then how do they listen to the speaker’sspeech About the grammar problem, it does not depend on the number ofvocabulary and structure that you own, but it depends on how many words youcan remember and use it in interpreting situations Poor grammar structure make

it is more difficult to listen to the speaker

2.2.1.2 The interpreters are lack of concentration

The reason for the lack of concentration may be caused by inexperience inlistening Then,it make it harder and harder for the interpreters to concentrate onthe listening

2.2.1.3 The interpreters have difficulties on grasping main ideas of the speaker's speech

Some interpreters do not consider important information to hear Orbecause the listener is unable in deducing the main content of the text from keywords, so they are unable to grasp the main idea

2.2.1.4 They don't keep up with the speaker's speed

The interpreters may not keep up with the speed of the speaker becauseduring listening process, they always translate all of information you hear intoVietnamese, then their brain will have to do three action at the same time:listening, translating , and understanding .Therefore, when they hear andunderstand a sentence, the speaker has said 2nd and 3rd sentences, this makethem do not understand what the speed is said Besides, foreigners still sticktheir tunes with each other, it may lead them to unfamiliar listening, and theydon't keep up with the speaker's speed

In conclusion, for the interpreters who make an English-Vietnameseinterpreting have many problems in this step, we could not negate that listeningand understanding a strange language is not eassy For the interpreterswhointerpreting Vietnamese into English, they have to face this problems rarely,however

2.2.2 Poor vocabulary

Vocabulary is often considered an important tool for language learnersespecially interpreters Schmitt (2000) emphasized that vocabulary is the heart

of communicative competence and second language Some of researchers such

as Laufer and Nation (1999), Read (2000), Gu (2003), Marion (2008) andNation (2011) have realized that vocabulary acquisition is essential for using

second language successfully and plays an important role in completing spokenand written texts.

For interpretation, vocabulary is even more important When the researcherconducted this study, many students admitted that they had poor vocabulary and

it made it difficult to interpret In English-Vietnamese interpreting, theinterpreters can't even hear or understand the source language (English) Itseems to Vietnamese-English interpreters, this is not really difficult when theylisten to source language However, their poor vocabulary intimidates themwhen they interpret the speech into target language

2.2.3 Lack of grammar

Grammar is like the skeleton of a body that named language It helps us to

be within a certain framework If the interpreters want to interpret naturally,their sentences should not be constrained by theoretical grammatical structures.However, weakness at grammar will also make you have problems ininterpreting When you are unclear about a grammar structure, you may not beable to understand what the speaker is saying

Some interpreters are still lack of grammatical structures.In Vietnamese interpreting, almost we can guess the content through thevocabulary So, some interpreters disregard grammar problems However, inVietnamese-English interpreting, the problem of grammar has a great influence

English-If the Vietnamese-English interpreters do not understand grammatical structuresthat the speaker mentioned, how can they make their customers understand thecontent they have to interpret ? Mistakes in nearly identical structures can alsocause a completely wrong translation Therefore, interpreters must be extremelycareful to strange structures and they need to improve their grammar skillsconstantly

2.2.4 Lack of materials

Because of the lack of background knowledge (or materials), manyinterpreters are having difficulties in their work I have to identify that

background knowledge is an effective assistant of an interpreter A lot ofknowledge is required for an interpreter It may be language, culture, specializedknowledge in each field Once you have excellent background knowledge, youhave rich vocabulary as well as a thorough understanding all of issues that arementioned in your interpreting Background knowledge may be related todifferent fields such as culture, economics, science, politics Especially, ineach specialized field, there are specific terms and expressions

For an interpreter, though they may not be good as a professional, theymust be able to grasp at least their connotations Each person has a certainamount of knowledge in some fields The same goes for the interpreters Wecannot deny that there are a number of areas that we do not fully understand.During my research, many students who completed the interpretation course,thought that the amount of knowledge required for interpretation was too muchand they don't have background knowledge enough for their work

This difficulty is a big problem for both English-Vietnamese interpretersand Vietnamese-English interpreters

Cultural norms and values is also an important cultural barrier Each cultureholds its own values, meaning and norms different from another This difference

is caused because of truth, belief and judgment through which they acquiredknowledge about society and culture

It is important to avoid or overcome any kind of cultural barrier for anyeffective interpretation

2.2.6 Weak re-expression ability

The ability to express one's thoughts fluently, and make it engaging andappealing to listener is an important skill in communication This skill isextremely important in interpreting Some interpreters admit that they havedifficulties in interpreting because their weak re-expression ability Vietnamese-English interpreters have to face regularly A part of the reason for weak re-expression ability is bad language skill and poor thinking ability If theinterpreters have rich vocabulary, grammar structure and good flexibility, thisdifficulty will no longer be a big concern In addition, the confidence willcontribute to re-expression skill that the interpreters make their interpretation beclear Many interpreters said that sometimes they aren't confident and their lowself-confidence affected interpretation directly .If you have listened andunderstood the speech, but you can't complete the last step which is re-expressyour interpretation for customer How sad it is?

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH FINDINGS

3.1 Methodology

3.1.1 Context of the study

In the context of international integration and globalization, English isconsidered to be the most necessary luggage for us to develop ourselves and ourcareer Currently, many English Majors students are passionate aboutinterpretation However, the passion is not enough and the interpretation skillsare the most important things to pursue this career Recognizing the importance

of interpretation skills, Thuongmai University has organized interpreting coursesfor the seniors of English Majors It is considered as one of the most difficultcompulsory courses for English Faculty students

The interpreting course is thought to be great tool which help the studentsget better career opportunities However, besides the excellent students, there arestill many students who have difficulties in this course The difficulties not onlyreduce the score but also cause low self-confidence in finding a job in the future.The difficulties and causes for these difficulties are also very diverse So, thisstudy is conducted to find out the difficulties which the fourth – year EnglishMajors at TMU encounter during interpreting course in particular as well as thestudents in some schools and universities in general At the same time, theresearcher wants to find the causes and suggest the remedies for thesedifficulties

Firstly, Thuongmai University has organized interpreting courses for justthe seniors of English faculty They know their difficulties in the interpretingcourse and those difficulties are the cornerstone for this research.

Secondly, they have learned a lot of knowledge about English at TMU.They understand the importance and difficulty level of learning English ingeneral and practice interpreting in particular Therefore, they have moreexperience to help the research be completed

Last but not least, they leave school environment in the near future and this

is an important stage for them to prepare for their careers, especially for thosewho want to pursue interpretation

The participant is a cohort of 120 people, 15 males and 115 females Theycome from English faculty at TMU and they are fourth year students They allhave taken the interpreting course I chose these students because only thosewho took the interpreting exam can understand the feelings and difficulties inlearning process and in the interpretation time From there, I can get moreaccurate results for my research The purpose of the research was explained toparticipants and permission was passed to collect and analyze the researchresults

3.1.3 Data collection methods

This study is implemented with descriptive quantitative research design.This design is used to collect information about the difficulties in interpretingcourse taken by the fourth – year students of English faculty at TMU

3.1.3.1 Data collection instruments

• The survey questionnaire

The main source of this study is taken from respondents by giving answersfor questionnaire The questionnaire is chosen as a data collection method forthe study and designed for the seniors of English majors at TMU Currently, theEnglish faculty has over 250 students who are fourth year students Therefore,the researcher can find them more easily to conduct surveys and collect

information Dornyei (2003) said that the questionnaire can be used to collect alarge of information quickly in a short time It is helpful for the researcher andcan become a useful tool to have the researcher complete this study easily

The questionnaire contains 17 questions In more detail, it is divided into 4parts Part I is about general information of respondents This part has 2questions Part II is about standpoint of participants about some factors affectinginterpreting skills and the interpreting competence of students It consists of 5questions Part III is about interpreting practice frequency and difficulties inVietnamese-English interpreting and in contrast It contains 5 questions And thelast part, part IV is designed to receive some suggestions from participants toenhance interpreting skill This part has 5 questions In general, it can be saidthat the questionnaire is the most powerful tool for researchers to collect dataquickly and fully

• The interview

According to Thanajaro (2000), qualitative interview helps the researchers

to collect more in-depth insights on participant’s attitudes, thoughts Thismethod gives participants the opportunity to express their own views andopinions about the difficulties they encounter when listening to English Theresearcher has a more multi-dimensional and objective view of the difficultiesand then they will propose some strategies to solve each problem

The interview has four main questions related to the difficulties participantsface during doing interpreting tests, some factors affect on the interpretationskills as well as suggestions about some solutions to solve them

This type is face-to-face interview The interview is conducted with tenfourth-year students After the interview, the researcher will gather informationand base on the results to analyze the data The answers of participants in theinterview also help my questionnaire be more replete and detailed

3.1.3.2 Data collection procedures

The data collection process is designed with 3 main steps: