How To Tackle Main Problems In Comprehension Interpreting

The consecutive language interpreting process involves 6 major skills, i.e. active listening, memorizing, note taking, analyzing discourse, paraphrasing and reformulating. Of all the interpreter's essential skills above, listening and analyzing discourse are considered our weakest ones. The aim of this report is to recognize the reasons that led to our weakness, along with identifying the solutions that will possibly help us improve the ability of active listening and analyzing discourse.

I/Active listening skill

1/ Reasons for the problems of active listening

The problems relating to active listening skill will be identified in this section.

To begin with, they are the subjective causes that brought about our difficulties in active listening. The first objective one is the limitation of vocabulary. Due to the lack of terminology, we could not fully understand the messages of the speakers. Another subjective reason that should be noted is the low frequency practicing listening skills and communicating with English-speaking speakers. Not withstanding, unexpected negative feelings, such as tenseness and nervousness, can possibly affect us- the amateur interpreters.

Other reasons that should be concerned are the objective ones. For instance, interpreters usually have to work in a variety of environment and rarely do they listen to the speakers clearly in such “perfect conditions”. With the appearance of the impacts from the surroundings such as noises, distraction might be unavoidable. Therefore, the interpreters find it difficult to listen and fully understand the messages of the speaker unless they stay focus on only what the speakers is saying. Moreover, the variation of English accents makes us confused when listening. We get accustomed to hearing the recordings of standard British English and American English accents with very clear utterance for a majority of English learners. However, in common communication, we have to deal with a variety of English accents from many different countries. The speakers will perform their dialects that could be very difficult for the interpreters to catch the words. The speed of utterance is also considered the barrier in the first step of consecutive language interpretation. Assuming this, active listening is seemed to be one of the most complicated tasks in the consecutive language interpreting process. Needless to say poor listening skills leads to many difficulties in interpretation.

2/ Solutions for the problems of active listening

Based on the problems above, some solutions are identified to enhance the ability of active listening. The first possible solution is to take more effort on enriching our vocabulary. The more words we have, the more words we listen. In addition, practicing listening skills in a higher frequency is indispensable, which helps us improve not only the listening skills but also our vocabulary. Finally, having a clear mind during active listening is very important for us to grab the messages of the speakers. There is no doubt that all these solutions will enable us to be active and confident interpreters.

II/ Memorizing skills

1/Reasons for the problems of memorizing skills

The problems relating to active listening skill will be described in this section and divided into two main parts, due to types of reasons.

First of all, the lack of concentration in the procedure of listening creates difficulties in memorizing. It is comprehensible that amateur interpreters can not memorize the main ideas mentioned in the speech unless we pay full attention to the speakers. The second subjective reason that should be pointed out is the lack of background knowledge of the topic revealed in the speeches.

Beside the subjective reasons, some objective ones are also identified. The length and the complexity of the speech are two of the factors that created the obstacles in memorizing. While translating long and complicated speeches, some details in the speeches may be easily forgotten. Take me as an example. In a recent visit to Sapa in April, I met some American tourists whose luggages were stolen and they were trying to explain to the local police about this. In their quite long speeches, there were so many details that I couldn’t memorize all when reproducing to the local police. Furthermore, as the common reason of all weaknesses, the laziness in practicing memorizing skills leads to the limitation in short-term memory.

2/ Solutions for the problems of memorizing

Memorizing, along with active listening, caused obstacle in interpretation. However, memorizing is not something that cannot be mastered. By hard-working and regular practicing, everyone in general and interpreter in particular can improve his memorizing skill. In order to comprehend and memorize information effectively, it is also crucial to listen to a variety of recordings from various sources. We should choose the topics most interesting first and then move to other less interesting ones. Different types of exercise also greatly contribute to our improvement. For instance, you can listen to anything you like and then try to memorize as much information as you can. Obviously, these solutions above can help you enhance you memorizing skills.