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_2

Keywords: Consecutive Interpretation, difficulties, listening, short-term memory, note-taking, idea-expressing... Simultaneous interpreting In simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter

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)

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

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

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

1 I.L.O International Labour Organization

Studies

5 ET&I English Translation & Interpretation

10 UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

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 THE STUDY 2

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

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

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

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE

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

 Pointing out commons difficulties senior English-majored students often face

 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?

- 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

November, 2018

- Finding related references

- Reading the materials to get ideas about the study

- Writing the outline of the study December, 2018 - Finishing chapter I of the study

January, 2018 to Aril

2018

- Finding references for study

- Doing survey research

- Designing survey questionnaire April, 2019 - Finishing chapter II of the study

May, 2019 - Finishing chapter III and chapter IV of the

study

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

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 the beginning of the mankind Dated back to Ancient Egypt during the 3rdmillennium, the first sign of language interpreting was in the form of Egyptian low-relief 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 language of the people they are conquering Thus, during this time up until the 17thcentury, 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- 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

- Press conferences (with foreign journalists)

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

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

- 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

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

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

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 expressing 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

re-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,

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

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research methods

3.1.6 Research Participants

The study is conducted base on the information taken from 38 English majors of class K41-English Linguistics (K41-ET&I) in Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 They have had a two-year period of studying and practicing in interpreting courses and related subjects Thus, the experience of those students is going to be the trustful source of data for this research, result in a close insight from the learners’ point of view

The students take part in the survey are all qualified with upper B2 level of English proficiency since the HPU2 always hold the proficiency examination every semester Besides, the students have experience of two-year learning of interpretation and translation

3.2 Research questions

The purpose of this piece of writing is to figure out some commons difficulties that senior English-majored in HPU2 often make, and to find out to what extend do