Reorganization Of Materials In Interpretation And Development Of The Interpreter's Cognitive Ability

From hearing the message of the source language to speaking out the message in the target language, the act of interpretation seems very natural; however, it is the most unique linguistic communication among human beings, and it is peculiar to them. In the past, people could only explain the phenomenon of interpretation with the simple "stimulus-reaction" mechanism in behaviorism. Since the 1970s, cognitive science has achieved great development. Since then cognitive scientists have been trying hard to disclose the mystery of the generation of human language and to open the "black box" of the human brain. In 1999, L. K. Obler and others revealed some of the facts about the "black box" of the human brain in the book Language and the Brain. On the other hand, psychologists have identified different functions of the various areas in human brain through many experiments, which is a clear demonstration of the physiological basis for the emergence of language. Both of them provide scientific premises for cognitive science, i.e. cognitive description of what makes language emerge and understood.Referring to research findings of psychology and cognitive science, the school of theorie du sens has come up with the basic mechanism of language understanding and expression in interpretation. Theorie du sens thinks that in interpretation the statement of the speaker disappears in an instant, therefore, the interpreter only remembers the content of the statement and forgets almost all words that the speaker has used. In fact, since the vocal signs of the original speech disappear gradually, the interpreter can only keep the nonlinguistic content of the original speech in his/her memory, i.e. his/her conscious thinking or facts that have been mentioned. Theorie du sens calls the process of forgetting the vocal signs of the original speech and remembering the content "getting divorced from linguistic crust of the source language" (Seleskovitch & Ledere, 1990).According to Bao Gang, the process of target language expression in interpretation includes organization and issuance of the target language, i.e. the two stages of target language planning and production, which are based on searching for target language and getting divorced from linguistic crust of the source language. These two stages reflect the process of speech organization of the target language from inside to outside, constituting the whole process of target language expression in interpretation. Both the incomplete getting divorced from linguistic crust of the source language and the complete separating from linguistic crust of the source language enter this process. The process mainly includes conception of the target language, organization of grammar and structure and issuance of the speech sounds of the target language by the interpreter. Nonlinguistic factors as well as linguistic factors play a very important role in the process (1998).In the present author's opinion, reorganization of materials in interpretation consists of the two processes of getting divorced from linguistic crust of the source language and speech planning of the target language. Carrying out the two processes requires that interpreters have some special skills. How to train students majoring in interpretation to master the skills is a subject worth research and discussion. The solution of this problem will greatly promote the development of teaching in this field.Combining the ideas of Liu Heping, Liu Miqing and Bao Gang on the training of those special skills in interpretation, the present author puts forward several teaching methods, explains them and gives analysis of a real case. However, the proposal of these methods mainly depends on theoretical analysis and deduction, so their feasibility is still to be verified. Moreover, individual factors of interpreters also play an important role in interpretation. Therefore, the methods mentioned in this thesis cannot be effective to all students majoring in interpretation and the people who are interested in and studying interpretation.