Schema Theory Applied In The Process Of Interpreting

As a cognitive process, interpreting practice has increasingly aroused attention from researchers of cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics, who have carried out more and more inter-disciplinary studies and applied new methodologies to the process of interpreting. Among them, Schema Theory stands out as one of the most influential.As early as 1932, British psychologist Bartlett put forward the concept of schema, which he defined as an active and constructive structure of people's past reaction and prior experience, in other words, a whole body of memory to be organized and stimulated, a bridge to connect the new message and background knowledge. Simply put, schemata are a data structure made up of our long-term accumulated knowledge. When stimulated by new messages, the relevant schemata will be activated to facilitate the comprehension. Later, scholars have raised similar concepts such as frames and scripts.In China, the application of Schema Theory to interpreting began with Knowledge Schema in Translation by Wang Lidi, who tried to analyze some typical scenarios and transcripts in translation and interpreting with basic concepts and analytical tools in Schema Theory. His thesis is aimed to demonstrate that knowledge schema helps improve the quality of translation and alleviate the burden of information processing. The Role of Background Knowledge in Interpreting from the View of Schema Theory by Liu Jianfu probes into the role that background knowledge plays in interpreting based on the framework of Schema Theory. The results are: (1) Background knowledge is in the direct ratio to interpreting performance. (2) The existence of background knowledge can lead to a remarkable difference in interpreting performance. (3) Interpreting performance is related to language proficiency. (4) Interpreting is a complex process where a multitude of factors influence each other. Background knowledge alone cannot explain the whole process of interpreting. The paper will emphasize the significance of applying schema theory to interpreting, from both theoretic and pragmatic explanation. On the basis of Gile's comprehension model and cognitive psychology, three basic types of schemata, namely linguistic schema, content schema and formal schema, are analyzed respectively in terms of comprehension and prediction in interpreting.Previous studies on interpreting applied in interpreting mainly focuses on static analysis. However, the discourse comprehension is a dynamic process, and the interaction and interplay between new message and prior knowledge will naturally influence the build-up of schemata. At the same time, schematic difference across cultures will also pose challenges in interpreting practice. The paper will probe into the dynamic and culture-specific nature of schemata through script analysis.Approaches of deduction and analysis of examples are adopted in the paper.