Coping Strategies Of The Cognitive Overloading Phenomena In The Process Of Consecutive Interpreting

As a student interpreter, a variety of cognitive loads such as information of high density and complexity had encountered me during my early practices of interpreting. Since at a lost for coping strategies, I was not able to deal with them effectively, which had resulted in losing hold of the situation and missing the bigger goal. Said kinds of cognitive loads play a vital role in the performances of interpreters and the overall quality of the interpretation. Therefore, the study of cognitive overloading phenonmena is much worth the attention. The Paris School of Theorie du Sens first emerged against the trend of international studies of interpreting at that time with a focus on the subject of interpreting. The Theorie du Sens, i.e. the Interpretive Theory redefined the nature, process and objective of interpreting based on observations of human cognitive structure and psychological activities. According to the theory, interpreting is a communicative activity with the aim of conveying the meanings instead of the speeches, hence, interpreters can explore effective strategies to cope with cognitive overloading phenomena under the guidance of the theory in order to achieve the best possible result of interpreting as a communicative act. The hypothesis of deverbalization and the triangular model of interpreting therefore, in my eyes, offer the ideal guidance for interpreters to deal with cognitive overloading phenomena. Such phenomena often present themselves as pauses (both filled and silent), missing information and misinterpretation.Firstly, the thesis took a review of the background of the research including the domestic and foreign studies of the interpretive theory and process of consecutive interpreting respectively and analyzed the two important cognitive dimensions during the process of consecutive interpreting, i.e. the cognitive environment and the individual cognitive mechanism of the interpreter. Secondly, the thesis gave an account of the theoretical basis of the study and the specific steps of the practice. Thirdly, through analysis of the specific consecutive interpreting practice (includes the video, transcripts and photos of notes) done by the author, the thesis concluded the reasons for the cognitive overloading phenomena and explained how I applied the theory to cope with the cognitive overloading phenomena occurred during the process of said consecutive interpreting. Lastly, the thesis examined whether the overall interpretation can be deemed successful through analysis based on the standards of the theory. Thereby, the thesis drew the conclusion that the interpretive theory can play a positive role of guidance in terms of dealing with the cognitive overloading phenomena during consecutive interpreting. Coping strategies formed based on the theory such as, condensation of key points, logic restructuring, contextual inference and supplement by paraphrasing, can all help interpreters cope with cognitive overloads in an effective way and render a interpretation successful by the standards of the interpretive theory.Therefore, to increase the studying in this area, in my opinion, can offer insights to interpreters regarding how to cope with and lower the cognitive overloads in the future practices to come, and thus enhance the possibility of a successful interpreting activity and provide fresh perspective to the studies of interpreting. It canl also exert a positive influence on broadening the scope of researches on relevant interpreting strategies.