Ineffective Pre-Task Preparation And Solutions Under The Guidance Of Schema Theory

Based on the author’s interpreting task for a mock conference of Bitcoin 2021,this practice report discusses pre-task preparation for consecutive interpreting under the guidance of schema theory.In analyzing the transcriptions of source and target speeches,the author found a series of problems in his interpreting,namely,inaccurate interpreting of terms,loss of information and disfluency.The author employed schema theory to analyze such problems and found they had been caused by ineffective pre-task preparation.In simple terms,some of the received information on the spot could not be connected with pre-existing schemata in the author’s mind,which had been created during preparation.Under the guidance of schema theory,the author further analyzed how ineffective pre-task preparation had caused problems and how effective preparation had helped him in interpreting.Based on his analysis,the author put forward several solutions to pre-task preparation: glossary preparation and preparation on speaking habits from the perspective of language schema;background knowledge preparation and preparation on information of speakers from content schema;and preparation on speech styles and discourse types from structure schema.These solutions are expected to help interpreters build systematic and comprehensive schema in their minds before interpreting,to avoid problems caused by ineffective pre-task preparation,and to improve performance in future interpreting tasks.