Luận Văn Difficulties and suggested solutions and learning English - Vietnamese consecutive interpreting for

Khóa luận tốt nghiệp năm 2013
Đề tài: Difficulties and suggested solutions and learning English - Vietnamese consecutive interpreting for the third year english majors at HaiPhong private university


TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Background to the study 1
2. Scope of the study 1
3. Methods of the study 2
4. Organization of the study 2
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4
1. Introduction 4
2. Interpreting 4
3. Consecutive interpreting 6
4. Consecutive interpreting stages 7
5. Main difficulties in English to Vietnamese consecutive
interpreting process
8
5.1. Listening 9
5.2. Memory 13
5.3. Note – taking 16
CHAPTER III: THE STUDY 18
1. Methods and Procedures 18
1.1. Introduction 18
1.2. The objective of the survey 18
1.3. Subjects 18
1.4. Method of the survey 19
1.5. Procedures 19
2. Results and Discussion 20
2.1. Introduction 20
2.2. Findings and Discussion on Difficulties in learning
English – Vietnamese consecutive interpreting for the
third-year English majors at Haiphong Private
University and suggested Solutions
21
2.2.1. Students’ opinions about consecutive interpreting
in general and skills used in English – Vietnamese
consecutive interpreting in particular.
21
2.2.2. Problems in the listening stage 24
2.2.3. Difficulties encountered when using short-term
memory in English – Vietnamese consecutive
interpreting
30
2.2.4. Problems in note-taking 37
2.3.
Some examples of problems and suggestions for several
cases
46
CHAPTER IV: SUGGESTIONS and CONCLUSION 51
1. Suggestions 51
1.1.
General suggestions for student’s difficulties in learning
English – Vietnamese consecutive interpreting
51
1.2. Limitations and Suggestions for further study
51
2. Conclusion
52
References 54
Appendix 1 57
Appendix 2 61


CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1. Background to the study
Globalization has enhanced the public’s demand for more qualified translators and
interpreters (Austermuhl 2003; Amato and Mead 2002). For qualified interpreting,
besides their language and interpreting skills, interpreters must equip themselves
with highly specialized subject knowledge, as well as full awareness of working
code of ethics in various social settings. It is not a normal game, not an easy job.
To meet the increasing need in the interpreting market, there have been an evergrowing number of tertiary education institutions becoming involved in the formal
training of translation and interpreting professionals (Arjona-Tseng 1994). Given
that interpreting activities may take various forms, this research will base it s
discussion on consecutive interpreting. With an aim of improving interpreting
performance, the teaching and study quality of interpreting, this research will
discuss the interpreting students’ difficulties that often occur in learning English –
Vietnamese consecutive interpreting and suggested solutions. I do hope that this
thesis will help students who want to become interpreters in the future to find out
and overcome their problems in learning this subject.
2. Scope of the study
Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, this thesis only focuses on analyzing
and emphasizing the main problems in learning consecutive interpreting with
which interpreting students deal the most difficulties and suggested solutions in
learning English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting. Regarding interpreting
perspective, the subjects can be divided into two groups including professional
interpreters and students or would-be interpreters. However, in this thesis, my
subjects are mainly future interpreters; they are third- year English major students
of Haiphong Private University with the hope to help them find out their
difficulties when learning consecutive interpreting and the way to study this
subject effectively. This thesis is also expected to be a helpful reference to other
people who are amateur interpreters and motivate students to pursue this career. I
do hope that it will be useful to readers and people who are interested.
3. Method of the study
This study is a methodical investigation into the subject of difficulties and
suggested solutions in learning English to Vietnamese consecutive interpreting; a
focused and systematic request for information that is a product of a long
searching process with a series of activities. It involves a number of things such as
the collection and analysis of data, the evaluation of results, and so on. Field work
consisted in the design of a questionnaire to be answered by a sample of students
in advanced courses of interpretation. The findings enumerated the difficulties
encountered related to the practice of interpretation.
In the process of doing the research I’m still an undergraduate student, so I do not
have much practical experience. My awareness of consecutive interpreting has
been mainly gained through published and electronic reference materials as well
as the suggestions and recommendations by interpreting teachers at my university.
4. Organization of the study
My graduation paper is divided into four main chapters.
Chapter I is the Introduction, including four sections: Background to the study,
Scope of the study, Method of the study and Organization of the study. The
Background to the study is the general introduction about interpreting and the aim
of the study. Next, the Scope of the study limits the areas of research and targeted
subjects of the study. The Organization of the study outlines the main parts of this
graduation paper.
Chapter II is the Theoretical background that consists of five sections as
following: Introduction, Interpreting, Consecutive Interpreting, Consecutive
Interpreting stages and Main difficulties in English to Vietnamese consecutive
interpreting process.
Chapter III presents the study including two sections as following:
- Methods and Procedures. It includes: Introduction, The Objective of the
Survey, Subjects, Method of the Survey and Procedures.
- Results and Discussion. This section consists of Introduction, Findings and
Discussion.
Chapter IV is the Suggestions and Conclusion in which I give a brief summary
of the main points mentioned in the previous parts and some suggestions for
further study (experiences acquired and state the orientation for future study).
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1. Introduction:
This chapter is produced to review different viewpoints and previous researches
on interpreting in general and consecutive interpreting in particular. Especially, it
is intended to demonstrate relevant information on consecutive interpreting.
Various aspects related to the topic of consecutive interpreting in succession
ranging from panorama view to close-up view will be explained in this chapter. It
is started with a brief description of interpreting, interpreting classification, then a
focus on consecutive interpreting and the rest of the chapter completely zooms in
English major students’ difficulties when learning consecutive interpreting.
2. Interpreting:
By studying some linguistic scholars’ works on subject of interpretation and
translation, I have to conclude that there is not any regular definition of
interpreting. To give a clear definition of interpreting, at first, I will relate it to
translation which interpreting is often mistaken for. According to Catford (1965),
translation is described as an “operation performed on languages, a process of
substituting a text in one language for a text in another”.
A big amount of people confuse translation with interpreting. So, what is
Interpreting? Pochhacker (2004) stated that interpretation is oral, a special form of
translation or “it is immediate oral translation” as Roderick Jones (2002, p.3)
said. So, the main difference is that translation is written, while interpreting is
verbal. Mahmoodzadeh gives a more detailed definition of interpreting:
Interpreting consists of presenting in the target language, the exact meaning of
what is uttered in the source language either simultaneously or consecutively,
preserving the tone of the speaker (1992, p.231). Interpreting requires the ability
to accurately express information in the target language. Interpreting is not a
matter of substituting words in one language for words in another. It is a matter of
understanding the thought expressed in one language and then explaining it using