In simultaneous interpreting, source language will continue to flow to theinterpreter. The interpreter must pay close attention to the speaker and interpreted at anearly synchronous speed. Therefore, unlike written translation, simultaneousinterpreting does not enough time to understand the meaning of the original text from thewhole text, and can translate words carefully with the help of dictionaries or other tools;nor is it like consecutive interpreting, which can adjust the target language by takingnotes after the speaker has finished a paragraph. The “instantaneousness” ofsimultaneous interpreting and the differences between the two languages in the wordorder require the interpreter to use the grammatical structure of the source language asmuch as possible, that is, to apply the principle of Syntactic Linearity to reduce theburden of memory in time, and to retain the energy and power to deal with incoming newinformation and to ensure the consistency and accuracy of the targeted language.” (ZhengChuanyin, 2013, p. ii) Syntactic linearity, as the golden principle of simultaneousinterpreting, can optimize interpreters’ working memory, and then ensure theeffectiveness and fluency of the interpreting output (Y&H, 2020).
Cognitive load is very important in simultaneous interpreting. Therefore, whetherthe interpreter can establish a complete cognitive load model in simultaneous interpretingwill have great influence on interpreting quality. By using Syntactic linearity, theinterpreter can build up the cognitive model faster and more perfectly, which makes theinterpreting smooth and natural (Seeber, 2013).
Chapter Five Conclusion
This simulated simultaneous interpreting report is based on the workshop of “YouthCultural Expression in the Digital Media Era”. The practice material contains fivedifferent speakers’ speeches, which are characterized by high-speed source language, alarge amount of redundant information, many professional terms related tocommunication, media culture, and some hot words on the Internet. Due to theabove-mentioned difficulties, limited time and psychological pressure, it seems to be ahuge challenge for the author to catch up with the speaker’s speaking speed without anyinformation loss and misinterpreting. Therefore, the author needs to be fully prepared forthe related background knowledge, because if the author does not fully understand someunexpected words or sentences, it may cause the interpreting process to pause or eveninterrupt, which will put great pressure on the author’s psychology and lead to the thefailure of interpreting practice.
In this interpreting practice, the author chooses the syntactic linearity strategy as anguidance, which can help the author make full use of the word order of the sourcelanguage and save time and energy to interpret naturally and fluently. And the author hasapplied five techniques combined with syntactic linearity strategy, includingsegmentation, anticipation, addition, omission, and conversion, and conducted thispractice.
The author has learned a lot from this practice, which is crucial for his future lifeand study. First of all, the author realizes the gap between a beginner and a professionalinterpreter. But the author is not defeated by the difficulties. On the contrary, the gapstimulated the author’s fighting spirit and ambition. Secondly, it is significant to makefull preparation before the interpreting because an adequate preparation on taskbackground knowledge can be a huge help to relieve the tension and pressure of theauthor. Thirdly, the author also realizes the importance of interpreting strategy and theory.Interpreting strategy should be based on process, combined with practice, and effectivelyguide interpreting practice(Wang, 2019). Only by combining theory with practice andpracticing persistently can we become an excellent interpreter in the future.
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