Can memory training help improve interpreting quality? A case report in China

ABSTRACT

Interpreting, especially simultaneous interpreting, is a complex cognitive processing task that has special requirements for the interpreter’s memory resources. To date, interpreting scholars have not yet reached a consensus about the interrelationship between memory and interpreting quality, but it is generally acknowledged that memory is one of the essential elements that may affect the interpreting process as well as the final interpreting quality. Against this background, this experimental study examines the interplay between memory training and interpreting quality with reference to the language combination of Chinese and English. By exercising different memory training methods among beginning and advanced interpreting learners, the present study comes to the following conclusions: (1) Memory training exerted significant favourable effect on the interpreting learners’ performance. (2) Memory allocation training played a more important role than memory capacity training in the learners’ development. (3) Memory capacity training was more beneficial for the interpreting learners at the beginning phase, while memory allocation training proved to be more helpful as the interpreting learners built up more experience in interpreting learning. Therefore, an effective coordination of memory capacity and memory allocation training is necessary in interpreting teaching in order to achieve a comprehensive impact on the interpreting learning outcome.

KEYWORDS:

• Memory training
• memory capacity
• memory allocation
• coordination
• interpreting quality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Working memory refers to a type of human cognitive memory processing system proposed by cognitive psychologists in the 1970s. Different from short-term memory which is solely responsible for the storage of information, working memory assumes the dual task of information storage and processing, and it usually consists of the central executive system, phonological loop, video-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, etc. (Baddeley 2000).

2. In this study, in order to examine in greater detail the relationship between memory training and interpreting learning outcome, the learning experience variable is incorporated with a view to exploring the dynamic developmental relationship between memory training and interpreting learning outcome. In today’s Chinese general higher education system, interpreting course is usually offered for junior and senior undergraduates majoring in foreign languages and, more often than not, the training course is consecutive interpreting, which is usually offered on the basis of 2 hours per week. By contrast, more intensive interpreting training is offered at the postgraduate level for Master of Translation and Interpretation (MTI) students. In that regard, for the convenience of distinction, the undergraduates are referred to as beginning interpreting learners and the second-year MTI students advanced interpreting learners, indicating that the latter have acquired more learning experience in interpreting. Admittedly, such a criterion of distinction is necessarily subjective, for it is very hard to draw a line between beginning interpreting learners and advanced ones. Accordingly, in the following discussions, the terms ‘beginning’ or ‘advanced’ will be deliberately avoided. Instead, more emphasis will be placed on the effect of experience factors on memory training (see Section 4.3).

3. The recording is extracted from a live speech at a conference on economic and trade issues between China and other countries. The topic is one of the most common topics for interpreters in China. The recording lasts less than 2 minutes.

4. To a large extent, numbers and proper names per se tend to be less essential than the information and/or implication associated with them for the interpreters in some cases (Gile 2009). For instance, in the sentence ‘China’s GDP grew by 10.6% in 2010 to reach 5. 8786 trillion US dollars, making the country the second largest economy after USA, and pushing Japan to the third position for the first time since 1968’, the information or message that China is second only to USA in economy is more important than the increase in GDP or other numbers, especially when or if they are not easy to remember for the interpreters.

5. Previous research revealed that, in the circumstance of multiple processing (e.g. driving while speaking), the individual’s cognitive resources have to be allocated or switched between different tasks so as to accomplish composite processing (Just and Carpenter 1992; Ericsson and Lehmann 1996).

6. Some key words or sentences are taken from the recording and adjusted accordingly (facts, ideas and so on) for the subjects to determine whether or not they are the same as what is contained in the original recording.

7. As indicated in the rubric, sense consistency is primarily assessed by checking the subject’s correct transmission of the original message. For completeness, the assessors examine the extent by which the subject’s output can maintain the original information, especially where key words, facts, ideas or implication are involved. In other words, the focus of completeness assessment is on the degree of complete transmission of the original message. Logical cohesion of the subject’s output is decided by textual and pragmatic links between the sentences. Correct terminology is mainly examined by the quantity and appropriateness of key terms. Fluency of delivery is judged by the naturalness of the subject’s output against such factors as pause, fillers, repetition, and self-correction. Correct grammar is assessed by the correctness of language use in the target language.

8. Core information is closely related to interpreting information unit. Some researchers use the term ‘chunk’ to delineate core information (See, e.g. Yang 2010, 171) on this important topic).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China [grant ID: 12BYY062].