On Anticipation Skills In Simultaneous Interpretation

During the process of simultaneous interpretation (SI), the interpreters work under great pressure and compete against the time in order to reproduce what is expressed in the source language. To achieve better performance, the interpreters are supposed to apply a number of techniques, among which anticipation, the ability to predict what is coming, plays an important role. The importance of anticipation for general comprehension has been somewhat recognized and touched on by some psychologists and linguists, with evidence being recorded that comprehension in effect is a process in which anticipation shall be gradually generated. (Carell, 1984) However, why anticipation is important and how anticipation can be conducted specifically for the purpose of SI has been barely explored, not to mention in a systematic fashion. In this thesis, the author, on the basis of previous studies and researches, will limit the studies of anticipation to the scope of SI, tentatively trying to provide answers to the above two questions. In the thesis, the author will firstly give a brief introduction to the current relevant studies, shedding light on their illumination for this thesis while pointing out their lack of pertinence to the study of SI. Second, the author will go deep into the analysis of why anticipation is a must in SI. Cognitive psychology offers some theories, such as Role of Working Memory and Memory for Discourse, which prove effective in highlighting the importance of anticipation in SI that it may partially relieve the memory of exhaustion. Besides memory load relief, anticipation deepens the understanding of the discourse. An experiment will illustrate how anticipation may make a difference in comprehension during the process of SI. Still, the author will move on to identify how anticipation can be generated in SI. Anticipation requires topic-specific knowledge (TK) and general knowledge, with knowledge of language (KL) included in the latter, and therefore the cultivation of the two kinds of knowledge is deemed indispensable in anticipation. For TK, Theory of Schemata will be introduced and analyzed; and for KL, Parsing Strategies. Experiments will be conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theories in generation of anticipation. In conclusion, the author will readdress the importance of anticipation and the strategies to come up with during SI.