Effective Reduction Of Listening Comprehension Barriers In Interpretation From The Angle Of Schema Theory

The history of interpretation can be traced back to the early time of human society. It is believed that interpretation became a formal profession after the Paris Peace Conference. Besides conference interpretation, interpreters are employed in many other settings, such as business negotiations, courts, social welfare centers and other public institutions. However, compared with written translation, interpretation has received relatively less attention in terms of research efforts.This thesis will focus on one of the most important components of interpreting process-comprehension. Comprehension in this thesis means understanding the source language (SL) message. It is the first stage of interpreting that initiates the whole interpreting act and affects a successful reconstruction effort. Comprehension barriers, both in view of linguistic and cognitive knowledge, cause failures in understanding the SL text. By analyzing the barriers, the present thesis aims to achieve a better comprehension in interpreting process in the perspective of schema theory.As a complex activity of language, interpretation deals with transformation of two languages, which is composed of comprehension, memorization of the source language, and expression in target language. According to schema theory, the knowledge in mind is organized into interrelated patterns which are constructed from one's previous experience of the experiential world. They guide the understanding of new experiences and help make predictions about what one might expect to experience in a given context. So schemata have a vital impact on interpretation. They also play an important role in the process of comprehension in interpreting. To give full play of schemata in the process of comprehension in interpreting, one must have enough schemata and be able to activate the appropriate schemata in time.Drawing on schema theory and adopting conferences of UNSC as a case study, this paper scrutinizes on how the interpreter decreases the comprehension barriers with the help of "Script" and "Frame".The thesis is composed of four chapters, including both theoretical discussion and case studies.Chapter One firstly makes an introduction to the interpretation which offers an opportunity for others to have a general acknowledgement the interpreting; secondly, it makes an introduction to comprehension in interpretation and an analysis of listening comprehension barriers during interpreting from two aspects: the view of linguistic knowledge and cognitive knowledge.Chapter Two introduces the schema theory which includes its definition, its characteristics and its classification. Chapter Three illustrates the real interpreting scenes and analyzes how the interpreter decreases the listening comprehension barriers with the help of "Scrip" and "Frame" and centers on case studies.In the last chapter, the thesis demonstrates enlightenments of schema theory to interpretation—Schema can effectively reduce listening comprehension barriers during interpreting.