Comprehension And Memorization Barriers And Strategies In Interpretation

Interpretation is a job full of challenges. The requirement of rapid reaction and the limited processing capacity of our brain always form a pair of contradictions. Barriers may happen to both professional interpreters and learners, and the barriers can be found in various phases of interpretation. In this dissertation, through analysis of listening comprehension and memorization, the writer wants to find out the underlying factors contributing to the barriers in interpretation and to discuss the feasible methods to overcome those barriers.In Chapter One, the motivation, objective and methodology of the research are introduced.In Chapter Two, some relative theories on interpretation are reviewed. The most representative theories are the theory of sense, effort model and schema theory.In Chapter Three, the writer probes into listening comprehension, the first step in interpretation, and tries to find out the factors causing comprehension failure. The writer analyzes the possible barriers from the perspective of knowledge, both linguistic and extra-linguistic. Concerning linguistic knowledge, the writer discusses problems at the phonetic, lexical and syntactic levels; and regarding extra-linguistic knowledge, cultural knowledge, subject knowledge and situational knowledge are considered. Many examples collected from two interpretation classes are cited to illustrate this point.In Chapter Four, the writer discusses memory in interpretation. There are three kinds of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. In interpretation, sensory store is the prerequisite, short-term store the key and long-term store the basis. They coordinate with each other and work as an integrated system. Problems also occur in this phase. In information retention and information retrieval, forgetting always appears and some other factors, like the content of the material and the content of the note, all contribute to possible barriers.In order to overcome barriers found in Chapter Three and Chapter Four, some coping strategies are offered in Chapter Five. Since interpretation is not only about the usage of language, some interdisciplinary knowledge is considered very helpful. Emphasis is also given to the application of the schema theory by author. Besides, application of anticipation and well-taken notes are also discussed.