A Study Of Interpreting From The Perspective Of Schema

The studies on interpreting have been focused on the level of skills and strategies for quite a long time, while the research on the deeper level of the interperter's unique way of thinking is rather inadequate. But considering how stressful the interpreting task is for an interpreter when he or she has to deal with large amount of information (both input and output information) within such limited amount of time, with almost no time to check what is heard or said beforehand, it can be easily understood that all the skills and strategies have to be almost internalized or automized by the interpreter to meet the needs of such a demanding job. The"internalized"or"automized"process is actually a reflection of an interpreter's professional way of thinking.The author tries to combine the schema theory from the cognitive science with the interpretive theory in interpreting, together with the cases from the field interpreting, to demonstrate how schema works in the process of interpreting step by step from the pre-interpreting part to the on-scene performance which includes the understanding of the input information, note-taking and re-expression. Also the author wants to explore how the theory of schema applies to the training and teaching of interpreting, and helps to make the design of training method and models more effective and to the point.In the end, the author summarizes the role schema plays in interpreting and its functions in improving an interpreter's performance, thus demonstrating that schema is a vital part of the professional interpreter's way of thinking, and shedding light on the new training method of interpreting.The structure of this thesis goes as follows. In Chapter 1 "Introduction", the origin of interpreting, the four periods in interpreting studies and the contentions of different schools are first discussed as lead-in. What comes next is a detailed discussion of the different models in interpreting studies, focusing on the triangle model-- "Decipherment of the Source Language (SL) -- 'Departure from the grammatical structure of SL'-- Expression in the Target Language (TL)" of the interpretive theory. Then some cases from the field interpreting are introduced, which present great challenges to the traditional theories, calling for the study of interpreting from new perspectives, especially the way of thinking . Chapter 2 starts to discuss schema theory of the cognitive science and the prospects of its applications to interpreting studies. Then it concentrates on exploring some viewpoints upheld by both the schema theory and the interpretive theory: first, the mass concept takes greater importance than individual concept; second, it is the meaning rather than the word that matters in communication; third, the schema theory can contribute to the further explorations on the "Black Box" of the interpretive theory triangle. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 attempt to probe into the application of schema to the interpreting practice starting from the preparation to the different phases of the on-spot performance. Different ways of classification are used for a better discussion of the strategies accordingly in different occasions. As for the forms of interpreting, there are the usual schemata for exhibition interpreting and conference interpreting; from the perspective of content, there are schemata for business interpreting, political interpreting and cultural interpreting. Chapter 5 focuses on the application of schema to the interpreting training. First, the two prevailing training models-- Gile Model and Xiada Model are introduced, followed by the discussion and analysis of their understandings on interpreting skills and training method. Then the author puts forward her suggested training strategies to improve the trainees performance in the understanding of input information, memory and output expression based on the analysis of some obstacles for the trainees in interpreting. Chapter 6 is the conclusion. The author points out a great potential the schema theory has in tackling the problems in interpreting,...