Pre-Task Preparation In Consecutive Interpreting

Interpreting is a demanding intercultural activity and the performance largely depends on the extent of interpreters' pre-task preparation.This report is based on the author's experience serving as a consecutive interpreter at the Third International Conference on Existential Psychology.The author carried out a lot of pre-task preparation and that was important for the successful completion of the task.In this report,the author details her preparation process,which included general understanding about speaker and audience,thematic knowledge preparation,terminology building,psychological adaptation and equipment and site preparation.With her transcription of the practice,the author was able to make cases study of difficulties encountered.It can be observed from this practice that some difficulties can be overcome with adequate preparation and some difficulties call for copping tactics to minimize the loss because interpreters cannot have everything covered in their preparation.From the reflection on this practice,the author believes that pre-task preparation helps improve consecutive interpreting performance,especially when interpreters beforehand are not familiar with the specific subject.However,this conclusion is based on the premise that interpreters are competent with their long-term efforts in terms of language proficiency,interpreting skills and knowledge accumulation.