A Study Of MTI Students' Interpretation Anxiety

This research is related to the interpretation anxiety of MTI students.Anxiety is a psychological state of tension,apprehension,nervousness or fear related to an arousal of the autonomic nervous system.It is felt subjectively when an individual cannot overcome the threat of mental obstacle or reach the target.Interpreting is an intricate bilingual information transmission with its characteristics including comprehend slyness,complexity and instantaneity and it must be completed rapidly and flexibly under high pressure.In accordance with the results of an investigation conducted by AIIC(International Association of Conference Interpreters),professional interpreters and interpreting trainees are the two main groups suffering from psychological pressure and learning anxiety during training stage may develop into job anxiety in the future.Thus,excellent capacity to control mental stress during the stage of interpreting learning becomes the requisite for interpreting competence.However,both interpreting trainees and interpreting instructors attach more importance to interpreting skills training while taking blindness to the influence of negative mental factors.The present study aims to probe into the interpretation anxiety of MTI students and figure out the major causes of interpretation anxiety such as insufficient preparation for the task,audience,psychological quality or memory ability and corresponding practical methods or feasible solutions utilized to relieve the influence of interpreting anxiety and improve the quality of interpreting.By utilization of questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview method,a deep understanding in the opinions of the respondents and interviewees is obtained.The results of this research mainly answer the two questions raised by so many interpreting trainees: what are the causes of interpreting anxiety? What should we do to relieve the negative influence of interpretation anxiety?The results show that: firstly,interpretation anxiety of MTI students exists with different levels and categories and it hinders the interpreting performance.Secondly,interpretation anxiety could be caused by internal or external factors and different methods could be utilized correspondingly to cope with them.The major findings of the study could explain parts of the causes of interpretation anxiety and provide practical and illuminating advice for interpretingtrainees and thus help them find effective adjustments to relieve the negative influence of interpretation anxiety.