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  • Essay / The importance of preparing for the interpreting mission

    Table of contentsTheoretical framework on how to prepare for the interpreting missionFamiliarizing yourself with the speakerBecoming familiar with the topicGeneral information and glossariesIt is important to become familiar with the topic that will be discussed during an upcoming mission. It is also said that no matter what type of work you are doing, it is very important to be prepared in advance; especially for performers, the more prepared you are, the better your interpretation will be. According to Gillies (2013), the reason why interpreters are supposed to prepare the topic is that by doing so you can know what is being talked about and you are not surprised when interpreting by the terms related to that area, and the preparation also serves to broaden your general knowledge. It can be seen that if interpreters prepare thoroughly before interpreting, they can minimize the risk of possible background knowledge barriers, so that they can concentrate on using interpreting techniques to provide high quality interpretation rather than spending a lot of time figuring out what the interpretation is. what the speaker is talking about. Therefore, knowing the topic of interpreting assignments well can help interpreters complete their tasks successfully and smoothly. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Tailored Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original EssayTheoretical Framework on How to Prepare for an Interpreting AssignmentPreparing for an Interpreting Assignment is actually a kind of research , and research involves searching for knowledge that you did not know before, in a comprehensive and organized way (Hale and Napier, 2013). During the preparation/research phase, interpreters need to know why they are researching, what they want to find out, the goals of their assignments, and the problems their interpreting assignments will solve (Hale and Napier, 2013). Just as Zou (2014) argued, fully prepared interpreters should prepare for interpreting tasks from two aspects, namely the linguistic aspect and the non-linguistic aspect. The first includes the speaker and the glossary, and the second includes the speech topic and general information. Zou (2014) also pointed out that preparing a glossary requires interpreters to consider Chinese/English equivalent terminological expressions when reading related English/Chinese materials and then collect them; knowing the speaker means understanding their speaking style, such as their presentation speed and diction, and the speaker's accent should also be taken into consideration. Regarding the speech topic and general information, Zou (2014) suggested that interpreters should pay close attention to the latest news and read materials related to the upcoming interpreting assignment in order to acquire as much as possible general knowledge so that interpreters can be more sensitive to the information entered, understand and remember the information accurately. If possible, interpreters may also contact the organizers or speaker to see if they can provide conference materials, such as the speech transcript or speaker's introduction. These are the essential aspects that must be taken into consideration by interpreters. Becoming familiar with the speaker As Pochhacker (2004) points out, in interpreting from spoken language, the aspect of message transmission that is most closely linked to perception is the speaker's pronunciation and phonetics. which results. quality ofinput in the source language. Similarly, according to AIIC (2002), in a survey of interpreters, the unfamiliar accent was cited by a majority of respondents as a frequent and serious problem that causes stress at work. Pochhacker (2004) also states that in simultaneous interpreting, the high speed of delivery of the interpreters to the speaker has been considered as a factor leading to high processing loads, which may affect the performance of the interpreters.quality of the interpretation. Therefore, it is very important to familiarize yourself and get used to the speed and accent of the speaker in advance, so that the interpreters do not panic, are not surprised and do not miss much information if the speaker has a high transmission speed or an unknown accent. In my scenario, I am interpreting for Chinese President Xi Jinping. In order to familiarize myself with President Xi's speed, accent and diction, I watched some of his previous speeches on political issues, such as the speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum and de la Route in May 2017 and the speech given at APEC. CEO Summit in 2014. The reason why I choose political speeches as references is that they share a same characteristic with the speech I will interpret. They are spoken on formal occasions and focus on political issues, so President Xi can speak in the same way. tone and style, which can help me become better acquainted with the speaker. After listening to his speeches, what I found was that President Xi spoke at a steady speed in each of his speeches, and there were appropriate pauses between sensory groups and sentences. So I could imagine that President Xi is an easy speaker to interpret and I didn't need to be so nervous and stressful on site because I was interpreting for these speakers with a high delivery speed. As for accent, President Xi spoke standard Mandarin, so I didn't need to focus on decoding what he was saying. Therefore, delivery speed and accent were not a challenge for me in this interpreting assignment. Besides these two aspects, I also noticed that most of the sentences in his speeches were relatively simple and short, without complicated grammars or structures, which made it easier to cut up. provided that the performer has sufficient basic knowledge and good anticipation skills. Another feature worth mentioning in President Xi's speech style is that he likes to use ancient poems and literary quotations to support his arguments. This is quite a difficult problem because ancient Chinese poems always have a deep meaning that the performer must understand. Becoming familiar with the topic Performers need to familiarize themselves with the topic of the speech when preparing for a conference, and this is the most fundamental part of the preparation stage. , because as AIIC (2013) points out, to carry out this task successfully, interpreters must have complete mastery of the subject and the context in which they work. Typically, to become more familiar with the topic, interpreters prepare for an assignment by reading related reference materials, browsing related websites, or contacting the speaker directly to gather information about the upcoming meeting. In my scenario, it was impossible to contact the speaker, so I only referenced related materials available online, such as YouTube videos and news articles. The websites I visited were official sites such as the official website ofgovernment, because only in this way could I guarantee that the information I received was correct and faithful. Since President Xi Jinping had never made remarks on this type of celebratory activity before, I was unable to find Xi's previous speeches on the same topic, but referred to the speeches given by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin during the handover ceremony in Hong Kong. in 1997, on the occasion of the 1st anniversary of Hong Kong's return and the 5th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. I also studied the speeches given by another former Chinese president, Hu Jintao, on the 10th and 15th anniversaries of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. Former State Council Premier Li Peng's speech at the reception celebrating Hong Kong's return in 1997 was also my reference. . Even though the leaders mentioned above were not my speakers, their speeches were still worth studying because they shared the same topic that I would have chosen to interpret, so that I could understand what was being said. would speak at the event on the theme of the return of Hong Kong and more precisely anticipate the aspects to which President Xi would refer. For example, President Xi was expected to speak about the achievements achieved through the implementation of the "one country, two systems" policy, as this was something that was mentioned in every speech on the theme of Hong's return Kong. Another feature that these speeches and the upcoming one had in common was that they were all official remarks that followed the same style - using a high register and political terminology, so I was able to discover that the leaders of the The State expressed itself in a formal manner. In addition to referring to previous speeches, I also watched documentaries on Hong Kong Return and browsed news reports on the same topic to gain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the theme. These measures allowed me to know the subject better and prepare myself better. General information and glossaries Zhang (2003) pointed out that it is necessary for interpreters to collect and sort terminology and proper names that might be used in the interpreting mission to come, to find and search for their semantic equivalence in another working language and then memorize them. By doing so, the pressure and nervousness of the interpreters before or during the interpretation can be relieved, so that they can give an accurate and fluent interpretation with complete confidence. The glossary is therefore considered an important, even essential, element in the professional practice of interpretation (Jiang, 2013). For most interpreters, whenever they receive a new assignment, it is essential to create a glossary based on the topic. My glossaries mainly come from two types of resources: previous speeches on the theme of Hong Kong's return by the former national leaders mentioned above and the context. information. General information refers to the information I get when I try to do research to see if any significant events are happening in the HKSAR and mainland China shortly before the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return. The speeches can provide me with political terminologies that are frequently used when talking about the return, and by searching for basic information, I can keep abreast of major events related to the relationship between Hong Kong and the motherland and absorb the words at hand. most recent fashions to which reference may be made. in the speech.I collect general information by reading the news reports on websites, such as..