I am a freshman this year and want to become a simultaneous interpreter during my senior year. What should I do?

Self-training: An important way to improve simultaneous interpretation skills is self-training. After all, not everyone has the opportunity to receive specialized vocational training. Some translators have been working on the front line for a long time and have good language foundation and psychological quality. If they understand the content and main methods of simultaneous interpretation training, they can train themselves. However, the training of simultaneous interpretation is an arduous process. Learners must have perseverance, patience and determination, and formulate practical learning plans to gradually improve their simultaneous interpretation level. Of course, not everyone can learn simultaneous interpretation. It requires learners to have a solid bilingual foundation, good psychological quality, a certain foundation in continuous interpretation, and a strong interest in simultaneous interpretation. The following introduces the basic steps and common methods of simultaneous interpretation professional training.

① Shadowing exercise: Shadowing exercise is also called original language or monolingual retelling exercise. It means reading the speaker's speech or pre-recorded news recordings, meeting materials, etc. in the same language almost simultaneously. The purpose of this training is to develop the interpreter's split of attention and simultaneous interpretation skills of listening and speaking simultaneously. When doing shadow practice, you can start simultaneously with the original language at the beginning. After a period of practice, you can read the original language one sentence after the beginning of the original language. When reading the original language, you should not just copy the parrot, but also make sure that your ears are listening (original language), your mouth is speaking (repeating the same language), and your brain is thinking (language content). After reading a 5-8 minute speech or news, you should be able to outline the main content of the original language. In the later stage of shadow practice, "interference" practice can be arranged, that is, while listening and speaking are performed simultaneously, the hands also move. Students are required to start writing from 999, and then write down 999, 998, 997... in a reciprocal manner. Shadow practice can be conducted for 3-5 weeks (2-4 hours per week) depending on the individual's needs. The form of practice is relatively free. You can do this practice while listening to the radio, watching TV, or listening to reports. When students feel they want to make simultaneous statements in the target language during practice, they can move to the next stage of practice.

②Primitive Overview: The primitive overview exercise is a continuation of the shadow exercise. That is, after students finish reading a speech in the original language, they stop and use their memory to summarize what they just read in the same language and summarize the core ideas of the speech. For example: "On April 8 we have noticed the news of Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa's resignation. This is an internal affairs of Japan. Prime Minister Hosokawa has made a valuable effort to promote Sino-Japanese friendly relations. We hope that Sino-Japanese relations can continue stable and healthy development." It can be summarized as: "Japanese Prime Minister resigned. We hope this will not have impact on Sino-Japan relations." When starting to do this type of exercise, the interval can be relatively short, and once the students master it After the essentials, gradually lengthen it. The purpose of the original language overview exercise is to cultivate students' short-term memory and the habit of listening, speaking, and thinking (grasping the core content).

③Overview of the target language: The overview exercise of the target language is to summarize the original language content in the target language after the original language overview exercise has been carried out for a period of time.

The purpose is to consolidate the synchronization of listening and speaking and gradually transition to true simultaneous interpretation. During practice, the translator does not need to overemphasize the sentence structure and specific content, but should cultivate the use of concise translation to convey the central idea and main information points of the original language. For example: "The protection of the environment is a vital component of continued economic development. Here and in Hong Kong decades of explosive growth have taken a toll on the environment resulting in air and water pollution, destruction of the natural environment, traffic congestion and deforestation . Not only does this discourage further economic investment and encourage industries already here for relocate, but it also makes it increasingly difficult for Guangdong to enter into the next level of economic development." It can be translated into the Chinese language as: "Environment Protection is an important factor in sustainable economic development. // Guangdong and Hong Kong have learned this in the past. // Environmental protection is the guarantee for Guangdong to attract more investment and move its economy to a higher level. //"

④Sight translation: On-sight interpreting means that the simultaneous interpreter holds the speaker's speech, listens to the speech, reads the original, and interprets simultaneously. When practicing, the first step is to find some speech scripts with translations, listen to the speech recordings, and do "simultaneous reading." Gradually transition to interpreting without the translation scripts and only reading the original text. During sight translation, you can read through the original text in a short time to understand the main content of the speech and make "pre-translation preparations" for language and professional difficulties.

⑤Tape practice: Simultaneous interpretation is a very practical activity, and the skills involved can only be mastered by learners through daily practice. Therefore, you need to do a lot of practice in order to become a truly qualified simultaneous interpreter. Generally, institutions that formally train simultaneous interpreters require trainees to undergo nearly 300 tape-hours of intensive listening and practice in addition to the training they receive in the classroom. The content of the tape exercises should be rich and colorful, with a wide range of topics and complete tones, and should include both Chinese and English. It is best to record or videotape speeches at international conferences. When practicing, you can record your own translation and analyze it to find out the deficiencies and mistranslations or missing translations. The mastery of any skill relies on daily accumulation over time and hard practice.

⑥Mock meeting: This exercise is mainly aimed at organized classroom teaching. Interpreters who are self-taught in simultaneous interpretation can organize several or more enthusiasts to do this exercise together. The exercise requires the use of simultaneous interpretation equipment. The students are assigned simulation meeting topics in advance, such as: "Environmental Protection and Sustainable Economic Development," "Population Control and Economic Development," "Teaching and Learning in the Internet Era," etc., and require students to prepare their own 5-10 minute speeches. There are two articles (one each in Chinese and English). The students themselves organize meetings, take turns speaking, and take turns translating. This form of practice not only exercises students' interpretation skills, but also enables students to master public speaking skills - another important skill in interpretation.