How to master the skills of English-Chinese interpretation

One: First of all, we must clarify: the scope of application of interpretation shorthand.

This is very, very important, as it determines what kind of materials are suitable for practicing oral shorthand. It is not difficult to see from some of the answers above that many people have misunderstandings. For example, Xinwen Lianbo and the dictation of the fourth major are not within the scope of interpretation shorthand:

A. Xinwen Lianbo: The amount of information is too large. There are no gaps in between long paragraphs. This is only suitable for practicing retelling or extensive listening, not shorthand for oral interpretation. Listening continuously for about 10 minutes and then interpreting is an almost impossible task. Just imagine that it is very difficult for you to listen to Chinese for 10 minutes without interruption, and then repeat it, let alone translate it, and the accuracy of interpretation is higher than that of retelling.

B. Dictation: This test requires you to write down the words and sentences you hear without revealing a single word, with a good word, and correct grammar. This is very different from the requirements of interpretation. Anyone who has studied interpretation knows that the amount of information restored required for a normal interpretation test is about 80, but the actual work may only be 60, so this is not something that should be trained in interpretation shorthand.

In a word: listening materials that contain too much information, speak too fast without pauses, and require too high an accuracy are not suitable for practicing oral shorthand. I personally think that the appropriate interpreting training materials are: Shanghai Intermediate and Advanced Interpreting Courses, as well as listening materials with a speaking speed and content close to the above two textbooks. Someone mentioned "Practical Interpreting" by Lin Chaolun. This is also possible, but I think it is too difficult at the beginning. The topics in it are almost purely political, and the terminology is rather professional. What you need to practice is interpretation shorthand rather than finding an article. Let yourself practice something that you don’t even know how to do as a translator.

Two: Preparations that need to be made before practicing.

Having reached the level of interpreting learning, there is no need to talk nonsense about memorizing words, consolidating grammar, and practicing speaking. If you don’t even have these, you still have stage fright when speaking English, so how can you start practicing interpreting?

① Interpreting shorthand symbols: Some people mentioned that there should be a personal interpreting shorthand system. This is true. However, if the formation of this system relies solely on continuous practice and exploration, the efficiency will be absolutely terrible. It is like You learn how to make hand-shredded cabbage, and you are asked to learn how to grow cabbage first. It is such a waste of time. You should first find a relatively complete symbol system of the predecessors and learn it relatively completely. It is said to be relatively complete because many symbols in this system are built on the personal associative memory of the symbol creator, but this may not apply to you. For example:

In a certain symbol system, The circle in the upper right corner of the word represents the people in that department, while the circle in the lower right corner of the word represents the department itself. For example, people. It refers to the human resources department, and the person plus the circle in the upper right corner represents the staff in the human resources department. I often get confused in practical applications, and this symbol has no personal association meaning for me, so I discarded this symbol in subsequent exercises.

Many symbols require you to get used to them, because you did not invent them yourself. But if you really can’t adapt to some symbols and they are really awkward to use, you can choose to discard them, because in the process of taking interpretation notes, , you are not allowed to hesitate and think about what symbols to use.

You can refer to a few more people for note symbols. In fact, they are similar, but some are easier to use. For example, using 57 to represent weapons is better than WP to represent weapons. At the same time, you can also create your own symbols during practice, but creating it entirely by yourself is really thankless.

There is really too much that can be said about the shorthand symbols for interpretation. This is another very complex issue, so I will only briefly explain it here.

② Understand the general content of the material: including vocabulary and topics, you can do a simple preview. Because what you want to practice is "interpretation shorthand" rather than listening, a material with familiar content and not too many new words is a guarantee for practicing oral shorthand in the early stage. In future exercises, you can gradually increase the difficulty to adapt yourself to how to interpret when new words or missed words are heard. But in the initial stage, you still need to make sure that you have a thorough understanding of the material.

Now that we are talking about vocabulary, we have to mention that the requirements for vocabulary in interpretation are not very high. First, it is due to the problem of the amount of information restored mentioned earlier, and second, because the translator is You, you don’t have to read it rigidly. For example, if Chinese or foreigners say a bunch of gorgeous and complimentary adjectives, you can use such seemingly ordinary adjectives as excellent/great/excellent to express it, with the same purpose. reached. This can be seen from the note symbols. You use a √ to represent these adjectives, and then translate them according to your vocabulary mastery.

Three: How to practice.

Because it is an exercise in interpreting shorthand, we will omit the explanation of the interpretation itself and the translation skills here, and only talk about the note-taking part.

① The first is the practice of familiarizing yourself with symbols: getting familiar with shorthand symbols is different from memorizing words. Words can be memorized separately from the text, while symbols can only be learned through actual practice. When you first come into contact with symbols, you can find an article at random, hold a piece of paper against the original text and use interpretive symbols to describe it, then take away the original text, look at the symbols and recall what you just wrote.

② Carry out listening practice: the process of "hearing English - thinking about the corresponding Chinese meaning - thinking about what symbols to use - writing down the symbols - thinking about the meaning of the symbol just now - interpreting" Shortened to "hear English - write symbols - look at symbols and interpret"

③ Train logic and learn note layout: because too many people complain that they don't recognize what they shorthand in the end, so how about shorthand It is particularly important to do it logically and clearly (rather than aesthetically). A reasonable layout can reflect your understanding of the logic of this passage, and translation will be much smoother.

I think a reasonable layout should meet these requirements:

Don’t write too many words in one line, use / or other symbols between meaning groups, subject and object of actions disconnect. For example, I will receive you at the airport, which can be recorded as: I/welcomeU/@air (writing / seems to be redundant, but in actual translation, it can help you determine the subject, predicate, object and sentence structure more quickly)

2. For parallel things, write one vertical line, one on each line, and then enclose it in curly brackets

3. For transitions, you can use a line change and then continue // or but to express it. Don't crowd together to avoid clearly denying A and affirming B, which translates into negating A and B

4. Logical relationships such as belonging, including, and not belonging are most conveniently expressed with mathematical symbols

5. I like to use attributive clauses in English. For example: We should continue developing harmonious society which requires us to solve the problem between man and environment. You can remember it as: we/development/和社, and then put an arrow under harmonious society. , and then write Q/人e/∽

6. Remember more nouns. The verbs can be associated with the nouns. Especially in long parallel sentences, such as "Develop the economy, expand domestic demand, enhance exchanges, and promote production." You only need to use symbols to express the economy, domestic demand, exchanges, and production, and then add the verbs yourself when translating.

Four: Differences in English-Chinese translation: After practice, you will find that the way to take notes is different when the language you hear is Chinese or English. I will give the conclusion directly:

Chinese-English translation: Because it is my mother tongue, I am very familiar with it. If you listen and write at the same time without missing important information, your reaction speed should be sufficient, and shorthand and listening can be done almost simultaneously.

English to Chinese: Since it is a foreign language and its expression rules, you should first ensure that you understand it, and then write down the content in shorthand. For example, English likes to use various clauses (especially attributive clauses), passive voice, inversion and other sentence patterns. If you listen and write at the same time, your notes will be messed up. Not to mention your familiarity with foreign languages. If you listen and write at the same time, It is also unrealistic in itself.

Concerning interpretation shorthand, including how to memorize numbers and other trivial exercises, it is also a relatively complex issue, and I will not go into details here.

Finally, shorthand only serves memory. This is an important part of interpretation, but it must not overwhelm the guest. The key is to understand and remember in your mind. The shorthand content only helps you recall. The better the interpreter, the more concise the content will be remembered. Therefore, be sure not to learn interpreting shorthand with the goal of "completely reproducing what you just said through shorthand."