掌握预制语块有利于提高翻译学习者短期记忆

【摘要】如何增強短期记忆是许多翻译初学者在提高翻译技能过程中碰到的最大难题。本文通过介绍“预制语块”和相关概念，指出提高短期记忆，除了大量练习之外，翻译者还需要加强对预制语块的学习和掌握。

【关键词】预制语块；口译学习

【作者简介】李萱，华中师范大学外国语学院。

I. Introduction

The problem of poor short-term memory in interpreting is described by Nataliya Belenkova （2016） as “inability to recollect the appropriate terms， expressions and language clusters in a time period relevant for interpreting”. This explains why starters have to stop the record in the middle of a sentence； otherwise they would become too confused to write down what is heard. And when doing interpreting practices in class， students always had to note down many things.

Another problem brought along by the poor short-term memory is that students always have to take extra time to analyze notes before comprehending what have happened.

At first， many attribute the problems to unfamiliarity with the topics and lack of training. Therefore， students start to do more dictation and try to listen to various topics. But later， they will find that the positive influences are limited. Although they could handle longer sentence fragments at a time and take more detailed notes， but it has almost nothing to do with an actual improvement in short-term memory. It is clear that the other reason should be figured out and dealt with.

II. The Language and the Concept of Prefabricated Chunks

It is pointed out by Alex Henry （1996） that “the notion that spoken language is formed by a combination of units the size of words or smaller has been challenged since the mid 1970s”. Scholars started to challenge the traditional concept of the formation of the spoken language that utterances are composed on the basis of grammar rules and vocabulary. Becker put it in 1975 that “utterance are formed by repetition， modification， and concatenation of previously known phrases consisting of more than one word.” （1975： p. 70）. Another scholar Lewis （1994） suggested that language is not made up with grammar and vocabulary； it is made up with preconstructed chunks. Whats more， studies conducted by Pawley and Syder （1983） and Altenberg （1998） pointed out that native speakers of a language have a good command of tens of thousands of these kind of chunks or phrases and 80% of their utterance are composed on the basis of these prefabricated units rather than directly formed with single words and grammar rules.

These prefabricated chunks of language are called in different ways， for example， “natural chunks” （Alex Henry， 1996）， “lexical phrases” （Becker 1975）， “lexicalized sentence stems and semi-lexicalized sequences” （Pawley and Syder 1983）， “formulaic chunks” （Widdowson 1989） and so on. Whatever they are called， they can be classified into four groups： polywords， which means words function as a single word； institutionalized expressions， most of which are sayings or greetings used as single sentences； phrasal constraints， in which some parts of the phrase are replaceable phrases； sentence builders， which from the frameworks of a sentence （Nattinger and DeCarrio 2000）. They refers to form and function composites， a string of words that are used without extra grammatical analysis are regarded as the most appropriate units in acquiring and understanding a language by the scholars.

III. The Prefabricated Chunks and Interpretation

Gile （1995） summarized the process of simultaneous interpretation into 4 steps， which can help us understand the process of other types of interpretation as well. The first two of the four steps are： listening and analysis and short-term memory effort. He also pointed out that the attention of a certain interpreter is limited. And according to Anderson， for an interpreter， the tasks of listening and of analyzing are carried out at the same time. This means if an interpreter pays too much attention to identify words in a sentence， he may grasp less information of the content.

Prefabricated chunks can help interpreters solve the conflict between listening and analyzing. According to Li Yang and Wang Nan， because chunks are phrasal unit are fixed compared to words and semi-fixed compared to frozen collocations， having certain knowledge about chunks can help interpreters predict the information to come （2012， translation mine）. By simplifying the interpreters task from identifying dozens of words to several chunks， interpreters can do better in balancing between listening and analyzing.

IV. Tips on Improving Learning Plans

For advanced learners of English， like undergraduates， the way to improve their language ability lies... in exploring the chunks concerning the words that they have already learned （Song Ying and others 2014）. With a closer look at those studying interpretation， failures in improving short-term memories have a lot to do with the excessive amount of attention paid to words rather than prefabricated chunks.

Scholars in China have been studying about how to learn a language more effectively with fabricated chunks. Song Ying and others （2014， translation mine） pointed out by then there was no satisfying textbook available. However， they did provide with some feasible advice.

According to this group of scholars， prefabricated chunks are divided in to three groups： frozen collocations； collocations； and common sentences and sentence frameworks. For students， exercises should be arranged for the enhancement of both the conception and the memorization of chunks.

Song and her group also pointed out students should be encouraged to practice using chunks （2014）. In interpretation， students try to be more aware of the chunks used in the materials so as to improve the interpretation.

V. Conclusions

Prefabricated chunks are nature components of a language. The neglect of their importance has made interpretation and the acquisition of a second language more difficult. By grasping more knowledge about these pre-constructed chunks， interpretation learners can comprehend longer sentence segments and thus understand the language better.

References：

[1]Nataliya Belenkova（2016），First Experience in Interpreting：Challenges and Solutions.

[2]Simona Simona*，Lavinia Suciu（2015），Raising Cultural Awareness in Interpreting Students.

[3]Camelia Petrescu（2013），Teaching Interpretating.

[4]Alex Henry（1996），Natural Chunks of Language：Teaching Speech through Speech.

[5]Brooke N.Macnamara and Andrew R.A.Conway，Working Memory Capacity as a Predicator of Simultaneous Interpreting Performance.

[6]宋纓，蒋琴芳，马秋武.语块视角下的口译教学研究[J].外语电化教学，2014.

[7]李洋，王楠.预制语块对同声传译的缓解效应研究[J].外语世界， 2012.