Translation teaching is based on language and uses translation system to cultivate students' thinking and expression ability. At present, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai International Studies University, Xiamen University and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies all offer advanced translation training courses. Among them, as early as 1979, Beiwai was entrusted by the United Nations and the government of China to set up the United Nations Translation Training Department, which trained a group of translators for the United Nations agencies in new york and Geneva and various ministries and commissions in China. Later, with the decrease of vacancies in translation positions in the United Nations, the Translation Training Department gradually evolved into today's advanced translation school. Hua Lin is a student in the third phase of translation training department. When she first began to practice listening and speaking, neither she nor other students were used to it. As long as she talked, she couldn't hear what was said on the tape, so she became anxious. The more anxious she is, the louder she speaks. At the end of the day, my voice was so hoarse that the whole class drank boat-fruited Sterculia. After a while, the teacher began to teach them some skills, such as disconnecting the main clause from the subordinate clause, cultivating the ability to predict the content of the speech, and how to say it quickly and beautifully in the case of wrong judgment. At that time, they even practiced in class, interpreting for an average of seven or eight hours a day. Therefore, when Lin came to the United Nations, he felt that it was much easier to be an interpreter at the United Nations General Assembly than in the Translation and Training Department. They worked in groups of three and rotated every 20 minutes.
In addition to graduation examinations of several advanced translation colleges in colleges and universities and various translation qualification certifications in the society, there are two translation qualification examinations for the society in China, one is the national translation professional qualification (level) examination of the Ministry of Personnel, and the other is the national foreign language translation certificate examination of the Ministry of Education. These two kinds of examinations have not been popularized and unified, and at present, the country has not forced simultaneous interpreters to hold certificates. In contrast, the access mechanism of simultaneous interpretation abroad is much more perfect.
A good foreign language does not necessarily lead to simultaneous interpretation.
Generally speaking, simultaneous interpretation is not directly related to the level and scale of the conference. Any international conference with a tight schedule and rich content can invite people to do simultaneous interpretation as needed.
For a long time, "as long as English is good, simultaneous interpretation can be done" is a misunderstanding of many people. Many companies think that when organizing an international conference, just go to a foreign language school and find any student. In fact, simultaneous interpretation is a professional field that requires high personal quality. A qualified simultaneous interpreter should not only master two languages skillfully, but also be quick-witted, articulate, good at concentration, with good memory, logical analysis ability, generalization ability and psychological quality.
According to the teacher of the School of Advanced Translation, Beijing Foreign Studies University, some of these qualities are innate, and not everyone is suitable for interpreting. Therefore, foreign language colleges began to strictly control enrollment from the time of enrollment. Beijing Foreign Studies University enrolls 60 students every year. First, we passed the national entrance examination, and then comprehensively examined the students' language foundation, listening and speaking ability, pronunciation and intonation, knowledge and reaction speed in the key links of the second interview.
Hua Lin, a simultaneous interpreter, has worked in United Nations Headquarters for more than 20 years. She laughed and talked about making a fool of herself at a meeting when she first arrived at the United Nations. "That's for China representative translation. At that time, such opportunities were rare and I was a little nervous. As a result, I turned it over and suddenly a word got stuck. My mind was blank, and I froze there. The representative's complaint came from the earphone: "How to translate! "Fortunately, I quickly recovered my composure, and the following translation went smoothly."
The past is vivid, and more than 20 years have passed in a blink of an eye. During this period, the theme of Hua Lin's translation shifted from law to women and children, and then to disarmament, peacekeeping, finance, outer space and so on. , and turned a full circle in the United Nations. Talking about the pressure of interpreting at the conference, she said: "There is always pressure to do simultaneous interpretation, and it is impossible to guarantee foolproof. Under the condition of good language ability, psychological quality becomes the key factor affecting the quality of interpretation. Therefore, we must keep a normal mind. The higher the level, the more peaceful the mentality. "
Simultaneous interpretation training and work are very hard.
"Simultaneous interpretation requires specific skills. Being able to speak does not mean being able to translate. For example, if someone tells you a story, you can tell it to your friends in your own words. The content can be omitted or added. Interpretation is not good, you can't miss any information points, let alone polish them. Instead, you can accurately repeat them in another language after logical organization, and you must go through professional training. " Mingjiong Chai, dean of the School of Advanced Translation at Shanghai International Studies University, said.
In fact, the largest team of interpreters in the world is not in the United Nations, but in the European Commission. There are nearly 500 interpreters officially employed by the Interpretation Department of the European Commission, who can translate English into 19 languages. The EU signed an agreement with China. According to the promise, the EU will train a certain number of interpreters for China every year, and Sun Zhenyu, China's permanent ambassador to the WTO, is one of the best. According to the trainees, the EU pays special attention to language quality, tense usage and fluency. Since citizens of many EU member countries know at least two foreign languages, the translation of the European Commission must be very authentic in order to make people in native-speaking countries feel comfortable.
Being a simultaneous interpreter is not easy, and the daily work of simultaneous interpretation is also very tense. According to international practice, conference organizers usually employ two or three translators, who rotate every 15-20 minutes. Because this is a stressful job, you need to complete the process of listening, translating and speaking in an instant, and people can only concentrate on it in a limited time. A conference interpreter working in a government agency told reporters that simultaneous interpretation is an instantaneous way of thinking. When a translator hears a sentence, he must remember it immediately, then throw it out in words, forget it, and then write down another sentence, otherwise his brain will explode because of all kinds of information. In addition, simultaneous interpretation emphasizes on-site performance. Once the pot is smashed, it is the responsibility of the translator, which will affect his reputation in the industry. You can imagine how nervous he is at work.
Vicious competition depresses the salary of simultaneous interpretation.
What is the income from such hard simultaneous interpretation work? A simultaneous interpreter told reporters that the price of translating a conference in Beijing is 5,000 yuan per person per day, while that in Shanghai is 8,000-11,000 yuan per day. However, the Beijing market is very irregular, and the price is sometimes pushed to 2500 yuan/day.
It is precisely because simultaneous interpretation is shrouded in the aura of high salary and feels decent at work that many young people have participated in the training and hope to become a simultaneous interpreter. However, this has also caused the simultaneous interpretation market to be mixed. An insider complained to reporters that there are too many people who claim to be able to do simultaneous interpretation, and the quality of international conferences is uneven. Some conferences with high water content are easy to do simultaneous interpretation. Some students pull customers through relationships; Some freelancers use kickbacks to help conference organizers pay taxes to attract business. Such vicious competition not only depresses the due remuneration of simultaneous interpretation, but also damages the service quality and reputation of the industry. The disorderly market situation reminds people that simultaneous interpreters, as senior professionals, should also have a unified qualification certification like lawyers and certified public accountants.
The International Association of Conference Interpreters is an internationally renowned civil simultaneous interpretation industry organization. There are only 27 people in Chinese mainland, Beijing 17 and Shanghai 10. I believe that with the increase of foreign exchanges, there will be more and more excellent simultaneous interpreters and a good simultaneous interpretation market in China.