摘要

随着中国的对外开放，中国对高水平的口译员的需求越来越多。口译是一项高强度的艰巨任务，口译员主要依靠短时记忆来进行现场口译，但不论一个人的记忆能力有多强，光靠脑记来应付长段信息的口译还是远远不够的，可以说完全依赖记忆能力是危险的。正所谓“好记性不如烂笔头”，一场口译的成功与否在很大程度上取决于译员对信息的记录能力。本文在研究前人研究成果的基础上，将从口译笔记的重要性和必要性，笔记的过程和方法等方面全面地探讨口译笔记。

关键词：口译；记忆；笔记；重要性和必要性；过程和方法

Abstract

With China’s opening up to the outside world, there is an increasing demand for high-quality interpreters. Interpreting is a difficult task with high intensity, and interpreters depend mainly on short-term memory to work. However good one’s memory is, it is far from enough to deal with long passages with one’s memory only. As the saying well goes, “the worst pen is better than the best memory”, whether an interpreting activity is a success relies to some extent on interpreters’ recording ability. Based on previous study results made by other scholars, this thesis focuses on note-taking in interpretation, including the importance and necessity of note-taking as well as the procedures and methods of note-taking.

Key words: interpretation; memory; note-taking; importance and necessity; procedures and methods

1.    Introduction

Since China’s reform and opening up to the outside world, there is a growing demand for qualified interpreters in China.
Interpretation is a form of translation and it occurs when two interlocutors do not share the same language. In the process of interpretation, interpreters faithfully use a language to convey the exact meaning expressed by another language. So to speak, interpreting is a gap-bridge of language barrier in cross cultural communication.
As the capacity of human memory is limited, note-taking is not only necessary but also important in storing the information in the process of interpretation. Memory and note-taking, closely related to the training in interpreting, have been seen as two indispensable skills for interpretation. This thesis, through the analysis of relationship between interpretation and memory, between memory and note-taking, provides some suggestions for note-taking practice.