A 985 Interpreter's Road to English Realization III: Zhang Lu and the Story Behind Her.

When it comes to consecutive interpretation, we have to mention Zhang Lu, a senior translator in the Translation Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Zhang Lu, National Team Translator, Foreign Affairs University. Since he entered the translation room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000, he has withstood cruel study and training and forged strong communication skills. So by 20 17, he had served as an interpreter for eight premier press conferences. In the translation of the press conference, she dressed in professional clothes, translated fluently between China and the West, and was generous and calm, which became the benchmark of consecutive interpretation in China and the epitome of a great translator.

So what exactly is consecutive interpretation? What is the treatment of consecutive interpretation? What is the training path? This article is for you.

Past life uses 1 continuous deduction

First of all, Baidu popularized the concept of consecutive interpretation.

Explain in vernacular, that is, you speak for a long time, the interpreter takes notes, then you stop, the interpreter translates what you just said, and then you speak again after the interpreter has finished.

Many people feel that they can take notes and have time to think when they see such an interpretation, so consecutive interpretation should be very simple. I can only do this, hehe, try it yourself. People may always have a kind of nature, that is, to evaluate a position in general, because his understanding of this position is only based on his own hearsay and shallow thinking, and there is no sufficient fact and strict logical evidence at all.

In fact, if you ask a senior translator, he will usually tell you that he would rather do simultaneous interpretation than do simultaneous interpretation at the same meeting. Why is this? The reason is that simultaneous interpretation needs less information than consecutive interpretation. Simultaneous interpretation does not need to take notes, and there is no time to take notes; But why does consecutive interpretation have time to take notes, but it will bring greater challenges to interpreters? Because the amount of information to be processed at one time is much greater than that of simultaneous interpretation, and we know that people's memories will be forgotten. This problem does not exist in simultaneous interpretation, which basically lags behind the source language for ten seconds and processes information.

Does consecutive interpretation make money?

Compared with accompanying translation, unit price is more profitable. It is also eight hours a day, and the delivery price is divided into three grades. Lowest gear 1000-2500, middle gear 3000-4500, high gear 5000-7000. It must be pointed out that this price is a reference price, which will be slightly adjusted according to the translator's level, the buyer's ability, the number of translation companies, whether to work overtime or not, but the range will not be too great.

Take an industry summit I once attended as an example. I always hire two translators, a man and a woman. The total price for a day is 6000, and we will split it equally. This price is quite good for many laymen, which is estimated to be more than a quarter of their monthly salary, so I think this kind of translation is very good, delicious, delicious and entertaining. Is that really the case?

I remember the meeting at nine o'clock that day. Get up at six o'clock, sort out the information, dress up, have breakfast and prepare other necessary items. It's basically past seven. Then I took a taxi to the hotel where the meeting was held, and it was gone for half an hour. In the car, I kept talking with my partner about how to switch, how to help and how to deal with emergencies.

When you arrive, find a seat quickly, understand the meeting process and speakers, test the microphone, and breathe slowly, at eight o'clock. There is still one hour before leaving the meeting. Go to the organizer and see if you can get the speaker's manuscript or PPT. Now quickly get rid of technical terms. Then there is familiarity with materials, terminology and the speaker's accent, which are the basis for a good meeting. At the same time, take a nap in the gap to recuperate and go to the battlefield.

The meeting finally started, and the brain immediately entered a fast and high-pressure running track. The speaker should be familiar with the accent as soon as he opens his mouth, record something different from PPT, and then use its pause speed to turn it over. Ironically, an American came out in the middle of her speech. We didn't have her speech or any information, so we had to turn around naked. As soon as she came up, she knew there was an interpreter, and she paused from time to time. Then I got high, and I talked wildly. The speed of speech is like a machine gun, and the terminology is like a barrage, which directly fooled us two translators. Fortunately, she has a little sister, an assistant, from China. When she finished speaking, she picked out some main points to tell everyone. It is very sad to meet the wrong person. But we also learn from it that we should be prepared for emergencies, communicate with the speaker in advance, or ask the speaker at the beginning (for example, we should have a proper pause, don't speak too fast, and so on). ).

There is basically no lunch break at noon. Fortunately, one day we will take turns to have meetings, so we won't be so tired. Therefore, how important it is to have a partner who works well together. Your partner can also help you look up words, take water, take notes and deal with emergencies, which is why a higher-level meeting usually needs at least two interpreters to translate.

A week later, Alipay received a translation fee of 3,000 yuan. As you know, I spent 10 hours a day reciting technical terms, and three days 1 hour of intensive mental and physical labor. Only I know how hard it is.

How do I become an interpreter?

First, under the higher education system, I first became a professional interpreter through the training of English major or translation major, and then I was trained as an interpreter at the postgraduate or even doctoral level. However, this road requires higher English basic skills and testing ability. The top 20 master's colleges in China have a basic admission requirement of CET-6 580+, TEM-8 English major with a grade point of 2.8. Therefore, this road is suitable for practical, enterprising and persistent people.

The second is self-study. Although great achievements have been made in the teaching of interpretation in China, in all fairness, very few people have really entered the field of translation after graduating from master's degree in translation. Take my college as an example. 15 interpreters, only 2-3 people eat this bowl of rice each session. Therefore, if you have the heart, you don't have to go to a famous school to be a translator. There are not a few self-taught senior translators in the market. After all, interpretation is a kind of work that pays attention to internal force, and your interpretation ability and experience accumulation are far from being a special subject for learning skills in school. You can cooperate with it. Therefore, interest is the best teacher, and it will show you where you want to go.

The third is interpretation training. Nowadays, with the popularization and labeling of interpretation, a large number of translation companies and training institutions have begun to engage in interpretation training. This kind of training is usually short and expensive. As for the effect, the specific problems are analyzed. These institutions usually recruit some first-line interpreters, university teachers and turtles as teachers. If you want to learn something, you can definitely learn something, such as the introduction, skills and habits of interpreters. Some institutions can even provide practical interpretation and even job opportunities for excellent students, which is very attractive, so many people are eager for it. However, you should know that the tape hour ability can be improved in a short time, but it will never explode, especially your interpretation ability, which requires you to listen, translate and reflect one by one.

The growth of interpreters is a chemical process of perseverance, skill, persistence, tears and sweat. Even if you don't take the road of interpretation in the end, everything you have experienced will make you a better self, a self with strict self-discipline, broad vision, quick response, strong physique, profound language, active thinking and respect from outsiders.

Finally, I end this article with the devil training behind Zhang Lu.