APPLIED LINGUISTICS for BA Students in English
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Classification of language skills
Productive Skills
Interpreting
Interpreting is said to be the sixth language skill (Bárdos 2005: 21), it is one of the complex skills, as learners need all the four simplex language skills so that they can interpret texts from one language into the other. Interpreting needs a lot of sub-skills as all the sub-skills mentioned in connection with receptive skills and the ones treated under the title Speaking are necessary for interpreting a text. In the skills and sub-skills mentioned above a good interpreter needs short-and long-term memory as well. Good concentration, quick reflexes and divided attention are also inevitable for a person who wants to work as an interpreter. Two types of interpreting are distinguished: consecutive and conference interpreting. Consecutive interpreting means that the utterances delivered by the speaker are interpreted delayed after the message having been finished. Conference interpreting means that the utterances are being delivered in L1 simultaneously with the interpreted version of the message. For the latter type of interpreting a divided attention of very high level is necessary.
This skill can be developed in classroom situations as well, though among language teachers there are a lot of opponents of integrating this skill into school curriculum. They have various reasons for objecting to teaching interpreting: some of them are against bilingual teaching; they prefer monolingual language lessons, as they think that swapping the languages will disturb the students’ mental process. Others are not prepared for unexpected situations. Life, however, is full of unexpected situations in which language learners are expected to interpret between two parties having two different languages. As Hungary has become a country open to a lot of tourists and guest workers from abroad, our learners will face more and more situations in which interpreting will be needed. So as to make our language teaching experiential, practicable teachers are expected to prepare students for unexpected moments in their lives.
How to develop the skill of interpreting?
Teachers are expected to plan drama activities into language classes where students are expected to interpret messages between a foreigner and a Hungarian native speaker or between a Hungarian tourist and an English-speaking partner abroad. To complete this task, learners will need a lot of empathy and risk-taking teachers are supposed to develop. The principle of graduality must be taken into consideration here so teachers should start this type of activity with beginners. First students are expected to interpret very short dialogues and while learners are studying the target language at higher and higher level they will be expected to interpret more and more complex texts. The most popular activities for interpreting will be role play activities and simulations in which minimum three parties are necessary: a presenter, an interpreter and a target person or a target group. For example, the sightseeing tour led by an English guide can be interpreted for Hungarian tourists or some business partners having business talks will need an interpreter.
Situations like the ones mentioned above must always be prepared by the teachers, they have to put an emphasis on the language structures, expressions, etc. before setting the tasks. Students must be practiced interpreting in pairs or small groups before presenting it in public in front of the whole class. Interpreting as well as translation is a complex skill requiring a lot of sub-skills and a great amount of awareness of cultural background.
Though a lot of language teachers are against including complex skills into their syllabi, it is highly recommended for the teachers to integrate them into their everyday work as they are very useful and through them teachers can develop many kinds of sub-skills and language awareness.
