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IMPORTANCE OF WORKING MEMORY IN SIMULTANEOUS
INTERPRETATION
Bektemirova Beknozakhon Bakhtiyorjon qizi
1
st
year Master student, Uzbekistan State World Languages University
Simultaneous interpreting presents in the target language, the exact meaning
of what is said in the source language while keeping the tone of the speaker.
Simultaneous interpretation (SI), one of the most energy-intensive areas of
professional activity, seems impossible at first glance. Speed signal processing and
the accuracy of the output result, which professional interpreters demonstrate appear
unattainable without long years of training and very strict selection.
No matter how experienced or rookie an interpreter is, all find the job challenging
and burdensome. Phelan says that “when an interpreter is working, he or she cannot
afford to have a bad day.
One bad interpreter can ruin a conference” (2001:4).
“The interpreter needs a good short-term memory to retain what he or she has
just heard and a good long-term memory to put the information into context. Ability
to concentrate is a factor as is the ability to analyze and process what is heard"
(2001:4-5). Many professional interpreters gain significant graduate-level training
after a strict selection process which requires proficiency in three or more languages
and skills in a range of other cognitive abilities. Working memory
– the ability to retain
the incoming information for a brief period while maintaining mental operations
– has
been accepted as a cognitive skill heavily called upon throughout the simultaneous
interpretation process. Since the brain
’s structure and function are impacted by
experience, and working memory is assumed important to interpretation, it has been
suggested that simultaneous translators may have better working memory skills than
non-interpreters.
There are some works done in this area specifically considering the role WM
in simultaneous interpreting process. In her article Barbara Moser puts emphasis on
working memory in SI and considers it both structural and functional component. She
also states that working memory performs several essential tasks: It stores
processed pieces of text (syntactically and semantically, though it is not clear to which
extent they are processed). This is the storage function proper. In Moser’s view,
working memory is definitely linked to the production as well. The placement of
paraphrasing and prediction functions are predicted in working memory excellently
over time.
David Gerver conducted an experiment on sequential model of mental
processing during interpreting. The model focuses on a system of short-term stores
for the different stages of text processing. Gerver assumed that the source text is
stored in an input buffer, from where it proceeds for further processing. The input
buffer also stores a segment of the input text while the processor is busy with a
previous segment.
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According to Gerver, the actual text processing is performed in co-operation
with long-term memory, which activates the appropriate linguistic units. Gerver
assumed that this stage of processing is merely linguistic, and did not consider it any
further (Gerver, 1976). The processed material is then ready for output
– via an output
buffer, where it undergoes optional monitoring.
As it is clear now that one of the tasks of translation activity is memory. As
noted by R.K. Minyar
– Beloruchev, “Everyone needs memory, but the translator
needs it professionally [Minyar
– Beloruchev, 1999:50].
Working memory allows for a certain period time to catch the sounds of speech,
analyze them and reproduce them in the form of statements. This is a memory for
the duration of an activity that has its goals and is determined by its features. Working
memory thus retains information until the end of the action, the duration of which may
vary.
Although working memory retains information for a brief period, in the end it
transfers the input to the long-term memory in which an interpreter can use ready-
made phrases in the process of simultaneous interpreting.
REFERENCES:
1. Baddeley AD., 1986. Working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Baddeley A. (2000a). The episodic buffer: a new component of working
memory? Trends in Cognitive Science, 4 (11), 417-423.
3.
Barbara Köpke, Jean-Luc Nespoulous. Working memory performance in
expert and novice interpreters. Interpreting, John Benjamins Publishing, 2006, 8 (1),
PP. 1
–23.
4.
Миньяр-Белоручев Р.К. Как стать переводчиком? – М.: Готика. – 1999.
– С. 176.
5. Moser-Mercer B. (2000). Simultaneous interpreting. Cognitive potential and
limitations. Interpreting, 5 (2),
– PP. 83–94.
