Lecture 1 听取信息在线视频

Hello everyone

Welcome back

I’m your lecturer Catherine

Based on a brief introduction to interpreting in unit 1

today we move on to unit 2: information processing

which is vital in learning interpreting

It can be said

that successful interpreting

depends largely on an interpreter’s capability

of processing source language information

So your full attention is required in learning this unit

Today we’ll focus on lecture 1: active listening

To get a full command of information processing

you need to train your ears constantly

to get into the habit of listening actively

But before we discuss further

I’d like you to think about this question

do you think being able to understand

equals being able to express

If you’re not sure about this

let’s look at an example

Hi Jeff

During the interpreting class this morning

I was really impressed

by the way you expressed yourself

I’m wondering if you have any particular means

of practicing speaking?

Well

yes

I do have my way of enhancing speaking

Would you like to share?

Of course

I’d love to

My secret trick is to express the original information

I hear with my own words

Would you like to give us a demo

Sure

Now

let’s listen to an audio

After you finish listening

please share with me your understanding

of this material

Jeff

can you tell me what the audio is about?

Er I can give it a try

It’s about the cash demand for college students

Recently

a female college student posted online

complaining that her mother refused to give her

4,500 yuan

for monthly living expenses

Hmm It’s a good beginning

Why does she want so much money?

Because her college is in a first-tier city

where consumption level is high

Also she had to buy skin-care products and clothes

Fantastic

What else?

People held different views on this

Some people supported her

They say that college students need money

not only for survival

but also for entertainment and socializing

However

some people believe this is too much money

They argue that in some middle-class families

a parent can only earn

a monthly salary of 4,000 or 5,000 yuan

Therefore

college students should be thrifty

Wow

that’s amazing

How did you manage to do it?

This audio is about college expenses

a topic closely connected to my life

But to be honest

I’m not sure if I can make it

when the subject is changed

From my personal experience

sometimes I can’t express what I want to

even though I fully understand what I hear

Nearly all my peers

have been in the same dilemma

I believe it’s due to the insufficient time

we spend on practicing it

So you mean it’s better to practice as much as possible

Yes

Thank you for sharing

It’s a good learning experience

You’re welcome

Welcome back

From Jeff’s experience

we’ve learned that understanding and expressing

are not the same

The latter is a more complicated skill

In interpreting

an interpreter needs to express the source language meaning

in a different language

which is even more complicated

Then what should an interpreter do

to guarantee a favorable result?

The trick lies in active listening

Not everything in a listening material is useful

Some of the information is redundant

and does not affect your understanding

In getting useful messages from listening

we need to follow five tips

First

do not waste too much time and energy

on supporting information

Instead

listen intensively for key information

like a person’s name

a specific place

actions

reasons

results and so on

Second

take the whole meaning into consideration

A text is inherently cohesive

and each sentence is semantically connected

to the rest of the text

Third

make sure your notes tell a cohesive story

Each person has his/her unique way of taking notes

The key is to make your notes readable to you

Fourth

activate relevant existing knowledge

From the very beginning of listening

you should consciously search for related information

or background knowledge

stored in your mind

For instance

you’re listening to a passage about

The Belt and Road Initiative

and you happen to know the background about it

then it’s better for you to recall its date

the objective and countries involved as quickly as possible

Chances are that the same points

might be mentioned in this passage too

Finally

turn the information into visual images

This is a highly useful skill

especially when the source material is descriptive

The trick is to picture a series of images

with each relating to the other

Now

let’s have a practice

Listen to the audio

and try to write down the key information

Remember to apply the five tips

Have you got all the key points?

Basically

this audio can be summarized like this

In this picture

we have the place

the action

the reason and the result

Each of the element is interlinked with the rest

With the help of this picture

you’ll be able to retell the source information

with your own words

Perhaps you can give it a try later

If you missed some points

don’t be upset

It takes time to train your ears

Well

we’ve talked so much about active listening

Thanks for watching and don’t forget to come back

for the next lecture