A good memory is essential for successful interpretation, but only a few people have a surprising memory. During oral translation practice, it is impossible for an interpreter to memorize everything the speaker has said, such as telephone numhers, dates, names. The ability of an interpreter does not lie in his/her talent to recite a speech, but rather in understanding the purpose of memorization. Many students taking the oral translation course often ask the following questions:
How long does it take to know something?
Why are some things easy to remember, why are some things not?
Why are some things even more dif ficult to remember than others, even if you try hard to do so?
Why are some things easy to forget?
Later, they found through practice that
Memary is closely linked to understanding.
The more familiar the content, the easier to remember.
The more boring the content, the harder to remember.
A 500-word speech is less easy to remember than a two-hour film because the latter is more related to life (e. g. love, illness, travel, horse-riding, judge, beautiful girls, friendship, hatred, jealousy, etc.).
e. g. Read the following passages and tell which is easier to remember and which is not, and which is more interesting and which is boring.
1) A passage about a student's life in Yale.
One evening during my second month at Yale, the boys next door appeared in our suite and decided to give me a class on "useful" words. They rattled off a dozen words and phrases that are unprintable here. "Now pronounce the word after me." "No, no, no, that's not right. You've gotta say this word with more force." They laughed so hard they almost had tears in their eyes. I thought they meant well, so I laughed with them. They also told me to grind my hips when I dance and to start eating pizzas.
2) A passage about political current affairs.
THE UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose tough sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
This resolution came five days after the country declared that it had conducted its first-ever nuclear test.
Resolution 1718 states that the DPRK "shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes". It also requires the DPRK to abandon its ballistic missile programme and "other weapons of mass destruction".
The resolution bans the sale or purchase of weapons and military technology from the DPRK. It also obliges all countries to prevent the sale or transfer to tbe DPRK of heavy weapons and all equipment that could assist its outlawed weapons programmes.
The resolution authorizes countries to freeze all DPRK assets related to these programmes. They can aiso deny entry to any DPRK people suspected of involvement in such activities.
The resolution also gives nations the right to inspect ships going into and out of the DPRK to check for prohibited weapons when "necessary".
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