When studying Interpreting and Translation (I/T) at University, students often meet with a lot of difficulties such as how to remember what has been said, how to express an idea clearly and quickly in the target language, how to translate from the source language (SL) to the target language (TL) and so on. In order to help students become better interpreters and translators and enjoy the subject, the theory of interpreting and translation is introduced.
It is important for prospective interpreters/translators to understand the process of I/T, to identify the problems in doing I/T and then to find efficient and feasible solutions. These issues are also the main content of this course.
Interpreting and translation are two closely related linguisic disciplines. Yet they are rarely performed by the same people. The difference in skills, training, aptitude and even language knowledge is so substantial that few people can do both successfully on a professional level. Comparing Interpreting with translation, it is noticeable that the interpreter translates messages orally, while a translator interprets written texts, which means that the difference doesn't only occur in terms of the skills and the attitudes but also in terms of medium.