Theory and practice of simultaneous Russian-Chinese translation teaching for Chinese students

Lyu Ven'tszya Postgraduate Student, Department of Theory and Methodology of Translation, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Leninskie Gory, 1 liuwenjia111@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The classical Soviet theory of interpretation originated in the 50s of the last century, but it is still relevant and has a great influence on the training of simultaneous interpreters. Russian Russian/European languages (English, French, German, etc.) Although the Soviet theory of interpretation is aimed at understanding and finding ways to optimize the process of training simultaneous interpreters, improving the relevant educational programs in a combination of Russian/European languages (English, French, German, etc.), its authors are native speakers of Russian. Russian is their native language. Therefore, taking into account the peculiarities of the Russian language, the methods of teaching synchronists based on the Soviet theory of interpretation are effective. Russian Russian and Chinese students need to learn the original Russian language in order to achieve a better quality of deverbalization between Russian and Chinese.

To understand the practical concept of the model of teaching simultaneous interpreters, the following research method is used in the article: comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese languages.

Russian Russian and Chinese authors' publications, which consider the purpose of teaching simultaneous translation and the difference between Russian and Chinese languages, served as the theoretical basis of the research, along with the works of the Soviet theory of interpretation and comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese languages ^[9],[4],[1].

The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that its results can be used in the development of a course of lectures on the practice of simultaneous translation.

The goals of training simultaneous interpreters

According to A. F. Shiryaev, the training of synchronists has the following goals: 1) systematic and intensive development of perceptual qualities, attention, memory, thinking, reaction speed, resistance to intense mental stress; 2) formation of skills and abilities of specific orientation in the speaker's speech in conditions of simultaneous translation; 3) formation of skills and abilities to search and make translation decisions based on limited information about the content and language form of the translated speech in conditions of a tight time limit; 4) formation of speaking skills and abilities in conditions of busy consciousness by orientation in the speaker's speech and search for translation solutions; 5) formation of skills for synchronizing the three specified processes (the process of orientation in the source text, the process of searching and making translation decisions and the process of implementing translation actions) ^{[9, pp. 100, 117-118]}.    

Comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese languages

There are typological differences between Russian and Chinese. From the point of view of linguistics, the Russian language differs from Chinese in terms of phoneme, syllable, morpheme, word, sentence, parts of speech, grammatical categories (gender, number, case), as well as visually and graphically ^{[2, p. 153]}. According to Zhang Huisen, Russian is an inflectional and synthetic language, for example, one noun can have 12 forms that show the grammatical meaning of gender, number, case. In comparison, there are fewer morphological changes in Chinese than in Russian, while the noun in Chinese has no grammatical categories of gender, number, case, since there are no morphological signs of gender, case ^{[10, pp. 39-40]}. Accordingly, due to the difference between these two language systems, difficulties inevitably arise in the process of learning a non-native language.

Special face-to-face and distance simultaneous translation exercises for Chinese students in a combination of Russian/Chinese

These exercises are based on the criteria of phonemes, morphemes, words, vocabulary, parts of speech, grammatical categories (case) formulated during the comparative study of Russian and Chinese languages.

Forms of classes: full-time; distance (at the choice of the teacher).

Place of classes: a classic special simultaneous translation classroom with several booths and a virtual 3D classroom. It should be noted that the idea of the virtual reality project is based on the platform "Interpreting in Virtual Reality" under the EU ^[12]. Because on such a platform, in addition to the model of simultaneous translation practice (Interpreting practice mode), there is also a search model (Exploration mode) and a model of live interaction (Live interaction mode). After the lesson, students can continue to develop USP skills on this virtual platform.

A virtual 3D audience can be, for example, like this (we choose the picture from "EVIVA Project (Evaluating the Education of Interpreters and their Clients through Virtual Learning Activities) — Best Practice Guide" ^{[11, pp. 15-18]}, and the lesson is conducted according to the model of simultaneous translation practice (Interpreting practice mode).

Figure 1. Virtual 3 D-simultaneous translation audience

Russian Russian-Chinese translation training exercises structure: in the schedule on the official website of the Higher School of Translation, our lesson is called "Practical course of simultaneous translation" ^[6] (mainly in the direction of Russian ? Chinese, but there are also a few exercises in the direction of Chinese ? Russian). Each week there is one lesson lasting 1 hour and 30 minutes (90 minutes in total). It is better that classes start after lunch (12:00), for example, one pair took place from 13:00 to 14:30 (with a 10-minute break). It should be noted that this lesson is mainly based on the linguistic aspect. And in this case, students should be energetic, in good physical and intellectual shape to focus on overcoming language barriers when translating from Russian to Chinese.

The general idea of the training is to help students overcome the language barrier between Russian and Chinese, teach them the skills of independently searching for necessary information, resources, materials on the Internet, give them the opportunity to discuss the details of extracurricular work with a teacher, teach them to put into practice the knowledge gained in the classroom.

The first 10 minutes: phonetic exercises on comparing the syllable structure in Russian and Chinese.

Theoretical basis: according to V. V. Kaverina, in the Russian language a syllable can consist of a different number of sounds (for example, in the word "splash" — one syllable consisting of seven sounds). A Chinese syllable contains no more than four sounds. In Russian, a diverse sequence of sounds in a syllable is allowed. Almost any sound of the Russian language can stand at the beginning, middle or end of a syllable. In Chinese, the sounds forming a syllable are placed in strict order. The Chinese syllable of the full composition is constructed as follows: a consonant sound, a non—syllabic vowel, a syllabic vowel, a final semivowel or nasal sonant - and in accordance with this can be divided into structural elements of a different level. A syllable in Chinese can be pronounced in four different ways, with four different melodies, or intonations, called tones ^{[4, pp. 78-79]}.

Materials: based on the book "Practical course of simultaneous translation from English to Russian: studies. manual" ^{[7, pp. 239, 256, 225]}. 

Training method: in a full-time classroom, students synchronously repeat these sentences repeatedly at a very fast rhythmic pace, but with clear diction, preferably without a pause. And in the virtual classroom, the teacher reads Russian and Chinese sentences loudly, at the same time all students close their microphones and synchronously record their translation on their mobile phones. After that, everyone on the virtual screen sends their options to the teacher, he will listen to each translation and comment on them.

The content of the exercise: "Even your neck, even your ears, are stained with black ink. Get in the shower soon. Wash the mascara off your ears in the shower. Wash off the mascara from the neck under the shower. Dry off after the shower. Your neck is drier, your ears are drier, and don't dirty your ears anymore." "The ships were tacking, tacking, but they didn't." "The tongue twister spoke quickly, he said that he would say all the tongue twisters again, but, having spoken too fast, he said that you can't say all the tongue twisters again."

Possible review of the teacher (it is 5 minutes): on the website "Yandex-Translator" we will be able to obtain the following results of the translation, at the same time and seeing the original Russian, and Chinese translation: ,, . . ,,,,,,,,And if we click the "Pronunciation" button on the Yandex Translator page, it becomes obvious that in Russian a syllable can consist of a large number of sounds, and in comparison with this in Chinese, a syllable does not include so many sounds, for example, "you have" in Chinese is (h?ng x?ng), "tongue twister" in Chinese is (r?o k?u l?ng), "talking fast" in Chinese is (shu? de t?i ku?i), etc.On this material, we can see only 4 different tones in Chinese syllables: an even tone ( — y?n p?ng, as h?ng j?), an ascending tone ( — y?ng p?ng, as d?), a descending-ascending tone ( — sh?ng sh?ng, as k?u), a descending tone ( — q? sh?ng, as t?i ku?i). In comparison, in the Russian language, the tone change is more complex, it cannot be divided into only four types.

The next 16-30 minutes: an exercise on the morphological categories of Chinese and Russian.

Theoretical basis: according to A.V. Bagdueva, free root morpheme, bound root morpheme, semi-free root morpheme, formal morpheme and semi-affix (affix) they act as constituent units of the Chinese word ^{[1, p. 266]}.

Materials: they are based on the book "Morphemic composition of words in Russian and Chinese: comparative analysis" ^{[1, pp. 266-268]}.

Training method: Russian Russian students quickly, loudly, synchronously translate the following Chinese (Russian) words/phrases/phrases into Russian (Chinese) in the full-time classroom. And in the virtual classroom, the teacher reads Russian sentences (not very loudly), at the same time one student opens his microphone and synchronously translates these sentences into Chinese. After that, another student tells everyone aloud what he heard and understood, both from the original and from the translation. At the end of this part, the teacher comments on the students' work. It should be noted that during the comments process, students will receive a printed version of the article "Morphemic composition of a word in Russian and Chinese: comparative analysis" with this exercise. In the 3D classroom, the teacher will send an article in PDF format to a virtual screen, students will be able to download it and study it further after the lesson to deepen their knowledge of the morphological categories of the Chinese language.

The content of exercises: ?,?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, , ; , , , ; truck, bar, flannel, beer, alcohol; , ?, ?,,;,; , ,,; ?,,?,,?,,?,,?, , ?,,Mother, I come;?, , ?, , ?, ; , , , ,I arrived.

Possible comment from the teacher (5 minutes are allotted for it): if we translate this exercise synchronously for a long time at a very fast pace, but with clear diction, then we notice the difference between Russian and Chinese: mountain, fly, red, but, people, children, hair, take pictures, shot by a staff correspondent, restless, glass, sofa, canada, , , , , ?, caviar, fish, children, quiet, escape, control, business, land, heavy, chinese cabbage, white vegetable, uncle, uncle, dissatisfied, dissatisfied,, in many, in set, aunt, aunt, star, star, stick, stick, (?), , half a kilogram, fussing, unite, all, cut, resolutely, carpenter, blacksmith, mason, buy, . We will be able to notice the following differences between Russian and Chinese: Russian Russian is not necessarily a compound word; 1) in Chinese, a compound word does not necessarily contain several root morphemes, in Russian it is mandatory; 2) in Chinese, any word is the basis, in Russian, the basis of the word is isolated by discarding formative affixes (endings and some suffixes); 3) in Chinese, morphemes are easily isolated, in Russian — not Russian Russian — at the expense of affixal (prefix, suffix, prefix, etc.); 5) in the Chinese word, endings, infixes and postfixes are not isolated, in Russian - formal morphemes and semi-suffixes ^{[1, p. 268]}. As for the comparative analysis of the morphemic composition of words from this exercise, please read carefully, study the article given to you, analyze and draw independent conclusions. Next week, at the beginning of the lesson, you will verbally tell what you have remembered. During this, you will not be able to use the written materials that you have prepared at home, you will need to tell only what you have remembered from this article. I hope that you will be able to apply the knowledge that you receive in the classroom.

The next 36-46 minutes: an exercise in the lexical categories of Russian and Chinese.

Theoretical basis: according to Li Xiangdong, transitive and intransitive verbs are represented in Russian, and in Chinese the same verb can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on the function it performs in the context. In Chinese, these categories are not represented as morphological categories of the verb, but are expressed in a sentence by verb-dependent terms, at the lexical level, one Chinese verb corresponds to perfect and imperfect Russian verbs, unidirectional and unidirectional. Depending on the nature of the method of action, static verbs or verbal phrases for expressing the static state of action and dynamic verbs or verbal phrases for expressing the dynamic state of action are distinguished in the Russian language. In Chinese, these differences are expressed not morphologically, but with the help of service words or other elements of the context. In Russian, certain lexical meanings and grammatical features allow us to distinguish groups of singular and collective nouns, in Chinese these lexical meanings do not differ ^{[5, pp. 30-34]}.

Materials: they are based on the book "Language differences and their reflection in the lexical semantics of Chinese and Russian languages" ^{[5, pp. 30-34]}.

Training method: Russian Russian at this stage, it is recommended to gradually increase the degree of difficulty of the exercise: in a full-time audience, one student loudly calls the numbers from 100 in reverse order in order to interfere with the rest of the students, who at the same time the teacher allows to simultaneously translate Russian words into Chinese. At the end of the exercise, the student who loudly called the numbers out loud says which words he remembered from those spoken by other students. After that, the teacher and students comment on this exercise. Russian Russian speakers will be invited to record Russian words and phrases and a native Chinese speaker will be invited to record Chinese words and phrases so that students can clearly feel the difference between these two equivalents. In the virtual classroom, the teacher will play a pre-recorded MP3 file on which numbers are pronounced at a very fast pace. At the same time, one student opens his microphone, synchronously and loudly repeats the sounding words. At this time, other students close their microphones, translate synchronously, record the interpretation on their mobile phones and send this translation to the virtual screen. After that, the student who repeats the words synchronously with the sound recording randomly selects one translation and comments on the difference between the original and the translation.

The content of the exercise: to wonder, to wonder, to photograph, to be photographed, to close, to shut; to buy, to buy, to continue, to continue, to go, to walk, to drive, to drive; ,; ,; ,; ,; , ;,;,young man, young man, youth; film, movie; potato, potatoes.

Possible teacher's comment (5 minutes are allotted for it): I have now sent you the full version of the article "Language differences and their reflection in the lexical semantics of Chinese and Russian", which is closely related to this exercise. When I talk about the exercise, please read carefully quickly and review this article. To be interested, to be interested, to take pictures, to be photographed, to close, to close — this is ,,,To buy, to buy, to continue, to continue, to go, to walk, to drive, to drive is ?,,?,,; ,; ,; ,; , ;,;, — it to sit; to sit, to sit down; hanging; to hang, to hang; to hold; to take, to take; to be ill; be sick, ill; to be dressed; to dress, to dress. A young man, a young man, youth; a movie, a movie; a potato, a potato is ,,?This exercise proves an obvious fact: one Chinese word can correspond to two different Russian words with a similar meaning. For example, to be interested, to be interested — in Chinese, these two different words correspond to one — .. However, to be interested, to be interested in the Russian language are transitive and intransitive verbs. A young man, a young man, a young man is In Russian, the word young man and the phrase young man is a singular noun (masculine), it means a man. And youth is a collective noun (feminine), it can include both a man and a woman. In comparison, the corresponding specific lexical meanings and grammatical features in the Chinese language are not so different: . We will be able to notice that in the Russian language there are more extensive changes in morphological categories and grammatical forms. In Chinese, morphological changes are not used to change the grammatical meaning. In the Chinese language, as this exercise shows, there is one obvious feature: static verbs or verb phrases for expressing static action and dynamic verbs or verb phrases for expressing dynamic action are distinguished by using service words or other elements (Li Xiangdong, 2003, p. 31). For example, — get dressed, get dressed. ? is a verb. It is a service word. And in the Russian language, to get dressed, to get dressed — these are not official words, but verbs of perfect and imperfect form, intransitive and reflexive.

The next 52-67 minutes: an exercise devoted to parts of speech (adverb) of the Chinese language and grammatical categories of the Russian language (case).

Theoretical basis: according to V. I. Gorelov, an adverb is a part of speech denoting a sign of action or a sign of quality, as well as the degree of the sign. In addition, an adverb can indicate the place and time of an action or manifestation of quality ^{[3, pp. 36-39]}. According to Zhao Yunping, in the Chinese language, the noun and adjective do not change in cases, and at the same time there are no morphological changes ^{[8, pp. 44, 64]}.

Materials: They are based on the books "Grammar of the Chinese language (for grades 8-10 of secondary school with teaching of a number of subjects in Chinese)" ^{[3, pp. 36-39]} and "Comparative grammar of Russian and Chinese languages" ^{[8, pp. 44, 64]}.

Training method: during full-time training, when performing this exercise, students sit in booths, then the teacher gives them leaflets with the exercise material. Students should quickly translate them into another language by clearly reading into the microphone. At this moment, through headphones, the teacher slowly reads one small poem or sends the original sound of short radio news (as a hindrance) with a delay of 10-15 seconds after the end of the students' sound (first with a delay of 10-15 seconds, then gradually increase the difficulty level — reduce the delay to 7-8 seconds after the end of the students' sound, and then gradually reduce the delay up to 3-4 or 1-2 seconds after the end of the students' sound). The delay in seconds after the end of the students' sound depends on the situation of performing this exercise, the ability of each student to learn and his ability to withstand the load (stress resistance).

An example of a poem (as a hindrance in the process of simultaneous translation).

A. S. Pushkin. "Don"

Shining among the wide fields,

There it pours!.. Hello, Don!

From your distant sons

I brought you a bow.

As a glorified brother,

Rivers know the quiet Don;

From the Arax and Euphrates

I brought you a bow.

Having rested from the evil chase,

Sensing your homeland,

Don horses are already drinking

Arpachai stream.

Prepare it, Don cherished,

For dashing riders

The juice is boiling, sparkling

Your vineyards.

Radio news (as interference) can be selected on the following sites:

https://radiosputnik.ria.ru/?

https://news.un.org/ru/audio-hub

And on other sites with audio broadcasting in Russian.

During the lesson, the teacher will be able to send a live broadcast of radio news through headphones or send an MP3 file of radio news through headphones.

For distance learning: first, the teacher sends the exercise in PDF format to the student, then this student opens his microphone and quickly reads aloud Chinese/Russian words, phrases, sentences. At the same time, another student opens his microphone and synchronously translates what he has heard into another language. At the same time, the third student synchronously records all the Chinese words, phrases, sentences that were sounded on the virtual screen. The fourth student writes down all the Russian words, phrases, sentences that were spoken on a virtual screen. After that, the teacher and students will comment together on the difference between the original and the translation.

The content of the exercise: ,,,,,,; ,,; ?,?,?,?,?,more, most, most, much, exceedingly; ,,,; Because the change in you occurred not suddenly. Usually Meng was very interested in the affairs of the plant. Immediately everyone fell silent and only listened to him speak. Suddenly the door opened. Did you go out yesterday? I think I've seen this hieroglyph somewhere.

The teacher is working. Moscow is the capital. Don't read the magazine. The artist's singing. Building a house. My son is 20 years old. Give something to my brother. Monument to Pushkin. The patient is shivering. Read a book. Travel all over Siberia. The house is being built by workers. Walking in the evenings. Columbus' discovery of America.  

Possible teacher's comment (5 minutes are allotted for it): now I will send the contents of the exercise and materials ("Grammar of the Chinese language (for grades 8-10 of secondary school with teaching of a number of subjects in Chinese)" and "Comparative grammar of Russian and Chinese languages") to the group's general mail, with the help of which it was developed. Please download the exercise in PDF format and these e-books now. Open on pages 36-39 the section on adverbs in the textbook "Grammar of the Chinese language (for grades 8-10 of secondary school with teaching a number of subjects in Chinese)" and sections on cases of nouns and adjectives in the textbook "Comparative grammar of Russian and Chinese languages" on pages 44-47 and 65-66. Here we will analyze only a few options. Read the other parts of this exercise carefully and study after the lesson, if you have any questions, write to me.

Dialects in the Chinese language are divided into qualitative (,,,,,,), adverbial (,,) and adverbs of degree (?,?,?,?,? more ? the most — ? most — ?, too ? extremely — ). Qualitative adverbs denote the qualitative characteristic of the action, circumstantial adverbs indicate the circumstances, conditions under which the action is performed, and adverbs of degree indicate the degree of manifestation of the trait.

It should be noted that in Chinese, some adverbs are formed using suffixes ^{[3, p. 37]}. For example, ? ?,? ?,? ?: After all, the change in you did not happen suddenly at all — in Russian and Chinese it is suddenly, decisively, suddenly, ?. Among these words and phrases, ? forms qualitative adverbs, is the most common suffix of adverbs in the Chinese language, as (by accident), (still) ^{[3, p. 37]}. However, here we need to pay attention to the fact that in the Russian language the adverb "still" is a determinative. And the adverb "accidentally" is of high quality. So in this case, the Chinese suffix forms different categories of Russian adverbs.

And compared to the Russian language in Chinese, adjectives have no changes in case and word form. For example, to protect the environment ( ), it is impossible to break away from the environment ( ). In Russian, the surrounding is the accusative case; the surrounding is the genitive case. In Chinese, there are no morphological changes in cases, both the words surrounding and surrounding correspond to in Chinese.

Next 68-78 minutes: break. Here we want to explain why the break is not in the middle of the lesson, but closer to the end. Because simultaneous translation training exercises require significant immersion in the material for a long time.

During the break, the teacher can include Russian and Chinese songs with a calm and slow rhythm, tempo, to allow students to relax better and at the same time imperceptibly perceive their native and foreign languages on a subconscious level.

The next 79-90 minutes: summing up. This educational process is aimed at consolidating the skills acquired by students in this lesson. At the same time, the teacher points out that in addition to studying materials in the classroom, students can effectively use their free time after the lesson, study independently the methods of simultaneous translation that they met in the classroom. University classes alone are not enough to train synchronists. The teacher can orient students to study the subject independently so that they replenish their own knowledge on their own: they searched for information on specialized Internet resources, pondered the information received, analyzed their shortcomings in the process of studying and could discuss all this with the teacher. Thus, students will be able not only to develop the skills and competencies of a synchronizer in the classroom, but also to learn how to develop their professional career in the future.

Conclusion

Thus, we come to the following conclusions. The practical concept of the simultaneous interpreter training model in a combination of Russian/Chinese for Chinese students is a very relevant and serious scientific problem: how to find a suitable approach for training highly qualified Russian-Chinese synchronists against the background of the development of the "One Belt, One Road" program? This article offers a variant of a practical model of teaching based on the Soviet theory of interpretation and comparative linguistics of Russian and Chinese languages. It should be noted that in the above exercises, only one small aspect of overcoming language barriers is considered. Effective training of simultaneous interpreters is a very deep scientific problem.

We see prospects for further solving the problem in a more detailed and thorough compilation of special exercises for teaching Russian-Chinese simultaneous translation to Chinese students.