TrIn 3101: Introduction to Interpreting

Unit 3 continued: A. Linguistic, Cultural, Situational and Professional Tasks of InterpretingB. Memory Topics

Unit 3 2

Modified homework due 9/29/04 Read the following articles:

Vásquez pp. 155-57 The Interpreting Process pp. 173-186 General Issues pp. 187-198 Write one thought question for each article.

Read again the article “The Problem with Interpreters: Communicating with Spanish-Speaking Patients” by Vásquez and Javier (text pp. 155-157). Write the answers to the questions on handout

3-6 from Unit 3 (9/22/04).

Unit 3 3

Unit 3 continued: Goals

1) Review: Definition of culture

2) Identify culture issues that impact communication (video)

3) Identify possible cultural conflicts in an interpreted encounter in a community setting

4) Identify some of the linguistic issues in finding appropriate equivalents in a cross-cultural medical encounter

5) Memory topics, memory enhancement techniques and exercises

Unit 3 4

The Bilingual Medical Interview II: The Geriatric Interview

The scenes depict medical interviews by physicians with non-English speaking geriatric patients. Each of the segments is an edited version of a complete visit, including a history, physical exam and review of medicines.These vignettes are designed to highlight points of interest regarding geriatric clinical issues, cross-cultural concerns and techniques for the bilingual interview.

Unit 3 5

Cultural issues: a review

As each scene is shown on the video dealing with geriatric medical interviews:a) circle the cultural areas of conflict observedb) briefly identify the specific conflict(s) demonstrated in each vignette c) How might/should the interpreter deal with each conflict?

Unit 3 6

Video: the geriatric interview

Scene 1 House call:Mature daughterinterprets forelderly Spanish-speaking motherwho is a bilateralamputee with anunstable heartcondition

Age/status Gender Beliefs and values Verbal and

non-verbal communication

Unit 3 7

Video: the geriatric interview

Scene 2 hospital room:young nephew interprets for elderly Chinese uncle

Age/status Gender Beliefs and

values Verbal and

non-verbal communication

Unit 3 8

Video: the geriatric interview

Scene 3 house call:Hindi-speaking female nurse interprets for elderly female patient

Age/status Gender Beliefs and

values Verbal and

non-verbal communication

Unit 3 9

Video: the geriatric interview

Scene 4 Male physician +

male interpreter pre-interview

consultation interview with

elderly Spanish-speaking male

Age/status Gender Beliefs and

values Verbal and

non-verbal communication

Unit 3 10

Discussion of cultural issues: areas of potential conflict

• Handout 3-3 (group of 3-4): From his/her native culture perspective, each student will first identify at least one category in each of the four listed areas that may cause a conflict in a medical interview.

• Individually, please share with the group what those conflicts entail.

• Discuss how an interpreter might resolve each conflict.

Unit 3 11

Linguistic issues Group application activity 3-5 (from week 9/22)

1. Divide into groups of 3-4, preferably with individuals from at least two different cultures.

2. Answer the following questions on your handout based on the norms of your “native language” culture. Assuming a medical encounter in a doctor’s office, give one answer for each question.

3. How might any of these factors influence an interpreted encounter?

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Linguistic Issues: discussion1. Introductions

(verbal and non-verbal)

2. Concept of time3. Seating

arrangements- spatial intimacy?

4. Appropriate vs. inappropriate questions and topics

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Linguistic issues: discussion5. What is said at

the beginning of an interaction?

6. Addressing each other: first, last names, titles?

7. Who makes the decisions?

8. How to signal an encounter is over?

Unit 3 14

Linguistic issues: discussion9. How formal or

informal are people?10. What is the polite

way to interrupt?11. How can age,

status or gender affect an interaction?

12. How important is “saving face”?

Unit 3 15

Cognate comedy A TA was trying out her English, and said to a

professor, "Excuse me, may I molest you for a moment?"

We have 2 adopted children who were 11 and 13 when we adopted them in Costa Rica.  One had a detention at school after he had been in the US for about 6 months - he kept telling other children that they shouldn't "piss" on the grass. (pisar = to step on)

Memory Topicsfor Interpreters

Unit 3 17

Objectives The student should be able to:

Review/identify the three stages involved in memory

Describe the four phases of memory tasks Discuss general properties of memory Explain the Stroop Effect Apply techniques and mnemonic devices

for memory enhancement in interpreting: Association Visualization Acronyms

Unit 3 18

Power of the human mind:

The paomnnehil pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig eh?

Unit 3 19

Memory Flow Chart

The flowchart for the theory of memory indicates that all incoming information first passes through Sensory Memory (SM) before it enters Short Term Memory (STM). There it can be maintained by rehearsal and either successfully encoded for storage in Long Term Memory (LTM) or forgotten. In retrieval, the information passes from LTM back to STM, where it enters our consciousness.

Unit 3 20

Three Stages of Memory

Unit 3 21

Types of Memory

Short Term Memory- Where sensory data is first transmitted to for processing and evaluation- Aging impacts the depth of processing that occurs in STM, sending less to LTM

Unit 3 22

Types of Memory Long Term Memory

- Where STM is encoded for long-term storage and future retrieval

How quickly and reliably we recall it depends on: Activation: How long since we last used the

information. Strength: How well we have practiced it.

Archival Memory (a type of LTM)- Used in the ultra-long term storage of memories

Unit 3 23

Long Term Memory

V a rie tie s o f L on g T erm M e m o ry

E p isod ic S e m an tic

D ec la ra tive

C og n it ive M otor

P roced ura l

R e tro sp e ctive[p e r ta in s to th e pa s t]

P rospe ctive[fu tu re e v en ts]

Unit 3 24

Working Memory

Why can we rehearse only limited information at a time?

Rehearsal limitations are due to limits in how long it takes verbal material to decay, not how many items we can store. Hence, the faster we can rehearse, the more we can store (Baddeley, 1986).

Unit 3 25

Memory terms Memory is a complex mental

function having four distinct phases: (1) encoding or learning (2) retention (3) recall/retrieval (4) recognition

Clinically, it is usually subdivided into immediate, recent, and remote memory.

Unit 3 26

Retention

The persistence to perform a learned behavior (facts or experiences) after an interval has elapsed in which there has been no performance or practice of the behavior.

Unit 3 27

Memory Theory Recognition vs. Recall Issues

- Recognition - seeing something and knowing what it is- Recall - very construction oriented; requires making connections The process whereby a representation of

past experience is elicited. - As we age, our recognition abilities get stronger while recall weakens- Recognition scenarios (like multiple choice exams) are better for older learners

Unit 3 28

Mnemonic 'Mnemonic' is another word for

memory tool. Mnemonics are methods for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall. The basic principle of mnemonics is to use as many of the best functions of your brain as possible to store information.

Unit 3 29

Use Your Whole Mind To Remember

By coding language and numbers in striking images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of information. You can then easily recall these later.

Unit 3 30

You can do the following things to make your mnemonics more

memorable: Use positive, pleasant images. The brain

often blocks out unpleasant ones. Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images -

these are easier to remember than drab ones.

Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures.

Unit 3 31

Mnemonics continued . . . Give your image three dimensions, movement

and space to make it more vivid. You can use movement either to maintain the flow of association, or to help you to remember actions.

Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image

Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones.

Similarly rude rhymes are very difficult to forget!

Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs, etc.) can code quite complex messages quickly and effectively.

Unit 3 32

How does our memory work?

We remember things by association. Every piece of information in our memory is connected to other pieces in some way or another. For example, if you are given the word "apple", what do you think of? Perhaps something like this: APPLE: red, round, sweet, teacher, tree, fruit

But it's unlikely that we might see "apple" and think of "dog". And what if you were asked what the 7th letter of the alphabet was? Chances are, you wouldn't know that "G = 7," but you could easily think to yourself, "A B C D E F G," and then say "G". You used association to get to the letter G, because you knew A was the first letter, then you kept choosing the next letter in the sequence until you got to the right one.

Unit 3 33

Association If memory works by association, we

actively work to create an association between two bits of information. For example, for the plane that we need to catch at 2 P.M., we can imagine the plane in our mind, and notice that it has 2 wings. Two wings, 2 P.M. There's an association by means of a visualization. We are now ten times more likely to remember the take-off time long after it has faded from our short-term memory.

Unit 3 34

Association When pieces of information are not obviously

related in any way, however, we have to be a bit more creative in linking things together. But it isn't as hard as it seems. Most of us learned rhymes and acronyms in school that helped us remember things. Do any of the following look familiar to you? i before e except after c, or when sounded like a as

in neighbor and weigh (rule for remembering ei or ie)

ROY G. BIV (colors of the rainbow) All Cows Eat Grass; Every Good Boy Does Fine

(notes of musical scale) Never Eat Sour Watermelons (directions on a

compass)

Unit 3 35

Association exercise To demonstrate how effectively this

works, look at the following list of words, and try to come up with an association between the left word and the right word of each row. Some will be easy; others may be harder. As an example, for the first pair, you might want to imagine a mouse that has a long, wavy tail that is in the shape of the letter S.

Unit 3 36

Association exercise mouse S fur R train bridge moat boat popcorn chair elephant pancake toothbrush canal umbrella triangle

Unit 3 37

Association exercise

After you have formed the associations, cover up the right side of the list and then try to name the word associated with each word on the left. If you formed vivid, clear associations, you may be surprised at how quickly and easily you were able to remember everything!

Unit 3 38

Association exercise

mouse fur train moat popcorn elephant toothbrush umbrella

Unit 3 39

Other properties of memory:

Law of Recency: We are more likely to remember

things that happened recently than those that happened a long time ago. You can probably remember what you had for dinner yesterday, but not what you ate for dinner two weeks ago today.

Unit 3 40

Law of Recency

A list of 20 words will be read. Try to remember as many of the words as possible. Write down the words that you can remember immediately after reading the list.

Unit 3 41

Law of Recency . . . and Primacy

This type of experiment provides evidence that there are 2 types of memory processes. It is thought that memory is good for the words read last because they are still in short term memory - this is the recency effect. Memory is good for the words read first because they made it into long term memory - this is the primacy effect.

Unit 3 42

Memory properties Law of Vividness:

We tend to remember the most spectacular or striking impressions rather than those that are more ordinary. You can probably remember what you did on your last birthday, or perhaps the events of 9/11, but not what happened on the previous day of those occasions (unless, that too, was a "special" occasion).

Unit 3 43

Law of Vividness:

We are much better at remembering pictures than we are at remembering words and names. There are probably biological and evolutionary reasons for that. When subjects are asked to recognize a small set of photos that they saw the previous day from a larger set, they typically recognize around 97%.

Unit 3 44

Concrete Words, Abstract Words and Nonsense The ability to recall a word depends

on how meaningful the word is to a person. Along with the meaningfulness of a word, the "concreteness" of a word is important for memory. Concreteness refers to the ability of a word to form a mental image. A word with high concreteness is easy to "see"; a word with low concreteness (an "abstract" word) is difficult to visualize.

Unit 3 45

Concrete words

Here are three lists of words: concrete words, abstract words and nonsense words. See which list is easier to memorize. You could also read these lists to other people to see how many words from each list they remember.

Unit 3 46

Concrete words

alligatorapplearrowbabybirdbookbutterflycarcornflower

hammerhouselemonmicroscopeoceanpencilrockshoestablewindow

Unit 3 47

Abstract words

angerbeliefboredomchanceconcepteffortfatefreedomgloryhappiness

honorhopeideainterestknowledgemercymoodmoraltheorytruth

Unit 3 48

Nonsense words

atorbotamcrovdifimfirapglimocgriculhilnimjolibkepwin

lumalmibnatpempeyrimrispawstiwintubivvopecyapib

Unit 3 49

Memory properties

Law of Frequency: We tend to remember things we

experience the most often, rather than those we experience only once in a while. You are much more likely to remember your name or your phone number than the square root of 3 (unless you are a mathematician).

Unit 3 50

Short Term Memory Test

Directions You are about do a small short term

memory test. A few letters will flash on your computer monitor for 3 seconds. Your job is to write down as many letters as you can remember after they disappear.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Unit 3 51

STM exercise

How did you do? Compare your results with the table on your page. How many letters from each trial did you remember? Is there a "pattern" to the letters that you remembered? For example, did you remember the first few letters better than the middle letters? Did you remember the last letters?

Unit 3 52

Short Term Memory Test - Pictures

Draw a 4x4 grid of boxes. Look at the objects that you should

remember. The objects will stay on your screen for 30 seconds. Then write down the names of all the items you remember inside the appropriate boxes.

Unit 3 53

Picture test

How many objects did you remember?

Were the objects that you remembered also placed correctly on the grid?

What categories of objects did you remember: animals, food, building, animated objects, piano

Unit 3 54

Interference: The Stroop Effect

Don't read the words on the right--justsay the colors they're printed in, and do this aloud as fast as you can.You're in for a surprise!

redyellowgreenblueredblue

yellowgreen blue red

Unit 3 55

The famous "Stroop Effect" is named after J. Ridley Stroop who discovered this strange phenomenon in the 1930’s.

If you're like most people, your first inclination was to read the words, 'red, yellow, green...,' rather than the colors they're printed in, 'blue, green, red...'

You've just experienced interference. When you look at one of the words, you see

both its color and its meaning. If those two pieces of evidence are in conflict, you have to make a choice. Because experience has taught you that word meaning is more important than ink color, interference occurs when you try to pay attention only to the ink color.

Unit 3 56

Forgetting: Gone, or

Inaccessible? Do we forget because the

information is gone, or do we forget because we can't access information that is still there?

It is difficult to distinguish the two. However, there is evidence that we retain more than we can retrieve.

Unit 3 57

How to Improve Your Memory There are many things you can

do to improve your memory, among them the use of certain mental techniques, as well as special care with nutrition and medicines.

Unit 3 58

To stimulate memory

Use your memory to the utmost. Challenge a novelty. Learn new skills. If you work in an office, learn to dance. If you are a dancer, learn to deal with a computer; if you work with sales, learn to play chess; if you are a programmer, learn to paint. This could stimulate your brain's neural circuits to grow.

Unit 3 59

Pay attention

Don't try to memorize all the facts that happen, but focus your attention and concentrate in what you consider more important, avoiding all other thoughts.

Exercise: take any object, such as a pen, and concentrate on it. Think on its various characteristics: its material, its function, its color, its anatomy, etc. Don't allow any other thought to occupy your mind while you are concentrating on that pen.

Unit 3 60

Relax

It is impossible to pay attention if you are tense or nervous. Exercise: hold your breath for ten seconds, then release it slowly.

Unit 3 61

Associate facts to images Learn mnemonic techniques. They

are a very efficient way to memorize large quantities of information.

Visualize images: See figures with the "eyes of your mind".

Unit 3 62

Foods

Some vitamins are essential for the proper working of memory: thiamin, folic acid, and B12 vitamin found in bread and cereal, vegetables and fruits.

Unit 3 63

Water Water helps maintain the

memory systems working, specially in older persons. According to Doctor Turkington, lack of water in the body has an immediate and deep effect on memory; dehydration can generate confusion and other thought difficulties.

Unit 3 64

Sleep

To be able to have a good memory, it is essential that we allow the brain to have enough sleep and rest. While sleeping, the brain disconnects from the senses, and proceeds to revising and storing memory. Insomnia would produce a chronic fatigue and would impair the ability of concentration and the storing of information.

Unit 3 65

Medication

Some medicines can cause loss of memory: tranquilizers, muscular relaxants, sleeping pills, and anti-anxiety drugs, such as valium. Some medicine for the control of high blood pressure (hypertension) may cause memory problems and depression.

Unit 3 66

Alcohol

Alcohol interferes specially with short-term memory, which impairs the ability of retaining new information. Studies have shown that even the ingestion of low quantities of alcoholic beverage during one whole week will interfere with the ability of remembering.

Unit 3 67

Smoking

Studies have shown that, when compared with non-smokers, individual smokers of one or more packs of cigarettes a day had difficulties remembering people's faces and names in a test of visual and verbal memory (Turkington, 1996).

Unit 3 68

Caffeine

Coffee and tea have a very positive effect to maintain attention and to end sleepiness, but the excitation promoted by these drinks may interfere with the memory function.

Unit 3 69

Practice Practice improves memory, but how

you practice also affects it. The same amounts of practice, but distributed in the one case and massed in the other, lead to different outcomes. Distributed practice is when practice is spread out

over time. For example, you may study a total of 12 hours for a test but you did so over 6 days.

Massed practice is when practice is done all at once. For example, you study 12 hours the night before the test.

Many studies have confirmed that the first strategy is the better one. Subjects remember more and for longer periods of time when they distribute their practice.

Unit 3 70

Over-learning Over-learning is when practice is

continued beyond the criterion of one error-free trial. Actors over-learn their lines. They will rehearse far beyond the time necessary for the criterion above. In the military, drills constitute over-learning. In all of the cases above, over-learning helps to negate the negative effects of stress on memory. Over-learned items can be recalled under higher levels of stress than can items that were not over-learned.

Unit 3 71

How many of these associations do you recall now? mouse fur train moat popcorn elephant toothbrush umbrella

In conclusion . . .

For the most part, memory does a magnificent job for us. Every time you spell a word, drive a car or pick up a

telephone and recognize your mother's voice, it's a wonder.

Unit 3 73

Quiz preparation

Date: October 6 Length: 40-60 min. Points: 50 total Content:

definition of terms (2 pts. each) short essay answers (3-10 pts. each)

Unit 3 74

Expectations for the quiz:

Definition of terms plus the following essay topics: Why is literal translation or interpreting

usually meaningless? Why should the interpreter speak in the first

person (“I”) while interpreting? What are the roles of the interpreter? Define culture and explain why the interpreter

should be knowledgeable of both cultures. Contrast and/or compare translating and

interpreting in 4 ways. What knowledge, skills and qualities does a

competent interpreter need to have? Explain the phenomenon of transference in the

interview.

Unit 3 75

Assignments due on 10/6/04

Quiz (50 pts)Write one thought question for

each article from the text: Codes pp. 1-4, 5-13 Rules pp. 257-263 NAJIT pp. 264-266