從新手到專家

Abstract

許多口筆譯研究所將參加專業考試到為學生畢業要件之一，此等專業考試的目的或為評量學生學習成效，或為評鑑學生是否達到專業水平，前者以學習評量為目的，可以回饋到教學課程的改進，而後者則可作為一種認證機制，作為系所對外舉薦口筆譯人才時的基準，如輔仁大學翻譯學研究所與台灣師範大學翻譯研究所聯合舉辦的專業考試，以及上海外國語大學高級翻譯學院的專業考試即為兩例。 事實上許多針對專業能力(expertise)或技能習得(skill acquisition)的研究均指出，任何領域要達到專家水準除須習得該領域之技能、知識之外，實務經驗的累積更是不可或缺的要素。例如Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986)以飛機駕駛、汽車駕駛及學習第二語言的成人為研究對象，提出了五階段的技能習得模型。該模型將生手要進步成為專家的技巧習得歷程分為第一階段：生手，第二階段進階初學者，第三階段堪可勝任，第四階段趨近嫻熟，第五階段也是最後一個階段方為晉身專家之林。除詳盡描述各階段學習者的特色外，Dreyfus and Dreyfus也整理出專業知識的幾個特點，包括專家通常能夠實踐知識，而不只是了解特定知識。其次專業知識在專家身上往往近乎直覺，因此專家在實務操作上可以有自動化、不加思索的嫻熟表現。而這種近乎直覺、自動化的專家表現多源於豐富經驗與策略，且無法具體以言語說明。 因此。譯專業考試若以專家等級之專業執業能力來要求甫完成兩年研究所課程的應試學生，似乎有悖於相關研究結論，而這樣的通過標準是否公平合宜，也值得進一步檢討。綠此，本文以Dreyfus and Dreyfus的技能習得模型為基礎，檢視前述兩項專業考試的考試辦法所訂通過標準是否合宜，並提出具體改善建議。

According to the Dreyfus and Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, there are five levels of expertise, from novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient to expert. To become proficient or an expert, one has to accumulate considerable experience in real situations. This model, published in the 1980s, has been widely used to look into the acquisition of expertise in various settings, and is found to be particularly relevant to the educational field. All educational or training programs have the element of assessment for sound assessment can effectively enhance the quality of instruction. The same applies to interpreter training programs, and many interpreting schools, especially those at the post-graduate level, have the tradition of organizing professional exams at the end of their two-year training program. Such professional exams can be considered a tool to assess whether the curriculum objectives have been met, or can be used as a certifying mechanism to identify candidates that the institute can confidently recommend to users of professional interpreting services. The purpose of the professional exam, therefore, can determine the exam standards. This paper, based on the Dreyfus and Dreyfus model, chooses to examine exam standards adopted by two professional exams that claim to certify interpreters to be fully competent by international professional standards in simultaneous and consecutive conference interpreting even though the candidates are all graduate students that have just finished two years of interpreter training at the three concerned graduate institutes-Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation Studies (GITIS) at Fu Jen Catholic University, Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation (GITI) at National Taiwan Normal University, and Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation (GIIT) at Shanghai International Studies University. It is concluded that those who pass said professional exams should be expected to exhibit features of a competent-to-proficient interpreter. The clarification of the exam standards in terms of levels of expertise helps to both dispel misinterpretation of exam outcomes and to set amongst jury members more reasonable expectations of the candidates' performance.