Intellectual meaning-oriented approach in professional training of interpreters

The article provides a consistent description of an intellectual meaning-oriented approach to organizing interpreters’ training. This approach represents a multilevel framework comprising three core components: aim-setting, curricular content, as well as procedural and technological concepts. Their integrated implementation is designed to foster the development of future interpreters' intellectual and mental activity, which is essential for professional practice. Thus, the primary aim of implementing the intellectual meaning-oriented approach is to develop the interpreter’s conscious being, able to comprehend, apprehend and transmit information in the act of cross-cultural communication. The authors establish the key conceptual constructs of the proposed approach. These include verbal and mental activity; connections of thought and meaning; intellectual operations; verbal and speech perception of meaning; as well as the interrelated systems of cogitation, speech, language, and intelligence. The authors delineate the structural components of their approach. They define the aim and its theoretical and conceptual foundations, along with the core didactic principles that guide the instructional design. This design is aimed specifically at developing future interpreters' intellectual verbal and mental abilities. The authors’ approach is governed by several key didactic principles. Firstly, it emphasizes the psycholinguistic interrelation of thought, language, and speech; and elaborates on the meaningfulness of language units and the dominance of their bonds. Secondly, it reflects a problem-based methodology rooted in authentic interpreting scenarios and the analysis of bilingual discourse speech fragments samples. Furthermore, it exteriorizes implicit mental operations in the process of oral and written speech production. Finally, it incorporates multisensory principle in the process of comprehension and apprehension of information. The authors consider the procedural and technological components as the integration of a "learning system" with a "technology of acquisition." Such an integrated model facilitates a subject-subject interaction between a student and a teacher, where both act as equal partners while maintaining their specific functions. The content of procedural and technological components comprises specific methods and tools, developed through targeted pedagogical exercises. These include cognitive operations for text analysis, such as information comprehension and apprehension; communication and speech objectives; and instructional technologies for guiding students through the analysis of content and meaning of a source text and a subsequent target text production strategy using target language resources. In conclusion, the authors summarize the strategic aims and objectives of implementing the intellectual meaning-oriented approach. Achieving these goals is designed to cultivate the core competencies of intellectual verbal and mental activity, thought essential for future interpreters. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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