Transcription
Hello, I'm Dick Fleming. I used to work for the European Commission as an English language interpreter and also as an interpreter trainer. Now, you probably recognize this even if you aren't yet a professional interpreter. Yes, indeed, it's a consecutive interpretation notepad. And I'm going to talk to you about both. In other words, about consecutive interpretation and also about the note pattern.
Perhaps I should start by defining briefly what consecutive interpretation is. It's interpretation involving an interpreter being in the same room as the speaker, listening to what the speaker is saying, and probably also taking notes on a pad like this. And then when the speaker has finished, only then does the interpreter deliver his or her interpretation.
Now, I have to say that I've used a good few of these during my career, in the early stages decades ago. Um, I used it uh in small technical meetings which tended at the time to be conducted in consecutive mode, but even later uh particularly on trips outside Brussels. I used to use it uh um when interpretation was required just from the local language into English, and very often in a situation where we were miles from the nearest simultaneous interpretation facilities anyway uh such as on an ostrich farm in northern Greece. And in any case, I always used to carry one of these with me just in case the the local head of the wine growers association, having had perhaps a little too much of his own produce, decided to stagger to his feet and deliver a speech.
So you could say that the pad and the pen are the tools of the trade of the consecutive interpreter. Um, although in an emergency you can always grab a menu and scribble on the back of that. Um, and in certain cases you might even be able to do a certain amount of interpreting without anything to write on at all. A bit like a trapeze artist performing without a safety net. But that's all right for the trapeze artist because he may want to display, to show how good he is. In our case, performing without a notepad is rather pointless. And in any case, if we're doing it just to show off, I would say it's even unprofessional.
So the notepad is a useful tool, especially when speeches get longer and more rambling than the perfectly constructed little ditties um served up by teachers of consecutive interpretation on interpreting courses. Um, but they do this um wisely I think, because uh what they're trying to do with these perfectly constructed speeches is to get the students to develop their powers of listening, understanding, and analyzing. And they're quite right to deliver such perfectly formed speeches in order to get the students to develop these skills even before they've started taking notes. Because when they start taking notes, notes could be and very often are a distraction from the basic skills of listening, understanding, and analyzing.
Because the key to successful interpreting, including consecutive interpreting, is up here. I would say it's here, here, and here. And and not here. If I had my way, in fact, I think I would put a public health warning on a consecutive notepad. And it would be something like this. It would be a warning: This notepad could seriously damage your ability to interpret. That would be in capital letters. And then underneath that, I would put, Please read the instructions carefully before use.
So what would be on the list of instructions for loop uh for use? The first point would be: What matters is here and not here. And what matters above all, as I said before, is listening, understanding, and analyzing. Three things. And point two, don't write down anything until you've done all these three things. If you write something down that you haven't understood, the chances are that it'll be just as incomprehensible later when it comes to reading your notes. And also, if you start noting too early, you probably will be noting down something that you haven't fully understood or analyzed. And you may also be writing fast and furiously, so much so that you're no longer listening properly to the speaker. You may also be writing too many words directly from the original speech, words which will be very difficult to get away from when it comes to reformulating naturally in your own language. And you may not even be able to decipher all the scribblings on the page later. As a result, your interpretation could well be wishy-washy content-wise, owing to an insufficient grasp of the speaker's thought processes, and unconvincing form-wise, since you'll be groping around in a desperate bid to find inspiration from what are, after all, rather sloppy notes.
Now, it sounds bad, doesn't it? So, I think we better get back to what are hopefully constructive points in our list of instructions. Point three, note down the main ideas and the links between them. That is the structure of the speaker's arguments rather than the words he or she has used. In this way, your notes will be a record of the process of analysis you are carrying out here in your head and will also be a useful memory jogger later when it comes to reformulating the speech. Another advantage of consigning this structure to paper is the fact that you'll be able to concentrate even more on what the speaker is saying at any particular moment in the knowledge that you have a foolproof safety net to fall back on if your memory fails you. It's a bit like the sensible trapeze artist who has decided to have a safety net, and you can thus concentrate on what he is doing uh in the knowledge that he's going to be okay even if things go wrong.
Fourth point, note-taking is not an end in itself. None of the delegates in the meeting care at all what you write down on your notepad. All that counts is the quality of the interpretation. And a fifth point, the way you take notes is a highly personal affair. Teachers of interpretation like to give some basic tips about what and how to note things that seem to work for them and other professional interpreters. And quite right they are to do so. Nevertheless, it's up to you to decide how to take your notes since our minds all work in different ways, and it is bound to affect what we note down, which may be what we as individuals tend to forget, and also how we note it down. It's what suits us best.
And this brings me on finally, if I have time, uh to deal with a couple of frequently asked questions. Firstly, should I note down words or symbols? Well, it depends. It depends on the situation and it depends on you. Words can be very useful, especially if they are keywords encapsulating the basic ideas. They can even be necessary when you need to quote what somebody has said later. But symbols can be very quick to jot down and have the advantage of jumping out at you from the page. If you use them regularly, they're like faithful friends.
Secondly, in which language should I take my notes? In the source language, in the target language, or in the mix of the two? Again, I would say whatever works for you. I know interpreters who always work a note in English because it's shorter, even if they're interpreting from Macedonian into German. I do too. But of course, I only ever worked into English, so it came naturally. But also, the fact that I was noting in the target language enabled me to reformulate more easily.
So that's it. you you've had your warning, but if you follow your teacher's instructions and use your notepad properly, you should sooner or later find it a help rather than a hindrance and come to love it like I did. Thank you.