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Note Taking For: Consecutive Interpreting
Note Taking For: Consecutive Interpreting
Consecutive
mechanism of our memory, are
present in many areas of human
activity, from simple shopping lists to
sophisticated business note taking
Interpreting
systems. Despite this, note taking is
sort of a neglected stepchild of con-
secutive interpreting. As interpreters,
we learn early on that taking notes is
By Hana Laurenzo beneficial, even crucial, to the overall
success of our performance and
optimal quality of our work for the
benefit of the customer, but we are
seldom introduced to the various tech-
niques available. Granted, note taking
styles differ from person to person. In
the absence of any standards or typ-
ical schemes to follow, individuals
develop their own technique and style.
The problem with this is that we tend
to develop habits that might make our
interpreting more difficult and less
effective, and, in some cases, nearly
impossible. The main problems we
typically see include:
The Basics
Structured note taking is suitable
for any consecutive interpreting sce-
nario. Although we may have an
ingful chunk of speech, preferably two ence and knowledge. The fewer asso- expand on the sentence and include
or more sentences. As interpreters, we ciations there are, the more difficult it more notes when this diagonal struc-
need enough material to work with, to is to remember and the more notes ture is used. If our sentence changed
recognize context, and to be able to you will need to take. to “The Police, together with the Port
deliver the message properly in the Authority, arrested drug smugglers,
target language. The longer the chunks Note Taking Structure thieves, and suspected terrorists,” the
of speech, the bigger the need for taking The most widely used note taking notes would look like Figure 2.
notes. Taking notes also helps the con- structure is based on the work of Jean Similar “skeleton” sentences are
versation flow with the least possible Francois Rozan.1 His method typically all you need to keep track of
disruption. abstracts the source-language mes- what is being said. For easier orienta-
At the same time, you should not sage into a symbolic form. Very few tion, the individual concepts can be
fixate on using notes. When you take words are written down, and the focus separated on the page using a hori-
notes but feel you can deliver without is on ideas, or concepts, rather than zontal line, as shown in Figure 3 on
them, do not use them. On the other words. This way, key words are iden- page 27.
hand, take notes when you interpret tified, which will eventually trigger
about a subject that is new to you. the memory of the entire concept. The Link Words
Memory associates with prior experi- most important techniques used in Logical connectors, called “links,”
this method are: connect and clarify individual concepts
Figure 1 or ideas. It is a good idea to draw a ver-
• To write down key concepts and tical line about an inch from the left
Police words diagonally across the page, side of your notepad and write such
arrested from left to right. link words to the left of the line, while
drug smuggler noting the subject-verb-object (S-V-O)
• To use indentation, spacing, and concepts to the right of it. For example,
vertical organization of words and typical link words, in their abbreviated
Where the idea is reflected in a complete
symbols. form, include:
Subject-Verb-Object (S-V-O) group:
Notes written this way: • COS because
S • THO although, despite
Police • Are easier to read as our eyes move • TO (in order) to, so that
V naturally from left to right. • Eg for example
arrested • + in addition, not only, also
O • Have an at-a-glance, simple to • B but, however, in spite of
drug smuggler follow structure. this
• _ consequently, this means
• Place the beginning of each concept that, the result is
Figure 2 on the left, where we will see it first.
Figure 4 on page 27 shows an example
S • Eliminate syntactic interference in of using link word abbreviations.
Police the target language (frequently the
Port Authority
result of horizontal notes). Using Symbols
Symbols are pictures, letters, and
V • Provide space for additional notes. words that represent something.
arrested Rather than individual words, sym-
O For example, the sentence “The bols typically represent ideas or con-
drug smuggler police arrested a drug smuggler,” cepts. Symbols are quick and easy to
thieves noted diagonally across the page, write. On a page with notes, they are
suspected terrorists would look like Figure 1. easy to see and easy to read. Symbols
Notice how easy it would be to can be used instead of verbs, nouns,
COS Police
used
dogs
Figure 3 ____________________________________________
_
Police have been investing
arrested drug training
drug smugglers ____________________________________________
Figure 5 Figure 6