Unit 4

hello and welcome to interpreting Asia interpreting Europe

now have you got a pen ready and some paper
this program is about note-taking note-taking is one of the
essential skills for liaison interpreting and a vital aid to memory
notes are generally used to record specific details like numbers
proper names and lists of things people often refer to it as
note-taking but the term I prefer to use is how to use notes in
other words it's an interaction between your notes and your
short-term memory in the following drama look at how the
interpreter takes notes at the meeting between two
businesspeople both are hoping to sign a deal and the final
stages of negotiations should be straightforward as you know
the sales of AQA have more than trebled in the last six months
in Japan outside of the UK we have six offices in Europe as well
as in Sydney Tokyo and Bangkok sales have increased by an
average of 23% in all territories while our main competitors
have decreased by 13% we know that our marketing strategy
works and we are very keen to move into the Chinese market
and as a sign of our commitment and belief that our product is
right for your country we will be spending over a million u.s.
dollars on our Chinese marketing campaign Giovanni celada
eco-conscious I live in the social to Japan in the finale of
thunder travailing open to white women territorial look of
actual parenting Sydney mama monk we do Khedira social
content envelop – Teresa a woman that we are children to eat
all the - what the social - to Suzanne lahmacun sinful woman an
insert initiative sada so he conceived under Bruton whooshes
heart woman I'm a woman the championship sugar - vs Honda
pehla pyaar some woman attorney questions in Roman temple
root hog were washed over me and at the Jean Renoir's
shenanigans afford oh oh there should you a comment either
they were angry - ah yes but what about the difficult what are
you offering on an order of over 500,000

units I can offer you 10% toggle wash

away you something done you better enjoy

sugar to a core human ah - I don't know

my heart you sure you keep a fiendish

artichoke all ours yet having the one

called hole or being mandala the world

well your rival what a southeast is

offering 12 percent discount and it's

spending far more or I was hiding

are you sure what a southeast is

spending more on advertising meeting

don't unconscious rate the total be

overhead our David's you well we also me

oh you got your either you me I'll see

you either wah

compound what my porno Shalini retention

it was a disaster for all three of them

wasn't it

so now let's look at what's wrong with

it interpreters note-taking sales have

increased by an average of 23 percent in

all territories while our main

competitors have decreased by 13 percent

poor preparation the interpreter really

seems to be working from scraps of paper

and he's got his notes in a real mess we

know that our marketing strategy works

and we are very keen to move into the

Chinese market too many notes this

interpreter seems to be trying to write

everything word-for-word which of course

is an impossible task as a sign of our

commitment and belief that our product

is right for your country we will be

spending over a million US dollars on

our Chinese marketing campaign just

sugar drawers on that may Allah be

our some woman a Tony Christianson woman

down Hollywood Hogwarts around me and at

the gym just don't watch do something

southward or ah the wrong figures a

wrong number in this kind of situation

can easily lead to a breakdown in

negotiation which can seriously damage

the interpreters reputation

how do professional liaison interpreters

do it the essential tools are pen and

paper a spiral-bound pad interpreters

work vertically it is easy to write and

easy to recall

it's glad to meet you I'm a from Beijing

place to come over here to study you

know for us we don't have any

opportunities to meet foreigners so it's

the price honor for me to meet you

no shall we challenge to show you her to

go tell you the war for Tripoli this

year dream to enter this year so what

should be Natalie and Parvati Adama much

interest to mention indeed I did I

worked in the years of 1992-93 in the

Gulf

I want mission calling United Nations an

interpreter should not try to write

everything down

you must retain ideas rather than words

in your memory memory comes first

note-taking should always be done on the

basis of memory and a good comprehension

it is actually the product of a good

digestion of the source text it is never

possible and advisable to take down

every piece of information you hear most

of the information is actually kept in

our short-term memory I think we should

mention an important thing about

note-taking here many people with a good

education are used to taking notes but

notes for liaison interpreting are quite

different note-taking plays an essential

role in supplementing our short-term

memory and comprehension for note-taking

for example I believe there is no single

best system of note-taking because the

situations that interpreters are in vary

so much everyone develops their own

little tricks for note-taking you would

have different skills or techniques or

even tricks it may even call it to help

you for example you can even have for a

different kind of signs

even connect symbols the different kind

of abbreviations to help you while

people have different ways of taking

nouns there are some basic guidelines to

follow for instance have a proper layout

no doubt the key words idea reminders

and those that can hardly be retained in

memory such as figures and use

abbreviations and symbols sometimes you

cannot you cannot remember all

especially about a number for example

the number of the products or they the

the year or what happened in what year

for example and then you were to take

notes

generally the objective of note-taking

is that it should supplement memory

efficiently notes cannot replace memory

but properly taken notes should make it

easier when delivering interpretation

now let's watch how interpreters work

with notes in real situations

if there are long speeches noes can keep a record of the basic
structure of the speech notes from your consecutive
interpreting can help jog your memory which means your nose
can give you the baic structure of the discourse of the original
speaker and that way the you know with the assistance of the
specific information that you write down from the if remiel
listening then you can produce best discourse into the target
language very often I need to maintain my quality from nine
o'clock in the morning until about 10 o'clock in the evening and
very often busy schedules like that lasts several days and I need
to ensure that my quality is the same from the first day the first
minute until the last day the last minute without notes relying
on your short-term memory only you simply cannot do that
interpreters work in two languages and their notes can be in
whatever language best suits their needs it is important to
remember that the notes are taken from one language and are
used to generate speech in the other language of course the
advantage of signs and symbols is that they do not belong to
any one language and jump point up to $70 80 cents last
Monday we're now paying more than twice as much oil as we
did before the Iraqi war and we know from experience that all
previous price spikes of this kind have led to serious trouble
already the inflation barometer is twitching and I know that the
people who do economic forecasts they're just looking ahead
to storm clouds but some people actually say that there is a
case to have high oil prices they say that on balance it was once
said that the four most dangerous words in English were this
time it's different well this time it actually may be different
there are commonly used abbreviations in interpreting and it's
well worth studying these but there is no one way of note-
taking and it is not advisable to copy anyone elses system some
will use more graphic symbols others more abbreviations
ultimately you have to develop your own system through
practical experience people sometimes this quite note-taking as
a necessary evil because on the one hand interpreters can
hardly survive without note-taking and on the other note-
taking if improperly used could distract our attention so
practice and training are essential I hope this program has given
you some insights into the practice of note-taking however
remember that the best note-taking is the one that you
develop yourself and that takes experimentation and practice
so keep practicing good bye