Note-taking in Consecutive Interpreting

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Note-taking in Consecutive Interpreting

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Content

• (1)Introduction
• (2)Practical Points for Note-taking
• (3)What to Note
• (4)How to Note
• (5)Abbreviations and Symbols
• (6)The Language in which to Note
• (7)When to Note
• (8)How to Read Back Notes

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(1)Introduction

• (A) The Purposes of Note-taking
• (a)To relieve memory
• However well the interpreter may analyze a speech
  and orders its ideas with a view to interpreters
  memory, there will still be too many elements in
  a five-minutes speech for interpreter to recall
  everything.This is particularly true if a speech
  contains numbers, names, lists and so on.
• Further, if the interpreter devotes their
  intellectual energies to remembering (e.g. a list
  of chemicals), this may distract them from the
  key task of listening attentively to what comes
  next.

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• (b) To jog the interpreters memory
• The term relieving is used to cover noting down
  specific elements so the interpreter can
  reproduce the content of a speech.
• The term jogging means the notes can also used
  to enhance the interpreters ability to reproduce
  the structure. So notes should therefore reflect
  the form of a speech, making it clear to the
  interpreter what is important and what is
  ancillary, how ideas are related or separated
  from one another.

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(2)Practical Points for Note-taking

• (a) An interpreter must be able to take their
  notes quickly and write upon something convenient
  to hold and easy to handle. So necessary tools
  are advised as follows
• A stenographers note-pad, roughly 15cm by 20cm
  (Notewrite on only the recto side, not
  recto-verso)
• A good old-fashioned lead pencil.
• (b)Requirements for the style of note-taking
• Should be easily legible(??)-writing in large
  character
• Should be well spread out over the page so that
  various elements can be clearly differentiated.
• Must be totally unequivocal.(Note dont create
  abbreviation word ,which will cause mistakes. For
  example, ind ??independence )

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(3) What to Note

• (a) The main ideas( subject-verb-object)
• (b) Links and separations between ideas should
  appear in the notes(which make the
  interpretation more logical and more easily be
  followed)
• (c) The point of view being expressed
• (d) The audiences need to know what happened and
  when, and the tenses of verbs are therefore
  important. Similarly, modal verbs have a decisive
  influence on the function of other verbs and
  determine the meaning of a sentence

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To Sum Up

• To sum up, the interpreters notes should give at
  least the main ideas of a speech with the links
  between those ideas points of view, tenses of
  verbs, and modal verbs, should also be noted
• However, be aware there are also elements that
  an interpreter cannot remember and where notes
  are used to relieve their memory. These elements
  include numbers, dates, proper names and lists of
  chemicals,fish or whatever. Once the interpreter
  senses there are these elements coming from the
  speaker,the interpreter should drop everything
  else and note it immediately, as otherwise the
  interpreters have little chance of remembering
  them.
• The one thing to be avoided is trying note
  everything down as an end in itself ,to the
  detriment of the interpreters active listening
  to the original.

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(4)How to Note

• (A) Diagonal Layout
• (B) The Left-hand Margin
• (C) Verticality of Lists
• (D)If Ive Missed Something Out in My Notes

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(A) Diagonal Layout(?????)

• The Diagonal Layout, which is based around a
  subject-verb-object analysis, is used to reflect
  the structure of a speech clearly so as to help
  the interpreter reproduce that structure in their
  structure. The three components should be
  separated quite clearly and allocated to each of
  them roughly the same position in any given
  section of notes in the diagonal layout such as
  follows
• subject
• verb
• 
  object
• (Note The interpreter is of course not limited
  to nothing just the subject, verb and object, but
  it is around this basic structure that the
  interpreter will be able to build in other
  details in the notes if they desire.)

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• The reasons why diagonal presentation should be
  preferred
• (a) To avoid all confusion. Clearly separated and
  distinct notes are important for ease of reading
• (b) The beginning of each new idea is clearly
  marked
• (c) Notes must be taken in a concise and
  non-literary manner
• Be aware The great temptation is to take notes
  horizontally and then align ideas one above
  another. For example

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• Hungary has complained that its steel exports to
  the European union are unable to develop because
  of excessively restrictive tariff quotas. But the
  Union representative pointed out that quotas are
  still underused by Hungary by a large margin, so
  the tariffs quotas themselves didnt appear to be
  creating the difficulties.
• This could be horizontally noted as follows,(
  which causes inconveniences to the interpreter)
• Hu complained---steel exports to EU cant
  develop
• Because too strict tariffs quotas
• But EU rep---quotas underused by HU a lot
• So quotas not problem

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• Drawbacks of this note-taking style
• (a) writing too much (The interpreter should not
  take notes as a meeting secretary or a student at
  a university lecture)
• (b) not stand out clearly at a glance from the
  page
• (c) the ideas are not analyzed through the
  notesslavish reproduction of the words used by
  the speaker in the order in which they were
  spoken, which will lead the interpreter function
  similarly when actually reproducing the speech
  orally.
• Note The upshot will probably be an
  unanalyzed interpretation with inferior style, as
  the expression in the target language will be too
  influenced by the form of expression in the
  source language

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(B) The Left-hand Margin(?????)

• This is used to mark the links and separations
  between ideas, and the separations between
  paragraphs. Given that the diagonal layout
  involves bringing your eyes back to the left-hand
  side of the page to start a new idea
• (a) The logic place to put the link is to the
  extreme left of the page, just before the
  beginning of the substantive idea
• (b) To make sure that links are easy to find, and
  avoid any confusion with the subject of the
  sentence a link or separation introduces, it is
  best to leave a left-hand margin of one to two
  centimeters for them
• ( c) Clear separations are normally marked by
  drawing a line across the entire width of the
  page.

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(B)The Left-hand MarginAn Example

• Hungary has complained that its steel exports to
  the European union are unable to develop because
  of excessively restrictive tariff quotas. But the
  Union representative pointed out that quotas are
  still underused by Hungary by a large margin, so
  the tariffs quotas themselves didnt appear to be
  creating the difficulties.
• This could now be noted as follows ( More
  convenient)
• HU steel exports
• 
  cannot develop
• 
  to EU
• Because tariff quotas
• too
  restrictive
• But EU HU
• 
  underused a lot
• 
  quotas
• So quotas
• not problem

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(C) Verticality of Lists(????????)

• An exception to the general principle of diagonal
  layout is that lists should be noted vertically.
  The elements in the list have the same value and
  should therefore be attributed the same position
  in notes.
• A list can of course occur anywhere in a sentence
  . It may equally well affect the subject or the
  verb.

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(C) Verticality of Lists An Example

• Western Turkey has suffered a series of natural
  catastrophes, violent winter storms, flooding and
  earthquake.
• This could be noted down as follows
• W. Ty
• suffered
• catas
• 
  storms
• flood
• 
  earthquakes

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(D)If I Have Missed Something Out in My
Notes(??????????)

• (a) Dont be panic,because it happens to any
  interpreters some time in their career that they
  fail to hear something, or hearing it fail to
  register it immediately , and so are unable to
  note it down, while knowing that there is
  something they have missed.
• (b) Note clearly that something is missing. The
  simplest thing is to put a large cross in the
  right-hand margin of the notes at the same level
  as the missing item would have been in the notes.
• (c )Find the missing place quickly once the
  speech is finished. An easy thing to find the
  missing place is to have a spare pencil or pen
  available, and to slip it in between the pages of
  your note-pad at the page relevant to the
  question. This will make it possible at the end
  of a speech to flip back immediately to the
  passage concerned and put your question quickly
  and directly to the speaker.

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols(?????)
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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols--- Some suggested
symbols used in note-taking

• -
• lt gt
• ?
• ? ?

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(5)Abbreviations and SymbolsIntroduction

• The obvious advantage of abbreviations and
  symbols
• (a) To help save time in taking notes, thus
  adding to the efficiency of note-taking
• (b) To escape the trap of word-for-word
  translation (by reducing an idea, which may be
  expressed by one word or a number of words, to a
  symbol)
• No hard-and-fast rule to follow, it is better to
  find your own balance.But in trying to strike
  that balance, a number of basic principles should
  be observed
• (a)It should be remembered that abbreviation
  and symbols are, like any other part of notes,
  means to an end, and not an end themselves.
• (b)To make sense, abbreviations and symbols
  must be logical to the interpreter using them.

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Frequently
Occurring Notions

• Any notion that is likely to occur often in an
  interpreters work should have its corresponding
  abbreviation or symbol.
• (a)should have a list of abbreviation for the
  country names they come across most frequently
• (b)should have a list of abbreviation for the
  major international organization
• (c) should have abbreviations or symbols for
  the notions that come up frequently in your own
  particular area
• (d)should create family groups of symbols and
  logical combinations of symbols such as
  economic(E), monetary(M), financial(F),
  budgetary(B) then words such as increase or
  improvement or growth ( )

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Links

• (i) short link words in English which can be
  used as they stand. For example as for because
  family but for turning point family words and
  phrases such as on the other hand so for
  therefore family.
• (ii)can use the mathematical sign to express
  links. For example, ? to mean therefore.

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Tenses

• The tenses in English that are most important to
  note are the present, the past and the future
• A simple way to note down the three types of
  tenses is to use will or -ll to express the
  future, does to express the present, and has or
  - (verb)ed to express the past.

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Stress

• (i) This can be done very simply through a system
  of underlining. For example, important.
• (ii) Abbreviate the way they note comparatives
  and superlatives
• (a)use suffixes such as er and st
• (b)use a symbol such as for comparative,
  and with for superlative
• (c) or use gt for comparative more than, in
  which case lt can be used for less, and so on.

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Arrows(Examples
)

• In fact, symbols are very much a personal affair.
  They are created for your own purposes. They must
  be unequivocal, logical to their user, and form
  an organic system. For example
• (i) will mean increase(quantitatively) and
  improvement (qualitatively) will mean the
  opposite.
• (ii) unemployment unemployment continues to be
  at high level
• (iii)unemployment unemployment continues to
  be at low level

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Suffixes(Exampl
es)

• (i) ind ?industry diff ?difficult or different
• But we can use suffixes to distinguish these
  words, especially these family group words. For
  example
• prodt product prodn production
• prody productivity

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Parentheses

• Sometimes an interpreter is aware of what the
  speaker has said and has fully registered it
  intellectually but does not have the time to note
  it down. At that time, the parenthesis can be
  used as a warning sign to the interpreter,
  saying, Be careful! There is that other point
  you must include here. A key word in that
  parenthesis should trigger off memory of the
  story.

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Numerals

• ????
• e.g.
• 5,500----5?5 ? 55
• 15,300---1 ?5?3 ? 153
• 175,000---17?5 ? 175
• 3,000,000--- 3, , ? 3 ? 3
• 635,500,000---6?3?5?50? ? 635 5

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(5)Abbreviations and Symbols-----Numerals

• The reading of vulgar fractions
• 1/2 one half
• 1/4 one quarter
• 1/5 one-fifth
• 1/3 one-third
• 3/4 three-fourths
• 5/9 five-ninths
• 2/6 two-sixths
• 9/10 nine-tenths
• 3/1000 three-thousandths
• 26/95 twenty six over ninety-five
• 79/53 seventy-nine over fifty-three
•  
• ?????? nine and a quarter
• ?????? five and two-thirds

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The Language in Which to Note

• The target language is given to priority to
  note-taking. But the interpreter should not worry
  too much about the question of source or target
  language for notes. The target language and the
  source language( and even the third language) can
  be combined to note down the speech.

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When to Note