Simultaneous Interpreting

Most effective for large meetings and conferences.

Requires specialised equipment: all contributions are relayed by
microphone to the team of interpreters working from soundproof booths
within the room their interpretation is then transmitted back to the
delegates through individual headsets.
At least two interpreters per language in a booth who each interpret for
thirty minutes. When not interpreting, the other interpreter will stay in the
booth and prepare for the next speech and help the other interpreter if
necessary.
A high level of education, training and preparation is required on the part
of interpreters in order to carry out the skill of simultaneous interpreting.
Consecutive Interpreting
Most efficient at meetings and presentations with a small audience.
The interpreter needs to have excellent concentration, memory and
understanding.
Samples of situations when consecutive interpreting is used are question
and answer sessions, presentations, press conferences, speeches, court
hearings, conference calls and interviews.
The interpreter takes notes while a participant speaks, and an
interpretation is then rendered after the speaker has finished, or at
appropriate intervals during the speech.
No specialist technical equipment is required.
Whispering Interpreting
Whispering interpreting or chuchotage is usually only used when one or
two people do not understand the source language.
This type of interpreting is useful for one-to-one or small meetings, walking
visits, tours or during social events and dinners.
The interpreter is seated next to the meeting participants and
simultaneously renders the interpretation in a low voice.
No technical equipment is required.
This form of interpreting would not be recommended if more than two
people require interpretation as it would create too much noise and

distraction. It would only be recommended for short meetings as the

technique of whispering and speaking continuously in a low voice strains the
vocal chords.
As this is a form of simultaneous interpreting, this mode would also require
a team of two interpreters.
Liaison Interpreting / Community Interpreting
This is also referred to as bilateral interpreting.
This procedure is often used for informal situations, small business
meetings, and it is also suitable for court interpreting.
It involves interpreting on a more one-to-one basis whereby the interpreter
will interpret, and liaise between two languages to two or more people.
This type of interpreting is often used for interpreting in the community, at
the request of doctors, lawyers, hospitals, Garda, social services and
schools.
It can also be used over the phone for telephone interpreting.
Interpreting for Health & Safety or Training Courses
This is for situations where workers need to be trained in health and safety
work practices and other types of workplace training.
In some cases if part of the training is on the go such as a tour around a
construction site, a tour guide/Infoport system may be required, whereby a
radio and participant headsets are used to enable the interpreter to talk to
people on the move.
Our interpreters are experienced in interpreting for Health and Safety in
the workplace, such as for Safe Pass Health and Safety Awareness Training,
and Construction Skills training courses.
How note taking provides you with better interpreting skills?
March 30, 2015 8:45 am
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Just imagine you are a consecutive interpreter, which means you possess an
appropriate level of the target and source language, knowledge of the
surrounding world and the subjects of speech, good memory and other vital
language skills like listening, understanding, speaking and grammar. During

your interpreting career you are obliged to follow long speeches and
interpret them in detail as quickly as possible. Interpretation envisages
making a rendition of speech rather than a summary, which involves a lot of
stress especially when you are a beginner interpreter and you are not
aware about some useful principles of notation that help you memorise. In
this article, you will read about some interpretation strategies that may help
reduce the time of the speech memorisation.
Abbreviations and symbols system
One of the best practices is using the symbol that represents an idea instead
of a word. Thanks to jotting down symbols and abbreviations, interpreters
can make a perfect draft for later rendition from the source language into the
target one, as well as for transferring the meaning of the speech. One of the
techniques is to avoid using double consonants, even though some or all
vowels are missing. While using the method presented beneath, interpreters
should not omit the key information from the speech. For example, write
cmte instead of committee, hstry instead of history. Another very
useful method is taking benefit from abbreviations, which means omitting
endings, using only the first vowels and double letters, or first two or three
letters of certain words to note down information. The best advice is not to
overuse abbreviations and symbols at the beginning of the interpreters
career especially when you are not so familiar with them and you can
forget what they stand for. So, you can try to add a new abbreviation only
when you know the former ones.
Abbreviation
w/
w/o
app.
stat.
gvt.

Original word
with
without
approximately
statistics
government

(Source: Interpretation Techniques and Exercises, James Nolan)

You can take advantage of using symbol x for the word time and link it
with other symbols to make noting down time expressions quicker and easier
to be remembered.
Abbreviation
xx
xx+
xx-

Original word
many times, often
many times more
many times less

xtx
2x
3x-/

from time to time, occasionally

twice
three times less than

(Source: Interpretation Techniques and Exercises, James Nolan)

If you would like to negate something, just put no OK instead of OK which
stands for approved.

Lets have a look at the most useful abbreviations and symbols

Create an own notation system

The main goal during notation is to establish your own best practice, as
everyone has completely different personalities and ways of acquiring and
retrieving
something from memory, so it
is
better to adjust
the aforementioned basic principles and develop an own notation system.
The common practice is to keep your notes brief, clear and accurate, and just
follow the rule of economy of words. There are some types of information
from the speech that have to be jotted down, like proper names, numbers,
dates, links and separations between ideas, tenses of verbs, modal verbs,
figures, points of view, and complete lists. You should also remember that
there is not enough time to jot down every sentence, so concentrate on
putting down the most vital ideas rather than taking down whole sentences.
While taking notes, in general you can omit articles, exclamations,
unimportant prepositions, adjectives and adverbs. It is important to focus on
the overall comprehension of the speech and grasp the most important
things to transfer to the participants. So, it is highly recommended to take
notes only in the target language to reduce the time-consuming process of
translation to a minimum. Thanks to this practice, interpreters can avoid
making mistakes in the grammar structures, vocabulary or make some funny
calques or misinterpretations.
Watch a video about consecutive note-taking:
Note Taking Leads to Better Consecutive Interpreting Skills
Apr 7, 2015
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If you are a consecutive interpreter, meaning you already possess an
adequate level of the target and source language, knowledge of the subjects
of speech, good memory and, otherwise, important language skills, like
listening, understanding, speaking and grammar.

The interpretation career includes the obligation to follow long speeches and
interpret them in detail as soon as possible. And interpretation means
rendering of speech rather than a summary, which involves a lot of stress.
The message should make the same impact on the target audience that the
speaker intends for an audience of her/his same language. Communication
involves intention, context, form, gesture, tone, relations of power, etc.

That is why you should be aware of some useful principles of notation that
help you memorise. Notes improve concentration: they prevent distraction,
help the interpreter relieve the memory, releasing the interpreter from
bearing the whole thing in mind, and activate the memory of the interpreter
with cues and signals that call up the information in the speech.

Main ideas, the secondary elements and links between them become clear
and easier for the interpreter to visualize.

However, taking proper notes needs a lot of practice.

What to note
1.

Main Idea, to be able to easily track back the structure of the speech;

2.

Links between Ideas, as the relations between individual ideas

influence the overall meaning of the text.

3.

Verb Tense, as the modes and tenses of verbs have decisive influence
on the meaning of a sentence.
How to Note

1.

Abbreviations can help the interpreter understand immediately when

reading back notes.

Suggestions:

Write what is heard: high-hi; know no; free fe

Drop medial vowels: build bld; legal lgl; bulletin bltn

Write initial and final vowels: office ofs; easy ez; follow
The interpreter must have some background knowledge about abbreviations
of common international organisations, such as World bank WB,
European Union EU, Asian development Bank ADB.

1.

Symbols, something like an object, picture, written word, sound, or

particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance,
or convention.
When to note
The answer is as soon as possible without having to complete unit of
meaning. You cannot afford to take longer than the speaker. You are
expected to react immediately after the speaker has finished.

Do not forget that you need to create your own notation system, as everyone
has completely different personalities and ways of acquiring and retrieving
something from memory. Keep your notes brief, clear and accurate. The
single best rule is ECONOMY OF WORDS. Remember that there is not enough
time to jot down every sentence, sp focus on putting down the essence. It is
highly recommended to take notes only in the target language to reduce the
time-consuming process of translation to a minimum.

Watch a video about consecutive note-taking:

CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING RULES1.

Do not interrupt the speaker

the entire question or answer must be finished before youcommence your

interpretation. Do not attempt to mentally interpret until you have heard theentire
massage.2.
Do not add anything to the message

no additions of any kind are allowed3.

Do not omit from the message

do not leave anything that was said out of the interpretation.4.

Do not change the message

do not make changes to the message received5.

Use formal YOU-the tu form is prohibited6.
Take brief notes all concrete information such as names, description, colors,
numbers, years, ect7.
No extraneous noises

do not make any sounds such as uh, uhm, well, ok, etc8.
No double interpretations

provide a one word interpretation for one word heard9.

Maintain the same register

raise or lower your level of sophistication of the language inaccordance to what

you have heard
10.
Speak loudly, clearly and confidently

you must project professionalism at all times

11.
If you do not know the interpretation for a word or expression, make your best
educated guess12.
When an idiomatic expression is utilized, then you must provide the equivalent
expression toconvey the meaning and not explain the expression.13.
Interpret all fillers

all filler words utilized by the spea

ker, such as well you know ok, they
must all be interpreted with equivalent filler word14.
Remember in what language you heard the source information so that you may go
into thecorrect target language when interpreting.15.
Remember the gender of all speakers

this a must when going in to Spanish16.

Follow the story

remember everything that has transpired in the story so that you may providea
better interpretation of up-coming events. ( this includes terms used)17.
Interpret all profanity

do not use more bland terms (euphemisms) for vulgarisms18.

Do not do any conversions

when answers are provided in pesos or kilos or the 24 hour clock isused, they will
be interpreted in just the same fashion and not converted19.
You must wait at least two complete seconds before commencing your
interpretation. You mustbegin yr interpretation no more than seven seconds after
the speaker has finished the questionor the answer20.
You may ask for repetitions


you will state, May the interpreter have repetition, please
21.
No Spanglis
h is allowed. You may not say
22.
Concentrate 100%. Visualize the message. Sound self-assured and poised.