ITP 163: English to ASL:
Introduction to Consecutive Interpreting Summary Notes

Five-Step Follow-Up:

Step 1: Interpretation Rendered: Transcribe only the portion of the interpretation you would like to analyze and revise. Use capital letters for the signs you used i.e,

English: “John lost his keys.”  ASL: “KEYS, JOHN GONE (for lost).”

Step 2: Revision: Write a revised interpretation that better preserves the meaning of the original source message.

“John found his keys.”

Step 3: Determine Error Types:

1.    Literal translation: (interpretation follows source language syntax too closely)

2.    Inadequate language proficiency:

a.     Source language (ex: comprehension problems)

b.     Target language (ex: difficulty expressing the message in TL syntax)

3.    Omission (ex: main points or other important features left out of TL rendition) 

4.    Addition (example: information included in TL that was not in SL and is not warranted by context)

5.    Nonconservation of paralinguistic elements (example: intonation patterns or illocutionary force are omitted or skewed)

Step 4: Effect of Error on Communicative Function: In Translating from English and Cognitive Processing Skills, the emphasis of the five-step follow-up was finding the reasons for the errors which is appropriate for language learning.

In consecutive interpreting, it is more relevant to determine the communicative function of the error.

 

What is the impact of the errors on the communicative function?

 

Ex: Does the error distort the message or is there a “sufficient degree of precision”?

It is important to put the concept of error analysis in context. Interpreters are relied upon and trusted to accurately convey information between participants. When an interpreter falters the consequences can be grave.

Ex: Interpreter errors made by President Carter’s interpreter during a visit to Poland.

·       Instead of saying that Carter had just left the US to travel to Poland, the interpreter said Carter had ‘abandoned’ his country.

·       Carter said the Constitution of Poland was worthy of being revered internationally. His interpreter said the Polish document was worthy of ‘ridicule’.

·       Carter said he had desires for the future of the fine Polish people, his interpreter said Carter had ‘carnal desire’ for Poles.

This caused more tensions between our countries instead of lessening it!

Sample rating scale you can apply to Step 1:

5       =       No negative consequences to participants

4       =       Consequence of error is minimal

3       =       Consequence of errors is moderate

2       =       Consequence of errors is severe

1       =       Consequence of errors is grave

Step 5: Action Plan: Write down what action you plan to take to improve your work.

Ex: focus on comprehension: review the material until you are certain you have fully understood the message or you can rerecord your interpretation to create an improved product.

Progress Tracking Sheet: This is to help you keep track of which exercises you have completed and your performance on these exercises.

Ex: Scale to assign points to your work:

          Excellent (no serious errors)                    = 5 points

          Good (some errors, but not serious)        = 4 points

          Fair (many errors, some serious)             = 3 points

          Not satisfactory (many errors, most         = 2 points 

are serious)

          Poor (missed the point of the exercise,    = 1 point

          must redo)

Assumptions of Consecutive Interpreting:

“It is only used for study and instruction purposes to build strong cognitive and procedural foundation for beginning simultaneous interpreting. “

Neither consecutive nor simultaneous is actually a linear sequence of skills that are performed one at a time.

It is a complex series of interacting skills and processes, with simultaneous interpreting being even more complex and interactive than consecutive.

Yes, it is more effective to learn how to master the components then learn to synthesize the skills and processes during the consecutive interpreting process.

Once control of the subprocesses underlying consecutive interpreting is developed and available, there is a much higher chance that the control needed for simultaneous interpreting skills will be strongly grounded.

If advanced skills do not have a firm base, more effortful processing is required during the interpretation process.

When more effortful processing is needed, then fatigue is increased. Increased fatigue leads to a corresponding increase in errors in interpretation.

If novice interpreters practice the total task of simultaneous interpreting without first practicing consecutive, problems such as frustration, panic, and overload are likely.

Consecutive interpreting is almost always used in legal and complex medical situations. Legal because the language of the law is archaic (old English) and Medical use Latin root words and language therefore, it is necessary for more processing time to better understand and interpret from the source language.

“Consecutive interpreting is a procedure by which the interpreter listens to a message and concurrently reorganizes the information by means of a highly personalized note-taking system that enables him/her to cast off the external linguistic structure of the message and then transfer its essence to another linguistic structure that is intelligible to his/her audience.”

                                                     ~Mikkelson (1983)

Notetaking:

·       Some work without notes during short utterances

·       However the interpreter has the option of using note-taking when necessary and appropriate.

·       Often interpreters do not take notes from ASL to English as it is difficult to take notes when watching signing.

·       Successful note-takers tend to render drawings, diagrams and short contextual cues as that removes the source language form from the meaning. 

How would you make note of the following English sentence

“John thought he lost his keys but found them under a chair.”

History of Consecutive Interpreting:

Marie-France Skuncke taught at the still famous school for interpreters in Geneva, Switzerland, “Ecole de Traduction et d’Interpretation. She was one of the interpreters at the Nuremberg trials.

Danica Seleskovitch studied under Marie-France Skuncke. She was one of the first educators to define the need to teach and practice consecutive interpretation prior to simultaneous interpretation, believing it to be the foundation for all accurate interpretation work.

Georges Lafrance interpreted a full hour-long, uninterrupted speech using consecutive interpreting and “earned more applause for his tour de force than the speaker himself” This performance is notable because the interpretation began after the speaker had completed the hour-long presentation.

Sign Language history???

Discussion Questions:

1. Why is it important to know the difference between consecutive and simultaneous interpretation, especially when many users of interpretation services may not be aware of the differences?

2. What are the basic competencies an interpreter needs to master before beginning consecutive interpreting?

3. How does the development of consecutive interpreting skills affect the development of simultaneous interpretation skills?

4. How could studying a model of consecutive interpretation help you develop consecutive interpreting skills?