Reflection on Consecutive Interpreting Note-taking Textbooks Published in China

Abstract

Increasing international exchanges have made consecutive interpreting more and more prevalent nowadays, and the success of consecutive interpreting activities is, to a large extent, dependent on the interpreters' memory of the speaker's source information, and in order to do that, interpreters need to take notes in a methodical manner, which helps interpreters to enhance their concentration, activate memory, ensure accuracy, and reduce memory burden, thus improving the overall quality of consecutive interpreting. However, note-taking skills do not receive a fair amount of attention in interpreting textbooks, previous studies on and textbooks of consecutive interpreting usually overemphasize the individuality of the note-taking method and symbols system while neglecting the regularity and universality underpinning the note-taking system. This paper addresses this neglected aspect of consecutive interpreting note-taking textbook research and chooses four major note-taking textbooks published in China, comparing and analyzing their merits and demerits in terms of their positioning, theoretical elaboration of note-taking skills and the choice of note-taking practice materials etc. Four suggestions are presented as the findings of this study: 1). Clarify textbook positioning. 2). Combine note-taking techniques with selected exercise topics. 3). Diversify training materials and training methods. 4) Offer audio or video practice material so as to form a three-dimensional note-taking textbook system, which may hopefully provide some food for thought for the further compilation, development and research of note-taking textbooks.

Students’ perceptions of using note-taking in consecutive interpreting assignments

“…Moreover, the findings in this study are similar to those of Luo and Ma (2019), which figured out that note-taking can help the CIs ensure the accuracy of the consecutive interpretation. Surprisingly, a considerable number of the students taking part in this study answered that they could accurately memorize detailed information such as dates, numbers, locations, etc., thanks to note-taking.…”

“…Note-taking can help the CIs quickly and accurately interpret main points and detailed information. In other words, it is necessary to take notes during the process of CI because it helps to ensure the accuracy of the interpretation, which leads to a good interpretation (Luo & Ma, 2019). Minimizing the CIs' effort: One of the essential benefits of note-taking is reducing the interpreters' effort in the production stage (Gillies, 2009).…”