KĨ NĂNG GHI CHÉP NHANH KHI DỊCH nối TIẾP

The thesis was aimed to find out how interpreting students think about taking skill in consecutive interpreting.. From their viewpoints and their practicalexperience, the role of note-ta

KHOA TIẾNG ANH - -

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP ĐẠI HỌC

KĨ NĂNG GHI CHÉP NHANH KHI DỊCH NỐI TIẾP

TRƯƠNG NGỌC THANH THANH

Giáo viên hướng dẫn : Nguyễn Việt

Khóa học: 2012- 2016

First and foremost, I would like to express my greatestgratitude to my supervisor, Nguyen Viet for his whole-heartedsupervision and unlimited support, without which the thesis wouldnot have been finished.

Also, I owe a debt of gratitude to Department of English of HueCollege of Foreign Languages for giving me permission and creating

me a favorable chance to finish this thesis

My thanks would also go to the instructors and studentsmajoring in interpreting at Hue College of Foreign Languages whokindly and willingly took part in the survey of this paper

Last but not least, I would like to send my grateful thanks to myfriends for their great encouragement and collaboration

Hue, May 20th , 2016Truong Ngoc Thanh Thanh

The thesis was aimed to find out how interpreting students think about taking skill in consecutive interpreting From their viewpoints and their practicalexperience, the role of note-taking skill, the basic requirements for a good note andtheir way of solving some pecific situations during the process of taking notes would

note-be revealed The survey was not planed to study how interpreter take notes in reality

With the purpose of forming the basis of the study, data from 30 responses tothe qualitative survey of interpreting students was collected and analyzed in detail Allthe ten questions were analyzed in the categorization of specific issues of note-takingincluding: the role of note-taking skill in consecutive interpreting, what to note, how tonote and when to note

It is obvious that the results of the qualitative survey can contribute to thegrowing body of research studies in the field of consecutive interpreting in general andnote-taking skill in particular

TABLE OF CONTENT

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Thesis

In line with modern technological advances, the world is curently entering anew era of explosive globalization and intergration Countries all over the world havecrossed all geographical and social borders to go hand in hand in various economicactivities, cross-cultural exchange programs, scientific research, international sportevents, etc However, there still exist several barriers with prevent people fromdifferent nations from coming closer to each other Such barriers have most likely led

to a renewed interest in the field of interpretation worldwide Certainly, Vietnam is of

no exception For the last few decades, the country has witnessed a dramatic increase

in requirement for interpretation services Among the determinants of successfulinterpreting, note-taking skill is of great important

Taking notes simply means quickly writing down information as a record

or reminder Note-taking is normally seen as a crucial memory-supporting technique

in interpreting, especially in consecutive mode When interpreting consecutively,interpreters utilize a system of abbreviations and symbols to take detailed notes duringthe speech These system are developed over time through a combination of trainingand experience, making for as many unique note-taking systems as there areindividual interpreters In consecutive interpreting, note-taking skill plays a vital role,

as it helps the interpreter improve concentration, relieve memory and call up theinformation in the speech (Hanh, 2006) Therefore, it is an overstatement saying thatnote-taking is the key of sucess in consecutive interpreting

In consecutive interpreting, note-taking is an essential skill Although there is

no abstract theory about it, there are a huge range of practical principles of previousgenerations of consecutive interpreters over time These principles have been built ofboth experiential studies and research books particilararizing main theoreticalapproaches to it This thesis only amied to contribute actively, effectively and

directively to the further research in terms of the development and the implementation

of note-taking in consecutive interpreting The thesis gives student interpreters ageneral picture of elemental things about the skill and also understand what note-taking skill is in other beginners’ view point

Students of foreign language universities which are interested in reading adetailed description of some background knowledge about note-taking skill will bethis thesis’s audiences Therefore, first of all, this paper will hopefully providethem with an overview of note-taking Secondly, it can give becoming interpretersome useful advises

More specifically, the thesis attemps to address the following researchquestions:

1) What is the role of note-taking skill in consecutive interpretation?

2) What to note?

3) How to note?

4) When to note?

1.2 Organization of the Thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1, which is an Introduction to the thesis, briefly provides a summary ofthe background of the thesis, the task description and thesis structure

Chapter 2 is devoted to a Review of Literature The main purpose of thissection is to synthesize a number of relevant materials leading up to the thesis throughclassification and comparision

A specific description of a survey including the survey objective, surveyparticipants, research design, research procedure and data analysis, is given inchapter 3- Methodology

Survey Results and Discussions will appear in chapter 4

Suggestions for further study along with Conclusion will be revealed in the lastchapter - chapter 5

Moreover, the references and appendices including the list of questionnaire areattached at the end of the thesis

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 2.1 Introduction

The following chapter is intended not only to demonstrate relevant informationcited from previous studies on note-taking but also provide a synthesis and analysis ofthe literature The first part of this chapter presents an overview of interpreting, thenzooms in consecutive interpreting in particular The focus is finally shifted onto theskill of note-taking, in terms of note-taking definition, process and strategies

2.2 Interpreting

The best way to comprehend the definition of interpreting might be to refer to anotion for which interpreting is normally mistaken: translation Despite interpretingappeared much earlier than translation, to some extent, it has always been confusedwith translation, and interpreters have lived in the shadows of translators for a longtime (Jones, 2002) There is a general assumption that if one could translate, he or shecould also easily interpret and vice versa However, Jones also said that interpretinghas firmly built of itself a complete profession separate from translation for the lastseveral decades Obviously, interpreting and translation both share the same goal butdifferent methods Each requires a distinct set of skills, aptitudes, and a person might

be much more suitable for this one rather than the other

Translation is often explained simply as the expression of the same idea in adifferent language, maintaining logically the original sense Since 1985, Edmond Cary(1985)’s first definition of translation, as cited in Lederer, 2003 on page 7, has beenadvocated by many linguists over time:

Translation is a process which attempts to establish equivalents between two texts expressed in two different languages

Nolan (2005) in his review of interpretation techniques and exercises, he drew

a clear distinction between translators and interpreters First, a translator studies

written material in one language (source language), and reproduces it in written form

in another language (target language) An interpreter, on the other hand, listens to aspoken message in the source language and renders it orally, consecutively orsimultaneously, into the target language Besides, while a translator can produce amore accurate and readable translation version by using support tools like dictionaries,background materials, etc, a interpreter has no chance to reinterpret what they havejust said

Since interpreting is an abstract concept, it seems impossible to give acomprehensive definiton of interpreting Linguists tend to focus on the oral aspectwhen defining the interpreting activity The definition given by Anderson (1978,p.218) is a clear illustration:

Interpretation occurs whenever a message originating orally in one language is reformulated and retransmitted orally in a second language.

Seleskovitch, Dailey and Macmillan also supported this view in terms ofemphasis on the oral aspect:

Interpretation is, to a great extent, the verbal expression of things and ideas accompanied by the nondeliberate creation of temporary linguistic equivalents (1978, p.87).

Despite how interpreting is defined, it is definitely a positive sign that more andmore effort is being devoted to studies related to interpreting

2.3 Consecutive Interpreting

In interpreting industry, consecutive interpreting has still been the standardmethod that gained wide recognition even after simultaneous was introduced Thetoday consecutive interpreting only came into being in 1919 during the Paris PeaceConference following World War I (Al-Zahran, 2007)

Nolan (2005) describes a consecutive interpreter’s duty in detail: listen to thespeaker, take notes and then reproduces the speech in the target language For thatreason, consecutive interpreters must develop several types of note-taking skill

In reality, specially in highly sensitive meetings, people hava a tendancy to useconsecutive instead of simultaneous though consecutive interpreting is more time-consuming The reason is that, this mode allows for more precision that can help toavoid a slip of the touge could lead to disaster

2.4 Note-taking in Consecutive Interpreting

Both memory and notes should be enriched during the interpretation process.While memory is of crucial to interpreters, notes can be of certain support

Thanks to Rozan’s fundamental principles of note-taking in 1956 and thebenefits of the skill of Seleskovitch in 1975, the importance of note-taking inconsecutive interpreting had been well recognized

The importance of note-taking for consecutive interpreting has been the subject

of different studies and analyses of well-known scholars In “Conference interpretingexplained” (Jone, 2002), he points out three purposes of notes in consecutiveinterpreting According to him, relieve the interpreter’s memory is the most important

function of notes, because “however well the interpreter may analyze a speech and order its ideas with a view to their recall, there will still be too many elements in a five-minute speech for an interpreter to recall everything” (p.39) Notes are estential,

especially when the speech contains numbers, proper nams, lists of things, technicalterms and so on Notes can be seen as an external memory storage device which can

minimize the interpreter’s mental exhaustion Another purpose of notes is to visualize

ideas of the speech Finally, notes help improve concentration “If the interpreter devotes their intellectual energies to remembering, say, a list of chemical, this may distract them from the key task of listening attentively to what comes next” (Jones,

2002, p.39)

In brief, notes play an important part in consecutive interpreting However,how can to take an appropriate note is far more difficult than the theory In order toachieve it, first, an understanding of note-taking process is required

2.5 Note-taking Process in Consecutive Interpreting

According to Jones (2002, p.39)’s study on conference interpreting, Hanh(2006) describes the connection between the process of consecutive interpreting andthat of note-taking as the diagram below (Figure 1)

The process of note-taking is not a simple one In order to make notes become

an aid to enhance consecutive interpreting, the interpreter must answer the three basicquestions as follows: (i) what to note; (ii) how to note; and (iii) when to note

Figure 1 Connection between the process of consecutive interpreting and that of

note-taking

2.6 What to Note

When taking notes, students have paid too much attention to words andstructures They try to retain every single word of the source untterance so that theirshort-term memory will quickly ran out, which leads to form an uncompletedsentence Moreover, the meaning of incoming message will be replaced by equivalentlexical items which cannot give audiences the real meaning of the speaker According

to Jones, retrieval cues include four types of information which should be noted: mainideas, the links, non-contextualized information and verb tenses

2.6.1 Main Ideas

Studies on note-taking in consecutive interpreting have shown that the firstthing that should be noted down is the main ideas of the original speech Main ideasshould be noted on the basis of a subject-verb-object analysis because this providesthe interpreter with a skeleton outline of the speech From the ouline, interpreter canmove quickly form one idea to the next and also help their memory (Jones, 2002)

2.6 2 The Links

Links between Ideas, as the relations between individual ideas influence the

overall meaning of the text It is no use if interpreter can understand each idea butcannot connect them to form a completed meaningful speech Links signal the way thespeaker wants the listener to relate what is about to be said to what has been saidbefore A speech is all about two things: the ideas and the links between them

recalled on the basis of analytical and logical thinking in a given context R.K.

Min’yar-Beloruchev denominates these words as “precision words” If the interpreter

wants to remember this kind of words, the only way is repeating it many times Whilereceiving some information, both from written and verbal sources, it is necessary topay special attention to “precision words” and, if possible, to analyze them As a rule,precision words bear key information and they therefore require particular accuracy atinterpreting

2.6.4 Verb Tenses

In order to inform the delegates “what happened when”, tenses of verbs are ofgreat importance to be noted Jones (2002) also reminds interpreters of noting modalverbs, as they have decisive influence on the function of other verbs and determine themeaning of a sentence

When noting verbs, interpreters should thus take care to note the tense correctly, and if appropriate the mode, in particular conditional (p.42)

In conclusion, main ideas and the links between them must be noted because ithelps the interpreter visualize the skeleton of the speech In addition, the interpretershould also note “precision words” in order to relieve their memory Verb tense orpoint of view of the speaker should be appeared in notes or not depend on particularsituation Some interpreters may choose to note at the very minimum while others

prefer to write down with as much detail as possible As Jones (2002) said “very much a question of personal taste”, the decision of what to note depends on the

interpreter’s habit, experience, memory capacity and their efficiency in note-takingskills

2.7 How to Note

In order to take notes effectively, the most important thing the interpreter must

do is to decide what to note However, according to experienced interpreters, how to note is also very important Obviously, notes that are clearly separated and logically

organized help the interpreter avoid all confusion when reading back notes Above all,notes should be as economical as possible in order to save the interpreter’s effort onwriting In this respect, abbreviations and symbols appear to be efficient tools.

2.7.1 Abbreviations

Since it is essential to condense the information in consecutive interpreting,note for consecutive interpretation requires significant summarization of the text toconvey only the core of the speech Al-Zahran (2007) divides data condensation intotwo basic categories: using abbreviations and using symbols

2.7.1.1 Abbreviations

The interpreter can save time on other activities during the process of interpreting

by using set of abbreviations when taking notes The important thing is that theabbreviation must be automatically and quickly appeared in interpreters’ mind to makesure that they can immediately understand what they have just taken notes Anabbreviation may be worthless to others, but must be useful to the interpreter himself

The abbreviations must be constant is the most essential rule For example, if

an interpreter has chosen “ex” standing for “example” then he should find another

abbreviation for “experience”, for instance, “ex per ” From

order to help interpreter saving times:

- Write what is heard: The interpreter can write a word by recording its sound only For example: high- hi; know- no; free- fre; fee- fe; night- nite; etc.

- Drop medial vowels:

For example: build- bld; legal- lgl; bulletin- bltn; save- sv; budget- bjt; etc.

- Write initial and final vowels:

For example: office- ofs; easy- ez; follow- flo; value- vlu; open- opn; etc

Though abbreviation in note-taking is the matter of the interpreter’s creativity,Rozan proposes three rules of abbreviations: (i) abbreviation of words; (ii)abbreviation to indicate verb tenses and (iii) abbreviating the register

- The first rule reads that for words with more than five letters, note-takersshould just write some of the first and last letters rather than try to write as many

letters as possible For example, Prod could be read as “production”, “producer”,

“product” or “productivity”

- According to second rule, in order to indicate verb tense we add “ ll ” for the future and “ d ” for the past.

- The third rule indicates that wherever possible we must “abbreviate by using

a word which conveys the same meaning but is much shorter” For instance, “in order that” should be noted “to” or “in spite of the fact that” should be noted “although”.

The following table showed some common abbreviations which have beenused through generations

3 kilowatt hour Kwh 3 society soc. 3 according acc.

4 centimetre Cm 4 economy eco. 4 abbreviation abbr.

10 hundred H 10 professional Pro 10 electricity elec

11 million Mil 11 production prod 11 definition def.

12 thousand Thou 12 department Dep 12 laboratory Lab

13 mathematic Math 13 bureau bu. 13 recreation Rec

14 literature lit. 14 agriculture Agr 14 university uni.

15 chemistry Chem 15 industry indus 15 individual indiv

16 physics Phys 16 corporation corp. 16 calculation Cal

17 hour Hr 17 company Com 17 problem prob

18 Tuesday Tue. 18 commerce comm 18 influenza Flu

20 year Yr 20 telecommunication telecom 20 president pres

21 century Cen 21 elevated railroad El 21 professor prof

Table 1 List of Abbreviations in Common Use.

Working as interpreters requires them to remember popular internationalorganizations or even equip themselves with background knowledge about thosegroups Some common names in abbreviation are showed in the table below

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO

Table 2 Lists of Names of International Organizations and Agencies in Abbreviation.

Ministry of Industry MOI

Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs MOLISA

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development MOARD

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment MONRE

Table 3 List of Names of Vietnamese Agencies in Abbreviation

2.7.1.2 Symbols

When taking note, student interpreters tend to stick to words rather than ideas,which might lead to an unsuccessful interpretation In that case, symbols are the bestchoice for mapping ideas and eliminating source language interference

A mark, sign or letter used to represent a thing called a “symbol” Obviously,symbols are quicker and easier to write than words As same as abbreviations,symbols need to be prepared in advance first Do not use a symbol if it does not stick

in your mind Secondly, symbols must be constant A symbol only has one meaningthat the interpreter himself gave to them so that there is no misunderstading when

reading back notes John A Henderson in his article Note-Taking for Consecutive Interpreting published in Babel in 1976 gives an example of the system of symbols,

developed by a student of his, and comments on them:

Table 4 Symbols

It can be said that symbols are the most efficient time-saving tool for takingnotes Gillies (2005, p.125) points out that it is good to use symbols, because symbolsare normally not only written faster and easier than words but also easier to read thanwords Moreover, for the fact that symbols represent notions rather than exact words,interpreters can escape the trap of word-to-word translation and avoid target languageinterference when reading back their notes