NOTE- NOTES ARE AN AID TO ENHANCE THE WORK DONE ON THE BASIS

OF UNDERSTANDING, ANALYSIS AND RE-EXPRESSION., NOT BEING

AN END IN THEMSELVES, BUT A MEANS TO AN END.

TAKING The main use of notes is to relieve memory. Although an

interpreter may have understood the main ideas of a speech, it is
 OVERVIEW almost impossible for him/her to recall all the elements of a five-
minute speech, particularly if it contains numbers, names, lists,
since such elements cannot be recalled on the basis of analysis
and logic.

Moreover, through notes the interpreter can reproduce the content

and structure of a speech, stressing the main ideas, the secondary
elements and the relations among them.

Reflecting the speech structure in notes forces the interpreter to

make an immediate, oral analysis of what he/she hears, and then,
when reproducing the speech, the written structure can be used
as a path to verbalize the speech again.

 PRACTICAL Note-taking is, among other things, a mechanical exercise, and

a number of practical suggestions are needed.
SUGGESTIONS:
Interpreters must take notes quickly and write on something
convenient and easy to handle.

A 15cm X 20cm stenographer's note-pad is recommended, and

loose sheets should definitely be avoided.
Interpreters should write only on one side of the sheets, and these
must be clipped at the top, so that they can be turned quickly and
easily. The best thing to be used when writing is still the good old
lead pencil.

It is fundamental that the notes should be easily readable, in order

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to allow visual contact between interpreters and the audience.
Therefore, notes will be well spread on the page, written in large
characters, and one single sentence can even occupy one sheet,
without ecological concerns. Notes must be unequivocal : for
instance, the abbreviation -ind must be always used to represent
one idea, meaning industrial or independent, without inventing
symbols or abbreviations in the course of a conference : if a new
symbol is used, it must be so clear as not to create problems.
 NOTE- The first thing to be noted should be the main ideas, first because
they are the most significant elements of a speech, and secondly

TAKING
because they are the pillars of its structure.

It is also important to systematically note the links between the

different ideas as well to divide them very clearly.
 WHAT TO NOTE:

Another element which has to be clear is the point of view being

expressed: the audience must immediately realize who is
speaking.

As far as verbs are concerned, there are two basic things which
must appear in the notes: verb tenses, with special attention to
conditional forms, and modal verbs, whose semantic role in the
sentence is always of paramount importance.

Other fundamental data are numbers, dates and proper names,

which must be noted accurately, being preferable in a good
interpretation to miss some elements of another sentence than to
get names or statistics wrong.

These are some of the basic needs in consecutive interpreting as

regards to note-taking. Of course, interpreters have their own
styles, and they could note down almost everything, or just the
main elements, if they trust their short-term memory. Anyway,
noting down everything, without paying the proper attention to
active listening, must be avoided at all costs.

Notes should reflect the structure of a speech clearly so as to

 HOW TO NOTE: help interpreters reproduce that structure in their interpretation.
On the basis of the fundamental subject-verb-object structure, it
is necessary to separate these elements clearly and to note
them always in the same position on the sheets. These positions
will form a diagonal axis, from left to right and from top to bottom,
following this scheme:

subject(s)

verb(s)
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leaving a lot of space on the same sheet so that the secondary

elements of a sentence could be noted too.
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 The beginning of each sentence must be very clear, and notes
NOTE- must be taken in a concise, non-literary manner.

TAKING For instance, a text like this :

"Hungary has complained that its steel exports to the European

Union are unable to develop because of excessively restrictive
quotas. But the Union representative pointed out that quotas are
still underused by Hungary by a large margin, so the quotas
themselves didn't appear to be creating the difficulties"

could be noted down as follows:

HGR / CPLT 
STEEL ∑
to EU
α X to Ϫ
Cos Ж ≠ $.
-------------------
But the  
$α--
_____
Use by HGR
by  =
so the $ thsv
- appr TB
t

 ABBREVIATIONS AND The obvious advantage of abbreviations and symbols is that they
SYMBOLS: help save time in taking notes, making them more precise and
complete. Moreover, the symbol represents an idea, and this will
help interpreters think in terms of ideas, not words.

Every interpreter creates his/her own list of symbols, which could

be rather limited or very long, according to personal criteria.

Abbreviations and symbols have to be unequivocal, in the sense

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that their meaning must be immediately clear when the interpreter
reads back his/her notes. They must be logical, that is, they should
have an intrinsic connotative function for the interpreter who uses
them: they must be symbols, not signs.
 They should make up an organic system, that is, one symbol can
NOTE- originate others, following the same logic which led the interpreter
to choose a determinate symbol.

TAKING Any notion that is likely to occur often in an interpreter's work

should have its corresponding abbreviation or symbol.
 FREQUENTLY
OCCURING
All interpreters should have a list of abbreviations for country
NOTIONS: names and major international organizations, as well as for the
notions which come up frequently in their own particular area of
activity.

Moreover, there is a whole range of notions for which symbols or

abbreviations must be systematically created : words such as
policy/political, economy/economic, monetary, industry/industrial,
agriculture, territory, country, nation, state, international, financial,
social, situation, condition, import/export -the list could be
endless- must have their corresponding symbols or abbreviations.

The Greek alphabet, mathematical and geometric symbols,

international car registration codes, the Cyrillic alphabet,
acronyms, suprasegmental signs, arrows and invented signs
normally provide useful data bases for interpreters to start creating
their lists of symbols and abbreviations.

As to notions that occur frequently only in the context of a given

meeting, special, temporary symbols can be devised especially for
that particular meeting.

 LINKS AND POINTS

Links are to be noted systematically and accurately. Many
OF VIEW: professional interpreters use English link words since some of
them are very short: as, so, but, for instance, can be very useful.
Similarly, points of view should be easy to note by using short
English verbs as say and think or corresponding abbreviations.

 VERBS TENSES AND

The tenses that are most important to note are the present,
the past, the future and the conditional.
MODAL VERBS Experience teaches us that the most effective way to note them is
to put a graphic sign near the verb form. So, an L sign will indicate
the future, a reversed L sign ( ) will show the past, a circumflexed
Manual compiled by: stress will show the conditional, whereas no extra sign will be used
Williams Paul Us Grajales ©2014. for the present tense.

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 As for modal verbs, it is advisable to note them in English, since
NOTE- they are rather short: may, must, can, want, etc.

TAKING Finally, we must stress another point: in their notes, interpreters

don't use a particular language. They use a system of symbols,
abbreviations, numbers, signs, and words in one or more
languages, thereby creating a cryptic and highly personalized
language.

COUNTRY ENVIRONMENT MEETING

 MOST USEFUL IMPORT NEGOTIATIONS CONTROL
EXPORT DEBATE DECISION
WORDS FOR GOVERNMENT POWER DIVISION
CONSECUTIVE AGREE-APROVE- THINK-DEEM- SAY-AFFIRM-
APPROVAL CONCEIVE DECLARE-STATE
INTERPRETING:
ECONOMY OUTCOMES INCOME
SOCIETY MONTH POLICY
ENERGY WEEK WANT
MUST – HAVE TO DISAGREE- INCREASE-RISE-
REJECT GO UP
DECREASE-FALL- TO BE – IS - ARE WAS – WERE -
GO DOWN BEEN
NEED CHANGE MEASURE
DECIDE LEVEL TYPE
DEPEND AGREEMENT TECHNOLOGY
CONFLICT- PLAN-PROGRAM STUDY-SURVEY
PROBLEM
MARKET- EFFECT- CAUSE - REASON
MARKETING CONSEQUENCE
EXAMPLE STILL - YET ALWAYS
NEVER OFTEN COMPANY
ASSOCIATION INSTITUTION WORKER
EMPLOYEE POPULATION INDUSTRY
IMPORTANT TREATY DEVELOPMENT
TRANSPORT PRICE - COST BENEFIT
OBLIGATION RULES - NORMS COMMITTEE-
COMMISSION
COMPETITION EXPENDITURE RESOURCE
STORAGE PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION
MANAGER AGENT- CUSTOMER
REPRESENTATIVE
CUSTOMS FUELS LEASE
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Williams Paul Us Grajales ©2014. VARIABLE RISK PAST-PRESENT-
FUTURE

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 NOTE-
TAKING
 DEVELOPING
SYMBOLS:

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 NOTE-
TAKING

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 NOTE-
TAKING

 EXAMPLES OF NOTE-
TAKING BEING USED:

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 NOTE-
TAKING

 EXAMPLES OF NOTE- C – SOURCE TEXT

TAKING BEING USED: Communicative context: The following is a speech by the

Executive Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme, Dr Mostafa Tolba, to the 8th Meeting of the Parties
of CITIES. CITIES stands for the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna andFlora.

This Convention, worked out under the responsibility of UNEP,

has been in force since the mid-seventies.

“It is an irony – though not a very funny one – that

CITIES should itself be an endangered species. If we
are to save the Convention, then this meeting must
make a number of decisions about the future of
CITIES, for we cannot go on the way we are doing at
present.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Less than three months from now, the international

community will be meeting in Brazil to try to
Manual compiled by: establish an agenda for the environment and
Williams Paul Us Grajales ©2014.
development as we enter the next century.

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 NOTE-
TAKING
 EXAMPLES OF NOTE-
TAKING BEING USED:

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 NOTE- I cannot predict to you the content of that agenda,
but one thing of which I am fairly certain is this: the

TAKING poor nations of the world want to see a stronger and

more effective partnership between environment
 EXAMPLES OF NOTE-
and development. There are complaints – loud
TAKING BEING USED:
complaints – from a number of developing
countries, that the very rich are more interested in
making the Third World into a natural history
museum than they are in filling the bellies of its
people.”

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 NOTE-
TAKING

GRADUATION PAPER (THESIS) BY: PHAM HONG HANH

TITLE: NOTE-TAKING IN CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETING
 A RESEARCH IN HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
NOTE-TAKING: VIETNAM, 2006

The aim of the quantitative survey is to explore how interpreting

 THE OBJECTIVE OF
THE SURVEY:
 SUBJECTS:
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students think about the skill of note-taking in consecutive
interpreting. From their own points of view and through their
practical experience, how important note-taking skill might be,
what may be the basic requirements for a good note and also what
they would do in some specific situations during the process of
taking notes, etc. The survey is not an ambitious plan to examine
the students’ acquisition of note-taking skill or to study how they
actually take notes in reality.
For the fact that English Department at Hanoi University of
Foreign Studies mainly offers consecutive interpreting courses to
final-year students, the survey is conducted with one group of 120
final-year students of the year 2002-2006. The subjects are
chosen for the following reasons: (i) they have finished two terms
of studying and practicing consecutive interpreting; (ii) many of
them have practical experience in interpreting consecutively.

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 NOTE- Therefore, to some extent, they are already aware of the role of
note-taking in consecutive interpreting. However, final-year

TAKING students are not professional interpreters, so obviously they do

not have a wide knowledge about note-taking skill. Their
responses are mainly based on the experiences that they have
accumulated through the past two terms of studying interpreting
at the school.

 METHODOLOGY:
White (2002, p. 24) notes that: “Quantitative research is
scientific and objective approach” As mentioned above, the main
aim of the study is to impartially record the findings about
interpreting students’ personal opinions on note-taking. It is
obvious that the methodology of quantitative best suits the aim.
With this type of research, the results are given numerical values
and evaluated through some mathematical treatment and then put
in form of a report of quantitative data analyses.

A survey is designed with the types of “Group Administered

 METHOD: Questionnaire” that allows to get the survey results in one space
of time and also ensures a very high responses rate. The fact is
that 150 copies of the survey were handed out and the number of
returns is 120. There are 10 questions, nine of which are made in
form of scaled items where the subjects choose only one point on
a scale that best represents his or her view. The tenth question is
written in form of dichotomous item, which offers the subjects
different alternatives.

 PROCEDURES: At the end of the first lesson on in-depth review of consecutive

interpreting, about 150 students were asked to complete the
survey. They were given 30 minutes to consider and answer 10
questions. On each copy of the survey, there is a clear introduction
to the purpose and a simple instruction about how to respond to
questions, therefore, no other verbal explanation was given out.
The sample questionaire is available in the appendix at the end of
the thesis.

 FINDINGS: 1. THE ROLE OF NOTE-TAKING IN CONSECUTIVE

(comments and INTERPRETING.

analysis were In the survey, there are two questions designed to find out the
ommited because of awareness of the students about the role of note-taking skill in
consecutive interpreting: How do the students assess the level of
space): importance of note-taking? and How can note-taking help them in
consecutive interpreting?
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 NOTE-
TAKING

2. WHAT TO NOTE

What to note is even more important than how to note and when
to note. It requires the interpreter to go through numerous
“cognitive processing activities” before taking notes.

Although the issue is very much of personal affair, i.e. each

interpreter has his or her on decision on what to note, some
general principles presented should be observed.

In the view of what to note, two questions in the survey are

intended to ask the students, apart from basic elements of main
ideas and the links between those ideas, for them, what are also
important to be noted?

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 NOTE-
TAKING

3. HOW TO NOTE

In terms of how to note, three questions are designed to obtain

information on practical experiences gained by the students taking
part in the survey. One question is focused on studying the
students’ attitude towards the need for a system of abbreviations
and symbols developed by interpreter themselves. Another
question is to explore their viewpoint about the importance of clear
separation between ideas. And the third question is to find out their
opinion about the language used in notes. Followings are the
result analyses of each.

4. WHEN TO NOTE

In order to find out, from the viewpoint of the students surveyed,

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what is the right moment to take notes, two following questions
were raised up. The first one is “Do you prefer starting your notes
as soon as possible to avoid being left behind by the speaker?”
and the second one is “When you hardly understand what the
 NOTE- speaker is saying, would you keep noting down any word that you
can catch?”

TAKING

The survey subjects are interpreting students who have only

 LIMITATIONS: been studying interpreting for two terms. They have not been
exposed to wide range of practical experience in consecutive
interpreting apart from regular interpreting classes at the
university.

Therefore it is hard to require them to have deep knowledge

about the skill, which is mainly gained through practice not
theory.

The major limitation lies in the fact that the quantitative survey
cannot reveal how the students’ notes actually look like. The
survey result analyses are based on the writer’s personal
assessments of figures. And these figures only indicate the
students’ subjective viewpoints, not their real practice of note-
taking. It is impossible to reach an exact conclusion about the level
of note-taking acquisition of the students.

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 NOTE- CONCLUSION

The thesis is an attempt to puzzle out the concept of note-taking

TAKING in consecutive interpreting and to present the process of taking

notes in a structured and digestible way.

It is intended for students of interpreting who may have interest in

understanding more about note-taking as a vital skill for
consecutive interpreters.

In conclusion, taking notes in consecutive interpreting involves

various techniques that are quite easily grasped if well learnt and
regularly practiced. However it is important to notice that although
note-taking is one of the most required skills of consecutive
interpreters, as Jones (2002, p.39) states, “the essential part of a
consecutive interpreter’s work is done in the activities [of]
understanding, analysis, re-expression. If these are not done
correctly, the best notes in the world will not make you a good
interpreter”

 MANUAL´S Allioni, S. (1989). “Towards a Grammar of Consecutive Interpretation.” L. Gran &

BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Dodds (eds) (1989). The theoretical and practical aspects of teaching conference interpreting. Proceedings
of the Trieste Symposium, 1989. Udine: Campanotto Editore, 191-197.

Blakemore, D. (1992). Understanding utterances. Oxford: Blackwell.

Brown, G. & G. Yule (1983). Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grice, H. P. (1975). “Logic and conversation. Unpublished lecture notes.” Partly published in P. Cole & J. L. Morgan
(eds) (1975). Syntax and semantics 3:speech acts. New York: Academic Press, 41-58.

Halliday, M.A.K. & R. Hasan (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman Ilg, G. (1980). “L’interprétation
consécutive. Les fondements.” Parallèles 3, 109-136.

Ilg, G. & S. Lambert (1996). “Teaching consecutive interpreting.” Interpreting 1, 69-99.

Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental models. Towards a cognitive science of language inference, and
consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kalina, S. (1998). Strategische Prozesse beim Dolmetschen. Theoretische Grundlagen, empirische Fallstudien,
didaktische Konsequenzen. Tübingen: Narr Verlag.

Kohn, K. & S. Kalina (1996). “The strategic dimension of interpreting.” Meta, XLI(1), 118-138.

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