At various events in which foreign colleagues participate, one can notice a very important figure - a translator. At such meetings, the specialist will usually provide interpretation. From this article you can learn about consecutive interpretation of English.
general information
Interpretation is considered the most difficult aspect of translation activities. The main difficulties are that:
- Speech is not recorded, which means that information needs to be processed at a high speed, and in the case of simultaneous translation - instantly.
- There is no time to clarify the details of the translation.
- There is no way to return to the previous phrase.
- Interpretation excludes the possibility of using reference books.
Interpretation has two varieties - sequential and simultaneous.
With simultaneous translation, a specialist translates in parallel with the speaker’s speech. This type of translation is most often used at events where a large number of foreign members of the audience are present. The translator is in a separate room and receives speech through headphones, and plays through a special microphone.
The peculiarity of the translation is that the specialist simultaneously listens to the speaker’s speech and immediately translates it. So to the audience, the speaker’s speech is translated with a delay of several seconds.
This is where the striking differences between consecutive and simultaneous interpretation end.
Definition
With consecutive interpretation, the specialist translates several sentences or a small fragment of the text into the required language, immediately after the speaker is silent. Another name for this translation is paragraph-phrase.
How is the transfer
Most often, you can observe the interpretation of consecutive interpretation. It is used at official events, business meetings, in courts and so on. The main thing is that there should be a small number of participants, where everyone speaks one of two languages (translation language or original language)
A person who speaks the original language pauses in his speech. In these pauses, the translator translates the spoken text. Moreover, the volume of a statement can be from 2 sentences to a sufficiently large fragment of the text.
Types of consecutive interpretation
Consecutive translation is divided into two types:
- One-way translation. This type of translation means that a specialist is involved only in translation into his native language. And if it is necessary to translate into a foreign language, a second translator is involved.
- Two-way translation. In the case of this use of this type of translation, a specialist performs consecutive oral translation of English or another foreign language into his native language and vice versa.
On the Russian market, it is bilateral transfer that is most in demand.
What is the difference between a conference interpreter and a simple translator?
Recently, oral consecutive translation of large volumes of information, the duration of which is at least 10-15 minutes, or a whole report, which can last up to forty minutes, has become most popular. This is exactly what conference interpreters do. If the translator is faced with precisely this task, then he is allowed to make notes in the notebook. In this case, the specialist uses a special translation cursive.
The translation of large volumes of texts has several advantages:
- It makes it possible to make the translation more concise, as the translator knows the context. Therefore, the translation of each individual phrase is based on the text as a whole, while in the sequential interpretation of individual sentences the translator is not familiar with the whole text, so some phrases may not be accurately transmitted.
- The conference interpreter does not interrupt the speaker. Thus, the speaker can fully convey the entire emotional background of the report to the audience.
The only disadvantage of consecutive interpretation of large volumes of information is that an audience that does not speak the original language will be bored while the speaker speaks the original language.
The task of the translator
There are several tasks that a specialist must perform in consecutive interpretation:
- Remember the said fragment of speech down to the smallest detail.
- Translate accurately into the required language.
- At the same time, not only cognitive information should be preserved, but also the emotional coloring of speech.
- Translation should be performed at maximum speed. That is, this speed should approximately equal the maximum speed of perception of oral speech.
- Psychological readiness for an unexpected turn of events, since the speaker can change the text of the report or its topic, evade it. The most difficult are the discussions, since the translator does not know either the topics or the possible outcome of the events.
- Knowledge of literary norms as the language of translation, and the language of the original. The texts of the speakers, as a rule, are not within the strict framework of the spoken literary language. Therefore, it may contain an admixture of colloquial speech. The two most striking cases of colloquial speech in the report are the emotional coloring of words and the use of phraseological units.
- Be able to prevent conflict situations. The translator should be familiar with the rules of ethics and be aware of how to behave in order to prevent a possible conflict.
Translator Errors
There are three typical mistakes of a novice translator that worsen his work:
- The use of parasite words. “Obviously”, “let's say,” “one could say so” and similar phrases should not be present in the vocabulary of a professional translator. Usually they are used to buy a little time to find the right word for translation.
- Abuse of introductory phrases. For example, “consider the following equally important issues,” “do not forget that,” and so on. Typically, these phrases are inserted immediately after the speaker is silent. An inexperienced translator fears this silence in a few seconds, which is necessary in order to gather his thoughts. Such expressions make sentences difficult to perceive.
- The translator adds his comments on the speaker’s speech. The specialist refers to the speaker in the third person. For example, “according to the speaker,” “the speaker said that,” and the like. Such designs do not meet the requirements of consecutive interpretation. They pile up offers, negatively affecting audience perception.
Consecutive interpretation is the most common type of interpretation, which will not lose its relevance in the near future. The implementation of high-quality translation requires highly trained specialist and extensive experience in the field of translation. Only thanks to this, the audience will be able to hear a competent and concise text of the translation, and not a poorly connected "gag".