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TRA2010 Introduction to Interpreting: Home

Course Description

This is an introductory course of interpreting for year-two translation major students. This course aims to familiarize students with important principles, concepts and techniques of interpreting.

Recommended Books

Note-Taking for Consecutive Interpreting-A Short Course

This book serves for student interpreters to study the system for note-taking in consecutive interpreting. Part I spreads out the stages through which the note-taking system is built with. Chapters 1-3 present the basic elements of the note-taking system. Chapter 4 starts to discuss how to link these basic elements together. Chapters 5-7 discusses the differing levels of values coming from the speaker, the use of symbols, and memory prompts respectively. Part II provides tips and ideas used within the note-taking system from the perspectives of clauses, rules of abbreviation, verbs, etc. Part III is exercise-oriented, providing sample speeches, their notes and commentaries on these notes, etc.

Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training

The target audience of this book is the practitioners and instructors of conference interpreting and/or translation. Gile argues that professional translation entails students’ understanding of the theoretical approach that translation serves for communication between the initiator and the receptor. He points out that adding or deleting words and reframing sentences do not necessarily violate the principle of fidelity, and that translation must be conducted with discourse comprehension. Gile offers a number of models for simultaneous interpreting, consecutive interpreting, sight translation, and simultaneous with texts, including a sequential model, the effort model of simultaneous interpreting, and the IDRC model (Interpretation-Decision-Resources-Constraints).

Conference Interpreting Explained

This book unravels the process of conference interpreting in a descriptive manner. There are 5 chapters in this book. Chapter 1 gives answers of some basic questions such as what is an interpreter, what is conference interpreting, what is consecutive interpreting, and what is simultaneous interpreting, etc. Chapter 2 presents the basic principles of consecutive interpreting- understanding, analyzing, and re-expressing. Chapter 3 expands on note-taking in consecutive interpreting. Chapter 4 mainly focus on simultaneous interpreting, especially the technique of simultaneous interpreting. In Chapter 5, Jones expresses his pleasure with interpreting.

White House Interpreter: The Art of Interpretation

Obst, a former White House English-German interpreter, served for seven past American presidents in the White House. In this book, he deeply looks into the five presidents he had most interactions with- Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald W. Reagan. Aside from these presidents, he shares his thoughts on the art of interpretation. According to Obst, the art of interpretation refers to the professional interpretation of spoken words. Obst suggests that professional interpreters use three major tools to retain many sentences without loss, anticipation, visualization, and a structured note-taking form.

Recommended Databases