Lecture 2口译笔记常用符号在线视频

Hello everyone

It’s good to see you again

I’m your lecturer Catherine

Based on theoretical knowledge about note-taking

we’ll learn some commonly-used symbols

and abbreviations in this lecture

so that you’ll be fully prepared to get started

You don’t need to worry

even if you knew nothing about note-taking before

enrolling in this course

This lecture gives a detailed explanation of note-taking

with sufficient examples to help you get an insight

into all the mysteries of notes

As was mentioned in the previous lecture

notes in interpreting are individualized

and each interpreter can choose to take notes

in a unique way he/she likes

However

it does not mean that every interpreter’s notes

are wholly original

Just like acquiring other skills

we have to learn from our predecessors’experience

and then make innovations

It’s the same case with note-taking

Throughout the history of interpreting

interpreters gradually developed

some common usages of note-taking

which assists incoming interpreters

Some experienced interpreters and scholars

also expressed their views on note-taking

as this video clip shows

The writing system of notes in interpreting

generally involves symbols

characters as well as abbreviations

The reason for adopting such a writing system

is that they are quicker

and easier to write than words

as the example shows

If we write words instead of symbols

it’ll take a long time

Consequently

the interpreter cannot work on multitasks

at the same time

Symbols are also easier to read too

In our daily life

they can be frequently seen in public places

The moment we see these signs

we immediately understand

what they mean and will do as instructed

It proves that symbols are an effective way

to convey meaning

In interpreting

the symbols adopted

can generally be classified into four kinds

The first kind is graphic symbols

Words like country

meeting

transnational

important

happy

disappointed etc

can be represented by graphic symbols

and can be understood easily

because they are pictographs by nature

The second kind is punctuation

A full stop at the upper right corner signifies people

a question mark indicates doubts

an exclamation mark

suggests something alarming or important

Likewise

ellipsis

brackets and wavy lines

also imply specific meanings

The third one is numerical signs

Signs such as plus

minus

equal sign

greater-than sign etc

denote meanings

similar to what they represent in maths

The fourth is arrows

Arrows are quite frequently used in notes

to describe words and expressions

like increase

decrease

lead to

go up and so on

Apart from symbols

the adoption of abbreviations

is another convenient way

to represent an organization

a long word

or idiomatic usages

For instance

the expression “as soon as possible” has 16 letters

and it’s a waste of time trying to write

all of them down

Its shortened form “asap”

on the other hand

is much quicker to write

Now

let’s look at two examples

to see how symbols and abbreviations

are used in notes

Example 1

两个国家的人口加在一起25亿

超过世界人口的40%

中印友好在亚洲以至世界产生的意义不可估量

In this example

central information involves countries

people and numerical signs

Let’s take a look at how the notes are taken

The small square represents a country

with a little “s” at bottom-right

indicating plural form

because there are two countries in the source language

The small circle at the upper-right corner

refers to people

while the big ring symbolizes global

The greater-than sign explains that the population

is 40% bigger than the whole world’s population

A star delivers something important

and the brackets mean

that a parallel structure is used here

The Chinese abbreviation is quicker to write down

The arrow means bring forward or give to

Here’s another example

For almost 200 years

the White House has stood as a symbol of Presidency

the United States government

and the American people

Its history

and the history of the nation’s capital

began in December of 1790

In this example

the abbreviation is used four times

with a “plus” used once

a graphic symbol once and a character once

From the above two examples

it can be seen that symbols and abbreviations

are used quite often in note-taking

Note-taking is nothing mysterious

You just need time to grasp it

In your practice of notes

always bear in mind two things

First

it’s not a good idea for interpreters

to create many new symbols

Your creation accounts for merely a minor part

and most of your notes

should be based on previous examples

Second

never ever try to coin new symbols

during an interpreting activity

That may lead to disasters

You can’t be adept

at using new symbols without much practice

In the next lecture

I’ll explain further the skills of note-taking

including necessary tools

the arrangement of structure

and how to decide what kind of information

should be written down

This is the end of this lecture

Stay tuned