Lecture 3 口译笔记记录方法在线视频

Hello everyone

Welcome back

I’m your lecturer Catherine

Today

we’ll discuss a critical topic: note-taking

To take notes

you need to prepare the necessary tools

including a notebook and a pen

Small top-opening notebooks are recommended

because they are easy to handle

with one palm and quick to turn pages

The notebooks in this picture

are the widely used kind

If this kind of notebook is not available

you can also use A4 paper

Fold a sheet of A4 paper in half like this

and then fold it further

so that you can hold it with one hand

Then

you can write notes on it

Of course

the A4 paper is only for practice

and it’s inappropriate to use it

when you are doing interpreting

on a formal occasion

Apart from a notebook

you should also have a proper pen

Generally

it’s better to use knock-gel pens

They’re portable and are also convenient to use

With proper tools at hand

you may wonder what notes

should be taken and how to take them?

Let’s first talk about what notes should be taken?

Above all

key words and main ideas

are the most important ones

It’s a waste of time trying to write everything down

Experienced interpreters

always keep their notes brief

jot down the gist and draw arrows

to indicate the relation among them

Next

figures

proper names and lists are a must

Numbers in particular

are hard to retain in memory

and thus have to rely on written notes

Also

a business negotiation might come to nothing

if the interpreter fails to remember proper names

Sometimes

the speaker mentions

a long list of names and places

like the member countries of an organization

the interpreter

cannot produce accurate target information

without the assistance of notes

Last

linking words and transitional expressions

like “however” “besides”

“first of all” etc

represent the connection in logic

as well as changes of the speaker’s tone

Failure to note down them

may affect the accuracy of the source language

Then

how to take notes?

There are some points you should keep in mind

First and foremost

the structure of notes is usually vertical

rather than horizontal

It’s different from the usual ways of taking notes

Vertical arrangements make your notes

logically more explicit

Second

indent your notes

Indentation helps the interpreter

to tell the logical connection

between different pieces of information

Third

use a loose structure for your notes

In this way

you can move your eyes quickly

without leaving out information

which saves time

For parallel structures

make sure to write in different lines

Fourth

use the left and right margins

Remember to leave one to two centimeters of margins

on both sides

so you can add information

at any time or make connections

Fifth

draw a line to mark the end

When the speaker pauses

the interpreter should quickly draw a line right

beneath his/her notes

It means the finish of a part of a speech

Similarly

when the speaker pauses again

the interpreter draws another line

By doing this

the interpreter can quickly find the beginning

when he starts to interpret

The skills mentioned above

are the matters needing attention

before you start to take notes

Now

let’s look at some examples

25年间

中国创造的巨大财富

不仅使13亿中国人基本解决了温饱

基本实现了小康

而且为世界发展做出了贡献

In this sentence

there are some figures

proper names and linking words

which must be written down

Besides

there is also some supporting information

that makes the sentence meaningful

They are highlighted in bold

These are the noes for your reference

with arrows pointing to the function of the notes

Here’s another example

So it is the policy of the United States

to seek and support democratic movements

and institutions in every nation and culture

with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny

in our world

These are the notes for your reference

As in the previous example

arrows are used to point to the function of the notes

Have you got an idea of how to take notes?

Now

please have a try

女士们 先生们

世界一流大学有哪些共同的特征呢？

中国建设世界一流大学该做怎么样的努力？

中国高等教育当前是朝两个方向发展

一是要建设一些高水平

一流的大学

往高处发展

另外是要大众化

这是两个大方向

The suggested notes are here for your reference

Note-taking is a challenging task for interpreters

No one can master it

without a long-time practice

If you cannot write down the notes just now

don’t be upset

You just need to practice more

In the next lecture

I’ll bring you some bad examples of note-taking

Be sure to come back and check

if you made similar errors

Looking forward to meeting you