Unit 4: Note-Taking & Analysis Consecutive Interpreting in English Discussion Questions

Unit 4: Note-taking & Analysis 1. How does note-taking help reduce the interpreter’s memory load?

Q 1: How does note-taking help reduce the interpreter’s memory load? Note-taking reduces the cognitive load on memory in two ways: First, The process of taking notes helps the interpreter to analyze the message and better understand it. Second, the notes themselves serve as external record of some parts of the message. The notes are likely to be created in a manner that may be intelligible only to the interpreter who created the notes and only for a short time.

Unit 4: Note-taking & Analysis 2. Why is analysis important to the interpretation process?

Q 2: Why is analysis important to the interpretation process? Analysis allows you to understand the meaning of the source message as best you can with your current resources and skill level. You must understand the source message before you can interpret. The most basic level of analysis occurs when you consider the source language text to get the gist or overall meaning. The text can be viewed as a whole, a grouping of ideas or sentences, and groupings of words.

Unit 4: Note-taking & Analysis 3. What are temporal relationships and why are they important?

Q. 3: What are temporal relationships and why are they important? 3. Temporal relationships describe the relationships between events as they occur in time. When you are aware of the importance of temporal relationships your analysis of the message can be more accurate.

Unit 4: Note-taking & Analysis 4. What are spatial relationships and why are they important?

Q. 4: What are spatial relationships and why are they important? Spatial relationships allow for two different possibilities. Nida and Tabor (1982) say that “One is between objects such as a house and a tree, and the other is the spatial relationship between the viewer and other objects. Spatial relationships point out the importance of the point of view that the text follows.” Who is speaking and where that speaker is in relation to the things being talked about. Spatial relations are especially important in visual languages like American Sign Language (ASL).

Unit 4: Note-taking & Analysis 5. What are logical relations and why are they important?

Q. %: What are logical relations and why are they important? Logical relations refer to “cause and effect or condition and consequence.” Languages may differ in how they arrange cause and effect clauses such as the if-then clause in English. During interpretation you must keep temporal, spatial, and logical relationships in mind as you work. Taking notes help you remember the logical relationships.