Simultaneous Interpretation is one of the most difficult types of translation, it is the process of translating or interpreting the speech of the speaker to the audience, it is conveying a message from the source language to the target language.
The speaker talks and the interpreter should translate at the same time what is being said without pause. The interpreter sits in the interpreting booth, puts on his headset, and proceeds the interpretation process. Simultaneous Interpretation is conducted in (conferences, meetings, forums, press encounter,s or by phone).
There are several factors that control the process of interpreting to be conducted perfectly as follows:
1- The role of the interpreter in the process of interpretation:
The existence of an interpreter is so important that he conveys a message from one language to another so the audience can understand the speech. He is a bridge between the speaker and audience, he translates and transmits a message, plays a key, central and leading role in the interpretation process. He converts the source language to the target, conveys the meaning smoothly, accurately, and honestly to be understandable and clear as much as possible to the audience. The interpreter must interpret what the speaker says at the same time as the speaker saying it.
The whole process depends on the interpreter, so there are key characteristics of a qualified interpreter:
The interpreter must be honest, neutral, and enjoy ethical behavior. He should convert the meaning and the message of the speaker without omitting, adding, or altering any words in the speech of the speaker. He may face confidential or sensitive information, for example, when there is a foreign patient talks English or Italian or any other language and the doctor does not understand what he says, then they seeking help from an interpreter to convey the target message accurately and honestly. The patient may have hepatitis, cancer or cardiovascular disease or any other else so, such information should be secret.
Subject Knowledge: the interpreter must be familiar with the subject that he will interpret it. Asking about the field that he will deal such as (economy, politics, history, legal, medical, or military field), then he must collect information, words, and expression, make every effort to research, and be familiar with it as much as possible and have in-depth knowledge on it so, his performance will be awesome. For example in a medical conference, familiarity with common medical terminology, problems, and procedures is a must. Imagine with me for a minute that the interpreter does not have any background about the topic that the speaker shall talk about it, you will find the interpreter confused and maybe afraid if he faces a strange or complicated expression that he does not know before, so he gets in trouble. I do not say that he should be familiar with all expressions and words in the dictionaries and be a superman nooo, just read about the subject to understand what is being said before holding a meeting or conference.
Good listener: The interpreter should listen well to be able to convey the meaning of the message properly without mistakes and misunderstanding. If he does not listen carefully and understand what is being said so, tell me how he shall convey the speech of the speaker to the audience!! It is a catastrophe.
The interpreter should be intelligent, quick-witted, skillful, and well-behaved, he may encounter unexpected situations that require being clever to proceed and complete the process of interpretation without confusion. For example, if he does not know the meaning of a specific word or expression, at this time he may guess or give a definition to complete without pause unless he will lose the remaining sentences and be in a trouble.
On-going training: you will find the clever interpreter eager to learn, train and read constantly without stoppage. More practice will make the interpreter more experienced.
The interpreter should make his own symbols and abbreviations to proceed with the interpretation process quickly and concentrate on the meaning. For example, words such as (bigger than — smaller than-equal to- additional- agreement-know-need) and many words may take a long time to write it so, we can replace those words with (< -> — = — + — ok — no — nd).
Taking notes: the interpreter must take important notes and write them down on paper. Notes such as (dates, names of persons, companies or institutions, and numbers), those notes are so difficult to guess or maybe impossible, notes like that either right or wrong no other possibility. It is impossible to expect the name of someone or a certain number. Other expressions or words may guess according to the meaning of the sentence before or after.
What is the difference between consecutive and simultaneous interpretation?
As to simultaneous interpretation, while the speaker talks, the interpreter translates the speech at the same time and does not wait for the speaker to stop. There is no time to think a lot, he should be quickly and concentrated as much as possible so, he does not miss any words. There is no time to take a breath or think.
While consecutive interpretation, the interpreter has time to take notes and say what is being said by the speaker. The speaker supposed to speak for 3 or 4 minutes maximum to give the interpreter the opportunity to interpret and convey the source language to the target one.
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