Developing a sytem of abbreviation and symbols for note taking in interpreting

List of tables Page Table 1: The comparison between translation and interpreting Table 2: Point of view on the importance of Note-taking...27 Table 3: Problems of students when taking n

VINH UNIVERSITY

FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

PHAN THI THUY HA

DEVELOPING A SYSTEM OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS FOR NOTE-TAKING IN INTERPRETING

(PHÁT TRIỂN HỆ THỐNG VIẾT TẮT VÀ KÝ HIỆU SỬ DỤNG CHO KỸ

NĂNG GHI CHÉP NHANH TRONG PHIÊN DỊCH)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: Interpreting

Vinh, May 2010

VINH UNIVERSITY

FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

**************

DEVELOPING A SYSTEM OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS FOR NOTE-TAKING IN INTERPRETING

(PHÁT TRIỂN HỆ THỐNG VIẾT TẮT VÀ KÝ HIỆU SỬ DỤNG CHO KỸ

NĂNG GHI CHÉP NHANH TRONG PHIÊN DỊCH)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: Interpreting

Student: Phan Thị Thúy Hà, 47B

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Lan Phương,

M.A

Vinh 2010

I would also like to extend my sincere thank to teachers of Foreign Language Department for their varied experiences in doing research as well as their constant supports and encouragements.

I repeat my thanks to all students in 47B- English for all their helps and supports as well as their useful suggestions I also thank to my loving parents,

my brother and sister, my friends, who create the favorable condition for me to complete this work.

Finally, I am fully aware that despite all advices and assistances, I feel that the project is far from perfect; it is, therefore, my sole responsibility for any inadequacies that the thesis may be considered to have.

Vinh, May 2009 Phan Thi Thuy Ha

In the process of globalization, interpreting plays more and more important role in communication in all fields Interpreting it is the art of combining many skills together effectively They are of listening, memorizing, note- taking, transference and public speaking skills Among them, note -taking

is much trained because it requires the combination of fastness, correctness while it still ensures enough information And in a taking note process, fastness

is considered one of the most noticeable factors since it helps interpreters save time for other activities This research is attempted to investigate the situation of taking note for interpreting in the forth-year students of English in Vinh University A series of questions for students has revealed their points of view

on the note taking skill and the real situation of using abbreviation (abbrs) and symbols for note taking This analysis will help students have a positive attitude

on improving the note taking skill Based on this a system of abbreviations and symbols is suggested to help them take note more effectively

TABLE OF CONTENT

Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

LIST OF TABLES iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and objective of the study 1

3 Method of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Organization of the study 2

Part B: Development 4

Chapter I: theoretical background 4

1.1 Interpreting 4

1.1.1 Definition of interpreting 4

1.1.2 Modes of interpreting 6

1.1.2.1 Simultaneous interpreting 6

1.1.2.2 Consecutive interpreting 7

1.1.3 Skills needed for interpreting

8

1.1.3.1 Listening skill

8

1.1.3.2 Memorizing skill

8

1.1.3.3 Note- taking skill

9

1.1.3.4 Transference skill .

9

1.1.3.5 Public speaking skill

10

1.2 Note taking

10

1.2.1 Definition of note taking

10

1.2.2 Role of note taking 11

1.3 Note-taking in interpreting .

12

1.3.1 When to note

12

1.3.2 What to note

13

1.3.2.1 Main ideas

13

1.3.2.2 The link

14

1.3.2.3 Non-contextualized information .

14

1.3.2.4 Verb tenses

14

1.3.2.5 Point of view

15

1.3.3 How to note

15

1.3.3.1 Ways to arrange note

15

1.3.3.1.1 Vertical/ diagonal layout

15

1.3.3.1.2 Shifting method

16

1.3.3.1.3 Left- hand margin

16

1.3.3.2 Abbrs and symbols

17

1.3.3.3 Language used in note-taking

18

1.4 Abbreviations and symbols

19

1.4.1 Abbreviation

19

1.4.1.1 Overview and definition .

19

1.4.1.2 Ways to create abbrs

20

1.4.2 Symbols

21

1.4.2.1 Overview and definition

21

1.4.2.2 Ways to create symbol

22

1.5 Common words

24

CHAPTER 2: THE SURVEY 26

2.1 Introduction

26

2.2 Participants and their background

26

2.3 Aims and objectives

26

2.4 Methodology

26

2.5 Procedure

27

2.6 Findings and discussions

27

Chapter III: suggested system of abbrs & symbols 35

3.1 Introduction

35

3.2 Suggested system of abbrs and symbols

35

3.2.1 Using Symbols

36

3.2.2 Using numbers

40

3.2.3 Keeping the first part

40

3.2.4 Omitting the middle part(s)

43

3.2.5 Combining the sound and part of word 45

3.2.6 Creating the word forms 46

3.2.7 Others 47

PART C: CONCLUSION 50

1 Summary 50

2 Suggestions for further studies 50

REFERENCES 51

APPENDIX 53

List of tables

Page Table 1: The comparison between translation and interpreting Table 2: Point of view on the importance of Note-taking 27

Table 3: Problems of students when taking note 28

Table 4: The frequent use of abbrs and symbols 29

Table 5: The problems when using abbrs and symbols 30

Table 6: The reasons for using abbrs and symbols in note-taking 31

Table 7: Ways to create the abbrs and symbols 32

Table 8: Sources of abbrs and symbols 33

Table 9: Abbreviations and symbols with the use of symbols 36

Table 10: Abbreviations and symbols with the use of numbers 40

Table 11: Abbreviations and symbols with the use first part of word 40

Table 12: Abbreviations and symbols with the use of omitting middle parts of word 43

Table 13: Abbreviations and symbols with the use of combining the sound and part of word 45

Table 14: Abbreviations and symbols with the use of creating the word forms 46 Table 15: Abbreviations and symbols with the use of different ways 48

Part a: Introduction

1 Rationale

Together with many others skills in interpreting, note-taking plays veryimportant role because this stage supplements memory to have a better interpretation.However, note-taking is not a simple skill It requires very high requirements.Interpreters have to analyze, choose information and note down while listening forspeaker Besides, the speed of speaking is faster than writing one; interpreters must befast to catch up with the speaker's idea Thus, it seems harder work for interpretingstudents

Furthermore, unprofessional interpreters and interpreting students do not knowhow to take note fast, what to note, etc They tend to write as much as they can Thisnot only takes long time but also go too far from the main idea Sometimes, they notethe less important information and leave behind the main purposes of the speaker All

of problems above lead to an unexpected result

Moreover, the author herself would like to become a professional interpreter inthe future and hopes that this research is also a chance for the author further improveher note-taking skill, especially how to take notes fast

The importance of note-taking skill in the process of interpreting, the realsituation of using abbreviations (abbrs) and symbols for note-taking and the interest ofthe author in this field urge her do research: "Developing a system of abbreviationsand symbols for note-taking in interpreting", with the hope that the research wouldhelp students improve their note-taking skill as well as use the abbreviations andsymbols more effectively and frequently to take notes faster

2 Aims and objective of the study.

Recognized the importance of using abbrs and symbols for note-taking andproblems of students in Vinh University, the research aims at providing a system ofabbrs and symbols for students as a suggested solution for the present situation

The main objectives of the study are:

- Investigating the point of view of students in note-taking skill, the problemsthat students face when taking notes

- Selecting a system of abbrs and symbols from the most common words

3 Method of the study.

In order to achieve the aims and objective of the study, the author used thequantitative method in which a survey questionnaire is used

The questionnaire includes 7 multiple choice questions The language of thequestionnaire is simple so that the participants can understand easily

The collected data are analyzed and presented clearly in series of tables

4 Scope of the study.

Indeed, interpreting is not a simple subject, especially for students And doingresearch in this field really needs long time, requires the carefulness, hard- workingand a wide knowledge

Because of the limitation of the author's knowledge as well as the time and thedocument resources, within the scope of this research, the author focuses on providingmore than 500 most common words and phrases need to be abbreviated andsymbolized

The research is carried out with the participation of sixty students of class 47B-English

in Vinh University The result, therefore, is believed to be applicable for thesesubjects Further research might be needed for a generalization

5 Organization of the study.

The organization of the study consists of three main parts:

Part A: Introduction This part contains the rationale, the aims, the method, the scopeand the organization of the thesis

Part B: Development This part consists of three chapters:

Chapter I: Theoretical background This chapter provides the related theory of thethesis They are theories on interpreting, skills needed for interpreting, and note-takingskill Especially, the two closest theories to the thesis, abbreviations and symbols arealso presented

Chapter II: The survey In this chapter, the author presents the aims and objectives ofthe survey as well as the participants and the methodology of the survey In addition,the author analyzes and presents the findings and discussions of data.

Chapter III: Suggested system of abbrs and symbols In this chapter, the authorpresents a list of common general words with their shorten forms

Part C: Conclusion This part summarizes the main issues discussed in the researchand gives the suggestions for further studies

The paper also contains the acknowledgement, abstract, table of content, the list oftables, the list of abbreviation, reference and appendix

Part B: Development

Chapter I: theoretical background

This chapter provides a brief overview of the related theory of the thesis, thus, it

is believed to be the firm foundation for the whole study First of all, several keyconcepts like interpreting, note taking in interpreting are presented And then therelated theory of abbrs and symbols as well as the common words are also mentioned

Adolfo (1996:5) stated that interpreting means "the oral transfer of message

between speakers of different languages is thus one of the oldest of human activities, and the role of interpreter is arguably one of the oldest of professions" In this

definition, Adolfo wanted to express the way to interpret as well as the position of theinterpreting in the human activities and the role of an interpreter as a occupation

Beside Adolfo, Pӧchhacker (2004) also had his own definition He states thatchhacker (2004) also had his own definition He states that

interpreting is "an activity consisting (mainly) in the production of utterances which

are presumed to have a similar meaning and/ or effect as previously existing utterances in another language and culture." (P.12) Through his definition,

Pӧchhacker (2004) also had his own definition He states thatchhacker wanted to add one more thing: the result of an interpreting process

Interpretation must have the similar meaning and/ or the effect as the source language

Beside Adolfo and Pӧchhacker (2004) also had his own definition He states thatchhacker, there are also many other researchers withdifferent definitions However, no matter how many different definitions, interpretingstill has the main feature It is the oral transference from one language to anotherlanguage

In conclusion, interpreting can be understood as a process in which interpreterwill orally transfer a language to another one However, interpreters transfer not onlythe meaning but also have to transfer culture, custom and intention that the speakerwants to express

As the definition, although interpreting is an oral process of transference,people sometimes mistake between interpreting and translation In the table below, acomparison is presented to distinguish the two kinds of work.

- Similarity: Both two are the transference from a source language to the targetlanguage

- Differences:

1 Mode is a oral transference is a written transference

2 The accessed source Interpreters work with the

spoken language from theinteraction between two ormore people

Translators work with thewritten language (or inother words they transferfrom texts to texts)

3 Way to approach the

source language

Interpreters mainly use theirear to work and sometimesthey use the eyes (in sightinterpreting)

The unique way toapproach the sourcelanguage of a translator istheir eyes Translators readthe text, understand it,choose the most suitablewords and transfer it totarget language

4 Time Interpreting is a direct

transference, which meansinterpreters have no time toprepare, to think and choosebeautiful words Instead,interpreters almost listen andtransfer Sometimes, they cantake note

Translators have more timefor translation thaninterpreter forinterpretation They havetime to read the text,analyze the setting, andunderstand the meaning aswell as the implication ofthe writer After that theychoose the beautiful wordsand then translate

5 Accuracy Interpreters may work under

the time pressure, thus they

Translators have more timefor work, thus their

original speech provided thatthe main ideas are meaningful.

The most noticeablerequirement of interpreters iscorrectness

absolutely accurate Themain requirement of the

appropriateness

Table 1: The comparison between translation and interpreting

There are many other criteria to distinguish interpreting and translation, but thefive above are the main factors which show clearest differences

1.1.2 Modes of interpreting

There are two main types and some subtypes of interpreting They aresimultaneous, consecutive, whispered, relay and liaison interpreting However, in thisthesis the author only focuses on the two main modes: simultaneous and consecutiveinterpreting because these modes are introduced in the curriculum and they are veryfamiliar with both students and professional interpreters They have their own ways,different requirements and suitable for different contexts

1.1.2.1 Simultaneous interpreting

A simultaneous interpreters transfer orally speech from a source language to atarget one They do not wait until the speakers finish their speech, but immediatelytransfer just several seconds after speakers

Simultaneous interpreting is required in the international conferences, summits,etc where delegations from many countries with different languages attend

Simultaneous interpreters require modern and suitable equipments They sit in thebooth with the system connected to the delegates They hear through headphone anddeliver the target language into the microphone These transferences are transferred tothe delegates

Simultaneous interpreters have to transfer as quickly as the speaker says with acontinuous process, they do not have time to take note, think or do other stages Theyhear and transfer without any stops

Because of these above special features, simultaneous interpreting requires veryhigh level of working Interpreters should be professional and trained

In simultaneous interpreting, interpreters have to orally and directly transfer into targetlanguage while speaker is speaking, so note-taking is hardly used in this mode ofinterpreting Therefore, the author does not focus on simultaneous interpreting in thisresearch

Consecutive interpreting seems to be familiar to students than simultaneousinterpreting In Vinh University, students have chance to access and practice mostly inconsecutive interpreting So this mode of interpreting will be the main and basic theorydiscussed in this thesis And most of abbrs and symbols are used in the consecutiveinterpreting

1.1.3 Skills needed for interpreting

Interpreting is a combination of many necessary skills In this part, the authorwill present some most important skills that decide the success of an interpretation.They are skills on listening, memorizing, note taking, transferring and public speaking

1.1.3.1 Listening skill

Listening is the first stage in the interpreting process Underwood (1989) stated

that "Listening is the activity of paying attention to what speakers say and trying to

work out what they mean?" (P.144) Listening helps the interpreter absorb the

meanings of words and sentences and leads to the understanding of facts and ideas It

is one of the most important skills because a good listening will contribute much for agood interpretation

Listening is also a complex process It is the combination between attending,understanding, responding and remembering

However, everybody must have the distinction between listening and hearing Hearing

is sometimes a negative listening Hearers just hear but do not pay much attention tounderstand Listening, on the other hand, is an active listening Listeners are required

to focus and have full attention to speaker Therefore, listening skill needs the absoluteconcentration that will help interpreters keep up with the speaker and gain enoughinformation

1.1.3.2 Memorizing skill

Memorizing is the process of encoding, restoring and decoding information It

is another important skill in the interpreting and will help interpreters keep the idea inmind for later interpreting

There are two main kinds of memory: long- term and short- term memory.Long-term memory can store an unlimited amount of information and can last for atleast few days or last for the whole life In contrast, short-term memory just holds asmall amount of information for a short period of time, just up to 30 seconds Short-term memory capacity is estimated about 4 to 9 items

Between these two kinds of memory, short-term memory plays more importantrole in interpreting process Interpreter transfers sentence by sentence or idea by idea,therefore, she/he should forget the previous idea for the following one Beside, aninterpreter works with many different contexts, topics and speakers, so it isunnecessary for them to remember those interpreted ideas

Memory skill is difficult but it can be trained A good short-term memory willhelp much for better interpretation

1.1.3.3 Note- taking skill

Note-taking is the practice of writing pieces of information, often in an informaland unstructed manner (Retrieved on March 18th, 2010, from

http://dictionary.babylon.com/note%20taking.)

Note-taking is the only component of aid to help interpreter recall the memory.Although interpreters have good memory, even they may understand all the mainideas, they can not remember all elements in a speech with more than 5 minutes long.Especially, it is more difficult for interpreter if the speech contains numbers, propername or a list of thing In this situation, interpreters will need the support of a note.Interpreters will note down the main idea of what the speaker is saying, and then re-express into the target language Interpreters must remember that they should notedown the main idea, not words However, it is advisable for interpreters not to notedown too much because the note will limit their memorizing ability

Note-taking is complex technique Interpreters have to listen, understand,remember and take note at the same time It is impossible for anyone who is nottrained Moreover, how to take note, what should be noted down, etc are otherproblems Some people can not re-express and understand what they have just noteddown Some other tends to write too much or do not know how to take note fast

Note-taking is a complex and difficult skill and it need to be trained Because this skilldirectly connects to the thesis, it will be presented in detail in the later parts of thisthesis

1.1.3.4 Transference skill.

Transference is the last stage in the process of interpreting And the success ofinterpretation bases on this stage There are some ways to transfer from sourcelanguage to the target one

The most common way is to transfer the utterance directly to the targetlanguage However, this way is not always suitable because each language has its ownprinciple of using and the principle of this language can not be applied for another one.Therefore, interpreters can use other ways Paraphrasing is one replaced way.Paraphrasing is the change of the expression but still keeps the main idea They can

that utterance easier to understand Besides, if the utterance is so complicated anddifficult to understand, interpreters can simplify it to make it easier to understand andmore suitable for that language style Or interpreters also can make an utterance easier

to understand by making explanation

Transference is a difficult skill A good interpreter will know how to combinethese ways and use these ways flexibly in order to have a good interpretation

1.1.3.5 Public speaking skill

Public speaking is an art and it has been researched by many people Manybooks of skill to speak in public have been published

Public speaking skill does not belong to the interpreting process but it playsimportant role in the interpreting No matter how good knowledge, how good memory

or good note, interpreter will not give a succeed interpretation if the interpreter is notconfident and not very good at speaking in public

A good speaker in a public place is difficult but a good interpreter in public ismuch more difficult Speaking in public, interpreters should have pay attention to notonly their voices but also their appearances, body language, attitude and gestures.Public speaking can be trained and students also become a good public speaker if theyspend time practicing

1.2 Note taking

1.2.1 Definition of note taking

Note taking is one of the most important stages in an interpreting process It isthe effective aid to help interpreters recall their memory

There are many definitions for note-taking Note-taking can be defined as "the

practice of writing pieces of information often in an informal and unstructed manner."

(Retrieved from the website: http://dictionary.babylon.com/note%20taking.)

Note-taking is also be defined as "the practice of writing down pieces of information

in a systematic way." (Retrieved from the website: http://edutech.wiki.unige.ch/en/

Note-taking) Or a definition in the website http//

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/note-taking stated that "note-www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/note-taking is the practice of recording information captured from

a transient source, such as oral discussion at a meeting or a lecture."

Indeed, there are many definitions; however, note-taking still has some maincharacteristics Basing on these above definitions, note-taking can be understood aspieces of information written down without using any formula of structure It allowsnote takers write a large amount of information in a piece of paper quickly Besides,note-taking is written with a logical system that allows note-takers review in the latertime without any difficulty However, note-taking is easy to be confused with short -hand writing In note-taking, the main ideas which help to recall the memory are noteddown while in shorthand writing, students have to write as many words and as exactly

as possible

1.2.2 Role of note-taking

Note-taking is one of the most fundamental skills to learn and master in school.Although note-taking is most used in the oral source, it may used in written one

Beside direct speech, a person can take notes from a book, newspaper, textbook, novel

or even in the lecture Each of situations requires different ways of taking notes.People take notes because they want to keep along some information that they areexcited with or support for their interest or purposes When they read a book and arevery interested in enjoyable sentences, they immediately note them down in theirnotebooks Or they note when they meet a formula to treat a disease or to bake a newkind of cake In this case the main role or function of a note is to record theinformation

However things are different in an interpreting process Note-taking has beenproved to be very useful for interpreters working consecutively First of all, takingnotes is the way to help interpreters pay attention to the speaker and prevent thedistraction Thus, interpreters will have deeper understanding and analysis of thespeech Secondly, taking notes helps interpreters relieve the memory How much goodthe memory, interpreters can not remember every points of the speech Moreover, thestoring capacity of the short-term memory is just up to 30 seconds with the limitedamount of information Especially, interpreters may get difficulty when facing withforeign proper names, numbers, lists of things or specialized term or technicalexpressions Thus note-taking is an effective tool for interpreting, especially in

just only one initial thing can be the cue that leads to other things Besides, notes alsoprovide the main idea, supporting elements as well as the link between ideas.Interpreters will have a logical system to reproduce Finally, a note can also be used tohighlight the inconsistencies, mark the missing ideas or anything implausible thatneeds the attention later.

In conclusion, the effective support of a note cannot be denied in theinterpreting process Content and framework of the speech are clear in notes.However, taking notes needs a lot of practice and the gap between theory of notetaking and actual notes is still large Thus it requires the fully attention of bothlecturers and students

1.3 Note-taking in interpreting.

Note-taking is not simple process The note-takers have to note down at thesame time with listening, understanding, and remembering Besides, they have todecide when should note, how to take in order to have a good note, etc In this part, theauthor will present the main point of a note-taking process

1.3.1 When to note

When to take note is an important and difficult factor that requires theinterpreters to have exact decision Note-taking for interpreting is different from shorthand writing for study in class In class, the teacher or lecturer can have a stop betweenspeeches and speak in a short time to help students take note better They also leavetime for students finish their notes However, in interpreting, speaker can have a pausefor note-takers but the audiences can not wait while the interpretation is mainly forthem Audiences do not want to sit for a long time without any understanding

Thus, interpreter should start taking notes as soon as possible without acomplete utterance or idea If they wait too long, they are in danger of forgetting theimportant information and can not follow the speaker's speech Besides, there is noneed for interpreters to take note the same way of the speaker Instead, interpreters cannote in their ways, provided that the note contains enough information

It is worth mentioning that interpreters should stop taking note and startreproducing ideas as soon as the speaker finishes his/her speech If they continue to

take note when speakers finish, they will delay the interpretation That is not expected

in any interpreting process

1.3.2 What to note

What to note is another difficult issue that note-takers have to face with Whatshould be noted down to have a good note? Should note-takers write down as many

words as possible or they just need to note ideas They should take note the link, the

list of things, point of view, etc All of the issue will be presented in this part

Note-taking in consecutive interpreting is different from that in class In class,note-takers usually have more time for taking note, so they tend to write much morethan in interpreting Moreover, note-taking in class is for long term use, thereforestudents should write enough information in order to understand even for very longtime later On the contrary, it's impossible for note-takers in interpreting to write downall information because they have a little time for taking note Furthermore, they usethe note for very short time Therefore, they should note down only the main point tosupplement memory only

The experiences from professional interpreters showed that some main pointsshould be noted are:

1.3.2.1 Main ideas

The first main point to be noted down should be the main idea In fact, thewriting speed is much slower than speaking speed, so it is impossible for interpreterstake note every thing from the speaker Interpreters should practice and have ability torecognize, select and note down the important ideas as well as eliminate the irrelevantthings from speaker Moreover, the main idea will be the skeleton that helpsinterpreters have a good interpretation

1.3.2.2 The link

Beside the main ideas, interpreters also should pay attention to the link betweenideas Connection between single ideas will make the speech more logical and clearer.And thank to links, interpreters can understand overall meaning of the speech Jones(2002, P28-29) showed some kinds of link Logical consequence is the first kind withwords such as: as a result, consequently, accordingly, therefore, etc The second kind

kind is opposition such as: but, yet, however, nevertheless, etc interpreters will getconfused if they do not take note these kinds of link Besides, thank to these links,interpreters easily recognize the changes of ideas from speaker and make theirinterpretation more logical and attractive.

1.3.2.4 Verb tenses

Verb tense is another point that should be noted down in the interpreting

process Jones (2002) stated that "when noting verbs, interpreters should thus take

care to note the tenses correctly, and if appropriate the mode, in particular conditional" (P.42) This statement can be reasonable because verbs tense is very

important It shows the interpreters the context of the action The time of action is inthe past, present or future Basing on that, they can easily understand the wholespeech

1.3.2.5 Point of view

The last point should be noted down is the point of view It is also importantbecause interpreters will understand the outlook of the speaker Thus, it would helpinterpreter more flexible in using vocabularies For example, if the speaker use the

word "ambitious", interpreters should know his/ her point of view in order to choosebetween "hoai bao" or "tham vong", etc.

To sum up, what should be noted down totally base on the purposes of the interpreters,present situation and some other elements? The speech that only focuses on the factwith statistics, interpreters should take note numbers In a commercial or politicalnegotiation, point of view of speaker should be paid attention to If there is a chance ofevents, interpreters should note down the verbs tense, etc Some interpreters prefer thenote with very little detail while others prefer the note with as much detail as possible.Besides, what should be noted also base on the memory ability of interpreters Theycan freely choose the way of taking note, provided that the note supports for goodinterpretation

1.3.3 How to note

1.3.3.1 Ways to arrange note

There are many ways of taking note but some of them are only useful andeffective for taking note from written text The following methods are introduced asthe most effective by the professional interpreters

1.3.3.1.1 Vertical/ diagonal layout

This method has been widely used by professional interpreters It is applied onthe fact that subjects (S), verbs (V) and objects (O) are the most important elementsand contain most of information of the speech

Following this method, Subjects, Verbs, Objects are arranged from left to rightand from top to bottom of the page However, interpreters also can put any details ifthey want This method is highly appreciated because of its clear presentation of notes.Jones (2002, P.44) described this method as follow:

Subjects

Verbs

ObjectsLet's note down this example:

"Rates of breast cancer in Japan, Singapore and South Korea are now three times what they were forty years ago"

> 3 X - 40 Ys ago

1.3.3.1.2 Shifting method

This method is quite similar with the vertical one It is used in order to have aclear note In this kind of note, note taker will note sentence to sentence, from top tobottom of page In the note taking process, note takers will leave some spaces to fillafter speaker finishes The following is an example:

"The W.H.O report estimates that twelve million people will be found to have some form of cancer this year It predicts that more than seven million people will die early

as a result of cancer And more than five million of the new cancer cases will be in developing countries "

WHO estimate 12 mil pp cancer y

7 mil die cancer

> 5 mil cancer cases -in country

1.3.3.1.3 Left- hand margin

As mentioned above, the links between ideas are also very important It helpsinterpreters get no confusion while reading back the notes and the roles of links cannot be denied Thus, left-hand margin is ideal method to take note the speech withmany linking words

It's better for note takers to leave a left-hand margin of one or two centimetersfor links and to make sure that those links are separated with other parts of notes Thismethod will make the links stand out and easy to identify Furthermore, left-handmargin will leave the large space if interpreters want to insert some important ormissing elements

All above explain the reason why left-hand margin is frequently used by professionalinterpreters

Let's look the example below:

"International students are permitted to work for the college or university they attend

or for a business at the school But the business must directly provide the service to students You could work at the bookstore, for example, but not for a construction company that is building something on campus Also, a foreign student cannot displace an American citizen in the job."

Inter sts permitted work business sch/ col/ uni

BUT business must provide services 4 sts

EX sts work bookstore

BUT not 4 const Co building 4 sch

+ foreign sts -not displace 4 A sts

All of the methods above are used in the specific situation and provide for interpreters

a clear note and easy to read back Each of method has its own advantages anddisadvantages, thus interpreters should learn how to use them flexible and effective

1.3.3.2 Abbrs and symbols

As stated above, note-taking is very important for interpreters in interpretingprocess, especially in consecutive one It is important because it helps interpreter recalland release the memory In note- taking, fastness is the most important elementbecause it helps interpreters save time However, how to take note fast is the issue that

is concerned by many people, especially for those who work in interpreting field

The experience from professional interpreters shows that using abbreviationsand symbols while taking note are very helpful It not only save time but also releasesthe memory for interpreters

Because abbrs and symbols are the two fields that directly relates to the mainissue of this thesis, they will be presented in more detail in the next parts

1.3.3.3 Language used in note-taking

Up to now, there is still a question that causes the big debate among the writers:Should note taker use source language or target one while taking notes? Sourcelanguage is the utterance of the speaker while target language is the transference of theinterpreter

Writers about note-taking in consecutive interpreting support one of twocontrasting opinions Some writers such as Herbert 1952; Rozan 1956; Laplace 1990(cited in Hanh, n.d, P.32) advocated the use of target language They also showed two

main reasons: first, interpreters would put aside the surface form of source languageand concentrate on the meaning layer of the speech Second, taking note in targetlanguage is thought to facilitate effectively the re-expression On the contrary, Ilg1988; Alexieva 1993; Gile 1995 argued that the source language may be better choice(cited in Hanh, n.d, p.32) They also give reasons to defend their opinion Taking- note

in target language may burden interpreters They have to perform many differentactivities such as listening, understanding, taking- note Thus, the transformation fromsource into target make interpreter's concentration divided This process also takestime because interpreters have to choose the equivalent word in target language.Moreover, according to Jones (2002, p.60) taking-note in target language, interpreters

can not have " a full set of notes at the end of a speech" as he takes notes in source

language

However, in some recent research, the use of source or target language bases onthe level and ability of interpreters as well as the requirements of the whole note-taking process Interpreters can take note in whichever language is easier However,there is obvious reason that taking-note in source language is much easier and faster,the initial criteria of taking -note

1.4 Abbreviations and symbols

The highest requirement of taking notes is the fastness in order for interpreters

to save time Abbrs and symbols appeared as an effective method to meet thisrequirement So far, many researchers have attempted to create a complete system ofabbrs and symbols for note-taking in consecutive interpreting The two most

outstanding systems are Notizenschift and Smbolschift by Becker and

Sprachunabhangie Notation by Matyssek However, these two systems can not be

applied effectively because it is preferred to use widely

Abbrs and symbols should be used automatically because the process ofinterpreting requires the highest concentration Thus, it is not advisable for interpreters

to create new abbrs and symbols while taking notes Therefore, creating a completesystem of abbrs and symbols is essential requirement that will be a effective tool forconsecutive interpreting

1.4.1 Abbreviation

1.4.1.1 Overview and definition.

Abbr is used a long time ago in history, from 15th century in England and 19th

century in United State People created the abbr with the purpose of reducing the copytime Abbr is usually used in informal situations

Abbr has origin from language of Latin: Brevis means short It is defined that: "abbr is

a shortened form of a word or phrase Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase" (Retrieved from the website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbreviation.)

Basing on above definition, it is correct to understand that abbr is made ofpart(s) of word or phrase It can be the first part (Ex: Pro in professional), the middlepart (Ex: flu in influenza), or the last (Ex: Phone in telephone) It also can be thecollection of letters from different positions (Ex: Bkgr in Background)

If analyzed in the narrow parlance of language, abbrs should not be confused withcontraction and acronyms (including initialism) even though they share some semanticand phonetic fuctions However, in the loose parlance, these three terms are connoted

by the term "abbr" And in general, acronyms are regarded as subgroup of abbr

1.4.1.2 Ways to create abbrs

Abbr is used to help interpreters take notes quickly and save time for otheractivities Abbr must be unequivocal and unambiguous for immediate understandingbecause under time pressure, interpreters have no time to analyze the meaning of abbr

Abbr should be consistent, for example, if using "pop" for "popular" so interpreters should use "popu" or find another abbr for "population" One more important note is

that an abbr may be meaningful to the person who creates and uses them only

Interpreters should feel free to create their own abbr, provided that they canremember later what the abbrs stand for

However, there are some ways to create abbrs as follow:

* Shortening:

- Clipping: Retain only part of word

Ex: 1st part: lab - laboratory

Middle part: Flu - influenza

Last part: Phone - telephone

- Acronym: take the first capitalized letter of words and it can be read as a new word

Ex: NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

UNESCO: United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization

- Initializism: Take the first capitalized letter of words and letters can be read

separately

Ex: UN: United Nations

WTO: World Trade Organization

* Blending: Combine part of different word.

Ex: Interpol = International Police

Motel = Motor Hotel

* Write what is heard: Create abbr by recording word's sound only

Ex: Night = nite

High = hi

* Drop some letters:

Ex: Background = bkgr

Build = bld

* Create the plural form

Ex: many Prime Ministers = PMs

Many companies = Co-s

* Create the word form:

Ex: Prod = production/ productivity/ producer/ product

* Create the tense of verbs: Use 'll for future, - ing for present progressive and -ed

for past tense

Ex: Estaed = established

Ad'll = will advertise

* Re-express: abbreviate the long expression with the shorter one with the same

meaning

Ex: In conclusion = sum up

With the intention of = to

With the purpose of = to

1.4.2 Symbols

1.4.2.1 Overview and definition

From ancient times, when people lived in the caves, they knew how to createsymbols in order to communicate and store information They carved symbols into thewalls of the caves Those symbols played a great role for people at that time.Nowadays, although the life is very modern, people still use symbols because itsimportant role and benefit in the communication

In interpreting, symbols also play very important role, especially in taking Similar to abbrs, the most outstanding benefit of symbol is fastness And ifinterpreters use abbrs to replace for word only, symbols are used to represent for anidea This feature of symbols will help interpreters eliminate the interference of sourcelanguage

note-Symbol is defined as "something such as an object, picture, written word,

sound or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance

or convention." (Retrieved from the website:http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbols)

Basing on the above definition, symbol is understood as a mark, a sign, etc used torepresent a thing or a concept

Similar to abbr, symbols need to be prepared in advance because creating asymbol takes more time and thought than an abbr And an improvised symbol maydrive interpreters into a difficult situation Thus, it is advisable for interpreters to use

Besides, symbols also must be consistent It means that if interpreters use thissymbol for this idea, they should find another one for another idea Each symbol hasits own meaning, so interpreters will not be confused.

1.4.2.2 Ways to create symbol

Symbol used in interpreting must be simple and available because it isimpossible for interpreters create new and complicated symbol in a short period oftime Interpreter usually bases on some kinds of signs, marks in real life and thendevelops them into a symbol that can be use effectively in interpreting Here are somekinds of symbol that interpreters can directly use or base on them to create for themnew symbol

* Use Maths symbols

This is the most useful and effective kind of symbol because they are known widelyand very simple:

Ex: + : plus; add; in addition; and; also

> : Greater than; bigger than; higher than

= : similar; same; equal; is

* Use arrow and reference lines

This kind of symbol is also very popular with interpreters:

Ex: => : causes; leads to; makes

≠> : do not cause; do not lead to; do not make

: increase; go up; raise; develop

: Decrease; fall;

* Use traffic signs

There are many signs used in traffic system, however interpreters usually use somesimple signs:

Ex:

: turn right

: can not turn

be understood as the word that frequently used in daily life.

The concept "common word" is only relatively because each person has owninterest and specific purposes This is also true for interpreting Each interpreter works

in specific area so he/she only focuses on improving their specific area For example,

an interpreter works in economy will concern to words like: inflation, budget deficit,bankrupt, etc Working in medicine, interpreter will concern to words such as:solution, anatomy; names of diseases like: Hepatitis, bronchitis, etc

However, there are words that interpreters in every field need to know They donot belong to any specific area For example: some nouns like: government, company,member, group, problem, year, child, etc Some verbs like: make, know, take, think,look, want, etc, and some adjectives like: important, different, right, larger, small, big,etc

The system of common word has been collected by many organizations, centersand publishers There are also many systems of common words which presents inmany websites Some of them rank the common words according to frequent use ofwords; some put the words in the alphabets Although they have different ways toarrange words but they share the same amount of words In this thesis the author chose

http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/bl1000_list1.htm This website is well-knownand reliable in the internet community The list of one thousand common words will

be cited and presented in the appendix

In this thesis, the author chooses more than 500 common words and phrases fromabove list and from many other sources

The list of 500 words and phrases consist of verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc These 500words are chosen because they are the content words It means that the word itself has

to convey the meaning, the most important factor in note-taking Besides, these words

do not make interpreters confused for their abbreviations and symbols when readingback the note Moreover, these words are used quite frequent in daily life and ininterpreting

The suggested abbrs and symbols of these 500 words will be presented in the chapterIII of this thesis

Summary

This chapter has introduced the overview of interpreting theory which covers manyaspects from the definition, the modes of interpreting This thesis focuses on the use ofabbrs and symbols for note-taking Therefore, the author has thoroughly discussed therelated theories of note-taking, abbreviation, symbol and common words All of thesewould be the firm foundation for what is being discussed in the next chapter

CHAPTER 2: THE SURVEY

2.1 Introduction

This chapter is a research on how often the fourth year English students at VinhUniversity take notes, how important they think about note- taking as well as how theycan take notes fast or whether they usually use abbrs and symbols when taking notes.All of this information is discovered through a survey questionnaire consisting of 7questions These questions are closely related to the first chapter of note-taking andusing abbrs and symbols in interpreting The result of this survey will help to proposesome suggestions in the following chapter

2.2 Participants and their background

The survey was implemented with the support of students of 47B- English inforeign language department, Vinh University These students have learned theinterpreting subject for 3 semesters and they were also trained to take notes and guidedhow to use and create abbrs and symbols for easier and faster note-taking Thus, theiranswers, suggestion as well as their experiences will contribute a lot for the laterstudents as a guideline for studying this subject There are 60 students in class 47B andall of them were given out the questionnaire papers but only 50 papers were handed in

2.3 Aims and objectives

The main purpose of this survey is to investigate the real situation of usingabbrs and symbols when taking notes of the students Thus, the survey questionnairefocuses on some following factors:

- How important do students think of note taking?

- How often do they use abbrs and symbols when taking notes?

2.4 Methodology

With the purpose of receiving as much accurate information as possible,quantitative method was used to figure out the needed information The authorcollected opinions and suggestions of 50 papers from 60 students through surveyquestionnaire and then analyzed them in order to make the most complete and perfectabbrs and symbols system for note-taking

2.5 Procedure

The research was carried out with three phases

Phase 1: Organizing the survey questionnaire in the easiest and most convenient way

to obtain as much information as possible

Phase 2: Giving out the survey papers to students

Phase 3: Collecting the students' answers, analyzing to figure out the outstandingproblems

2.6 Findings and discussions

The following findings will show the real point of view of students and present the realsituation of using abbrs and symbols for interpreting of students

Question 1: " How important is note- taking to you? "

Table 2: Point of view on the importance of Note-taking

This question was designed to understand more about the point of view ofstudents on note-taking The author proposed 3 levels of importance For this question,

37 students occupied 74% considered that note-taking is very important to them This

is reasonable because as stated in the theory part, note-taking plays very important role

in interpreting process It helps students not only recall the memory but also releasethe memory and pay attention to the speech Especially, the support of recalling thememory is the most important role because it contributes for a good interpretation

However, 12 students with 24 % show their opinion that note-taking issometimes important to them This is understandable since some of students have verygood short-term memory Besides, they only need to take note if having the longspeech with many new terms, concepts or list of things

Contrast to the first opinion, there is one student who thought that note-taking isunimportant to him/her According to her, Taking notes may prevent her fromconcentration and obtain the main idea of the speech And that even makes a worseinterpretation

However, experiences from professional interpreters show that "no oneinterprets without their notes" (Là.n.d p30) Even though you have an excellentmemory, you can not remember every details in long speech especially names, list ofthings or technique terms Thus, the most precious advice for interpreters is takingnotes in interpreting

Question 2: " What are your problems when taking notes?"

b) I can not use the abbrs and symbols

effectively

c) I tend to write as many words as possible 28 56

Table 3: Problems of students when taking note

Collecting answers from students for this question will provide author the realsituation and the problems that students have to cope with when taking notes

The most common problems (56%) of total amount of participants are that they tend towrite as many words as possible This problem is very popular to students as they arenot particularly trained Students have chance to access interpreting subject from thefifth semester, however, they are taught in a very general way Moreover, the time forlearning how to take notes is limited Even though to be taught, students are not used

to taking only the main ideas Instead, they write every thing they hear That is the bigproblem Thus, it is important for students to practice taking notes regularly

The second problem is that students cannot take notes fast 11 studentsaccounting for 22% recognized this problem They do not know how to take note fast.

It is clear that the speed of written language is much slower than spoken one, sostudents should take only the key words and the main idea However, they said thatthere is no effective tool to support them in taking notes Thus, it is better to figure out

a solution for this situation Students are advised to use abbrs and symbols whentaking notes because this is very effective tool to take notes fats and save time

Beside two mentioned problems, 10 students accounting for 20% of the totalamount of participants agree that they can not use abbrs and symbols effectively Thisproblem is reasonable because students do not have much time to learn interpretingsubject and the time for note-taking is less Besides, the concept "abbr" and "symbol"are still strange for most of students The use of abbrs and symbols is not a formula toput together, so students should create and practice until it becomes a high skill.Although students know a lot of abbrs and symbols, they can not use them effectivelywithout practicing

However, there is only 1 student who has to cope with more than one problem.This student can not both take note fast and use the abbr and symbols effectively

These facts show that at the level of university, taking notes is very difficultskill and it needs to be trained if students want to become an interpreter in the future

Question 3: " How often do you use abbrs and symbols?"

Table 4: The frequent use of abbrs and symbols

Answers for this question reveal the frequent use of abbrs and symbols whentaking notes From the table above, it is clear that only 14% of participants see theimportance of abbrs and symbols in taking note and always use them They recognizedbenefits of using abbrs and symbols such as saving time, concentrating to the speaker,etc Meanwhile, up to 70% of participants answered that they sometimes and 16% said

that they rarely use abbrs and symbols when taking note Although they were taughtand given detailed guidance from the lecturer, students can not use abbrs and symbolseffectively And they will not use abbrs and symbols until they see how important ofabbrs and symbols in taking- note and recognize their supports to have better note.And there is no student who never uses abbrs and symbols when taking note.

This question has revealed the real situation of using abbrs and symbols intaking- note of students in Vinh University Certainly, using abbrs and symbols cannot determine whether a good or bad interpretation, but every one recognizes that theyare really important and experiences from professional interpreters show that usingabbrs and symbols in taking note very useful Thus, students in Vinh University shouldpay attention to practice using them as they are the effective supporting tool for anyinterpreter And the reason why these students do not usually use abbrs and symbolswill be answer in the analysis of question 5

Question 5: " What are your problems when using the abbr and symbol?"

a Do not know many abbrs and symbols 18 36

b Do not usually use the abbrs and

symbols

c Use different abbrs and symbols for a

certain word at different times

Table 5: The problems when using abbrs and symbols

This question contributes the reason for the situation of not using abbrs andsymbols in taking note frequently Look at the table above, we can see that there aremany reasons and the results are nearly the same

18 students accounting for 36% of participants agreed that they do not knowmany abbrs and symbols This is problem that has to be concerned because studentswere taught how important it is and how to create abbrs and symbols for taking notes.The most important reason is that students do not recognize the importance of usingabbrs and symbols when taking notes, so they do not pay attention to and focus onlearning more and creating more abbrs and symbols Meanwhile, 38% of participants

said that although they know many abbrs and symbols, they still do not usually usethem They tend to write full words than to use abbrs and symbols The most importantproblem needs concerning is that students have tendency to use different abbrs andsymbols for a certain word at different times Only 11 students chose this answer but it

is really serious Besides, there are two students who said that they have to face withboth three problems These three problems are closely related to each other and havethe chain relation It means that students do not usually use abbrs and symbols becausethey do not know many of them Students do not know many abbrs and symbols sothey tend to use different abbrs and symbols for the same words for different times.This problem is only solved when breaking the chain Students have to improve theamount of abbrs and symbols and practice regularly Thus, it is necessary to make afixed and complete system of abbrs and symbols for long- term use This requires theeffort and seft-awareness of students if they want to improve the present situation

Question 4: " Why do you use abbrs and symbols in note taking?"

Table 6: The reason for using abbrs and symbols in note-taking

This question was designed to find out the reason why students choose abbrsand symbols as a supporting tool when taking note From the table, the mostoutstanding number is 76% for reason of fastness These students agreed that usingabbrs and symbols is the fastest way when taking note Thanks to this method, theycan not only catch up with the speed of speaker but also have little time for otheractivities These students saw the important role of using abbrs and symbols whentaking note

However, 7 students accounting for 14% revealed that they use abbrs andsymbols just because of their habit They noticed fastness when taking note is veryimportant and they make them become their habit They use these abbrs and symbolsunconsciously This is a good signal because these abbrs and symbols existed in theirmind and they do not need trying to think of new words This is also the effort of theauthor when doing this research because the author's final purpose is to build a

complete system that students use as reference, practice and then use themunconsciously when taking note Thus, they can take note faster.

On the contrary, 5 students (10%) admitted that they only use abbrs andsymbols when being asked They said they rarely use them because they do not knowmany abbrs and symbols and can not use them effectively Thus, they use abbrs andsymbols in the lesson of note-taking only That is not a big number, however, it shows

us the reality that some students have not seen the contribution of abbrs and symbols

to interpreting Thus, building a complete system of abbrs and symbols is reallynecessary It will help improve the present situation

Question 6: " How do you often abbreviate and symbolize? " By using:

Table 7: Ways to create the abbrs and symbols

Answers for this question reveal the way students usually use to abbreviate andsymbolize words for note-taking Students have different ways to abbreviate andsymbolize words 6 students (12%) said that they usually use abbrs and symbols fromalphabet, 2 students (4%) from Maths symbols and 1 student (2%) from arrow andreference lines There are 9 students in total number of participants who used morethan 1 way to abbreviate and symbolize words Some students combine several waysamong these ways And more than half of participants (64%) combined all ways above

to abbreviate and symbolize

In fact, there are many ways to create abbrs and symbols Some students takethem from alphabet, some take from arrow and reference lines and some combineseveral ways However, in order to have a large amount of abbrs and symbols, studentsand any interpreter has to combine all ways above

Question 7: " The source of the abbrs and symbols you often use?"