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ADVICE TO STUDENTS

To interpret a speech is not to translate it word for word. To interpret a speech from its source language is to transfer its semantic, connotative and aesthetic content into another language, using the lexical, syntactic and stylistic resources of the second, or "target" language for that purpose. To interpret is first and foremost to understand the intended message perfectly. It can then be "detached" from the words used to convey it in the original and reconstituted, in all its subtlety, in words of the target language. Interpreting is a constant to-ing and fro-ing between different ways of thinking and cultural universes.

There are two modes of interpreting:

• simultaneous interpretation: the interpreter sits in a booth, in front of a microphone, listens through headphones to the incoming message in the source language and communicates it over the microphone to whoever is listening in the target language. In other words, simultaneous interpretation is an intensive information processing task and in a six-hour working day the interpreter will "process" the equivalent of about 65 typewritten pages.
  
  
• consecutive interpretation: the interpreter sits at the conference table with the delegates, listening to whomever is speaking in the source language and making notes as the speech progresses. When the speaker has finished, the interpreter reproduces (consecutively) the message in the target language, in its entirety and as though s/he were making the original speech.

Whereas simultaneous interpretation is advisable for meetings in which a number of languages are spoken and with a large number of participants or in the media, consecutive interpretation is often more suitable for smaller meetings which are technical or confidential, or for formal occasions such as banquets and official visits, where two or a maximum of three languages are being used.

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INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONFERENCE INTERPRETERS 10 avenue de Sécheron - CH - 1202 Geneva - Switzerland E-mail: info@aiic.net