An interpreter must be able to keep concentrated during long sessions of work. Moreover, humbleness is important for an interpreter, as well as curiosity. They are two characteristics that drive interpreters to keep up to date with news and to learn new subjects all the time, by researching and training. It is important to keep an eye on the gestures of the speakers, not only to listen to their words.
For the preparation of a conference, interpreters can ask to receive the documents that the speakers themselves are preparing for the speech, so that the work of the interpreter and of the speaker are aligned. However, the agenda can always change last minute, and the interpret still has to be prepared, even in case of surprises. The context is usually very helpful to understand things that otherwise would be unclear. Sometimes, it is like filling in the gaps of a cloze test. In fact, a cloze test read aloud can be a valuable exercise for an interpreter. Another suggestion by James Nolan is that sometimes, if an interpreter does not have a word in their mind, they can convey the message through intonation, because human voice can express various feelings, depending on the intonation.
The exercises in the book by James Nolan, “Interpretation Techniques and Exercises” are valuable for an interpreter’s career. I would especially focus on the intonation patterns, because the Italian intonation is quite different from the English intonation. Moreover, I like the idea of reading aloud a cloze test, to strengthen the interpreter’s ability of guessing what comes next within a speech. Also, the test with the political speech on a TV program is a good idea: before watching a politician delivering a speech, you can write down some key points that you think the politician will cover during the speech, then watch the video and see if they were actually mentioned.
Bibliography: James Nolan, Interpretation Techniques and Exercises.
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