I spent a year and a half working for the Hong Kong Judiciary, logging approximately 1,800 hours of consecutive interpreting, before joining the conference simultaneous interpreting industry for the last 15 years.
Consecutive interpreting is like completing a jigsaw puzzle. The interpreter has to exercise judgement/experience in assembling the disparate pieces into a complete, coherent picture. If the interpreter cannot visualize the "big picture", the final outcome can only be a mishmash of incongruent pieces.
Simultaneous interpreting, on the other hand, is like sports commentary. The commentator has to read and recognize the different plays in attack and defense over the course of dynamic and rapid exchanges between the athletes. The competent narrator would have to read the athletes' intentions correctly in order to give an accurate and lively description of the game.
Consecutive and simultaneous interpreting are two different jobs involving different skills and abilities. To claim that interpreting is just a matter of mastering "bilingual skills" is an oversimplification or intentional/unintentional obfuscation.
4 comments:
Exactly! Consecutive is like jigsaw, with patience and skills leading to the final picture.
Eva Xu
www.evaxu.com
good to know
I am 29 years old,and interested in interpreting,do you think if I work hard on it from now on,I would still have the chance to be a good interpreter?Thanks.
It's never too late to start. I joined the Hong Kong Judiciary at 30.
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