15.5. Symbols and Abbreviations

One considerable advantage of most signs and symbols is the fact that they do not belong to any particular language and can without any effort be written in one language and read out in another, as is the case with numerals.

The interpreter has every reason for keeping the symbols and abbreviations to which he has personally grown accustomed, for instance while studying at school or college.

Although signs and symbols are often chosen by reason of their relation to a particular word, the interpreter should as soon as possible connect them in his own mind with an idea, leaving aside whatever words may express that idea in different languages.

The use of signs. The notes are a safeguard for the interpreter. It may happen that when he speaks he should use them only in part or not at all, because his memory gives him all he wants.

Too many symbols may be a danger because there is a risk that their meaning may be temporarily forgotten when the notes arc read. Generally speaking, a further series of signs and symbols – not more than half a dozen at a time – should be brought into service only after all the previous ones have been perfectly assimilated.

It is dangerous to improvise symbols and even abbreviations during a speech which will have to be interpreted, because the meaning attached to them may be forgotten. If an absolute need for such a procedure should arise, it is safer to note such new symbols on a separate sheet, which may be referred to at any time.

In order to cut down the number of symbols, the same one may in general be used for various forms of the same verb, and for the corresponding noun. For instance, I propose, he proposed, we shall propose, proposal, proposition, propositions, etc. may be written П. The context is generally a sufficient support to enable the memory to find out what the exact meaning is. Should there be any possibility of a doubt, one or two letters may be added at the end. In the instance given, propositions might be written Пions.

As far as possible, however etymologically connected with a word or group of words, a symbol should also be used for all other words which are more or less synonymous. For instance the sign adopted for “propose” may also be used for “suggest”, “request”, etc. unless the speaker stressed the nuance of the word chosen, but in that case the interpreter will generally remember it, even if he has not noted it.

Symbols from the alphabet. In the choice of letters which will serve as symbols there is every advantage in borrowing from a variety of alphabets. Even in English script, “S, s, s” may be given totally different meanings. The two Greek letters σ, Σ may also he added, but not the ς, which bears too close a resemblance to the Latin “s”. Corresponding letters from any other alphabet which the interpreter happens to know (Russian, Chinese, Sanskrit) may also be used, as well as simple characters taken from languages such as Chinese, Hebrew or Arabic (, שאװפק يکقسل,, etc.) or hieroglyphic Egyptian, etc.). Diacritical marks which are current in familiar languages provide a further addition to alphabetical symbols, for instance the Czechoslovak ˇ, the Spanish ˜. The interpreter will thus be able to handle a number of terms frequently used, such as secretary (or secretariat or secretarial), statistics (or statistician), Sweden, suggest (or suggestion). The number of those simple alphabetical signs may easily be doubled if advantage is taken of the possibility of surrounding each of them with a circle, for instance: (ⓐ Ⓐ ⓦ).

Phonetic Symbols. Very simple phonetic symbols are of great use for prefixes, suffixes, endings and even postpositions which frequently recur, such as: con-, -tion, -ment, -able. If for -tion, we choose α, and we want to specify proposition, we can write it П α.

Monograms. Monograms made up for the purpose, and which can be drawn speedily, may also be extremely useful. Thus by putting together an A and a G into an AG you have a sign which may mean anything from General Assembly to Agenda. Similarly, the three letters att with tt crossed twice to indicate repetition att is a good symbol for “to draw (attract) the attention of... to”.

Punctuation marks. When a sentence or an idea is in the interrogative, it will be easier to read the corresponding notes if they are prefaced with a sign like the question mark turned upside down ¿ used in Spanish for that purpose.

: will easily indicate the relation between the propounder of an opinion and the opinion itself.

The word “point”, which is so frequently used in most languages in such phrases as: a point on the agenda, on this point, a difficult point, the following point, etc., may be represented by a dot . which may be underlined to avoid confusion . . The “point of view” (or opinion, or view held, etc.) may be represented by the small dot above or below what may look like en eye ^.∢.

Mathematical symbols. The following mathematical symbols + – ± > < ≤ ≥ = ≡ ≠ ≈ √ fulfill ideal conditions of brevity, legibility and precision, ∞ and ∫ are not so useful in their usual sense and may be kept for other uses, x (multiplied by) may lead to confusion and should be left out /2, /3, /4, provide easy ways for noting half (or semi- or half-yearly), third (in all the senses of the word), fourth (or quarter or term), etc.

The square, used either by itself or in combination with other signs, and the circle drawn around other signs, are also valuable. It is better not to use the circle by itself, as it is not easy to distinguish from the capital 0 or the zero. The triangle should be drawn in such a way (for instance ) as not to resemble the Greek capital Δ.

Other series of symbols. The musical signs < (crescendo) and > (diminuendo), used either by themselves or under a word, provide quick notation of adjective phrases which frequently recur.  is also useful and easy in its own meaning. On the other hand, ♯ is incompatible with the printer’s sign indicated below, and the ♭ may be confused with the letter b.

Some of the signs used for the correction of printer’s proofs can also prove useful, such as: ♑ (delete), ∾ (reverse), # (add space), ⌶ (bring together), and even the standing (restore).

A serie of three dots variously inclined, ⋰ ⋱ ⋮ is also easy to use, as well as some of the symbols current in road signaling, such as: ⍰.

Generally speaking, it is highly advisable to give to all such symbols meanings which are closely connected with those that they normally have.

Abbreviations. It is naturally also advisable to use current abbreviations, such as UNO, USA, ILO, etc., but it is better to abbreviate some of them further; for instance, Usr and Unes can with advantage take the place of the longer forms USSR and UNESCO.

Abbreviations used on identification plates for cars can be utilized to designate the corresponding countries, as also the relevant adjectives. For instance, DK will mean both Denmark and Danish.

Numbers. It is important to be able to note rapidly and accurately long series of numbers as they occur in statistics, budgets, etc.

For the designation of years, which may come in rapid succession in a statistical enumeration, the first two figures, and sometimes the first three, may be conveniently omitted and replaced by an apostrophe. For instance, “from 1942 to 1944” can be noted ‘42-’4.

Groups of three naugts should be replaced by a simple sign such as the one which is used for that purpose in Roman numerals. Thus 42,000 would be written 42 and 317,000,000 317.

Reserve stock. The interpreter should always have a ready reserve of a number of symbols as simple as possible to which he will attach no permanent signification but which he may use to represent phrases sometimes highly technical, rare and complex, which come up frequently in the course of a meeting, such as: “habit-forming drug”, “maintenance of peace and security”, “invisible exports”, “international pharmacopoeia”, “classification of soft coals according to their contents in volatile matter”, “anthology of Greek poetry”, “Italian draft amendment to section 17 of the Rules of Procedure”. One whole alphabet may be kept for that particular purpose, either as it is or with a circle around each letter – in so far of course as the letters which compose it cannot be confused with those of another alphabet.

Arrows and reference lines. Possibly the most valuable sign is the arrow , which may be used for all ideas in connection with sending to, submitting to, exporting to, transmitting to, leading to, arriving in, communicating to, etc. When folded back  it may mean to come back from, to bring back from. When simply turned back , it means to receive from, to import from, to come from, to leave from, to take out of, etc. When pointed upwards , it may mean to increase, to develop; when pointed downwards , to diminish, to restrict, to cut down, to lower, etc. In practically every case memory will have no difficulty in finding the exact shade of meaning which it was intended to represent.

When a long and difficult name or phrase comes up unexpectedly in the course of the debate, the interpreter who had no symbol prepared for it must sometimes write it out in full. But if the same word or phrase should come up again, and if no page has been turned in the meantime, the interpreter may underline the name which he had to write out and draw a line from it down to where it should appear again . Once it has become a habit, such a reference line may considerably simplify the taking of notes.

Negation. Two factors which come up repeatedly in any speech and which must be made very apparent in the notes are negation and emphasis.

For the former a line drawn sideway across the word or sign is quick to write and easy to read. For instance if we want to say: “Switzerland did not import cotton”, we may write it CH ↚ cotton, or CH ← cotton, or CH  cotton. The last two will stress that Switzerland has not been among the cotton importing countries, or that in the whole of Swiss imports there was no cotton.

For emphatic negation two strokes may be used. For instance, “We very strongly object to the suggestion that a vote be taken” may be written vote.

Emphasis. Similarly, emphasis may be easily noted by underlining whatever is emphasized, and double underlining may mean that it was superlative. For instance: “Great pressure was brought to bear” may be noted pressure “Considerable pressure was exercised” or “The strongest pressure was brought to bear...” may be written pressure.

Conversely, attenuation may be shown by underlining with a dotted line. For instance, “I was somewhat surprised” can be written surprise.