5.3 Semantic redundancy: recommendations for interpreters

Semantic redundancy of speech provides much room for compression of redundant elements of messages, which is an important “working tool” serving as a support for interpreters. The following fragment of an official speech in the United Nations is a good example of the text filled with redundant elements¹:

Mr President,

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your assumption of office and to express admiration for the excellent manner in which your distinguished predecessor led the Council during the months of August. I am confident that his work has laid a sound basis for carrying the present debate forward to a positive conclusion under your own able and distinguished leadership. My delegation has from the beginning of this debate consistently worked toward an outcome, which would reflect a consensus among the Council. We are gratified that in the end this goal was achieved. We have been deeply impressed by the tireless and patient efforts of those delegations, which worked so hard to bridge the gap separating the parties in order to find a generally acceptable solution.

A very brief look at this text shows that its redundancy is ensured by the following factors:

1. Semantic “predetermination”, such as in ...his work has laid a sound basis for carrying the present debate to a positive conclusion (a sound basis presupposes positive conclusion).

2. Numerous repetition links like Mr President – you (substitution); I – I; debate – debate; The Council – the Council (simple lexical repetition); you – your (complex lexical repetition); My delegation – We (sustitution), etc.

3. Deictic markers of space and time: this opportunity; the present debate; this debate.

4. Elements of positive evaluation: I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you ...; ... to express admiration; we are gratified; we have been deeply impressed; excellent manner; sound basis; positive conclusion; tireless and patient efforts, etc.

It is even possible to compress this text to “a maximum” leaving out all redundant elements and thus obtaining the following “telegram message” which would adequately render the propositional structure of the message [Чернов 1987: 87]:

COUNCIL PRESIDENT,

CONGRATULATE YOU YOUR PREDECESSOR POSITIVE CONCLUSION.

GRATIFIED CONSENSUS ACHIEVED, EFFORTS DELEGATIONS FIND SOLUTION

5.4 Interpreter’s note-taking

The phenomenon of semantic redundancy of speech makes it possible for interpreters to use the techniques of interpreter’s note-taking (IN) of oral messages in consecutive interpreting [Jones 1998: 43-70]. The main purpose of IN is to create focuses of information for further subsequent “extraction” or “unpacking” of this information by the interpreter. The history of developing the system of interpreter’s note-taking, as interpreters’ alternative to standard stenography (shorthand), dates back to the Geneva University School of Interpreters set up under the auspices of the League of Nations in 1941. Detailed description of interpreter’s note-taking (УПС – універсальний перекладацький скоропис, рос. – универсальная переводческая скоропись) and practical recommendations on its application started to develop rapidly since J-F. Rozan’s epoch-making book on note-taking “La prise de notes en interprétation consécutive" was published in Geneva in 1956. In the former Soviet Union principles of note-taking were first suggested by R.K.Minyar-Beloruchev in his book on consecutive interpreting [Миньяр-Белоручев 1969]. An updated version of this book focused only on interpreter’s note-taking was published in 2005 [Миньяр-Белоручев 2005]. Principles and methods of interpreter’s note-taking were further on developed in Russia by A.P.Chuzhakin [Чужакин 1998; 2001; 2002; Чужакин, Палажченко 2000], O.V.Rebriy in Ukraine [Ребрій 2006] and in other countries [see Jones 1998].

Main principles of the interpreter’s note-taking may be summarised as follows:

1. Each interpreter makes a choice according to his/her preference on how to apply IN;

2. IN creates safeguards for keeping in memory “precision” lexicon (dates, numerals, proper names, abbreviations, etc).

3. IN usually does not record separate words, but rather registers ideas, logical links, evaluation and modality.

4. Notes in IN are made in “a diagonal staircase” format either in the source or in the target languages, or in a “mixed” way in the following sequence:

a) the subject group;

b) the verb-predicate group;

c) the object (direct and indirect) group;

d); e); f), etc – adverbial modifiers and other parts of the utterance.

5. IN is based on a system of symbols and abbreviations, easy to remember, write down and decipher from the context. This system may be briefly described as follows:

a) extensive use of commonly accepted abbreviations, acronyms and symbols, like: UN, UNESCO, WHO, WTO, GATT, NATO, OSCE, CoE (for the Council of Europe), MP (for member of parliament), PM (for prime minister) VAT, GDP, GB, US, FR, UA (for Ukraine), EU, CIS, IMF, VIP (for a very important person), HQ (for headquarters), HIV, AIDS, TB (for tuberculosis), CEO (for Chief Executive Officer), EDT (for Eastern Daylight Time, USA); ПДВ, ОВДП, ВІЛ, СНІД, МЗС, МВС, НБУ, СБУ, ВР (for Верховна Рада), $, £, UAH, грн, etc;

b ) occasional individual interpreter’s shortenings, like: K (for Kyiv); Kmin (for the Cabinet of Ministers); hgo for he did not go, E (for employment); E for unemployment, dr for draft, bdg for budget, прзд for президент, сгдн for сьогодні, крв for керівник, чит for читання, etc;

c ) logical and modal links are marked by symbols, like: : – to say; OK – to approve, to support; OK – to condemn, to disapprove, to reject;  – past, before;  – today, at present;  – more;  – less; – improve, increase; – decline, deteriorate;d (must, to be to, to have to, should) – obligation; n (need) – neccessity; m (may), m? (might), c (can), c? (could) – possibility; if, б, би – the conditional mood; ? – something doubtful, questionable, a problem;

d) the plural form is indicated by “^2”; and the “very” by “^3”;

e ) other commonly used symbols:  – obtain, receive, attract;  – send, give, arrive;  E – export;  – approximately; ! – danger, threat or emphasis on something, also: decision, resolution; М – peace; ДМ – democracy; Ж – life; П – party; Eco – environment, ecology; X – war; P – policy, political ; (b+) – budget surplus; (b-) – budget deficit; R – rights, law, liberty; O – congress, conference, forum, meeting, round table; – representative, delegate, member, ambassador;  – nuclear tests; ~ – something indefinite, uncertainty;  – country, state; (:) – speech, statement, press-conference;  – split, separation; – to prohibit, to ban, to liquidate ;

f ) numerals are marked like: t – thousand; m – million; b – billion; tr – trillion;

g) dates are indicated as follows: 17.10.07 – 17 October 2007; days of the week may be either commonly abbreviated: mon – Monday; tue – Tuesday, wed – Wednesday; thu – Thursday, fri – Friday, sat – Saturday; sun – Sunday, or marked by a corresponding encircled number of the day;

h) blocks of utterances which make up a complete thought and are to be interpreted are usually separated by horizontal lines, or encircled;

і) interpreters may use other combinations of arrows, lines, circles, parenthesis or abbreviations at their own discretion, provided there is a guarantee that they remember the “encoded” meaning of these symbols and do not overload their memory with the “third” metalanguage of interpreter’s note-taking (for more IN signs see the books mentioned above, for commonly used abbreviations and acronyms of today go to the site http://www.acronymfinder.com ).

Thus, the message Депутати Верховної Ради України відхилили у вівторок проект бюджету на 2007 рік у другому читанні can be noted down in the following way:

MP² ВР

OK

dr bdg 07 (2 чит ) tue

IN in combination with personal note-taking skills is a powerful instrument capable to increase the volume of information rendered and to ensure higher precision of interpreting. This is especially important in consecutive interpreting when interpreters have to keep in memory long units of information and when taking notes is the only way of supporting interpreter’s memory, while in simultaneous interpreting IN is not used at all for one simple reason – there isn’t enough time for the interpreter to concentrate on taking notes.