How to be clearer in simultaneous

Hi! Welcome to the Complete Interpreter podcast by the Interpreting Coach.

Why 'Complete Interpreter'? Because you're not just a translation machine, you're also a person and a business owner, and I hope to help you take a 360 view of yourself share some great tried-and-tested strategies to improve your interpreting skills, mindset, and marketing.

In this episode, I talk about what it means to interpret 'clearly' (in simultaneous, mostly, although many of the principles apply to consecutive as well).

Here's a quick summary.
To me, 'clarity' involves both acoustic clarity (the audience needs to HEAR and UNDERSTAND what the interpreter is saying), and semantic clarity (the words you use, and how you put them together).

To improve acoustic clarity:
- say each word clearly and accurately
- pause in the right places
- use your voice!
If you struggle with pronunciation, enunciation, or intonation, you can try exercises such as reading out loud or shadowing, or work with an accent coach.

To improve the semantic clarity of what you're saying:
- make short chunks
- if it works in your target language, use SVO sentence structure; start with the subject; keep the subject close to the verb
- make sure the LINKS between ideas are clear, and use intonation to emphasise them
- avoid fillers
- use appropriate and precise vocabulary (think about the needs of your audience)
To make improvements in this area, you might like to play with your décalage to give you more time to think, practise salami technique, and/or do sight translation or reformulation exercises.

A final point: in order to achieve all of this (precise vocabulary, clear links, short chunks, etc.), you need a CLEAR UNDERSTANDING of the speaker's message, which comes from a combination of your understanding of the source language and your ANALYTICAL SKILLS, and a good idea of your audience's needs.

Being clear is about being PRECISE and CONCISE, and I've devoted a whole podcast episode to being concise. :-)


If you'd like to join my free Focus Sessions (co-working) on Fridays at 5 pm CET, you can register here.

Let me know what you'd like me to talk about next!

Sophie (aka The Interpreting Coach)