iL Simultaneous Interpretation Introduction Simultaneous interpretation, in which the interpreter speaks at the same time as the speaker, is the most common mode of interpreting used in court. Generally, simultaneous interpreting is done from English into Spanish, because it is intended to enable the defendant to understand what is going on in court proceedings. The U.S. Constitution states that every criminal defendant has a right to be present at all stages of the proceedings, and the courts have interpreted this to mean that non-English-speaking defendants are not “present” unless everything is interpreted into their native language for them. Therefore, the court interpreter is required to interpret everything that is said in the courtroom so that the defendant hears exactly what an English-speaking defendant, would hear. This doos not mean that the court interpreter explains what the proceedings mean; the interpreter must convey every single statement that is uttered in the courtroom, at the same language level or register in which it is stated, regardless of the defendant's ability to understand the concepis involved. Many of the proceedings are conducted at a rapid pace, as judges and attorneys are going through routine steps that they have done countless times before. ‘The language they use is often difficult, if not impossible, for the uninitiated to understand. ‘The challenge for the court interpreter is to render their statements into a target-language version (the target language is the language into which you are interpreting; the source language is the language out of which you are interpreting) that is as intelligible to the average Spanish-speaking layman as the original message is to the average English-speaking layman, without adding or omitting anything. Simultaneous interpretation is actually a misnomer, in that the word simultaneous suggests that the interpreter is interpreting a message as she hears it, In fact, there is a delay between the moment the interpreter hears a thought and the moment she renders that thought into the target language, because it takes time to understand the original message and generate a target-language rendition of it, Meanwhile, the speaker goes on to the next thought, so the interpreter must generate the target-language version of the first thought while processing the speaker's second thought, and so on. This delay is known as décalage, from the French word for time lag. The longer the interpreter is able to wait before beginning the target-language version, the more information she will have and the more accurate her target-language version will be Note that we have been speaking in terms of thoughts rather than words. It is the interpreter’s task to convey the meaning of the original message, Every language organizes meaning differently, and trying to find direct equivalents in two languages often leads to absurd results. For example, consider the English expression to hand down a ruling. To translate that into Spanish as. mano abajo una regia is clearly ludicrous. The correct Spanish equivalent would be dictar un fallo. Thus, as the interpreter is listening to the source-language message, she must cast aside the external structure, the words, and attend to the underlying meaning, The exercises in this chapter are designed to help you acquire the ability to lag behind the speaker while you analyze the meaning of the source-language version and generate your THE INTERPRETER'SEDGE Copyright © 1992 ACEBO La EDSSIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION AGES® target-language version without losing the train of thought. This chapter presents 20 structured exercises (Lessons 1 ~ 20, recorded on Tapes 4A ~ GA). The directions for each lesson are given both on the tape and in the script. The remaining simultaneous tapes contain recordings of a variety of typical court proceedings for additional interpreting practice: The second half of Tape 6A and all of Tape 6B contain expert witness testimony, ‘Tape 7 contains general court proceedings, and Tape 8 contains jury instructions (extracts of these also appear in Lessons 1 - 20). Here are definitions of the terms used in this chapter: {S Shadow: Repeat what the speaker says, word for word, in the same language. Try to lag a full thought behind the speaker. ‘This exereise allows you to become accustomed to speaking and listening at the same time. It is also particularly helpful in your second Tanguage, as it improves your pronunciation, enunciation, and speed. Moreover, repeating phrases constantly helps you retrieve them quickly when you are interpreting; if Spanish is not your native language, you should shadow the Spanish passages on these tapes (and obtain other tapes in Spanish for this purpose) as frequently as possible to develop your fluency and phrasing in Spanish, since most of the simultaneous interpreting you do will be into Spanish. Repeat the exercise as many times as necessary, until you can shadow everything the speaker says without omitting any words, After you feel comfortable shadowing, go on to the dual task exercise. From then on, begin all of your simultaneous practice sessions with five or ten minutes of shadowing as a way of warming up. IB Dual task: While shadowing, write something totally unrelated on a piece of paper. Begin by writing the numerals from 1 to 100, and then backwards from 100 to 1. When you ean do that without omitting any of the speaker's words, count by 3s from 3 to 99, and then backwards. The point of this exercise is to increase your concentration and accustom you to working on two different tasks at once, in preparation for simultaneous interpreting, when you will have to process the source-language message while generating the target-language message. Whenever you get to the point that you can shadow the speaker casily while performing the written Lask, increase the difficulty of the written task (write out your name, address and social security number; then copy names and addresses from the phone book, ete.) Parophrase: Begin shadowing the speaker. As you go along, change the wording of the message wherever you can, without altering the meaning. This is a very difficult exercise (harder than interpreting, in fact) that serves several purposes: 1) it forces you to build up your décalage as you wait to hear something meaningful before rewording it; 9) it builds your vocabulary; 3) it increases your mental agility and problem- solving ability as you constantly think of different ways of saying the same thing; and 4) it enhances your analytical skills as you become more adept at ferreting out the underlying meaning of the message. It would be a good idea to look up alternative words and phrases in a synonym dictionary. Paraphrasing is a good maintenance exercise that you should return to periodically even after you begin interpreting, Tt is important to note that paraphrasing is a valuable learning tool and mental ‘exercise; never paraphrase when you are actually interpreting in court. ‘The approximate speed at which the lesson is recorded is indicated in the script at the beginning of each lesson (e.g, 140 wpm). ‘The tapes begin at a slow speed (120 words per minute), and build up to a maximum speed of 160 words per minute. Judges in the courtroom sometimes speak at a much faster rate (200 words per minute or more), especially when they are reading from a book. These exercises are designed for novice interpreters, however, and it is unrealistic to expect to be able to interpret at 200 words per 12 Copyright © 1992 ACEBO ‘THE INTERPRETER'S EDGE