The Choice of Language for Note-taking for the Purposes of Consecutive Interpreting

Abstract

The subject of the article is the choice of language that is used for notetaking for consecutive interpreting. The paper is based on a small-scale empirical case study analysis of note-taking by interpreting students. The analysis was aimed at determining which language – source language (SL) or target language (TL) – was preferred by students, who were given freedom of choice regarding the selection of language that they would use for the preparation of notes to help with consecutive interpreting tasks. The study group consisted of three cohorts of translation and interpreting students who were at the end of their first semester of work with consecutive. The students were asked to prepare notes for a regular consecutive task, from English into Polish; Polish was the mother tongue for all of the students. The outcomes of the analysis may show what might be the “natural” choice of language for notation and may provide suggestions about improving the system of teaching notation in the case of novice interpreters.