Consecutive interpreting

This type of interpretation is used most often during face-to-face meetings, during which the interpreter is positioned between both parties; it is one of the modes in which the interpreter begins their interpretation upon completion of one thoughtful unit delivered by the speaker. At the time that the interpretation is rendered the interpreter is the only person in the communication environment who is relaying the intended message. Consecutive interpreters often take notes while listening to the speakers, notes may be symbols, short-hand or any form of note-taking that is understood by the interpreter alone.

In practice, consecutive interpretation may be rendered when there is no text, such as a presentation, the person delivering the source utterance may also drop in some explanatory utterances that further elaborate on his thought. It is important to realize that although the speaker has ceased new information delivery, this speaker has not necessarily completed the intended message, once the interpretation has been delivered, the speaker may resume. In consecutive interpreting, the interpreter speaks after the source-language speaker pauses rendering a portion of the message or the entire message in the target language. Sitting or standing beside the speaker, listening and taking notes as the speaker progresses through the message.

Consecutive interpretation relies on memory, each message segment being brief enough to memorize otherwise notes as previously explained are taken to aid rendering long passages. Sometimes divisions may be established with the client prior to commencing the job, depending upon the subject, its complexity, and the purpose of the interpretation. Rarely, at-sight translation is required during consecutive interpretation. At-sight translation combines interpretation and translation; where the source-language document is rendered to the target-language, most probably it was given to the interpreter during the time of meeting and should it relate to the discussion the counterpart might need to get a brief on what it includes. Latter on this document can be translated and provided in full.

Consecutively-interpreted speeches tend to be short, however, the professional interpreter needs a ten minute brake every 90 minutes or in utopian cases the presence of two interpreters does help. The professional interpreters may in cases be able render speeches of 20 or 30 minutes; yet again, this depends on the complexity of the subject matter and the purpose of the meeting. The speaker must always bear in mind that the audiences don't like to sit through 20 minutes of speech they cannot understand. Often, it is preferred that the speaker and the interpreter come to an agreement around how they will conduct the job.

Sometimes, depending on things such as the setting or subject matter, and upon the interpreter's capacity to memorize and retaliate, the interpreter may ask the speaker to pause after each sentence or after each clause. Sentence-by-sentence interpreting requires less memorization and therefore lower likelihood for omissions, yet its disadvantage is in the interpreter's not having heard the entire speech message, which sometimes becomes difficult to render partially because of lack of context and partially because of interrupted delivery (for example, imagine an idiom or joke told in bits and pieces, with breaks for translation in between! Would you understand?). Full (i.e., unbroken) thoughtful unit consecutive interpreting allows for relaying full meaning in target-language and therefore understood by audience. Just like anything consecutive has its pros and cons; its pros lie in a truer, more accurate, and more accessible interpretation which enables more discussion and allows a better information flow, yet it is definitely more time consuming as the process entails three parties.