The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2022 - 22

and delivery, and make
sure your speech isn't
influenced by English. For
a great resource in multiple
languages, try visiting the
Cleveland Municipal Court
website: https://bit.ly/
Cleveland-Municipal)
To improve as
an interpreter,
you must
analyze your
performance in
micro detail.
histories, or other material
in your language relevant
to your work. You're sure to
find documents appropriate
for sight translation. If
you have relatives in other
countries where your
languages are spoken, ask
them to send you copies of
legal documents (e.g., wills,
property deeds, and birth and
marriage certificates) and
even police reports if they
have a friend or relative in
law enforcement. Newspaper
stories about crimes also
contain good material for
sight translation practice.
Look for documents where
the terminology isn't too
complex. Shorter segments
are better. How short? Well,
around 225 words is a good
length for practice, which is
pretty close to the length of
the passages you'll find on
an interpreting certification
22 The ATA Chronicle | May/June 2022
exam. (It's always a good
idea to practice with
documents similar to
the type that appear on
certification exams.)
When I was studying for
French court certification,
I found Le rapport
d'intervention on the
Centre collégial de
développement de matériel
didactique site (managed by
the Collège de Maisonneuve
in Canada) to be very helpful.
It contains various police
report texts of the exact
length and type found
on certification exams
(https://bit.ly/Lerapport).
While we're at it, look
for a resource to practice
shadowing (i.e., when you
follow the speaker word for
word in the same language).
It's a great way to improve
your ability to multitask,
work on lag (i.e., how far
you're behind the speaker)
Create Your Own Materials
for Consecutive Interpreting:
When you buy self-study
materials only in English,
you end up with practice
dialogue that's (surprise,
surprise!) all in English. To
be fair, this is a fine way
to practice interpreting.
There are multiple elements
that must be isolated for
consecutive interpreting,
including but not limited
to listening skills, delivery,
grammar/syntax, memory,
visualization, and notetaking.
So, simply practicing
English-to-English, or unidirectionally
from English
into your other language,
isn't bad.
Still, though, it's helpful to
practice simulating an actual
multilingual dialogue. To do
this, simply create a written
translation of the answers to
the questions contained in
the practice dialogue. Then
record yourself reading off
the English questions and the
non-English answers. After
that, wait a few weeks until
you've forgotten the content,
and voila! You now have a
true simulated dialogue to
practice with, complete with
a transcript.
It's even better if you can
work with a study buddy.
Have your partner translate
one of the study exercises
so the content will be new
to you. You can do the same
for them. Here's an example
for consecutive interpreting
in French:
www.atanet.org
https://www.bit.ly/Cleveland-Municipal https://www.bit.ly/Cleveland-Municipal https://www.bit.ly/Lerapport http://www.atanet.org
The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2022

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