However, as a reporter I often need to translate my notes into French. About a year ago I had to do the opposite, as I was covering around eight council meetings, all of them in French, for an English-language paper. The process of translating notes can become tedious. Trying to write things down in a different language than you're hearing it is tough. A lot depends on whether you want quotes and how much detail you need. If you can just jot down the gist of something it's doable. Otherwise no.
So the other day, when I attended a conference on Women in business, I took a headset. Most common sessions were in English with simultaneous translation. I thought it would make my note-taking easier. In theory it should have. However, being the curious person I am, I wanted to hear the English original. I soon discovered it is next to impossible to listen to two streams of words at once. One problem with any translation is how hard it is to accurately convey something catchy or hip in a different language. Usually, you need to think about it - which means interpreters will give you the literal or working meaning of what was said, but don't have time to convey how effective it might sound in the original. This happened several times at the conference. The speakers were savvy and expressed themselves with enthusiasm and pithiness. The interpreter conveyed what was said but not how well it was delivered. That takes more time and thought. As a result, half the time I turned down the headset volume and just wrote down the English. In some cases, I was able to jot down the ideas and points in French myself.
As a result of my test, I've concluded that simultaneous translation isn't as effective as I anticipated in helping me with note-taking in the language I'll be writing in. But that's because I need to get used to someone else doing the job that I've had to do for such a long time. It's all about letting go.
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