Sink or Swim: Five basic strokes to E - J Consecutive Interpreting
University of Queensland, (2005)Abstract
The acquisition of any new skill is a challenging process and this is also the case with interpreting skills. While there is common understanding for the need to undertake preparatory work prior to the introduction of actual consecutive interpreting (CI), no consensus is seen in how to lead the students through the first stages of CI. At that stage, students need to learn to cope with a combination of external factors such as stress, anxiety and performance pressures in addition to the developing actual CI skills. It is the view of the author that if some of the initial processing obstacles were removed, the students are able to progress in their learning with greater ease and confidence. In this paper, consecutive interpreting is likened to swimming, where a combination of mechanical skills is necessary in the first instance to achieve an outcome. The skill set was broken down into five basic ‘strokes’ which are the initial steps that the student interpreter is led through in order to help them through the transitional process between the preparatory phase of interpreting and actual interpreting training per se. It is a gentle lead-in process to allow students to begin attaining greater competency in CI. Each of these ‘strokes’ is