Message Analysis in InterpretationMinnesota Valley Action Council Head Start

by Tessa DonatoProfessional Spanish Interpreter

8-11-2010

Word-for-word What you think it should be What you don’t think it should be Just using the dictionary to look up the word

you do not know.

What Interpreting is NOT?

Does anyone know? Interpreting the meaning of what someone

is saying Looking for equivalents NOT to be confused

with false cognates We can’t interpret OR translate something

that we do not understand.

Interpreting is….

Understanding a message when it is not for us personally….

I.e. Meeting someone for the first time and interpreting for them. You have no idea what their medical needs are. You have no background information and you do not know the person personally.

Context – Barrier #1

In what ways is the word ‘cold’ used? In what ways is the word ‘hot’ used?

What are some others?

Give me an example

Before the interpreting assignment *Request a briefing *Gather information in both languages

regarding the medical issues *Talk to the person over the phone to get an

idea of their way of talking *Ask the person if it okay for you to

interpret for them. *More suggestions…

How do we work with what we got?

Refers to facts, ideas, information and other objective material verbally spoken

*I.e. “Tom has a brown four door” What do you hear? What does it mean?

Content – Barrier #2

What are the facts? What are the ideas? What other information is there?

Practice with your neighbor

Listen for IDEAS….not words. Ideas take longer to express. Listen for patterns. Use prediction to help you remember how

to interpret the ideas.

How do we work with what we got?

Is an idea, thought, or concept. A sentence may include several: I.e. “Tom has a brown four door” 1) There is a car 2) The car is brown 3) The car has four doors 4) The car is owned by somebody named

Tom

How many ideas do you hear?

Proposition

Pick out the ideas you hear…..

Practice with your neighbor

Every time we speak there is a reason why we say what we do…

Think about when you speak to your child *when you speak to your spouse or boyfriend *to your elders *to a stranger Why is the person speaking? What is

their/his/her purpose? To make us laugh? To instruct? To manipulate?

Function

Is a variety of things…. ---special vocabulary ⇨ slang/colloquialism ---intonation ---facial expression ---gesture ---syntax (i.e. the car hat is on.) 1. the grammatical arrangement of words in

sentences2. a systematic orderly arrangement3. studies of the rules for forming admissible sentences

Register

Frozen – Something that can only be said one way --Miranda rights, --prayers, --poems, --clichs, --idioms, --riddles, --rhymes

Register Types

Formal ---lecture – large college classes ---speech – Ex. Abraham’s famous speech ---sermons – religious ---legal settings – highly formal, structured,

predictable

Register Types cont.

Consultative ---general every day talk, calling a person

by name (not nickname—that’s informal); can also be informative

Example: Ladies, ladies…please. Myt mother always

taught me not only that I have a right to disagree, but that I should always be polite when doing so.

Register Types cont.

Informal ---speaking to friends

Register Types cont.

Intimate ---conversation with spouse etc. ---basically for closer relationships

Register Types cont.

Affect ---is the emotion and toneconveyed in the

text Via *volume *stress patterns *vocabulary choices *linguistic and paralinguistic clues given by

speaker

Register Types cont.