Unit 3: The Listening Phase

1. Unit 3: The Listening Phase Consecutive Interpreting from English Discussion Questions

2. CI Unit 3: The Listening Phase • 1. Why are listening and English comprehension important to the interpretation process?

3. Question 1: Why are listening and English comprehension important to the interpretation process? • Often students feel if English is their first language they do not need to study English during their Interpretation studies. • Most students have not had the opportunity to study English as adults. • Interpreters need to be aware of the possible meanings of an utterance and realize that comprehension of the source message is essential before interpretation can begin. • The type of listening that interpreters must do in order to comprehend as fully as possible requires a focused attention on the incoming message.

4. CI Unit 3: The Listening Phase • 2. What will happen if the interpreter incorrectly analyzes the message without realizing that the analysis is incorrect?

5. Q. 2 What will happen if the interpreter incorrectly analyzes the message without realizing that the analysis is incorrect? • When the interpreter does not listen intently and correctly analyze the message, the interpretation will be skewed or inaccurate.

6. CI Unit 3: The Listening Phase • Question 3: How does the main idea identification relate to listening and comprehension?

7. Q. 3: How does the main idea identification relate to listening and comprehension? • Interpreters must be able to quickly sift through the streams of incoming material to find the central organizing points. When the interpreter grasps which ideas are most central, he or she can better sort the remaining information into details and supporting facts.

8. CI Unit 3: The Listening Phase • 4. Why are summary skills important to listening and comprehension?

9. Q. 4. Why are summary skills important to listening and comprehension? • Creating an accurate summary indicates that you know the gist or main idea of the passage. • A summary can be a single sentence or a short paragraph. • The ability to summarize or find the gist of a passage is often used as a predictor for interpretation skills. • The presence of this ability shows that the interpreter is able to find the central organizing principle of the talk or text.

10. CI Unit 3: The Listening Phase • Question 5: Would your summary of a text be exactly the same as another person’s summary? Why or why not?

11. Q.5: Would your summary of a text be exactly the same as another person’s summary? Why or why not? • Each person’s summary may be slightly different in form but the meaning should be approximately the same if the audience is the same. • It should be possible for two people to agree on the most important points in a given text, even though they use different words to express the ideas. • If the two interpreters are interpreting for very different audiences with different backgrounds and cultural knowledge, then the actual content of the summary may reflect those differences in audience information needs.