Consecutive Interpreting Services
What is Consecutive Interpreting?
Consecutive interpreting is a process in which the speaker takes some time to complete a sentence (a passage, a thought), stops, and then the interpreter breaks in to render the message in the required language. You may hear the term “consecutive translation”, but this is not correct as “translation” is used for written texts, while “interpreting” or “interpretation” is a way to say that the rendering will be done orally. Consecutive interpreting is an essential part of the present-day business world with its negotiations, conferences, and exhibitions.
This is quite a difficult task for a human to listen to what is being said and remember a large amount of information to be accurately said in another language. Of course, the interpreters take notes, but their memory is still their greatest friend. Fortunately, professional consecutive interpreters deal with this task quite easily as they have a well-trained memory.
Consecutive interpreting is usually required for small-scale events where only speakers of two languages are present. This means that equipment is not required here (as in the case of simultaneous translation). The only equipment that might be required in rare cases is a microphone for the speaker and for the interpreter if we are dealing with a large audience. This makes consecutive interpreting convenient (as it does not require any special conditions) and cost-effective (simultaneous interpreters charge more for their services, and equipment needs to be rented).
Types of Consecutive Interpreting
Professionals know that consecutive interpreting can be done in two modes: long consecutive and short consecutive.
Short consecutive is an easy genre, and it sometimes takes a senior student to deal with it if the topic is general (no special terms or concepts involved). It is a casual process when the speaker says no more than one sentence and the interpreter renders it in the required language. There is no need for notes to be taken in this case as more or less trained memory is just enough.
Long consecutive is a more traditional genre that requires strenuous training to be made, and it is usually provided in all kinds of official situations. In this case, the speaker can talk for about 5-10 minutes, and memory is not enough to remember all points, of course. This is the situation when the interpreter’s notes are essential to accurately render the speech.
It does not matter to us which form of consecutive translation you need to use as we at HumanTranslation will find the right specialist for your needs! We take into account your requirements and your budget, so working with us will be a hassle-free and pleasant experience.
Typical Settings for Consecutive Interpreting
Consecutive interpreting is ideal for a small group of people that need to talk to other people or one speaker that needs to deliver a speech to the audience, or one-on-one meetings.
Typical situations include:
- Doctor and patient
- Lawyer and client
- Workshop presenter and the attendees
- Court session
- Business negotiations
- Press conferences
- Interviews
The good news about consecutive interpreting: one interpreter is usually enough! Of course, if the conference goes on for 12 hours on end, you may need two of them. But they will take turns: one will work from the morning to the afternoon and the other one – from the afternoon to the evening. You will pay the fee to one specialist anyway!
Bilateral Interpreting
This is a distinct type of consecutive interpreting that ensures the communication of two people or audiences with each other.
- Imagine a lecture: the presenter speaks, and the audience listens to the interpreter. No questions will be asked in the end, so all the interpreter needs to do is to make the message understood by the audience.
- And now imagine a workshop where the attendees are involved in an active conversation with the speaker to do some practical things. In this case, the consecutive interpreter will have to facilitate the conversation between the speaker and a particular attendee.
These are different genres and they may require different specialists.
HumanTranslation’s Team of Consecutive Interpreters
Take advantage of our skilled specialists that can provide high-quality interpretation for your needs. All of our experts are native speakers of one of the languages with considerable experience in the field of consecutive interpretation. What is more, each of them has an area of specialization where he or she is proficient, like IT, medical equipment, technical field, and so on. If you are going to arrange a specialized event, just tell our managers about it, and we will provide an interpreter who will meet your criteria in the best way.
Take advantage of our skilled specialists that can provide high-quality interpretation for your needs. All of our experts are native speakers of one of the languages with considerable experience in the field of consecutive interpretation. What is more, each of them has an area of specialization where he or she is proficient, like IT, medical equipment, technical field, and so on. If you are going to arrange a specialized event, just tell our managers about it, and we will provide an interpreter who will meet your criteria in the best way.
Consecutive and Simultaneous Interpretation Services
People who are not connected with the world of translation have difficulty distinguishing these two types of interpretation. However, these are absolutely different things in terms of equipment, procedure, remuneration, skills, and even quality.
- Simultaneous experts are those that listen to interpret with a delay of 30 seconds, while consecutive experts do a lot of shorthand to convey the main points.
- Consecutive interpretation is cheaper as it requires just one specialist and no equipment. In case of simultaneous interpretation, you will need at least two experts and equipment.
- Consecutive interpretation may be done with higher quality as the specialist has the time to formulate, while their simultaneous colleagues have to go along with the speech.
- Consecutive interpretation doubles the length of the speech as the same message is said two times in two languages. Simultaneous interpretation is more costly, but it allows not to waste time.
Contact our manager now to get the services you need!
What makes a good translation? First of all, a high-quality source text. If this is a marketing piece of translation, for instance, and the original seems to convey some vague message that is hard to understand for the translator, it will be just as vague for the reader. Therefore, the customer should be prepared to work on the text to get a really good translation, and the translator should be ready to ask the customer to do so. This will make cooperation really beneficial – contrary to the “I-need-the-translation-quickly” approach that may not bear the fruit you want.
Ask the client about the country for which the translation is intended. The Arabic dialect required for Saudi Arabia will differ from the one appropriate for Egypt or Lebanon.
Most Arabic translations will require transcreation due to major cultural differences between English and Arab countries.
The target audience will determine the level of formality required in Arabic texts, so be sure to find out all the required information from the client.
The more important the translation, the higher quality should be agreed upon with the customer. High quality is achieved by editing, sometimes by several editors; it may add up to the cost, but it will finally pay off.
