The essential part of a consecutive interpreter's work is done in the activities already described : understanding, analysis and re-expression.

Notes are an aid to enhance the work done on the basis of these three components, not being an end in themselves, but a means to an end.

The main use of notes is to relieve memory. Although an interpreter may have understood the main ideas of a speech, it is almost impossible for him/her to recall all the elements of a five-minute speech, particularly if it contains numbers, names, lists, since such elements cannot be recalled on the basis of analysis and logic.

Moreover, through notes the interpreter can reproduce the content and structure of a speech, stressing the main ideas, the secondary elements and the relations among them.
Reflecting the speech structure in notes forces the interpreter to make an immediate, oral analysis of what he/she hears, and then, when reproducing the speech, the written structure can be used as a path to verbalize the speech again.

2.1 Practical Suggestions

Note-taking is, among other things, a mechanical exercise, and a number of practical suggestions are needed.

Interpreters must take notes quickly and write on something convenient and easy to handle.

A 15cm X 20cm stenographer's note-pad is recommended, and loose sheets should definitely be avoided.
Interpreters should write only on one side of the sheets, and these must be clipped at the top, so that they can be turned quickly and easily. The best thing to be used when writing is still the good old lead pencil.

It is fundamental that the notes should be easily readable, in oder to allow visual contact between interpreters and the audience. Therefore, notes will be well spread on the page, written in large characters, and one single sentence can even occupy one sheet, without ecological concerns. Notes must be unequivocal : for instance, the abbreviation -ind must be always used to represent one idea, be it industrial or independent, without inventing symbols or abbreviations in the course of a conference : if a new symbol is used, it must be so clear as not to create problems.

2.2 What to note.

The first thing to be noted should be the main ideas, first because they are the most significant elements of a speech, and secondly because they are the pillars of its structure.

It is also important to systematically note the links between the different ideas as well to divide them very clearly.
Another element which has to be clear is the point of view being expressed: the audience must immediately realize who is speaking.

As far as verbs are concerned, there are two basic things which must appear in the notes : verb tenses, with special attention to conditional forms, and modal verbs, whose semantic role in the sentence is always of paramount importance.
Other fundamental data are numbers, dates and proper names, which must be noted accurately, being preferable in a good interpretation to miss some elements of another sentence than to get names or statistics wrong.
These are some of the basic needs in consecutive interpreting as regards note-taking.Of course, interpreters have their own styles, and they could note down almost everything, or just the main elements, if they trust their short-term memory. Anyway, noting down everything, without paying the proper attention to active listening, must be avoided at all costs.

2.3 How to Note

Notes should reflect the structure of a speech clearly so as to help interpreters reproduce that structure in their interpretation.
On the basis of the fundamental subject-verb-object structure, it is necessary to separate these elements clearly and to note them always in the same position on the sheets. These positions will form a diagonal axis, from left to right and from top to bottom, following this scheme:

subject(s)

verb(s)

object(s)

leaving a lot of space on the same sheet so that the secondary elements of a sentence could be noted too. The beginning of each sentence must be very clear, and notes must be taken in a concise, non-literary manner.

For instance, a text like this :

"Hungary has complained that its steel exports to the European Union are unable to develop because of excessively restrictive quotas. But the Union representative pointed out that quotas are still underused by Hungary by a large margin, so the quotas themselves didn't appear to be creating the difficulties"

could be noted down as follows:

2.4 Left-hand margin and Lists.

The left-hand margin is all-important, since in this section of the sheet the subjects of and the links between the sentences are to be noted. Some interpreters may choose to leave a left-hand margin of one to two centimeters for links only.

In the previous example, it is immediately clear that the words : Hungary - because - but - so- are to be found on the same column on the left-hand margin of the sheet.

Obviously, on the one hand, ideas must be clearly linked and, on the other, they have to be clearly separated, and to this end, we normally use a horizontal or diagonal line to indicate the separation between two sentences.

As to lists, the general principle is that they should be noted vertically, as in a text of this kind :

"Western Turkey has suffered a series of natural catastrophes, violent winter storms, floodings and earthquakes"

which can be noted like this :

Also in another example, the elements of a list will be noted down vertically. So, in a sentence like :

"European Turkey, north-east Greece and southern Bulgaria have all suffered severe storms"

notes will appear in this form:

2.5 Abbreviations and symbols.

The obvious advantage of abbreviations and symbols is that they help save time in taking notes, making them more precise and complete. Moreover, the symbol represents an idea, and this will help interpreters think in terms of ideas, not words.

Every interpreter creates his/her own list of symbols, which could be rather limited or very long, according to personal criteria.

Abbreviations and symbols have to be unequivocal, in the sense that their meaning must be immediately clear when the interpreter reads back his/her notes. They must be logical, that is, they should have an intrinsic connotative function for the interpreter who uses them: they must be symbols, not signs.

They should make up an organic system, that is, one symbol can originate others, following the same logic which led the interpreter to choose a determinate symbol.

2.6 Frequently occurring notions.

Any notion that is likely to occur often in an interpreter's work should have its corresponding abbreviation or symbol.
All interpreters should have a list of abbreviations for country names and major international organizations, as well as for the notions which come up frequently in their own particular area of activity.

Moreover, there is a whole range of notions for which symbols or abbreviations must be sistematically created : words such as policy/political, economy/economic, monetary, industry/industrial, agriculture,territory, country,nation,state,international, financial,social, situation, condition,import/export -the list could be endless- must have their corresponding symbols or abbreviations.

The Greek alphabet, mathematical and geometric symbols, international car registration codes, the Cyrillic alphabet, acronyms, suprasegmental signs, arrows and invented signs normally provide useful data bases for interpreters to start creating their lists of symbols nad abbreviations.

As to notions that occur frequently only in the context of a given meeting, special, temporary symbols can be devised especially for that particular meeting.

2.7 Links and points of view.

Links are to be noted systematically and accurately. Many professional interpreters use English link words since some of them are very short : as,so,but,for instance, can be very useful.
Similarly, points of view should be easy to note by using short English verbs as say and think or corresponding abbreviations.

2.8 Verb Tenses and Modal Verbs.

The tenses that are most important to note are the present,
the past, the future and the conditional.
Experience teaches us that the most effective way to note them is to put a graphic sign near the verb form. So, an L sign will indicate the future, a reversed L sign ( ) will show the past, a circumflexed stress will show the conditional, whereas no extra sign will be used for the present tense.

As for modal verbs, it is advisable to note them in English, since they are rather short : may, must, can, want, etc.
Finally, we must stress another point : in their notes, interpreters don't use a particular language. They use a system of symbols, abbreviations, numbers, signs, words in one or more languages, thereby creating a cryptic and highly personalized language.