Speaker 1: So as I say, a lot of the techniques are the same as consecutive interpreting, but there are more actions involved for a simultaneous interpreter than there are for a consecutive interpreter. So active listening, we had quite a few people alluded to that or mentioned that one. Analyzing the structure of the message. So again, you do that in consecutive interpreting anyway, because you've got to kind of analyze the structure, break it down in order to then find a way to interpret it. But of course, when you're simultaneously interpreting, you're doing that at the same time as other things. Anticipation and improvisation are definitely skills that the consecutive interpreter would use, but I think they are more pronounced in simultaneous interpreting, particularly anticipation. Because you don't have as much time to think about what's just being said, and you've got to simultaneously listen to what's being said afterwards, I think anticipating what a speaker says before they get to it helps almost buy you a bit more time to think about how to interpret something. Not only that, but if you think about someone saying a whole sentence, you've got the full context of that sentence. So you can listen to a full sentence, you understand the context, and that can help you find the right words to interpret it as accurately as possible. With simultaneous, you don't have that luxury. You can't wait as long as a full sentence before interpreting, otherwise, again, you've got no chance. You won't be able to remember what was said, because it would be too long. So you're almost, again, trying to anticipate what that speaker is going to say just from the first few words, so that you can choose the right words in the right context to be able to interpret the sentence. So I think it is a skill that the simultaneous interpreter will be much better at than the consecutive. Reformulation in the target language. So again, simultaneously, you're thinking about how to reformulate, because obviously, you all know better than I do, that you can't literally just interpret something word for word. You can't just take each word and give the version in your target language of that. You have to be thinking about how can I change the grammatical structure of this sentence? And again, that's where your anticipation comes in. How can I reformulate that language so that it makes sense when I interpret it? Multitasking. So we've mentioned this a lot. So you're doing all these things at the same time. So being a multitasker is a skill that you need. Again, consecutive interpreters also multitask to a certain degree. Taking notes and listening is multitasking. Probably again, thinking ahead about how you're going to interpret it, finding words that are difficult. But in simultaneous interpreting, you've got all of that and more. So definitely a multitasker. Paraphrasing. So paraphrasing is something that we mentioned in consecutive interpreting, and it's even more important in simultaneous. During simultaneous interpreting, you don't have to be as accurate as in consecutive interpreting. When you're interpreting consecutively, again, you've got that time to sort of think, look back at your notes, formulate the sentence in your head before you say it. Therefore, it allows you to be more accurate. When you're simultaneously interpreting, you don't always have that luxury. So again, depending on the complexity of what someone's saying, you might have no choice but to paraphrase, either to slightly shorten it, to simplify it, or to put it in words. Because again, legal speak, it's hard enough sometimes with medical, but legal jargon, sometimes there won't be direct equivalence in your other language or in the target language. So again, you'll have to paraphrase more than you probably would do normal. Allowing longer, I can't say this word, decalage. Does anyone know what decalage is, if I'm pronouncing it right?

Speaker 2: It's allowing a bit of time to pass.

Speaker 1: Do you know how it's pronounced? Am I pronouncing it correctly?

Speaker 2: Decalage.

Speaker 1: Decalage.

Speaker 2: I think it's French, right?

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. And my French is almost as bad as my English. Yeah. Decalage is the length of time, essentially, you're absolutely right, between the start of your speech and the starting of your interpreting. So if you will allow a bit longer time, you're creating yourself a bit of mental space, and that will give you more time to listen to the speech, which in turn means that you're getting more context, and therefore you can deliver a more accurate interpretation. Again, in consecutive interpreting, you don't really need to do that, because you're sort of waiting, pretty much as soon as someone's finished speaking, you can start interpreting, because you've already had a chance to think about what was at the beginning of the sentence, but in simultaneous, it's not. So it's sort of a double-edged sword, by doing that and allowing yourself a little bit more time, so maybe instead of three seconds, you're giving yourself five or six seconds to hear what they're saying. It also puts more pressure on your mental skills and your memory, which we mentioned just a moment ago as well, because you've got to remember what they said. But that's why one of the reasons as well, why you need to have really good abilities in both your native language or your active language skills, because you're delivering that message simultaneously, while listening to and also analysing the original message in the other language. So you've got all this stuff to do. So again, if people, generally people who have got better language skills will make better level six interpreters, just because you won't have to think as long to find a particular word, you'll be able to do it quite quickly. So definitely, and actually for our course, for a level three course, in terms of language, we ask candidates to be B1 in the Common European Framework for Languages or above. And if you think about that in numerical, sort of the least language ability would be, let's say number six, B1 would be, hang on, C1, number four, whereas for level six interpreting, then you would need to be a C1 or above. So that's a few notches higher with your language ability. The ability to remain calm under pressure, notably when interpreting shocking testimony in court. So I think just in general, you need, I mean, we talked about patience, but definitely emotional resilience as well, and being able to be calm under pressure, because there's a lot of pressure on you when you're doing, not just because simultaneous interpreting itself is difficult. And for some people, even interpreting simultaneously about any subject is quite difficult. But the pressure of, by shocking testimony might mean something that's quite horrible. So it could be graphics, it could be something that literally shocks you as a person, some witness accounts of what they've suffered, some of the images that you might be seeing, the crimes that have been committed if it's in a court, sometimes a victim's stories or someone, an immigrant's stories about the horrors they've been subjected to, can be quite difficult. So you've got to listen to that and you've got to interpret it. So that can invite pressure. But also the situation itself is quite a high pressure situation. People's freedom could be at risk. Justice is always in the balance. People being allowed to stay in the country or be deported can be at risk. So there is quite a lot of pressure on you. And actually just being in a courtroom in front of someone like a judge can also invite pressure. So there's lots of pressure from all different sides that you have to deal with. Aras, you have a question or a point?

Speaker 2: Sorry, I think so. As I said, we don't have to allow ourselves to be under pressure of any situation or any stories or any cases. For example, when we are interpreting simultaneously, we just have to keep our strength. That's something that stops us from interpreting or something like that. Otherwise we're going to be late and we cannot deliver the message correctly.

Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. So you've got to just carry on, haven't you, in the simultaneous. You can't think, oh my God, that's an awful story, how horrible. Because by that time, you've then missed a sentence or two and you're behind and you can't do it. So you've just got to carry on regardless, which again must be a difficult situation. So one of the things that we've already talked about, Nima mentioned I think as well, excellent preparation skills. So the more you can prepare for, for example, a court case, the better in a situation you'll be because you don't have time to check a glossary. You don't have time to research on a phone and quickly Google a word. So that's why early preparation and a really good knowledge of a lot of the jargon or technical words that might come up is an absolute must before the assignment, really. So I think the level six interpreter has to work harder at research and at preparation than sometimes a level three interpreter does. So some more techniques that we've got in here, summarizing. So especially for fast and dense speeches, you might want to use more summarizing than try and interpret word for word, a bit like what I said about paraphrasing. There's also something called simplification. So that's where if you're in danger of being tied up in really complicated passages and you might get behind, you can use a simplification technique. So the interpreter in that situation is allowed to simplify what's being said. And that can be particularly useful, again, if there's a dense speech. So sometimes a judge, for example, might read out something, literally the law on a certain aspect and legal jargon can be quite difficult to interpret. It's difficult to read in English, let alone think about how to interpret it accurately into another language. So again, in those passages, you might want to just simplify what's being said rather than try and do it word for word. Simplification, not the stuff that you find on a window on a cold day, but similar to summarizing, it can be used in simultaneous interpreting when sentences are too long. So again, if a long or very complex sentence, you can actually condense that sentence to make it shorter. And again, it might be in situations where the speaker is speaking too fast. Or again, if the information is dense, it's quite complex, heavy information, then again, you can condense what they're saying. So again, very similar to simplification. These are quite similar to each other, although slightly different as well. Generalization. So again, if you can't cope with an extreme example, then you can use the technique of generalization of speaking more generally about what's being said. Omission, so you can omit redundant words. I think without trying to pigeonhole people, sometimes barristers, for example, might flower up their speech a little bit. They might use very long and arduous sentences to explain something that could be quite simple. They might fill it full of quite complex words. So again, if there's words that aren't necessary for the meaning to be interpreted, then you can miss those out. And that can make the sentences easier to digest rather than cluttering them up. Of course, you've got to choose carefully which words to omit, because you don't want to omit words that mean that the accuracy of what you're saying is changed. So again, going back to the sort of essence of being an interpreter, it's about the meaning that you're needing to interpret rather than sort of word by word sometimes. Filler is, or filling, is adding words in to fill gaps or to play for time. So it might be where you're trying to think of something, don't always have to use those. A lot of people do, or they might use noises instead. So I use um quite a lot, you probably noticed, it might be annoying you, I don't know. But there you go, you see. But fillers, and that's just to buy yourself some time while you think. Reformulation is changing words or using different expressions or word order and structures. So reformulation is actually something that interpreters do all the time, just to make any sentence, regardless of how simple or complex, make sense in the target language. So again, you'll be using that a lot. Concentration we've mentioned, so I don't have to speak too much about anticipation. High degree of concentration, which we've mentioned, I think it was Raz who mentioned the concentration that you need, and knowing when to switch attention as well. So you're kind of managing yourself in almost in a way that a computer does, it's switching resources and memory to different tasks. So you need to sort of learn how to switch attention between listening more or concentrating more if someone's talking about something that's quite complex, to reprocessing or checking your output more. So again, if someone's saying something quite complex, you'll need to initially listen harder to them. But then when you come to interpret that complex bit of speech, even if you are trying to simplify it, simplifying it takes memory as well. It's not something easy to think about how to simplify something. In fact, sometimes just repeating what someone said is actually easier than thinking, how can I simplify that, or how can I condense it, or how can I summarize that? Because it's always adding another thought pattern. So again, it's sort of internally switching your own resources between the different tasks so that you can make the best of the interpreting that you're doing. Now for any of you that don't do simultaneous interpreting right now, I appreciate that all of this information is probably a bit overwhelming and you might be sat there thinking, I'm never ever going to be able to do this, it sounds so complex. Like I say, it is a difficult task, but it is definitely one that people with your abilities can master and can do really well. And like I say, it's just practicing, but there's also not putting yourself under the pressure to expect to interpret absolutely everything, particularly when you've just started. So again, remembering that core message, the key thing that you need to do is try to be as faithful as possible as you come to the source message so you're not changing the meaning of that for the people that are listening. But as I say, the more you practice this, the easier it will become and the more you'll build this skill and be able to pass the exam, but also do a fantastic job as a professional.