Want to up your game as an interpreter? And try your hand at long consecutive and even
simultaneous interpreting? We have just the thing for you.
On Sunday, November 9, the MCI will be holding another Open House. During past events, we heard from you loud and clear. You want a hands-on opportunity to actually learn interpreting skills. So that’s what we will be offering on November 9. Here’s a look at our preliminary schedule for the day:
10:30 a.m.: Noteworthy Note-Taking — Preparing for Success in Consecutive Interpreting
When they work in the consecutive mode, interpreters can be seen scribbling on their notepads. But what is it they are busy writing? How does it help them perform their impressive feats of analysis and synthesis? Is it stenography? Or just plain voodoo? In this first workshop of the day, the MCI students and alumni will walk you through the basic principles of note-taking. We will start with small, digestible excerpts from an oral presentation, and we will work our way slowly up to a point where you are giving back the entire contents of a two-minute speech.
11:30 a.m.: Public-Speaking with Poise – How You Can Deliver during Consecutive Interpreting
Of course, interpreters who work in the consecutive mode do a lot more than just take notes. They also have to stand up at the front of a room and become public speakers in their own right. How do you do so when stage fright sets your knees a-knockin and your voice a-quiverin'’? Join us for our second practical workshop of the day. Our students and alumni will show you four simple, yet effective techniques that — with a bit of practice — will have you standing up in front of a crowd and sounding like a professional communicator.
12:30 p.m.: Learning to Juggle Words – A Gentle Introduction to Simultaneous Interpreting
When interpreters work in the simultaneous mode, they listen, think, and speak on a continuous basis. Noninterpreters often think it’s an impressive bit of interpreting hocus pocus. But in this workshop, we’ll show you simultaneous interpreting for what it really is — a logical extension of the skills that you develop by becoming a good consecutive interpreter. Our hands-on exercises will help you bridge the gap between consec and simo and give you an accurate picture of what it takes to become good at the simultaneous technique.
1:30 p.m.: A Great Big Game of Telephone – Relay Interpreting with Multiple Languages
In a multilingual meeting, interpreters can’t always cover all possible language combinations. For example, precious few interpreters in the Arabic booth understand Portuguese, and not many Mandarin Chinese interpreters have a working knowledge of Russian. So, how do you communicate a message across an unusual pair of languages? Well, you use relay interpreting. It’s a bit like playing a high-stakes version of the children’s game telephone. In this workshop, we’ll explain how your simultaneous technique has to shift when you are working as the intermediary interpreter (that is, the “pivot”). We’ll also give you an opportunity to be part of the human communication chain that sends a message from one language to another, to another.
Our Open House is part of the larger Fall Campus Day that will be taking place at Glendon on November 9. So the MCI French team will be at work in the Amphitheatre, providing service for the high school students and their families who will assemble to learn more about Glendon. You’re welcome to give a listen to the French team at work, or to join our other language teams in the lab for the workshops outlined above.