Typology of mistakes in consecutive interpretations and the way to overcome and eliminating them

CHAPTER II. TYPOLOGY OF MISTAKES IN CONSECUTIVE INTERPRETATION
§2.1. The concept of mistake in consecutive interpretation
Mistakes in consecutive interpretation have always worried translators, educators and scientific researchers. Sometimes a lot depends on the result of the translator's work, such as the fate of a deal, a company or an entire country. There are a huge number of examples when some stupid mistake cost the reputation of huge companies or jeopardized the prestige of the state. Therefore, the translator must be extremely careful while translating, while companies, in turn, need to approach the choice of a translator with all responsibility. Nevertheless, no one is immune from mistakes, in This paragraph we will consider the main causes of translation mistakes in interpreting and the main strategies and tactics for correcting them.
Consecutive interpreting is a type of interpreting in which the interpreter starts interpreting after the speaker has stopped speaking, having finished the whole speech or some part of it. The speaker from time to time makes pauses in the speech, necessary for the translator to translate what was said. These pauses, as a rule, are short, since a professional translator usually formulates the translation already during the sound of the speech and pronounces it during the pause. Consecutive interpreting requires the translator to keep significant segments of the original content in mind for a long time before the start of the translation¹⁵.
Consecutive interpreting is usually used for events with a relatively small number of participants. This type of translation is very effective in the case of a “mobile” nature of communication with a large number of transfers, movements: when working at industrial facilities, negotiations followed by excursions, etc.
Events where consecutive interpreting is commonly used:
- Business negotiations
- Telephone conversations
- Seminars, meetings, round tables with a small number of participants
- Briefings, press conferences
- Presentations, exhibitions
- Buffets, festive events
- Installation and configuration of equipment with the participation of a foreign specialist
- Conducting excursions for foreign guests, accompanying delegations
Let's consider the typical mistakes made during consecutive translation.
The translator uses parasitic words such as "obviously", "let's say so", "you can say", "in general" and so on, thus trying to buy time to select the most appropriate word in a particular context.
The translator abuses introductory phrases (“it is necessary first of all to note that ...”, “let's consider the next, no less important question ...”, “it is also important not to lose sight of the fact that ...”), which he inserts into his speech as soon as the speaker falls silent. The fear of being silent for a few seconds, calmly collecting his thoughts and starting to translate, makes the linguist clog up his speech with these unremarkable phrases that can be easily glued to any sentence¹⁶.
Often the translator aloud goes through the translation options for a word or definition, choosing the most suitable option - as a result, his speech is clogged with synonyms, sentences are overloaded.
The translator retains the redundancy of a word or expression instead of using the concise version used in a particular sentence.
The translator allows himself to comment on the speaker's speech by adding his own comments or inserting any phrases, which is absolutely unacceptable.
The interpreter refers to the speaker in the third person, using the expressions “as the speaker said”, “we heard from the speaker that ...”, which also does not meet the goals of consecutive translation, clutters up the interpreter’s speech and negatively affects the perception of the material by the audience.
Mismatch with the emotional background of the speaker. What a depressing impression a mumbling translator makes when the one he translates almost jumps out of his “pants” from overwhelmed emotions. Or vice versa - the person speaks calmly, and the interpreter pretends to be a "zhivchik", which also looks somewhat inappropriate
The desire to translate everything said. When transcoding from one language to another, it must be taken into account that attempts to translate all jokes, allusions, references, digressions are not only impossible (due to cultural and linguistic differences), but also unnecessary and clog the main flow of information with what the perceiver (them) ) is simply unnecessary. Moreover, the translator himself can get confused and forget what is important and what is secondary. Unlike simultaneous interpreting, when there is no time to think about important and unimportant things, sequential interpreting allows, while listening to a phrase, to separate the wheat from the chaff, and give the perceiver information cleared of extraneous "noise".
Avoid overgeneralization. Names, numbers and facts must be transmitted first and without distortion.
Asking again. It happens that in order not to make a mistake, it is better to ask again. But you can’t get too carried away with this, because it looks very unprofessional.
An error of a lexical nature, that is, an incorrect use of the meaning of the translated word.
A grammatical plan mistake is a violation of the grammatical rules of translation.
A stylistic mistake is the unintentional use of a phrase belonging to a different stylistic type of text.