Interpreting, like playing chess, is a game of problem solving, evaluation, critical
thinking, intuition and forecasting. Every game is different and each game is a challenge,
which requires interpreters, to unceasingly developknowledge and experience. It is
disciplined study and repeated practice of many techniques and skills that bring victory to
the interpreter. Apart from basic requirements of language mastery and culture sensitivity,
there are quite a few skills that need to be acquired for successful interpreting. One of
them is note-taking skill.
Taking notes simply means quickly writing down information as a record or reminder.
However, note-taking might be compared with a move in chess; to understand how to
make the move is quite easy, but to master it in order to create a winning combination of
the move and the others is a hard and demanding job.
Note-taking in consecutive interpreting is a skill to be learned. There is no abstract theory
about the skill, but there are a wide range of practical principles laid down by succeeding
generations of consecutive interpreters over time. These principles have been made of
both empirical studies digging deep into nearly every aspect of the skill and research
books elaborating main theoretical approaches to it. By no means exhaustive, the
ambition of this thesis is only to actively, effectively and directly contribute to the further
research, development and implementation of note-taking in consecutive interpreting. The
thesis can be seen as an overall picture that helpsstudent interpreters to have a general
view of fundamental things about the skill and alsoto explore “the shape” of the note-taking in other novices’ points of view.
