How to Use:

1. Download the sheet
2. Enter the start date in mm/dd/yyyy format
3. Enter the start time in hh:mm:ss AM/PM format
4. The sheet will then show you how many bottles of formula a day will be tube fed.

In our recent experience, we found a Mandarin speaking nutritionist explaining the complicated process of tube feeding to an Indonesian caretaker. The nutritionist explained all the requirements and how to implement the feeding schedule, but it’s a lot of information for the caretaker to take in all at once! Especially since the caretaker wasn’t immediately familiar with the process.

It can be overwhelming and hard to keep all this complicated information in mind and immediately know what the exact amount to feed or how to move forward. Fortunately, that’s where interpretation comes in handy! By breaking down the complex process into a schedule template the caretaker can understand and find it easy to deal with.

Interpreters help to simplify ideas. For something like tube feeding schedule which can be confusing, we as interpreters have applied the interpretation philosophy and made an easy-to-understand template.

Interpretation is about breaking down ideas making them easy for others to understand. Thanks to interpretation, not only is the challenge that language barriers pose solved, but also information becomes clear through interpretation. Isn’t it interesting to see how interpreters process information and make things easy for the target audience?

The debate over the effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) vs. human capabilities is more relevant than ever. While it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing them as rivals, the real question is how the two can work together to be more effective. A recent conversation inside Monterey Language Service highlighted this future trend, revealing the crucial role that human expertise plays in AI development.

Humans can make AI better

In copy editing, AI can analyze text for grammatical errors, and even adjust tone and style based on the context. However, as Gary pointed out, AI may handle at best 80-90% of the editing process, but the last step often requires a human touch: flexible, context-aware, and capable of grasping nuances that AI might overlook.

Mei-Ling, on the other hand, argued that the focus should be not on the limitations of AI copy editing but on celebrating its rapid development and the role humans can play in enhancing AI capabilities.

The Path Forward: Enhancing AI with Human Expertise

Mei-Ling emphasized the idea that humans can make AI even better by providing it with high-quality training data. This is an important insight: the future of AI doesn’t lie solely in its inherent capabilities but in its integration with humans.

While refining AI’s editing capabilities, we need to provide it with a variety of professional materials to cut its teeth on. There are several ways that humans can do this, and it all begins with giving AI high quality writing to train on.

But what specific steps should be taken to move forward? There are many things we can do including, but not limited to the following:

• Clearly sharing context information with AI concerning the relevant conversation or the audience
• Exposing AI to detailed examples of human conversation, including informal language, idioms, and regional dialects
• Training AI to recognize and respond to emotional cues
• Sharing cultural nuances and social norms
• Guiding AI to better understand references and humor
• To model turn-taking and back-and-forth dialogue to AI
• Helping AI understand the tone, rhythm and flow of human conversation
• Feeding high quality content to AI
• Providing feedback on how the AI’s responses come across

By combining these approaches, professional linguists can play a vital role in shaping AI. More than ever, we as human translators and interpreters have a lot of work to do, particularly in connection with individual creativity and uniqueness.

Our Previous Blogs about AI

Monterey Language Services has constantly kept an eye on AI development. Our blog series since August of 2023 has been aimed at showing how the synergy of human creativity can elevate AI performance.

Check out our previous blogs about AI:

Professional Copyediting after Content Creation: Staying ahead of the AI curve

Blue and White Porcelain: The Joy of Translation from Behind the Scenes

A Love Letter to Chinese Culture — Blue and White Porcelain Lyrics

Advice to Future Interpreters

Interpreters and Music: Translation Accuracy

Interpreters and Voices: On Human Aura

Interpreters and Voices: On Human Recording

AI Performing Music: On Human Individuality

Diversity and Richness: Interpreters and Music

Thoughts about AI: Interpreters and Music

AI and Translation

These blogs discuss AI’s capabilities, how we have worked with it and what our expectations are.

“AI is able to follow patterns to come up with solutions that others may have thought of and implemented before, but without managing to achieve such originality on their own. Is it possible for AI to progress towards greater individuality and uniqueness?” ( AI Performing Music: On Human Individuality)

“AI is capable, but then can AI interpret our tones, our feelings, our energy, our life, our passion, our emotions, and our sense of mission that professional interpreters have shared?” ( Thoughts about AI: Interpreters and Music)

 Conclusion

Rather than debating whether humans or AI did better in copy editing, the blog is intended to celebrate the collaborative efforts that can make AI development and human creativity progress together. Ultimately, it’s essential to value partnership over competition. The future of copy editing will depend on our ability to combine human expertise with artificial intelligence to create something truly remarkable.

Behind the Scenes Part V

Please see samples here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr2MdhbLPPGszMw8Rdc5J9aI

Behind these formal presentations of audio video recordings, there’s something very intriguing and interesting happening behind the scenes. In a very liberal sense, we are not too different from journalists or reporters who report on stories due to inspiration from those around them. What primarily drove us to begin and continue this project were the comments and feedback from interpreters and our colleagues. They have helped prompt and shape our actions, ultimately leading us to explore further, and continue our quest for answers on what the future will be like between AI and interpreters. Some interpreters are worried about not being able to make ends meet in the future, while others are asking why they should worry about AI. Will human language disappear? Will humans become like computers communicating with each other without having to verbally speak as certain individuals claim?

Whether we like it or not, AI will become more and more prevalent on public transportation, on social media, on our phones, in our daily life, and even in our industry. There seems to be a trend where humans make language simpler and friendlier for AI, so it becomes easier and more accurate for AI to translate or interpret. In this way, humans become a conduit for AI and AI becomes a useful tool for people worldwide to communicate with each other instantaneously. AI has evolved to become our translators and interpreters, and this application of AI has steadily become more popular over time. Ever since Google Translate was released, there have been increasingly new AI platforms such as AI video translation, AI spokesperson translation, and so on, that have surfaced. AI has been developed so quickly and accurately that it is just a matter of time until humans fully adopt AI. We tried our hand using one of the latest AI platforms to translate/interpret one of our office videos into Chinese. The results were impressive, but not without some imperfections. The AI voice did much better than the usual, generic robotic voice we typically hear, which most likely has to do with voice cloning.

In the face of rapid development of AI, does it mean that eventually we as interpreters will no longer be needed? How should we give guidance to the younger generation who aspire to become interpreters or translators? These are serious questions that make us really sit down and think and here is what we would like to share.

AI voices are serviceable, but they lack the beauty and liveliness that human voices have. That’s why human voices will always have a place in our world. This is what we set out to prove with the Interpreters and Voices series, and we think we have succeeded. In this blog, we are giving a conclusion about our thoughts on AI and human voices. Everyone knows AI voices are usually robotic and monotonous, but with voice cloning technology, AI could sound better and less robotic. This is why, even in the future, human voices will always play a role because they have that personal touch, which allows us to feel heard and assured. In the Interpreters and Voices series, 17 of our passionate interpreter colleagues have recorded themselves reading various blogs on AI nature and capabilities. Our colleagues have demonstrated how human voices are beautiful and lively compared to AI’s. It shows how big of a gap there is and how big of a gap there will always be between human voices and AI.

First, thanks to the participating interpreter Liling who introduces the concept of “aura” from a mechanical engineering point of view. She said AI-voice interpretations lack a key element – “Aura”.  Aura refers to a quality integral to an artwork that cannot be communicated through mechanical reproduction techniques and was used by Walter Benjamin in his influential 1936 essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”. Human-created artwork has its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be, its ‘aura’.  Using this analogy, each interpreter recording has his/her unique interpretation in a unique space, time, and place, thereby creating an artwork with “aura”.

Second, while AI voices can only say exactly what they are programmed to say, interpreters are able to use their own individuality, smarts, and uniqueness to come up with clever phrasing that perfectly fits the situation, rather than just a word for word translation. Interpreters deliver words in a very exciting way that is palatable to the ear and also interesting to listen to. Each interpreter demonstrated their different interpretation of the script that we provided them. Some interpreters emphasized certain words. Others would, at times, speak at faster speeds. Some interpreters would ad-lib and sing certain parts while others would add a light laugh at a joke. Some interpreters go deeper with a dialogue style as if they are talking to each other, echoing each other, encouraging you to think further, or having a conversation with you. AI is not capable of this kind of responsiveness and communication. All the AI, regardless of which company develops them, lacks variation between them, making it easy to spot them almost right away even if it’s a clone of a human voice!

In the era of AI impacting every industry, including our translation and interpretation industry, these interpreters’ voices seem so wonderful and one of a kind. So we decided to create different collages of voices. We even have different colleagues work separately to create their own versions, and the results are stunning! Despite the colleagues making their own selections from the same pool of recordings, they arranged all the pieces together in different ways to convey their own take on the blog story. The entire project has been about human voices in range, richness, diversity and individuality.  It features different takes on the interpreters’ best individual moments, focuses on elevating each other to higher levels, and aggregates them to a beautiful, powerful collage as a whole. It serves as a reminder that we don’t want a world without human voices and also as a way to perhaps shed some light on the interpretation community. Quite a lot of work has been put into arrange everything for these purposes, but it’s a labor of love, and has been very enjoyable. We’re so excited to share it with everyone!

The video on Interpreters and Voices has a solo and two world versions. The solo version shows how powerful one person can sound while the world versions show how much excitement with many people from all over the world can generate. The world versions feature multiple interpreters from around the world, namely Asia, Europe, North and South Americas, and the Caribbeans. Each participating interpreter submitted their own unique and individual recording. Our colleagues combined them to the effect that it’s almost as if everyone is having a conversation with each other. It’s a truly beautiful collage of voices from around the world, all united for a forum discussion and you’ll feel like you’re right there with them!

It’s fairly easy to spot where different interpreters come from in the world, and it’s all thanks to their distinct styles. At times they are lighthearted, emphatic, or communicative that are embedded in their respective cultures. It’s truly a globally cultural feast! It’s also a showcase of the auras, emotions, and cultures prevailing in the world. Did you feel engaged listening to the interpreters? This collection of auras is something very difficult if not impossible for AI to mimic. We believe that as long as humans carry their own aura and pour it into their creations, AI will have a hard time getting a leg up over humans.

The video on Human Individuality, we’ve also created two versions: a trio and a quartet. The two versions feature three and four interpreters, respectively, and were also created by two different colleagues separately. The effect this makes is quite pronounced, and you feel as if you’re listening to two different pieces entirely.

For the short and sweet Thoughts about AI piece, we initially thought that with the way the content is structured, it’d be best for two interpreters to read it. But then what would happen if we added a third interpreter, someone who comes from another part of the world, instead of the duet of interpreters from the United States? The trio piece features wonderful chemistry between the three interpreters, and if you stay until the end, you’ll be rewarded with a surprise, which we are sure all listeners will enjoy! We have also made a solo version for those who might have been overstimulated by the different voices, and for those who might prefer just a single vocalist instead of an entire band. We enjoyed all of these so much, and absolutely recommend you check them out too! We’ve provided links to the audio and video series below for easy access!

Other than being fun, this project has also helped us see the bigger picture when dealing with translation and interpretation projects. Now we see our overall role very clearly and understand better what’s more important in the work we do. Therefore, we plan to show the series to younger generations, so they understand that translators and interpreters will always have work, and their value to this world will never change. The aura that naturally comes from being a human interpreter has and always will be something sought after. As long as we have energy and fun as humans and as interpreters, we will never have to worry about being replaced by AI. However, if we lose our energy or fun, we are doomed to surrender to AI superiority.

If you would like to encourage the next generation that there is a future for them, and they shouldn’t give up, we’d love to hear your advice to those who aspire to join our industry in the future. We will gather advice from all sources and present them in our next blog. We think that’s what we as translators and interpreters should aim for when we pass the torch on to the next generation in the face of a potentially AI dominated world! But we must always remember that interpretation is like art or music, or a fine-tuned performance, and that’s one thing area humans will remain dominant in for years to come!

Links to Audio Recordings:
1. Thoughts about AI (Solo Version): Posted
2. Thoughts about AI (Duet Version): Posted
3. Thoughts about AI (Trio Version): Posted
4. Diversity and Richness: Posted
5. Human Individuality (Trio Version): Posted
6. Human Individuality (Quartet Version): Posted
7. Interpreters and Voice (Solo Version): Posted
8. Interpreters and Voices (World Version 1): Posted
9. Interpreters and Voices (World Version 2): Posted
10. Human Aura: To Be Posted

Reference Video: Interpreters and Music

Audio link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UN-K8OIMCs

Ever since we began the video project on Interpreters and Music, we’ve felt a lot of energy from the interpreters who have been kind to join us on our initiative to explore the relation between AI and interpreters including such questions as: What will the future look like for these two? Will interpreters become a conduit for AI?

This all ultimately led us to compare AI and interpreters. We are on a journey to highlight professional interpreter’s strength over AI, and human voices are one of the areas we’d like to compare.

We have invited quite a few interpreters to participate in the “Interpreters and Voices” project. After only hearing the premise and description of the project, many interpreters have described the project as “interesting”, “great fun”, “wonderful”, “something new and exciting”, “fascinating”, and “riveting”. We thank all of the interpreters who we’ve reached for genuinely sharing their thoughts and we have included some of their ideas in this blog post.

Many of you may agree with us that AI recordings are usually boring, if not unsettling. The natural inflexions of speech are missing, and their robotic, monotonous tone drive us crazy! Even so, the threat of AI recording looms large as a dark cloud on the horizon. We don’t enjoy AI recordings at all and really wouldn’t want to see the world develop in a way where AI is primarily used over human voices. It would undoubtedly be a tremendous loss to humanity. It’s something that we truly hope won’t occur. It would really take away the joy and emotion that can only be experienced through the vehicle of human voices. By the way, if you know of any interesting AI recording samples, please do feel free to share them with us for our learning purposes.

AI is a wonderful tool of convenience and efficiency in modern times; but there are still certain things that AI simply cannot produce. Even though AI may be able to replicate the breathing, pauses, and quivering of human voices, these elements always sound timed and programmed. If spoken or read by a human, the words would be conveyed in different styles with emotions and be paced at different speeds. Let’s take the diversity and richness audio file as an example, it was read by 3 interpreters with 3 main styles, professional, expressive, and artistic. The reading speeds at times are normal, fast, or slow. Yet the combination, or mix, or interaction of these elements creates a charming, attractive, even sensational atmosphere that entices us to listen. Honestly, we’ve listened to it more than a handful of times! The more we listen to it, the more we feel the pleasure and ambience, as if we were brought to another world. We are totally immersed.

Distinctness between each speaker is something else that AI cannot replicate. In the recordings, we hear richness of styles—all of which communicate the individuality of the reader and storyteller. These styles can range from being personal, professional, emotional, poetic, artistic, expressive, explanatory, upbeat, engaging but not overemphasizing, measured, modulative, and sporadic in regards to pacing. We are also delighted to hear little off-script moments like singing instead of purely reading. Yeah, a little surprise is the spice that keeps the audience interested and entertained and it’s that exact element that keeps blowing us away!

For this project on human voices, the only instruction we gave the interpreters was to give the recording their best shot and then leave the rest for us. The recordings read by quite a few interpreters, not only sound different to the ear because of accent, gender, tone/pitch in their voices, but also the background each interpreter has come from. The interpreters are long time devotees to language and communication, and are also people with interests in poetry, storytelling, and cultural performances. The interpreters apply their own unique interpretations to reflect how they perceive the text. One interpreter might make a certain sentence or phrase sound more important or expressive, whereas another interpreter might read it in a lighter sense. We all parse and deliver messages differently despite general similarities.

Interpreters use their voices to produce work every day, therefore, it’s wonderful to aggregate their voices in a collage. We have rotated different voices, even deliberately paired up different voices, male and female, low and high, fast and slow, personal and professional to show contrast. The different takes on the recordings is where the teamwork gets really upgraded to exciting and magical levels. AI is limited in the sense that it lacks the kind of creativity and artistic expression that comes to humans so naturally. Humans are best at creating and putting our own spin on things. Having different interpreters read the same blog and then combining them all into one recording is a great way to showcase how individualistic we sound as humans even when we’re doing the same activity.

The participating interpreters took time out of their busy schedules to do the work pro bono. The common goal is to demonstrate that professional interpreters do so much better in recording than AI does. Hearing the interpreters’ recordings really helps drive home the difference between human individuality and the monotonous nature of AI. We really think this project is special because it helps to show something that everyone, not just people in our industry need to see. Please feel welcome to share this with everyone, but certainly not for the purposes of training AI! Last but not least, a final, big shout-out to the participating interpreters. Thank you so much for the wonderful and abundant voices. They are truly music to our ears. Working together, we have demonstrated the power and strength of professional interpreters in our voices over AI, and the journey must go on!

Originally we were thinking about comparing AI narration to humans by putting them one after another, but we realized that the contrast is not as significant as we initially believed. This is because humans are typically only able to endure AI narration for nothing more than a few paragraphs. After that, humans recognize the mechanical, robotic patterns that are inherent to AI narration. After realizing that, humans make the decision to stop listening. Please feel welcome to let us know after how much of the AI recording you listened to before you decided to give up! We think it will be a very interesting fact to explore!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTzivdlkXk

We hope that this video gives you some insights into our approach to simultaneous interpretation at events. Non-English speakers blend in very well with other audience because they can receive information simultaneously. The interpretation equipment used in these events is portable. The equipment can be taken anywhere in California to suit your needs.

If opportunities arise, we look forward to working with you in Monterey, Silicon Valley, and other parts of California as well. We hope you enjoy the video!

As many in our office at Monterey Language Services—including our director—are alumni of the Middlebury Institute, we join the career fair every year to speak to promising students and other alumni who attend the event. Those involved ranged from conference interpreters to patent translators or localization project managers, and each one spoke with lots of enthusiasm and eagerness about their experiences and hopes for the future.

The career fair takes months of planning to invite and coordinate the attending companies. When the doors initially opened at 8:00AM for preparation, we were there to set up. As in years past when the event was live, we prioritized mobility with our booth—with our information placed on the table, we were free to walk around the booth and meet attendees at eye-level. One attendee mentioned that it made them feel much more at ease to speak with company employees while we were all standing, rather than speaking with company employees who were sitting.

Our booth was a roaring success. Between the official hours of the fair, 9:00AM-12:00PM, a never-ending multitude of people came to inquire about our positions. It was a treat to meet such friendly faces and discover talent from across the globe. We hope and know that regardless of the positions these students and alumni earn, they will achieve great careers.

We would like to thank not only the attendees, but also the staff at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies for making this event such a success. We know that many, including ourselves, were eager to come to the career fair in-person after such a long time away, and we think that it could not have been better. Thank you.

1. Choose the right interpreter: Effective interpretation starts by choosing the right interpreter. Ensure that the interpreter has the necessary skills and experience to interpret accurately between the languages involved. Consider their expertise in the subject matter and their cultural sensitivity as well, as these factors can greatly impact the accuracy of the interpretation.
2. Provide background information: Background information such as subject matter, names and titles of participants, context and purpose of the event can greatly help with the accuracy of the interpretation. The more information interpreters have before the event, the better their performance will be. To provide and gather background information is considered a necessity in the interpretation process. To be exact, the interpretation process starts before the event itself.
3. Create favorable environment: Ensure that the interpreter has a clear line of sight and sound to all participants in the conversation. Experienced clients usually treat interpreters with courtesy and thoughtfulness in order to provide a favorable environment for the interpreter to work in. The goal is to help the interpreter enhance their performance and ensure that the interpretation is as accurate as possible.
4. Speak clearly and at a moderate pace: Interpreters must be able to understand the language they are interpreting. Speaking clearly and at a moderate pace can help the interpreter accurately convey the intended message. Avoid using overly complex language, because it can reduce the processing time in interpreter’s brain, help the interpreter render interpretation in an easy and smooth way.
5. Avoid distractions: Interpreters must concentrate to accurately convey both the content and tone of a conversation. Any distractions or interruptions can disrupt the flow of the interpretation process and impact interpretation in a negative way. For instance, if video interferes with audio output, then refrain from asking interpreters to appear on video. Asking interpreters to be on video usually is more distracting than not to be on video. Also avoid any activities that may be distracting, such as talking on the phone or texting.
6. Provide feedback: If there is any confusion or misunderstanding during the interpretation process, it is important to provide feedback to the interpreter. Collaboration rather than confrontation is more conducive to the outcome you would like to achieve in a communication event.

How does AI apply to the language industry? AI has always been a constant question mark in the back of our minds especially regarding automatic translations. Now that AI can do so much, is it time for translators to become worried?

Today, translators use machine translation programs such as Trados or MemoQ to give them a baseline to work from, so called post-editing machine translation (PEMT). PEMT can greatly improve translation times especially for longer translations. For translators, it has been recognized as a valid strategy and working method. However as we all know, the translations that machine translation programs produce aren’t perfect. They are often more than not flawed. But what happens if you begin using AI such as Chat GPT which is designed to produce fluent and natural sounding language? Would a translator have a more powerful tool? Or would you have a competitor?

Translators will find that the answer is the same as it always has, ever since machine translation was introduced into the world. A machine will most certainly not remove the need for a translator. Language is always so fluid, full of nuance and possibilities that it’s almost impossible for a machine to pick up on every last detail. On the flip side though, translators may find a new ally with AI as it can cut their work time, allowing them to work on more projects. For example, translators can enter questions into Chat GPT, maybe have it check for fluency or suggest different ways of phrasing things, or even come up with new ideas.

If you’re an interpreter, you probably have even less to worry about. Though AIs such as Google Assistant are popular for quick and easy phrases, it still runs into the same problems as it is pulling from Google Translate. Interpretation especially is a field where accuracy and nuance is important and a lot of that is easily lost with AI translations.

Overall, in the language field, whether the advancement of AI would replace the role of human translators and interpreters is nothing to be concerned about, at least not in our life time. If anything, we should be excited about it. As the technology advances, translators and interpreters may find a powerful ally that will help them advance their work efficiently.

Overall, traveling to other countries isn’t as simple a process as it used to be pre-pandemic, however, it is still very much doable. For instance, Japan allows travelers to use their website to go through their customs declaration, immigration, and quarantine. It makes things very convenient because when you arrive, all you have to do is scan a QR code instead of having to take time to go through the potentially lengthy process with an immigration officer.

The only con to this process is that they require you to show you the QR code from the website itself. You are not allowed to screenshot and show the QR code, meaning that you need to have an internet connection. However, as some might know, airport WiFi isn’t exactly the most reliable. This can lead to some frustration, but it is overall a small hiccup in an overall very smooth process.

One other thing to be aware of is the masking culture of the country. Countries like the United States have removed their mask mandate, meaning that you do not have to wear a mask unless you want to. While countries like Japan, still require masks indoors. In general, you should always be on the safe side and wear a mask. Even in Japan, though masks aren’t required outdoors, it’s very rare that you see anyone not wearing a mask.

It’s always best practice to be considerate of others and make them feel comfortable. You can also help other fellow foreigners be sure that they are following local safety guidelines and cultural common sense. As translators and interpreters, we have the advantage of being more aware and understanding of the country whose language we know.

Most tourists will not have that same knowledge. For example, in Japan there is no tipping culture, so it may be strange for tourists coming from countries such as the United States. They also provide storage options for bags, coats, and other belongings. There are some restaurants that provide storage in the benches, but it isn’t immediately obvious to anyone who isn’t looking for it. As a translator or interpreter, you’re in a unique position where you can help them, telling them exactly what needs to be done, and by doing that, you help bridge the gap between two cultures.

However, being a language professional doesn’t mean that you have to spend your entire vacation helping others. You should enjoy your visit by fully enjoying the things in that country that you can’t experience where you live. Just be sure to be mindful of any kind of regional language differences and customs. For instance, in Japan, the same food can have different seasoning and tastes depending on where you are in the country.

Traveling to different countries is a very exciting experience, but be sure to stay safe and courteous no matter where you go.

The first thing you can do to improve your note taking for interpretation is simple—practice. You can listen to anything you want, ideally something in your industry, and then practice taking notes on what the speaker is saying. This might feel like an awkward exercise when you are interpreting for no one, but it is a very reliable way to improve your note taking skills because you are essentially simulating an interpreting job where you are listening to a speaker and then translating for an audience.

The next thing you can do is while practicing, think about symbols or shorter ways to write some words. This is especially important for medical contexts where words can be extremely lengthy and complicated. It is overall faster to quickly draw a symbol than it is to write out something really long like pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Of course, it might be a little impossible to have a specific symbol for every single diagnosis or word out there. So that is where the next idea comes to play.

You can try to figure out abbreviations for words. With the previous example, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis was mentioned. How can this be shortened and abbreviated that it will be easy to write it quickly and recall what it is when you read it again later? Look at the word and try to split up. So for this, you could maybe do pne-mon-tr-mics-ilico-volc-niosis. The word has been shortened down by more than half and it is not that hard to recall when re-reading it. The way words will be abbreviated may vary between people, so just try to abbreviate words the way you feel you will remember them.

The next tip is to write out the words in a logical order for the language that you are interpreting to. If you are interpreting into English, try keeping everything in subject, verb, noun order. This will help to keep everything organized and make sure that you can keep track of how the sentence is structured. It will also help to make the interpreting a little faster because you will already have the sentence in the right order.

Interpreting is a very mentally taxing job that is not easily accomplished but tricks like note taking can really help to make the job a little easier to handle and less daunting a task. However, even note taking needs practice before it can be a completely reliable tool to assist interpretation. But following these tips will help you improve your note taking and really take you to the next level of interpreting.