Helen Campbell: Note-Taking for Consecutive Interpreting - Multi-Languages Annual Conference 2013

• published: 06 Feb 2014
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Helen Campbell: Note-Taking for Consecutive Interpreting - Back to Basics Multi-Languages Annual Conference 2013 This talk will be in essence a short workshop dealing with consecutive interpreting and in particular note-taking. You may wonder how conference interpreters effectively, accurately and professionally render five or ten-minute or even longer segments of speech. You may be interested in finding out how to use the same techniques in your practice as a public service interpreter. Helen Campbell will explore with participants the note-taking strategies that are at the heart of a good consecutive interpretation. She will guide those present through strategies for capturing the essentials on the page, by showing how effectively to use symbols, how to decide what to note, and — most importantly — what not to note. Helen would like to make this an interactive talk, allowing participants a chance to share in the common quest for good, easy-to-read, decipherable notes. So the audience can join in, share techniques and, Helen hopes, acquire some useful building blocks to advance their professional practice. Helen Campbell was a staff member of the Directorate-General for Interpretation of the European Commission (DG SCIC) in Brussels from 1973 until April 2011. She studied German and French at Southampton University, trained as a conference interpreter with the European Commission and, and interpreted full-time from 1973 until 1996. She was seconded to Geneva to represent her DG from 1991-1993 and to London from 1999 to 2001. A highly qualified and experienced interpreter trainer, she has aptitude tested, taught and acted as examiner at university courses in and outside Europe and at EU tests and competitions. She was responsible for organizing study visits for student interpreters to the European Institutions from 1997 until 2011. She has been a regular speaker at university careers days and other major language- related events such as the London Language Show. From 2001 to 2011 she played a key role in IAMLADP, the International Annual Meeting for Language Arrangements, Documentation and Publications, the international forum of Heads of Language and Conference Services founded by the UN. Under its Working Group on Training she set up the Universities Contact Group in 2006, co-chaired with Svetlana Carsten of Leeds University until 2011. Helen is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and of the Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association, an external consultant for London Metropolitan University and a member of the Advisory Board of the Research Centre for Translating and Interpreting Studies of the University of Leicester. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the European Union "Optimale" project and has recently been invited to become a Board member of the CIOL Educational Trust. She is a founder member of the Public Service Interpreting and Translation Network Group. From January to July 2013 and for the next two years, Helen was asked to take over the position of Director of the National Network for Interpreting, one of two national networks, part of Routes into Languages, a UK Government-funded initiative aiming to increase interest in languages and language-related careers. In 2012 she was invited by the University of York, Toronto, Glendon Campus, to devise and dispense an online admission (aptitude) test for candidates for a new Master in Conference Interpreting. She was also invited by the Government of Canada to run a week-long training for trainers seminar for staff interpreters, followed by a further week at Glendon, providing training for conference and public service interpreters, including future teachers on the MCI course. In addition, she co-ran four intensive CPD interpreting courses at the University of Bath, UK, a CPD seminar on consecutive note-taking at London Metropolitan University and a one day seminar on note-taking for interpreters as part of the Critical Link Conference hosted by Glendon in June 2013. Her interpreter training activities are in the UK (Bath, Leeds and London Metropolitan Universities), the University of Malta, the University if La Laguna, Tenerife and Universities in the Baltic States. She continues to be invited as guest speaker, particularly at University careers events in the UK and has gained a reputation as a lively, knowledgeable and entertaining public speaker. In 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 she co-edited with Jesus Baigorri and Iciar Alonso of the University of Salamanca the following publications: "Reflections on Legal Translation", "Translating Justice", "Language, Law and Translation", "Essays on Legal and Institutional Translation" and "Translating the Law", published by Interlingua, Granada.