Note-Taking Manual: A Study Guide for Interpreters and Everyone Who Takes Notes

by Virginia Valencia

Many people have the need to take interpreters, attorneys, health care providers, and students, among others. Some try to learn short-hand, a complex system which requires several months (even years) of practice to master. Did you know there is a widely unknown but simple alternative to take notes more clearly and efficiently? Jean François Rozan and Andrew Gillies, two pioneer conference interpreters, provide techniques to significantly streamline your note-taking. Although originally created for interpreters, these practical guidelines are extremely helpful to anyone who takes notes. With this textbook you will acquire up to 40 new note-taking symbols through dictations (available as free audio files at www.interpretrain.com/audio). With each exercise you will be provided a sample of notes to compare with your own.

123 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2013

Reviews

[Begoña · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great content, but about 10 pages of it in total, out of 110. A veritable ton of exercises, which make most of the book. She called it a manual and I think calling it a workbook would have been more honest. Still, there are some good tips I'll be passing on to my students. I wouldn't say teaching yourself interpreting is a good idea (even the author advises the reader to get a "study buddy") but if you found yourself needing to practice on your own, this could be a good resource. Also, careful as the exercise sound files are not included and must be purchased from her website, or alternatively you need someone else to read the exercises to you so you don't miss the newness/surprise factor.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most useful section by far was the first 30 or so pages. It it here that the book lays the foundation for what a symbolic shorthand would look like - how to abbreviate suffixes, how to create visual symbols, and especially how to use space to both vertically and horizontally connect phrases. The remaining 100 or so pages are exercises in note-taking, with plenty of audio records online to help the reader practice dictation. This is helpful if you want some extra practice in note-taking. However, I chose not to do all of them because I did not find all of the visual symbols that the book provided to be useful/intuitive to me personally, which made some of the practice irrelevant.

[CARLOS Pinzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for beginners. If you're new to note-taking for interpreters, this book is probably just right for you because it’s full of helpful examples. Plus, you can download a library of audio files to practice with. If you’re already an experienced interpreter, though, you might want to consider a different book.