Court Interpretation Courses - Usefulness for Advanced Language Students?

[Speakeasy]

Court Interpretation Courses - Usefulness for Advanced Language Students?
Although interpretation and, more specifically, court interpretation, is a highly-specialized field of language usage, I was wondering to what extent an intensive study of Court Interpretation Courses might be useful for an independent learner at an advanced level.

ACEBO
While searching the Internet for language-learning materials, I came across a number of offers for used copies of “The Interpreter's Edge for the 21st Century” for specific languages. Further searches led me to the organisation’s website from which I have copied the following advice: “Founded by Holly Mikkelson, professor of translation and interpretation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey CA, ACEBO was created to help foreign-language interpreters hone their skills and prepare themselves for the demanding work of interpreting in court, as well as in other areas … Most oral exams for interpreter certification consist of simulated interpreting in which candidates must demonstrate proficiency interpreting in the three tested modes (simultaneous and consecutive interpreting and sight translation) between English and the other language. Recorded source texts are played by a proctor and the candidate’s interpretation of each section is in turn recorded by the proctor so that it can be scored later by a team of raters … ACEBO materials are specifically designed to help candidates prepare for oral exams …”

Court Interpreting Products
ACEBO offers a series of court interpreting products. Languages covered are: Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The courses are offered individually, in three levels (Consecutive Interpreting, Simultaneous Interpreting, Sight Translation), or as a package containing all three levels. With the exception of Spanish, the course packages include one course manual plus three (3) one-hour audio CDs covering 20 simultaneous interpretation lessons, 6 memory exercises, and 12 consecutive interpretation lessons. The Spanish course package contains three course manuals plus seventeen (17) “Two-Tone” CDs covering the same material, but in greater depth. Prices are currently 105 $US for the smaller packages, or 215 $US for the Spanish set. Other products are available.

ACEBO Website
https://acebo.myshopify.com/

Reviews of the ACEBO Interpreter’s Edge Series
The only reviews that I could find were posted by Amazon Customers all of whom seem to be professional interpreters or candidates. All but one of the reviews ranged between 5-stars and 4-stars. A few customers expressed dissatisfaction over the sound quality of the CDs which seems to be related to a poor transfer of audio files from the previous audio cassettes. There is no mention of this organisation or of its products on the HTLAL and I did not find any other reviews during my searches.

Disclaimer
The usual disclaimers apply here. I have no relationship with this organisation, I am not promoting this organisation's products, and I will receive no compensation in any form whatsoever either from sales of this organisation's products or for any other consideration.

Your thoughts on the matter ???
I suspect that simultaneous interpretation requires an aptitude that I simply do not have; for me, this would be similar to doing the Assimil Active Phase on performance-enhancing drugs. Nevertheless, even though I have doubts about the usefulness of such courses in my particular case, were these materials were available in German, I would eagerly throw away a hundred bucks just to play with them. But what are your thoughts on matter? Would the intensive study of Court Interpretation Courses be beneficial to Advanced Language Students? How so? Why not?

EDITED:
Formatting, Tinkering.
Complete rewrite of the last section.

[Eliza]

Thank you for pointing this resource out!

I have no experience with this specific course; however, I attended a translator course at our local school of continuing education (Volkshochschule in German) in French after getting my DALF C1 certificate. Bear in mind that I only went 3 times out of 6 (mostly because I still had enough other stuff to do at the time), but I found it to be super helpful especially for learning words and expressions that are a somewhat more specific but on the same time also widely known and used (e.g. "wheel rim" or "vehicle fleet" in a text about cars).

With that in mind, I think the interpreter course you found might really help the advanced learner, even though the vocabulary might be too specific. On the other hand, it might give insights into the legal system of the main countries where the language is spoken, so there would be a cultural benefit to it. After all it depends on what exactly the learner is looking for; maybe it might be worth looking into introductory books or courses aimed at native speakers.

The huge advantage is that you can find a wide variety of introductory courses for free (for an introduction into German law you might want to start with a site like this: https://strafrecht.jura.uni-leipzig.de/lehrveranstaltungen/wintersemester-201617/einfuehrung-in-das-recht-und-die-rechtswissenschaft/ and go on from there).

[James29]

Court Interpretation Courses - Usefulness for Advanced Language Students?
Although interpretation and, more specifically, court interpretation, is a highly-specialized field of language usage, I was wondering to what extent an intensive study of Court Interpretation Courses might be useful for an independent learner at an advanced level.

ACEBO
While searching the Internet for language-learning materials, I came across a number of offers for used copies of “The Interpreter's Edge for the 21st Century” for specific languages. Further searches led me to the organisation’s website from which I have copied the following advice: “Founded by Holly Mikkelson, professor of translation and interpretation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey CA, ACEBO was created to help foreign-language interpreters hone their skills and prepare themselves for the demanding work of interpreting in court, as well as in other areas … Most oral exams for interpreter certification consist of simulated interpreting in which candidates must demonstrate proficiency interpreting in the three tested modes (simultaneous and consecutive interpreting and sight translation) between English and the other language. Recorded source texts are played by a proctor and the candidate’s interpretation of each section is in turn recorded by the proctor so that it can be scored later by a team of raters … ACEBO materials are specifically designed to help candidates prepare for oral exams …”

Court Interpreting Products
ACEBO offers a series of court interpreting products. Languages covered are: Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The courses are offered individually, in three levels (Consecutive Interpreting, Simultaneous Interpreting, Sight Translation), or as a package containing all three levels. With the exception of Spanish, the course packages include one course manual plus three (3) one-hour audio CDs covering 20 simultaneous interpretation lessons, 6 memory exercises, and 12 consecutive interpretation lessons. The Spanish course package contains three course manuals plus seventeen (17) “Two-Tone” CDs covering the same material, but in greater depth. Prices are currently 105 $US for the smaller packages, or 215 $US for the Spanish set. Other products are available.

ACEBO Website
https://acebo.myshopify.com/

Reviews of the ACEBO Interpreter’s Edge Series
The only reviews that I could find were posted by Amazon Customers all of whom seem to be professional interpreters or candidates. All but one of the reviews ranged between 5-stars and 4-stars. A few customers expressed dissatisfaction over the sound quality of the CDs which seems to be related to a poor transfer of audio files from the previous audio cassettes. There is no mention of this organisation or of its products on the HTLAL and I did not find any other reviews during my searches.

Disclaimer
The usual disclaimers apply here. I have no relationship with this organisation, I am not promoting this organisation's products, and I will receive no compensation in any form whatsoever either from sales of this organisation's products or for any other consideration.

Your thoughts on the matter ???
I suspect that simultaneous interpretation requires an aptitude that I simply do not have; for me, this would be similar to doing the Assimil Active Phase on performance-enhancing drugs. Nevertheless, even though I have doubts about the usefulness of such courses in my particular case, were these materials were available in German, I would eagerly throw away a hundred bucks just to play with them. But what are your thoughts on matter? Would the intensive study of Court Interpretation Courses be beneficial to Advanced Language Students? How so? Why not?

EDITED:
Formatting, Tinkering.
Complete rewrite of the last section.

Great minds think alike. I was lookoing at the ACEBO course over the weekend. I had looked at it previously and asked a similar question. there was a pretty useful response:

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... ebo#p52476

I'm considering doing a local interpreter course for fun. That got me thinking about preparing for the course with this program. Now I am re-thinking it as it may be too difficult for me. I wish we had more people who had done this type of training who could comment. I'd love to do something like this but just don't know if my Spanish is up to the task.

[iguanamon]

Danny, drp9341, just took and passed the Spanish Court interpreters exam in NY. In this post he talks about passing the spoken part of the exam. Hopefully he'll see this topic and respond but it may take him a while because he's traveling in Europe right now.

[Kat]

While I don't know the specific course you found, I don't think translation or interpreting courses will be very helpful to most language learners.

Why? Because these courses usually focus on very specific techniques and vocabulary.

If you want some fairly general German materials to play with, there is no need to spend that much money.
I can recommend the following two books:

Judith Macheiner, Übersetzen: Ein Vademecum

It's out of print but it's easy to find a second-hand copy. The reviews at Amazon should give you a pretty good idea what the book focuses on.

Wolfs Friedrichs, Technik des Übersetzens – Englisch und Deutsch: Eine systematische Anleitung für das Übersetzen ins Englische und ins Deutsche für Unterricht und Selbststudium

This one is out of print as well and usually a bit harder to find. Amazon allows you to have a look inside and read half a chapter or so.

You might also be interested in the books published by the German Translators and Interpreters Association BDUE:
https://www.bdue-fachverlag.de/leistung ... ag/buecher

They are a lot more technical, though, and probably less interesting for general language learners. This one might be an exception.

[Kraut]

I'm doing (false) consecutive translation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyvrU6FYN7o
to practise my bi-directional texts. With my new texts I only record my voice translating the Spanish text into German. I'm also getting the feeling that when I translate from a German written script there is a perceptive layer that is more distantly wired than the oral perception. Consecutive translation practice certainly sharpens your retaining and speaking skills.

[James29]

I've been poking around a bit more. I have found some interpreter courses that require either native proficiency as evidenced by a degree from a native speaking high school or university. Or, for the non-natives, seem to require an "advanced-mid" level pass of the ACTFL Oral Exam. I have not been able to find out what that testing level is equivalent to.

[Speakeasy]

I know nothing of the requirements to become a professional interpreter or even those to become an inspired amateur (note carefully that I see a distinction between doing the work of a text translator and that of a simultaneous voice interpreter). Nevertheless, I have this notion* that not all language students, and not even all native-bilingual-speakers, would be successful in assuming such a role. That is, I suspect that this type of work, if it is to be performed well, requires an aptitude that not everyone possesses or, should we all possess such an aptitude, we do not possesses it to the same degree and thus would not respond equally well to formal training. Having never put own abilities to the test, I would voluntarily take my place in the lowest quartile.

*notions: thoughts which are insufficiently developed to be considered as ideas or opinions worthy of debate or even as topics for casual discussion (borrowed from a CBC parody of self-professed "intellectual" Talk Shows).

EDITED:
notions
typos, as usual
tinkering

[Kat]

Just a sidenote: I didn't mean to imply that translators and (simultaneous) interpreters need the same skill set. I linked some books on translation because you had mentioned your interest in German materials and, as far as I know, there are no German self-study courses for interpreters.

What translators and interpreters have in common is that both need strategies on how to render certain structures of the source language in their target language. They need to consider details that we usually don't think about when we speak or write.

• For example, where do you usually place the most important information in a sentence? At the beginning, in the middle or at the end? Is that done differently in the target language?
• Do you actually need to translate/interpret all the words every time? Or are some phrases simply not needed to convey the same information? Maybe it would even sound unnatural to include them?
• How do you deal with concepts that don't have a direct equivalent in the other language?

That's what these books focus on. For most people who don't aim to become translators or interpreters these questions are probably irrelevant. For an advanced learner who is interested in such details it could be an interesting read.

Edit: spelling

[Speakeasy]

Kat, I much appreciated your superb exposition of the skill sets which interpreters and translators must develop.

Several years ago, I purchased a small collection of textbooks on French-English translation and, although I read through them leisurely without the intention of mastering the subject, I did develop a basic understanding of what is a sadly underrated, and insufficiently remunerated, but very challenging speciality. My wife and her closet friend from childhood are both English-French translators; these readings and my discussions with them have helped me recognize and better understand the need for specialized training for individuals wishing to work in this field.

As to the skill set required for simultaneous interpretation, while I am sure that specialized training in this field of activity would be of enormous benefit, I suspect that some of us would be poor candidates; for example, me! I have found myself on numerous occasions engaged in professional or social discussions with Anglophones and Francophones (switching effortlessly and with lightning speed between speaking English with the Anglos and speaking French with the Francos) and then, suddenly, a member from one of the two groups asks me to translate something that a member from the other linguistic group has just said and … my mind becomes mush. I ask the individual to repeat what he just said, he does so, and … mush. The person making the original request repeats his request and … mush. It is as if English and French were stored in separate zones of my brain. I can access these zones and switch between them with native speed in either language. However, whenever I attempt to access them more-or-less simultaneously … mush. Absolutely nothing happens, not even incoherent babble, not a single word! As might be expected, my two uni-lingual interlocutors begin pressuring me to perform what-appears-to-them to be a simple task, given that I possess both languages at a very high level, become impatient with my silence (which is broken only by a slight “um, er, ah, …”) and, with a disgusted look on their faces, turn to someone else and ignore me for the rest of the evening. Nope, I don’t think that I would be a good candidate for training as an interpreter, there’s something wrong with the wiring!