Interpreters Don't Do Shorthand 通訳と速記

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Sachiko used to work as an interpreter. The most troubling thing at that time for her was that her clients thought that she could reproduce what the speaker said based on notes she took during the interpretation. Interpreters take notes, but these aren't shorthand notes, but are for their short memories for thirty seconds or so and include only key points, such as what increases or decreases by how much/many for how long period.

When I asked her to show me what notes she would write, Sachiko jotted down something in a piece of paper on the table and showed it to me. The scribble means, "The number of employees of the manufacturing division in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan has been increasing from 1,000 to 2,500 for the last ten years."

She was often asked by her clients to teach about how to take notes, but couldn't teach it. She’s never read or learned it from others. She still didn't know why and how she ended up writing such notes.

幸子さんが通訳をしていたころ一番困ったこと。それは通訳後に、メモを基に議事録を書いてくれと言われたことだ。速記と違って通訳のメモは要点しか書かないので、30秒間ぐらい記憶する助けにしかならない。どんなメモを取るのか見せてと頼んだら、写真のようなメモを書いてくれた。「神奈川県にある製造部門の従業員数はここ10年で1,000人から2,500人に増えた」という意味だそうだ。

メモの取り方を教えてくれと言われたことまであったらしいが、習ったわけでも本で読んだわけでもなく、気付いたらこんな風に書いていたので教えられないんですって。