Presenting at Mid-Year Chaos

i think the prep angle is pretty covered, but the mental stuff (how to think about it, no need for perfection) could be a new take. Sort of a TUUYAKk-oriented stress management lecture?

"The Tuuyak State of Mind"


but seriously just do a discussion where people share keyboard tips and trick, that would be hilarious

oh ok cool then! I wasn't quite sure what angle you were coming at it from.

and thanks for the link haha

This please. Please giving some magic. Though I probably would have gone through several TUUYAKS by then..

Would love to hear how people take notes while interpreting or just about note taking in general. (Is note taking a thing in tsuuyaku? I just kind of picked it up from daigaku and observing senpai)

it is very much a thing. there are entire presentations that can be done about it


i have my own method of doing it too that i would like to share 


in case i dont present (and i think i posted this somewhere on the forums already).... what i do is make a vocab list while i go thru the 資料 that i receive. in particular the 原稿s. i pay most attention to the words that are most likely to come up or that are long/proper names.

i make them into a table, and put that table in a word doc, making sure it takes up no more than half the page, and i print like 3 copies of it. i then have the space to take notes and i dont have to write a note for the word, i just put a mark next to it when i hear it.

just having words there ready to go helps but you have to be somewhat careful in how you curate it. 

As for taking notes, it only works if you go into with with a TON of KIMATTEILU abbreviations for things that you have decided in advance and have memorized.

You have time to hear something → jot down your already memorized abbreviation without damaging your listening comprehension, but you won't have time to hear something → decide on an abbreviation for it on the spot → jot that down without missing a few words (and then hope to god you remember what it stands for when you come back to it.) Those extra milliseconds are actually a long time.

Personally, I haven't taken the time to fully hammer out a thorough abbreviation system for myself, so I don't risk it and interpret without taking notes. Except for numbers. Always write down numbers.

at one point i did.... but i never used them/forgot what they were.... 


but i agree. numbers, place names, event names. you would be surprised how much you can retain of a conversation and how much you can lose in the process of worrying about noting everything down

Another story for you:
the worst is when they have a nice pacing for you, the give you proper breaks after good chunks of content (no need for notes) then all of the sudden their last bit is like 3 times as long as the others.... you could have remembered the first part no problem but not after its been followed by that much and by the time you notice they are rambling you are too late to start taking notes (i mean where would you start??)..... and this was 英=>日 

Please teaching on what to do when I don't understand words or worse sentences in a formal stage setting where it'd be awkward to ask.

Edit: Oops. Double post deshita.

on stage? fake it. based on context and what you understood, guess. that is all you /can/ do. in a formal stage setting there IS NO confirming. (this is why i hate reception 挨拶 so much)

(this is not fool proof. see the aforementioned "calling out" story from above)


if you are in small 表敬訪問 then you kinda can. but if you do, ask specific questions"can i get that number again?" "you said MARUMARUsama?".

no asking "can i get that again?" especially if you only did need that one detail, they will think you didnt get any of it

even if you didnt catch multiple things/most of it... still try to ask for only the one detail. 

caveat, miiiiiight be able to get away with "because of (insert noise) i couldnt hear you, could you say that again?" but again, use with caution and honestly the circumstances have to be just right... 

TUUYAK is really hard and you're gonna make mistakes.

For pretty much every TUUYAK I've listened to as an audience member there were parts where the TUUYAK-SYA was able to interpret something I wouldn't have been able to and also parts where I noticed the TUUYAK-SYA's mistakes and could have done better.

I think people know that TUUYAK isn't an exact science and that in most cases good enough is in fact good enough, and in rare situations where a 100% accurate TUUYAK actually is necessary, your city will spend the yen on a professional.

this is why i was thinking about doing this presentation in the first place.... hue


but, what would 2nd or 3rd years get out of a presentation like this? what would people who have experience expect to get out of a presentation like this? or should i just not worry and have the 対象者 be 1st years 又は people who dont have much experience.... hmmmm

that totally makes sense. i 100% get what you are saying


(this thread is helping me flesh out this presentation so much. i forgot i wanted to touch on what you are asking)


for me, it has all been about experience. which. sucks until you have it. 

until then, like Mumblesnore said, good enough is often good enough. until you have more experience, your primary goals with interpretations should be to
1. make /some/ communication happen. and remember, just you being there and flailing to get an interpretation out, is resulting in more communication than if you weren't there. 
2. learn. soak it all in. get familiar with the circumstances and the how it is done. this will help you be more comfortable with it next time as there will be less unknowns (you will know more about the pacing, the 流れ, the where you stand, etc etc)

also. there is no such thing as 100% prepared. especially when you have to interpret for people who are really good at ad-libbing and dont know the meaning of the word 原稿

they say expect the unexpected?

my supervisor (aka the "queen of fake it til you make it") puts it this way. up until the thing, you have to prep as much as you can. have all the 資料 and knowledge as you can. but when the event comes, やるしかない. you just have to roll with the punches, especially when most of the time it is nothing that you can control nor influence (and it will probably not come down on you or your character... probably). follow your instincts. and if they were wrong, then you learned for the next time. 

you are not a trained professional. and they shouldnt expect that from you. especially as a first year CIR. if they wanted a professional they needed to hire one. 

there is a little bit of hazing that happens. it's the initiation process. it happens. it's a stage you /have/ to get thru to get to the other side that hopefully has less 緊張 and what not