An Empirical Research On Note-taking In Consecutive Interpreting: Differences Between Interpreting Majors And Non-interpreting Majors

Note-taking is one of the most important skills consecutive interpreters have to learn. To improve this skill, interpreters should be aware of their note-taking habits and this requires studies on features of their notes. This thesis focuses on Chinese to English consecutive interpreting and offers an empirical research on note features of two groups of bilingual students:interpreting majors and non-interpreting majors.In this thesis, note features of those two groups of students are analyzed in several aspects, including the total number of characters and symbols, the choice of language, the layout, and how numbers and parallel structures are noted down, with statistics gathered from interpreters'note scripts, recordings of interpretations and interviews. This research shows that, compared with non-interpreting majors, interpreting majors tend to note down more information and have a larger total of characters and symbols, and do not have any preference toward note language. And their note-taking is more efficient and better structured with more use of abbreviations and symbols.To improve the level of expertise, students should focus on not only the quality of interpreting production, but also the role of notes. They should better coordinate listening and note-taking and try to develop an efficient note-taking system that best suits themselves.