Reformulation exercises

Here are two great exercises to get the brain in gear for simultaneous or consecutive. 

These are exercises to activate linguistic reflexes (synonyms, antonyms, lexical structures). This type of exercise is intended to enlarge the student’s linguistic resources as well as to provide him with useful strategies for interpreting.

This extract is taken from pages 243 of… Approaches to the teaching of interpreting mnemonic and analytic strategies by Jiminez and Ballester in Teaching Translation and Interpreting, Eds Dollerup and Loddegarde, 1991.

4. Exercises

Our knowledge of how memory works and the guidelines for analysis have made us develop some exercises for interpreters training. They are the following: 

4.a. Exercises for mnemonic activation

4.a.1 Parataxis 

Example 1Lecturer: eagles, hawks, falcons, kites, ospreys, buzzards
Students: eagles, hawks and other birds of prey.
Example 2Lecturer: prescriptions, dental treatment, sight tests, vouchers for glasses…
Students: dental treatment and other free Social Security benefits.

4.a.2. Synonyms

Example 1 Lecturer: environment
Students: ecology, atmosphere, the air we breathe, our natural surroundings, our medium…
Example 2Lecturer: Mrs. Thatcher
Students: the former British Prime Minister, the former British Premier, The Iron Lady, Mr. Major’s predecessor, Mr. Gonzalez’ former counterpart, Britain’s longest-governing Prime Minister.