Speech analysis

1.

Speech analysis

2.

Lecture Plan:
1.Mind maps
2.Sections
3.Mini summaries

3.

Mind maps
A mind map is a way of organizing information on a piece of paper. Usually
it takes the form of an organic chart laid out on a large sheet of paper. Words and
drawings are connected to one another on the page in various ways: by lines, by
their position on the page relative to one another, and so on. Though the original
format is rather narrow (Buzan, 2010), for our purposes mind maps also include
any sort of pictorial or spatial representation of information on the page. This
form of representing ideas taps into the way the mind associates and recalls
information and can therefore be useful in helping us to organize and remember
information.

4.

Mind maps
•Creating a mind map requires an understanding and analysis of the
incoming speech, and it is this that is so useful for interpreters. The very
act of making yourself draw a mind map forces you to dissect the speech,
and that in turn means you listen far more attentively than the normal
listener. It will help you see that a speech is not just an uninterrupted
stream of words but a deliberately ordered collection of chunks of
information.
•In drawing a mind map, you will create a visual image that shows
•(1) an overview of the whole speech on a single page and
•(2) how the different parts of the speech t together.

5.

Mind maps
•It is a great analysis exercise! And once you’ve got a mind
map like this you’ll nd it relatively easy to recall most of the
original speech from it.
•But remember, you’re not trying to get all the details when
you make a mind map. You’re trying to record only the
outline of the speech.

6.

Mind maps
• Example (Tweddel 1)
• The following speech was given on 14 September 2014
by Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill
Tweddel at the Rotary Club of Manila, Philippines. In the
speech, the Ambassador seeks to highlight the many
links between Australia and the Philippines and their
prospering relations.

7.

Mind maps
• Over the last 50 years, Australia has attracted migrants
from all over the globe, in the process becoming one of
the world’s most multicultural nations. While the majority
of our earliest migrants were Europeans, these days
our population includes a large proportion of Asian
migrants, and a signi cant number of African and Middle
Eastern peoples.

8.

Mind maps
•Migration to Australia has indisputably contributed to
our diverse demographic. Nearly a quarter of our 23
million people were born overseas – 1.7 million of them
in Asia. China and India are our largest sources of
migration, and ve other Asian nations, the Philippines,
Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam,
constitute our top 10 source countries.

9.

Mind maps
• There are also several different types of mind maps and
you
should
experiment
with
them

10.

Mind maps
Figure 1

11.

Mind maps
as the “right way” to make a mind map from this speech
extract. The are just examples of how you might do it.
For more types of mind maps, see http://www.
informationtamers.com/WikIT/index.php?title=Informatio
n_map_types
.

12.

Mind maps
• The same speech by Tweddel could equally have looked
like this:

13.

Sections
• When you rst hear a speech that you have been asked
to interpret consecutively, with or without notes, the
speech will often seem like an uninterrupted stream of
words and ideas. If we were to try to illustrate that on
the page, you might get something like the following
example. It’s rather daunting, isn’t it?

14.

Sections
Example
• Good to see so many familiar faces. Australia today is a stable, democratic
and culturally diverse nation, with a skilled workforce and a strong,
competitive economy. Over the last 50 years, Australia has attracted
migrants from all over the globe, in the process becoming one of the world’s
most multicultural nations. While the majority of our earliest migrants were
Europeans, these days our population includes a large proportion of Asian
migrants, and a significant number of African and Middle Eastern peoples.

15.

Sections
Migration to Australia has indisputably contributed to our
diverse demographic. Nearly a quarter of our 23 million
people were born overseas – 1.7 million of them in Asia. China
and India are our largest sources of migration, and five other
Asian nations, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South
Korea and Vietnam, constitute our top 10 source countries.
As our demography evolved, our economy also underwent
important policy changes.

16.

Sections
Today, Australia has developed into an open, dynamic and highly
productive economy with considerable strengths, particularly in
mining and agriculture, although the services and manufacturing
sectors also playing a significant role. From the 1960s until the
early 1980s, highly restrictive trade policies, inefficient public
sector monopolies, low productivity and growth, and poor
comparative economic performance resulted in a period of
economic decline in Australia.

17.

Sections
•Driven to become competitive domestically
and internationally, our Government’s
broad and aggressive reform agenda
resulted in enduring gains in our
productivity and growth, and a resurgence
in our ranking amongst developed
countries.

18.

Sections
•The rst thing we should be aware of when
listening to a speech is that it is not an
uninterrupted and indivisible stream of words
and ideas. We can and should break it up in our
minds into more or less self-contained sections.
Often a change of topic will signal a new section.
Look at what can be done with this speech:

19.

Sections
• Example
• Good to see so many familiar faces.
• Australia today is a stable, democratic and culturally
diverse nation, with a skilled workforce and a strong,
competitive economy.

20.

Sections
Over the last 50 years, Australia has attracted migrants
from all over the globe, in the process becoming one of
the world’s most multicultural nations. While the majority
of our earliest migrants were Europeans, these days
our population includes a large proportion of Asian
migrants, and a signi cant number of African and Middle
Eastern peoples.

21.

Sections
Migration to Australia has indisputably contributed to our
diverse demographic. Nearly a quarter of our 23 million
people were born overseas – 1.7 million of them in Asia.
China and India are our largest sources of migration, and
ve other Asian nations, the Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam, constitute our top 10
source countries. As our demography evolved, our
economy also underwent important policy changes.

22.

Sections
• Today, Australia has developed into an open, dynamic and
highly productive economy with considerable strengths,
particularly in mining and agriculture, although the services
and manufacturing sectors also playing a signi cant role.
From the 1960s until the early 1980s, highly restrictive trade
policies, inef cient public sec-tor monopolies, low
productivity and growth, and poor comparative economic
performance resulted in a period of economic decline in
Australia.

23.

Sections
•Driven to become competitive domestically
and internationally, our Government’s broad
and aggressive reform agenda resulted in
enduring gains in our productivity and
growth, and a resurgence in our ranking
amongst developed countries.

24.

Sections
• Suddenly the speech is much more accessible. We
have ve sections. Two introductory sentences that
are sections in their own right, not much connected to
anything. Then section 3 addresses immigration to
Australia as a whole. In section 4, the speaker makes
the connection between the subject – immigration to
Australia – and his audience of Asian business people.
And in the last he moves from immigration to the
economy.

25.

Sections
• This simple exercise can demystify many a speech!
• Note that the sentence in bold could just as easily be
the rst sentence of section 4 as the last sentence of
section 3. The speaker is using it to transition from
one part of the speech to the next (by linking
demography – the previous subject – to economics –
the next one).

26.

Sections
•Often a speaker will not simply abruptly
change tack in their speech but rather
create a connection between two
subjects in this way. So it doesn’t matter
whether you break before or after this
sentence but simply that you recognize
the break at this point.

27.

Sections
•When we come to taking notes later on, marking these
breaks between sections of a speech will be one of the
cornerstones of our technique. You can pick any symbol to
mark these breaks – one might be //, which school teachers
and proofreaders often use to suggest a new paragraph.
And if you do this same exercise on a printed transcript
instead of on a screen, you can use this symbol
straightaway (Figure 7).

28.

Sections

29.

Mini summaries
Summarizing is a very important skill for conference interpreters.
And even though we are not usually asked to summarize, we can
summarize very well. Summarizing is an exercise in analysis; it’s
a question of deciding what is very important and what is less
important. And that is going to serve us well when note-taking
and interpreting consecutively (and interpreting simultaneously).

30.

Mini summaries
•A speech is divided up into sections, and copied it into a twocolumn table like the following one. A very brief summary of the
main message of each section of a speech is noted in the righthand column rather than as in the preceding structure. Look at
the following example.

31.

Example
•I am here to speak to you about an exciting
new skills training program in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely
populated countries. With approximately 156
million people (2013) living in a country about
twice the size of New
Bangladesh was recently con rmed as a
country of focus for Canada’s
international development efforts. This country
was chosen based on its level
Bangladesh is densely populated.
Leaving poverty is difficult.
Bangladesh is Canada’s development focus.

32.

CONCLUSION
• In terms of note-taking, mini summaries is also an extremely useful
fallback option. When a speaker is going very fast and fuller notes are not
possible, then listen harder and note down only a mini summary for each
section. If you choose the summary well, it will be enough to remind you
of the rest of the section
• . And even if it doesn’t, being able to give back a summary is better than
getting something wrong or leaving a blank.