Abstract
This paper is based on my doctoral research on consecutive interpreting (CI) and note-taking
(Frey, 2007). Although many Japanese publications refer to the importance of CI and the
interpreter’s note-taking, only few empirical studies on that subject have yet been performed
for the Japanese language. For my dissertation I conducted a consecutive interpreting
experiment involving six professional Japanese interpreters rendering the same videotaped
English speech. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data (interpretations and notes)
yielded a rich set of findings. This paper deals with a specific aspect of the experimental
corpus, namely the tendency of the Japanese renditions to be longer than the original speech.
The factors responsible for this phenomenon are examined and the role of the interpreters'
notes is redefined in the light of my findings.
