I was given this book by a coworker doing a book purge -- the book dates from the 1950s and is written by an interpreter from the University of Geneva. He gives an overview of the skills required to be a successful interpreter, the challenges of simultaneous vs consecutive interpretation, and how to resolve problems involving difficult subject fields, difficult clients or time constraints.

Overall it is a somewhat discouraging book, especially for beginners, because the ideal interpreter is an impossible thing. For example, he says you need to have just the right tone of voice: not too low, too high, too screechy, too mumbly, too rasping, too soft... And you need to speak at a measured speed, except when you have to interpret quickly to match the speed of the person for whom you are interpreting. You shouldn't take too many notes, except when you don't get any notes beforehand. His section on taking notes is also tremendously confusing -- it advocates creating a form of personal shorthand but discourages the use of actual shorthand because it's difficult to read shorthand (i.e. standard shorthand) aloud fluently, and his suggestions for helping you create your personal shorthand seem unnecessarily complex. Basically, the book seems to suggest that you will just know what to do in a given situation, which is not much help. And of course, because it is so old, it does not take into account the stratospheric leaps in modern technology that would make interpreters' jobs easier. This is really only valuable as a historical curiosity (or to reaffirm one's decision to stay within the relatively safe confines of translation instead). ( )