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same time either using the equipment—the headphones and the microphones—or really while 

just sitting near your speaker, you do it at the same time. The real simultaneous interpretation, of 

course, is the one where you use equipment—the headphones and the microphone—and where 

the listeners hear you in their own little headphones, so that‘s the real simultaneous interpretation.  

In consecutive interpretation, you basically allow the speaker to speak for a minute or two or 

sometimes five, sometimes more, and then you interpret what he has just said. Sometimes you 

take notes. Sometimes you just rely on your memory to interpret consecutively—that is to say, 

after the speaker. And those two ways of interpretation have, I think, right now, their own niche 

and their own advantages and disadvantages. 

The advantage—the great advantage of simultaneous interpretation is that it saves a lot of time. 

It does save a lot of time, so it is used in international organizations, particularly in those 

international organizations where there are several working languages. There are now six 

working languages in the United Nations, and in the European community, there are 16 working 

languages, so only simultaneous interpretation can work. 

On the other hand, in more intimate situations, when two leaders meet and talk and sit down 

together like we are sitting down now, it‘s a lot better, in my opinion, to use consecutive 

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interpretation or semi-simultaneous interpretation, because there is no equipment; there is no 

need to have those mikes and headphones. And, generally, it‘s a lot better, a lot more intimate 

when you use that kind of interpretation in one-on-one situations, and a lot of the negotiations at 

the head-of-state level are one-on-one. 

Q — Let me just show a little bit of videotape when you were here with Mr. Gorbachev when he 

did BOOKNOTES and you were doing the interpretation. I just want the audience to see what it 

looked like. See, on the screen, you are sitting in a booth and he was here in the studio, and you 

had the headsets on. Is—I—do—how much do you miss in those circumstances? I mean, how do 

you keep track of what he‘s saying? 

A — Well, you keep track because the trick in simultaneous interpretation is hearing, listening 

and speaking at the same time, and that trick you learn. It is something that you can learn. Again, 

this is not rocket science. Simultaneous interpretation is now almost a mass profession. I mean, 

it‘s—it‘s not a profession that is—where people who work there are as numerous as, let us say, 

in law or in medicine, but it certainly is a profession where many people work and they can do it. 

So this is not something that‘s extraordinary. You have to learn. And, also, it comes with 

practice. The more you practice, the more successful you are at doing this. 

Q — What does Mr. Gorbachev like, the simultaneous or the consecutive? 

A — Well, I have done Gorbachev in both modes, so to say, simultaneous and consecutive. I