The course introduces students to consecutive interpreting from French into Greek, with distinct listening and delivery phases. It familiarizes them with the main types and classifications of interpreting, as well as with the principles and techniques of consecutive interpreting. It combines analysis of spoken discourse, retention of meaning, selective note-taking, and clear, natural expression and delivery in Greek. It focuses on European and international institutional communication and includes introductory applications in public service settings and beyond. Training aims at the acquisition of core skills through guided exercises and simulations of professional conditions.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Distinguish the main types of interpreting and understand their specific requirements.
• Analyze, reconstruct, and rephrase information from spoken discourse in French (with an emphasis on the French of France and Canada), identifying the communicative situation, the communicative intent, the structure, the arguments, negations and affirmations, reservations, and the speaker’s stance.
• Retain and render, without notes, simple structured speech of up to two (2) minutes, preserving the main ideas and the relationships among them.
• Apply selective note-taking techniques to render segments of six to ten minutes, recording the structure, figures, proper names, and critical nuances of meaning.
• Convey the message accurately, clearly, and naturally in Greek, with appropriate register and pace, without unjustified additions or omissions, and without turning the rendition into a summary.
• Deliver speeches coherently and fluently before an audience.
• Organize their preparation for an interpreting assignment in an institutional setting by conducting thematic and terminological research.
• Compile documented French–Greek glossaries, verifying terms, equivalents, proper names, and numerical data against official sources.
• Render French-language interventions fully into Greek in simulations of short dialogues, requesting clarification transparently and respecting the boundaries of their role, confidentiality, and turn-taking.
• Identify difficulties in comprehension, memory, note-taking, and natural expression in Greek, and document their progress through reflection and by applying feedback to new passages.
• Make critical use of the approved digital environments for preparation and practice, checking the reliability of outputs and complying with the course policy on the use of artificial intelligence.

Course Content (Syllabus)

Week 1 – Introduction to interpreting: public communication and local life

Skills: Familiarization with the main types of interpreting and the differences between consecutive and simultaneous interpreting. Active listening and analysis of general-interest spoken texts, identifying the communicative situation and intent and the main ideas. Exercises in retaining and rephrasing meaning without notes, using short greetings and introductions of 45–60 seconds.

Week 2 – Education, youth, and mobility

Skills: Development of memory and of the ability to reconstruct spoken discourse, with an emphasis on the sequence of ideas and the logical relationships among them (cause and effect, chronological sequence, logical sequence). Exercises in comprehension, processing, and oral rephrasing of 60–90-second segments without notes. Preparation and delivery of short speeches before an audience. Introduction to preparation techniques for a given topic and to the search for reliable sources.

Week 3 – Culture, tourism, and sports

Skills: Identification of narrative structure and pragmatic rendering of cultural references in clear, natural Greek. Introduction to note-taking technique, with an emphasis on selective recording of information and on avoiding word-for-word transcription of the speech or narrative on paper. Memory exercises and consecutive interpreting of 90–120-second segments with minimal supporting notes.

Week 4 – European institutions and democratic governance

Skills: Searching for and verifying institutional terminology and compiling a French–Greek glossary. Development of note-taking technique, capturing the structure of the speech, the hierarchy of information, and linking relationships. Consecutive interpreting exercises with 2–3-minute segments.

Week 5 – Economy, labor, and social protection

Skills: Accurate retention, recording, and rendering of figures, percentages, and comparative and proportional data. Identification of argumentation and distinction between facts, positions/views/stances, evidence-based data, and conclusions. Thematic and terminological preparation and consecutive interpreting exercises with 3-minute segments with note-taking.

Week 6 – Environment, energy, and agri-food

Skills: Understanding and rendering cause-and-effect relationships, conditions, and scientific caveats. Use of reliable sources to prepare for specialized texts. Consecutive interpreting exercises with 3–4-minute segments with note-taking, with an emphasis on accurate reading back of notes (decoding), consistency of symbols, and turning notes into coherent discourse in the Greek rendition.

Week 7 – Public health, science, and innovation

Skills: Combined use of active listening, memory, note-taking, and oral expression. Rendering scientific information accurately, in natural, accessible, and well-sounding language. Midterm test with renditions of 2-minute speeches without notes and 3-minute speeches with notes. Feedback and identification of individual practice needs.

Week 8 – Diplomacy and international cooperation

Skills: Identifying and rendering the speaker’s stance, the diplomatic nuances of the discourse, reservations, and the degree of commitment expressed, through a sound understanding of modality (modal verbs) and its accurate representation in symbols. Adapting register to the communicative situation. Consecutive interpreting of 4–5-minute segments with note-taking and handling of the short Q&A sessions that typically follow such speeches (communicative situations).

Week 9 – Migration, asylum, and social services

Skills: Managing speaker turns in short dialogues taking place in public services (hospitals, schools, courts, etc.) and fully rendering French-language interventions into Greek. Formulating transparent requests for clarification, maintaining confidentiality, and understanding the boundaries of the interpreter’s role. Simulations with alternating interventions of 15–45 seconds.

Week 10 – Health, care, and communication with patients

Skills: Accurate and complete transfer of explanations and care instructions, with particular attention to relevant medical terminology, figures, time references, and conditions. Preparation of a relevant glossary and note-taking practice for short interventions. Simulations of communication with patients, with interventions of 15–60 seconds per turn.

Week 11 – Justice and administrative procedures

Skills: Accurate rendering of questions, denials, claims, and administrative or legal wording, without distorting the speaker’s position. Managing turn-taking and requests for clarification of the spoken discourse. Graded simulation with interventions of 20–60 seconds per turn.

Week 12 – Press conferences and public communication in digital environments

Skills: Consecutive interpreting of longer statements by political figures, lasting 5–6 minutes, with note-taking, and of short Q&A exchanges of 20–60 seconds. Preserving the speaker’s position, register, and nuances of meaning. Preparing and delivering speeches before an audience and practice in handling communicative pressure.

Week 13 – Regional cooperation and institutional visits: mock conference

Skills: Comprehensive preparation for and participation in a mock conference, with roles assigned to speakers, interpreters, and participants. Combined application of thematic research, terminological preparation, active listening, memory, note-taking, and public speaking under conditions approximating the professional environment. Consecutive interpreting of a main segment of up to 6 minutes and of short questions. Self-assessment, peer assessment, and documentation of progress.

Bibliography

Recommended Reading

In Greek

Ιωαννίδης, Α. [Ioannidis, A.] (2022). Θεωρία και πράξη της διερμηνείας [Theory and practice of interpreting]. Κάλλιπος, Ανοικτές Ακαδημαϊκές Εκδόσεις [Kallipos, Open Academic Editions]. https://doi.org/10.57713/kallipos-93

In Other Languages

Gile, D. (2009). Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training (Rev. ed.). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.8

Gillies, A. (2005). Note-taking for consecutive interpreting: A short course. St. Jerome Publishing.

Gillies, A. (2017). Note-taking for consecutive interpreting: A short course (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315648996

Gillies, A. (2019). Consecutive interpreting: A short course. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315648972

Jones, R. (2002). Conference interpreting explained (2nd ed.). St. Jerome Publishing.

Pöchhacker, F. (2022). Introducing interpreting studies (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003186472

Rozan, J.-F. (1984). La prise de notes en interprétation consécutive. Librairie de l’Université.

Setton, R., & Dawrant, A. (2016a). Conference interpreting: A complete course. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.120

Setton, R., & Dawrant, A. (2016b). Conference interpreting: A trainer’s guide. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.121

Souza, I. E. T. de V., & Fragkou, E. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of research on medical interpreting. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-9308-9

Wadensjö, C. (1998). Interpreting as interaction. Longman.

Woo, K. (2025). Analysis of student interpreters’ self-assessment from the perspective of self-regulated learning. FORUM, 23(1), 85–106. https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.24006.woo

Related Academic Journals

• FORUM
• The Interpreter and Translator Trainer
• Interpreting
• Translation & Interpreting

The initial article “The” is disregarded in the alphabetical ordering of titles.

Sources for Teaching Materials and Terminology Documentation

• Assemblée nationale: https://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/
• Council of the European Union Video: https://video.consilium.europa.eu/
• EUR-Lex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/
• European Commission Audiovisual Service: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/
• European Parliament Multimedia Centre: https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/
• IATE: https://iate.europa.eu/
• Speech Repository: https://speech-repository.webcloud.ec.europa.eu/
• UN Web TV: https://webtv.un.org/

Teaching Methods

In-person, face-to-face instruction in the university classroom, with short theoretical presentations, demonstration of the process by the instructor, individual practice, and work in groups of three.

The roles of speaker, interpreter, and listener rotate. Each cycle includes a first rendition, self-assessment, feedback, targeted repetition, and application to a new passage.

Use of Information and Communication Technologies

Use of digital teaching materials and speech repositories for interpreting practice.

Use of the course’s eClass page for materials, instructions, deadlines, submissions, recordings, and feedback. Audiovisual sources, a projector, listening and recording equipment, official terminology databases, and parallel institutional texts are used.

Dedicated Workbenches and H5P-compatible tools are integrated for interactive, multimodal practice under the strict supervision and guidance of the instructor.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used as described below:

• Scope of use. AI use is permitted exclusively for the following educational purposes and under the strictest supervision of the instructor.
• Preparation and teaching. The instructor uses AI to prepare and adapt materials that develop advanced skills, namely: multimodal exercises of different types, memory exercises, auditory and visual stimuli presented sequentially or simultaneously, activities of graded difficulty, and multiple-choice questions. The instructor reviews all materials before they are used in class with a projector and the other audiovisual equipment described above.
• Workbenches and H5P. AI supports the smooth integration of dedicated Workbenches from AI platforms into eClass and the embedding of H5P-compatible tools. These environments increase interactivity and create specific conditions for interpreting practice, such as combined processing of stimuli, speaker turns, and controlled increases in difficulty (speed, turn-taking, etc.).
• Performance assessment. AI is not used to assess student performance, except in cases where the parameters and criteria have been strictly defined by the instructor. Any such use remains under the instructor’s control, and the final evaluative judgment and grading rest solely with the instructor.
• Assignments and research preparation. AI use is not permitted in student assignments or in reflective activities. For research and preparatory investigation, AI use is recommended only when it is part of exercises carried out in the dedicated Workbenches and/or accompanied by cross-checking of information and sources. This limited use does not lift the prohibition on producing deliverables with AI.
• Specialized glossaries. AI may assist in identifying candidate terms and exploring specialized glossaries. Every term and every target-language equivalent must be confirmed in official terminology databases and institutional sources of the relevant subject field and specialization, such as IATE, and in official parallel texts. AI suggestions do not constitute documentation and do not replace students’ own research and drafting of the deliverable.
• Critical and responsible use. The course tests the capabilities and limitations of different tools. It examines the accuracy, omissions, distortions, and biases of outputs and their suitability for interpreting. It fosters evidence-based tool selection, protection of confidential material, and responsible use.

Assessment

In Weeks 1–2, a diagnostic assessment takes place: an ungraded rendition of an unseen passage and a self-assessment questionnaire.

This is followed by formative/continuous assessment. Weekly exercises are submitted within 48 hours and carry no grade weight. They are accompanied by descriptive feedback for each criterion, self-assessment, and peer assessment in groups of three (speaker, interpreter, observer) and/or with the whole class.

Students complete two assignment-preparation projects, submitted 24 hours before Weeks 6 and 12. Each includes 20 documented bilingual entries with source, context, and French collocation; a one-page assignment brief; and a short original speech in French for in-class practice.

The criteria are as follows:

• documentation 40%,
• functionality 40%,
• currency and clarity 20%.

The portfolio forms part of the overall assessment. Portfolio A includes samples from Weeks 3 and 5, with a 200-word analysis per sample, and is submitted within 48 hours after Week 5. Portfolio B includes samples from Weeks 8, 10, and 12, with a 400-word reflection, and is submitted within 48 hours after Week 13. For each sample, students submit the initial rendition, a corrected attempt, a new sample, and their notes. The portfolio criteria are as follows:

• evidence-based diagnosis 40%,
• application of corrections 40%,
• progress plan 20%.

The final/summative assessment has three components.

• The midterm test includes two equally weighted unseen passages on a prepared topic: 2 minutes without notes and 3 minutes with notes.
• The authentic two-way simulation lasts 8–12 minutes.

Seventy percent of its grade covers renditions from French into Greek, and 30% covers interaction management and ethics, namely role and confidentiality, turn-taking and first-person delivery, and transparent clarification and correction, at 10% each.

The final exam is held in person, with two equally weighted source speeches of 5 and 10 minutes in a European or international institutional setting, with notes. Topics are announced 48 hours in advance, without the texts, and 20 minutes of preparation time are given. A personal verified glossary and notes are permitted; ready-made translations, live transcription, and automatic generation of renditions are not. Oral renditions are graded on a common five-criterion scale:

• fidelity to content and speaker’s stance 45,
• structure, coherence, and reconstruction 20,
• naturalness, accuracy, and register in Greek 15,
• oral delivery 10,
• terminology, names, and figures 10.

Each criterion is scored from 0 to 4, with points = weight × level / 4, and the same error is not penalized twice. The criteria and schedule are posted on eClass before graded work begins.