By now, we’ve seen multiple training exercises including basic shadowing, shadowing with longer lag time, and shadowing by paraphrase. If live interpretation is “running”, these will be the baby steps that get us to that point. There will be more of those on the way. But as some say, sometimes we need to run before we can walk. So, let’s go for a jog, try our hands at a bit of interpretation, and see how far those exercises have carried us.
Open this sermon.
Play it one sentence at a time. After each sentence, pause and interpret into English before moving on to the next sentence. There’s no need to rush, but don’t linger to get everything perfect. Remember:
- First, capture the meaning
- Always, complete your sentence
- If you can do the above, aim for precision and articulation
Give it a shot. You may surprise yourself with how well you do. Or you may realize how close you are. Whichever the case, practice always makes you better.
Leap of Faith
At this point, you have truly come a long way. From understanding how interpretation works, to getting your hands dirty with rudimentary practices, to finally putting everything together, you now have what it takes to actually do a decent job at interpretation. But we won’t know whether we can do it until we try, will we? So, as great as it is to practice interpretation at your own time with this training, I encourage you to take a step of faith and try your hands at a live session if it’s possible at your church.
Once you step up, you’ll be amazed at how all you’ve learned and practiced integrate into a coherent and natural interpretation without your conscious effort, especially when you stand under the love, guidance, and empowerment of God Himself.
What’s Next?
No matter how much success you experienced with this exercise, or whether your circumstance can afford you the opportunity to try live interpretation, our training is not over yet. There is another facet to sermon interpretation which we will discuss here, and multiple other ways to fortify our interpretation, which you will not want to miss.