Florida International University

Department of Modern Languages

 

ORAL SKILLS FOR INTERPRETERS

 

SPT-4806

 

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND REQUIREMENTS:

 

1. SPT-4806 focuses on the development of oral skills necessary for professional interpreting, including phonation or sound production; relaxation and breathing techniques; proper articulation, diction, and phrase elocution; oratory and rhetoric; as well as principles of argumentation, logic, evidence, and reasoning. The objective is to enhance comprehension, concentration, memory, formulation, delivery, and endurance in both English and Spanish. This course meets on Wednesdays from   6:25 to 9:05 p.m. at TC-163 (Example).

 

2. Goals: a) to familiarize students with all major aspects of voice production and diction, from the physiology of the voice to the pragmatics of oratory and argumentation; b) to teach students how to evaluate and develop their own speaking voice quality and optimum expressiveness, with clear and correct diction, appropriate rate, volume, force, intonation, and pitch variation; c) to promote development of oral expository skills and eloquence in both languages, through an understanding of rhetoric and the principles of argumentation, reasoning, and debate; d) to improve the mechanics of interpretation, including concentration, memory, delivery, speed, and endurance.

 

3. Requirements:   This course will have ample readings and practical exercises to be done both at home and in class every week. There will be self-evaluations, peer evaluations, and evaluations by the professor, both of class performance and recorded home assignments. Some class work will require previous written work in the form of preparation of compositions, speeches, debate arguments, and interview questions at home. Every student must have a standard-size tape recorder   to be brought to class every day and to turn in recorded homework. Every student must keep a portfolio of self, peer, and professor evaluations of his/her work arranged chronologically. It must demonstrate steady progress and improvement. The portfolio will be turned in the penultimate day of class for grade computation and will be returned to you on the last day of class. All interim evaluations will be qualitative only. Class participation is crucial, since this course has no exams or papers. Attendance is MANDATORY. Absences will severely affect your class participation grade, as will tardiness. Be ON TIME.

 

4. Final Grade will be calculated as follows:

 

20%     Self-Evaluations  

30%     Peer Evaluations               

30%     Professor Evaluations                   

20%     Class Participation           

           

 

5. Required Materials:

 

- A Sourcebook available at the Copy Center (GC 1st Fl.)

- A standard-size cassette recorder (and plenty of tapes).

 

 

 

TOPICS & READINGS

 

I           January

W        10       

Introduction to the course.

1.      Voice and Diction: A Preview 

(pp. 1-5, assessment forms)

II         

W        17       

2.   The Voice and Its Parts  (pp. 1-40)

3.   Phonation: Developing Good Voice Quality  (pp. 41-59)

4.   Relaxation  (pp. 17-27)

III        

W        24       

5.      Respiration: Controlled Breathing  (pp. 70-91; 144-155)

6.      Developing Effective Vocal Resonance  (pp. 112-137)

7.   Phonation for Speech  (pp. 166-195)

IV       

W        31       

8.   Articulation Glossary; Basic Principles  (pp. 3-7; 22-33)

9.   Int’l Phonetic Alphabet; Phonetic Transcription  (pp. 68-71; 9-17)

10. English Vowels and Diphthongs  (pp. 22-55)

 

V         February

W        7        

11. Consonants I, II, & III  (pp. 57-103)

12. Sounds of American English Consonants  (pp. 52-3; 160-1; 54-177)

VI       

W        14       

13. The Sounds of American English Vowels  (pp. 179-265)

14. Sound Combinations  (pp. 267-289)

VII

W        21       

15. Pronunciation  (pp. 104-111)

16. Vicios elocutivos más comunes del español  (pp. 21-43)

VIII     

W        28       

17. Time: Rate, Rhythm, and Melody  (pp. 113-121;317-327;352-373)

            18. Achieving Vocal Expressiveness: Pitch  (pp. 394-411; 122-134)

 

IX        March

W        7        

19. Intensity and Force  (pp. 135-143; 428-439)

20. Achieving Variety on Your Musical Instrument  (pp. 200-223)

21. Phrasing; Intonation and Stress; Voice Quality  (pp. 144-183)

X                                                                    

W        14       

22. Gestos, postura, mirada, medios de comunicación, oratoria,

no verbalismo  (pp.79-151)

23. Content & Interpretation; Voice as Personality  (pp. 225; 267-311)

 

XI       

W        21       

SPRING BREAK, March 19-24 (university closed)

 

XII

W        28       

24. Speech-Making; Figuras descriptivas  (pp. 251-265; 69-86)

25. Argumentation: Proposition, Thesis, Analysis, Terms, and Issues 

(pp. 17-55; 48-65; 56-61)

26. The Brief and The Constructive Case  (pp. 69-95)

 

XIII      April

W        4        

27. Evidence and Proof  (pp. 99-106; 102-115; 108-126)

28. Reasoning: Analogy, Causal, Induction, and Deduction 

(pp. 128-151; 123-167)

XIV

W        11       

29. Reasoning in Action; Emotion; Fallacies; Sofismas 

(pp. 169-189; 152-163; 148-155; 164)

30. Refutation  (pp. 235-249; 199-213)

 

                        PORTFOLIOS COLLECTED

XV      

W        18       

31. Presenting the Case: Composition; Parliamentary Debate 

(pp. 251-65; 254-7; 310-19)

 

PORTFOLIOS RETURNED

 

 

 

¡Buena suerte y feliz verano!