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Table of Contents
The nuts and bolts of note taking p. 2
Tips for note taking p.3
- Openness and willingness p.3
- Abbreviations (Definition and examples) p.4-7
- Symbols (Definition and examples) p.8-9
- Using arrows p.10-11
- Organizing notes p.12-13
Practice time p.14-15
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THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF
NOTE TAKING
Note taking, like any other skill,
requires practice and patience.
The development of a good note
taking technique will not happen
overnight. It is necessary to tailor this
system to our own needs and
dedicate time to practice it!
It is important to acknowledge that
consolidating a good note taking
system requires time, practice,
commitment and exposure. Give
yourself the chance to try new
strategies and methods that will help
you. It might not be perfect at rst, but
as long as you see some improvement
every day, you will be on the right
track.
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TIPS FOR NOTE TAKING
Openness and willingness: Working on developing our note-
taking skill can be overwhelming and frustrating at times, but
good interpreters will always find the best way out.
Notes are very personal and every interpreter takes notes in a
very unique and particular way. Trial and error is part of this
process until you find a methodology that suits you best.
However, you must be willing and open to try.
Avoid frustration and achieve success.
Try Fail Try again Succeed
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ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviating is the process of shortening words or
phrases. The rule of thumb in note taking is:
If you can abbreviate, you should abbreviate.
Nevertheless, using abbreviations is not just about
shortening words or phrases as much as you can, we
must also make sure to understand our notes later on.
Otherwise, anything written down will be useless.
Drop the vowels whenever it’s
possible
Week Wk Claim Clm
Worker Wrkr Adjuster Adjstr
Month Mnth Nurse Nrs
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Incorporate numerals and go
with phonetics
Later L8r Wait w8
Forward 4wrd Too late 2L8
Before B4 Today 2dy
Play around with words that
convey the same meaning but
are shorter
On the other But Because, for As/why
hand, However, this reason,
Nevertheless since, given the
fact that, etc.
To finish, to End Well, alright, to OK
terminate, agree, fine, etc.
closure, etc.
In this moment, Now
right away,
immediately
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Use acronyms for some
commonly used terms
Medical record
MRN Date of Birth DOB
number
Social Security Out-of-pocket
SSA OOP$
Administration expense(money)
Social Security Bank of America
SSN BoA
Number (proper name)
Blue Cross and
Primary Care
PCP Blue Shield BCBS
Physician
(Proper name)
Mother -in-law MIL Father-in-law FIL
Year, make and
YMM Over-the-counter OTC
model
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Negation:
There is an effective way to
abbreviate negative statements by
using (-), (X) or by crossing out a
word or symbol.
ORG: “Sorry, I do not have money in this moment”.
Sry, - $ RN
Sry, Xhv $ RN
Sry, hv $ RN
ORG: “She does not feel very well”
She - fl ok
She Xfl ok
She fl ok
(OK is underlined to abbreviate the intensifier “very”)
Now, it’s your turn to try!
Create your own abbreviations.
There are plenty of ways to shorten
particular common words and phrases
but we encourage you to use your
personal abbreviations to improve your
notes.
You can do it!
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SYMBOLS
Symbols can represent a term, phrase or even an idea.
A simple drawing, trace or even a single letter can be
used as a symbol.
Little by little, start incorporating simple yet e ective
symbols in your notes.
Practice is key in order to remember the symbols we’ve
created and their meaning.
Common symbols
After, in the
Number,
amount # future, the next
day
Yesterday, past, Minus, less,
before decrease -,
More, add, a lot,
much, many +, Pay, money $
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Common symbols (part 2)
Like, love,
preference
Money $
Happy, content, Phone, phone
excited number
Mail, letter, Talk,
envelope conversation “A”
Unfortunately,
Female, male sadly,
uncomfortable
Re-use symbols
Money $ Rent $r Mortgage $m
Billing Billing
Bill B address B add department B dpt
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USE ARROWS
By taking notes in a vertical way you will be able to
incorporate arrows to connect ideas, terms, concepts
and/or phrases.
By doing this, re-writing something that was previously
stated in your notes is avoided, making the best out of
those precious seconds we have to render accurately.
Example 1:
“Ma’am, In order to get our services back, you need to go
Fresno’s o ce to make the payment. Once that payment is
done, you may call us with the receipt number and the service
will be restored within the next hour."
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Example 2:
“Anoche retiré dinero del cajero automático con mi tarjeta.
Lamentablemente, me robaron el dinero y la tarjeta también.
¿Qué puedo hacer para cancelar mi cuenta? No quiero que
nadie use mi tarjeta.”
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ORGANIZING NOTES
Going vertically/ stacking
Vertically / stacking - Listing: It has been proved that putting ideas
as a list helps our memory not to forget details.
In note-taking, listing or going vertically means taking notes from top
to bottom (sometimes following a diagonal pattern) rather than going
from left to right by keeping only main ideas and key words. This
method represents the backbone of the note-taking system for many
interpreters, since it:
Allows to group ideas logically, keeping a complete
and immediate synthesis when we come to read back
our notes.
Helps to create links which would be essential to the
clarity of the text.
Helps to collect factual data conveniently.
Allows organizing ideas by keeping mainly key words,
on a list.
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Example 1:
“Good morning, thank you for calling SouthwestPro Bank, my
name is James. To further assist you, may I please, have your first
and last name, your date of birth, address including zip code,
account number and the reason for your call?”
Example 2:
“Llamo para hacerle saber qué tuve un accidente esta mañana
alrededor de las 8:30am, entre la Columbus St y la 5th St. Iba saliendo
del estacionamiento del centro comercial cuando un carro que iba
frente al mío frenó de la nada. Yo no pude frenar a tiempo y choqué
por detrás”
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Practice time!
Below you’ll find a conversation between a Client and a LEP person. In the notes
we can see some of the useful tips previously explained being put into practice.
Take a look at the abbreviations and symbols used.
“Thank you for calling CVS pharmacy. I need your name, the last four digits of your social security number,
date of birth and reason for the call”
“Buenos días, soy Sandra Gomez. Los últimos cuatro de mi social son 3987, nací el 8 de junio del 52 y
llamo porque necesito surtir mi medicamento recetado por el Dr. Sanchez.”
“I can see here that there is a refill order for Metformin. This is formulary medication for your insurance
plan which means that you only need to pay $5”.
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NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!
The objective of this guide is to
provide useful tips to inspire you to
create an e cient note taking
technique based on what works for
you.
During this journey, give yourself the chance to try and experiment
with di erent methods, strategies and tips until you nd what best
suits your needs.
Remember: Note taking and memory retention work together!
The idea of taking notes it’s to trigger your short term memory in
order to render complete and accurate messages.
It is a slow but growing process in which learning is at every step of
the way.
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