Turn-Taking Consecutive Interpreting
Consecutive Interpreting for the UK
Structured turn-taking with professional note-taking. Court witness testimony, medical consultations, depositions, First-tier Tribunal hearings, solicitor client meetings, police station attendance under PACE Code C.
- NDA on request.
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What Consecutive Interpreting Actually Is
Consecutive interpreting is turn-taking: the speaker delivers a passage — typically 30 seconds to 3 minutes — while the interpreter takes structured notes. When the speaker pauses, the interpreter renders the passage in full into the target language. Turn-taking continues throughout the session. For court and deposition work, the interpreter often renders sentence-by-sentence rather than in longer segments, because accuracy on individual utterances is the priority. For consecutive interpreting to work, both sides accept the roughly doubled run time as the trade-off for careful, verifiable rendering.
This is the mode you book for a solicitor client consultation with a Polish-speaking client, a Ukrainian witness on the stand in the Crown Court, an outpatient review with a Romanian-speaking patient, a First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) appeal hearing, a police station interview under PACE Code C, an Employment Tribunal unfair dismissal claim, or a formal opening address at a bilateral summit. If the speaker cannot pause every few minutes, you need simultaneous — see the simultaneous interpreting page.
Pricing
Consecutive is quoted per session and priced by language pair, duration, setting, and notice.
Final price confirmed before booking, based on language, location, date, duration and availability. Minimum booking applies, and travel outside the city is quoted separately. Fixed rate confirmed before the session. No connection fees, no per-participant surcharge. B2B accounts invoiced with round-number pricing.
How It Works
Four steps from booking to your interpreter in the room or on the call.
Tell Us the Basics
Language, setting (court, medical, deposition, business), date and time, expected duration, and any case papers to review in advance.
Match and Confirm
We assign an interpreter with the right language pair, subject to availability. Fixed price confirmed in writing.
Prep & Brief
Share case papers, medical history summary, witness statement drafts, or agenda 3 to 5 working days ahead. Interpreter builds terminology and reviews the file.
Session & Invoice
Interpreter on site or on the call. Turn-taking through the session. Paid on confirmation, by card or bank transfer.
Where Consecutive Fits Best
Where consecutive interpreting fits.
Court & Tribunal Witness Testimony
Magistrates' Court, Crown Court and County Court witness examination, family courts, First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum), Employment Tribunal, police station attendance under PACE Code C.
- Magistrates', Crown, County witness examination
- First-tier Tribunal (IAC / SEC) appeal hearings
- Employment Tribunal claims
- Police station attendance under PACE Code C
Medical Consultations
Outpatient appointments, GP consultations, maternity reviews, discharge planning conferences, pre-op consent. Sentence-by-sentence rendering with clinical terminology cross-checked with the clinician.
- GP and outpatient consultations
- Maternity and discharge conferences
- Pre-op consent and imaging reviews
Depositions & Witness Statements
Solicitor consultations, deposition and Section 9 witness statement preparation and expert witness examination.
- Solicitor client consultations
- Deposition and Section 9 statements
- Expert witness examination
Formal Opening Addresses & Bilateral Meetings
Keynote and opening speeches where slower pace suits the content, cross-border bilateral meetings between two counterparts, ceremonial addresses.
- Keynote and opening addresses
- Cross-border bilateral meetings
- Ceremonial and public addresses
Note-Taking Discipline
Long-form consecutive interpreting depends on structured note-taking as a memory support, not a transcription. The interpreter captures the logic and named entities of the passage — subject, verb, object, connectors — using a personal notation system. Numbers, proper names and dates are captured verbatim. Adjectives and modifiers are captured as symbols. On rendering, the notes cue the interpreter through the passage in the target language, delivered in full sentences without gaps.
Sentence-by-sentence consecutive — used in Crown Court witness examination, at police station attendance under PACE Code C and in medical consultations — uses far shorter memory windows and often no notes at all. The trade-off is that the interpreter must render each sentence before the next begins, which requires disciplined turn-taking on both sides.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is consecutive interpreting the right choice over simultaneous?
Consecutive is the right choice when accuracy matters more than pace and turn-taking is acceptable. Short bilateral meetings, courtroom witness examination, medical consultations, depositions and witness statement preparation, opening addresses and keynote speeches, and any setting where a slower rhythm suits the content. Simultaneous is used when the flow of speech cannot stop — plenaries, board meetings, symposia.
How does consecutive interpreting actually work?
The speaker delivers a passage — typically 30 seconds to 3 minutes — while the interpreter takes structured notes using a memory-support notation system. When the speaker pauses, the interpreter renders the passage in full into the target language. Turn-taking continues throughout the session. For court and deposition work the interpreter often renders sentence-by-sentence rather than in longer segments.
Do you use note-taking or memory-only for consecutive?
Both, depending on setting. Sentence-by-sentence consecutive in the Magistrates' Court, at police station attendance under PACE Code C, or in a Ukrainian-language First-tier Tribunal appeal, is memory-only for short exchanges. Long-form consecutive (expert witness examination, depositions, formal opening addresses) uses professional note-taking. This is a discipline in its own right — symbols for logical connectors, structured cue lines, numeric and named-entity capture.
How much longer does consecutive take than simultaneous?
Consecutive roughly doubles the run time. A 60-minute meeting delivered simultaneous stays 60 minutes; delivered consecutive it lands closer to 100–120 minutes. This is why consecutive is the wrong tool for full-day plenary sessions and the right tool for a solicitor consultation, a witness statement in Ukrainian, or a Polish-speaker medical consultation.
Do you work in UK courts and tribunals in consecutive mode?
On request, subject to availability. Court and legal interpreting is quote only. Consecutive is the standard mode for witness testimony in the Magistrates' Court, Crown Court, County Court and family courts, for the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber, Social Entitlement Chamber, Employment), for police station attendance under PACE Code C of the 1984 Codes of Practice, and for Section 9 witness statements under the Criminal Justice Act 1967.
Do you cover consecutive medical interpreting?
Yes. GP consultations, outpatient appointments, discharge planning conferences, maternity reviews and pre-op consent are all delivered consecutive. The interpreter renders sentence-by-sentence and clarifies clinical terminology with the clinician when needed.
What lead time do you need for consecutive bookings?
Scheduled sessions are confirmed once an interpreter is free. Short-notice bookings depend on interpreter availability. For a complex deposition, 5 to 10 working days is preferred so the interpreter can review case papers and build a glossary.
How is confidentiality handled during consecutive sessions?
We can put an NDA in place on request.
