Difficulties in Rendering of the Affirmative and Negative Constructions

Interpreters sometimes have problems with distinguishing between affirmative and negative messages, which occur due to certain phonological interference (interrelation of similar sounds, failure to "hear" the no/not particles), poor SL signal, or excessive concentration of attention on other parts of the message. The best safeguard in such situations is the communicative context of the message, however, in consecutive interpreting there is always an option to apologise and ask the speaker to repeat what has been said. Below there are some real-life examples:

Нам абсолютно [?] імпонує допомога з боку міжнародних організацій where it is not easy to perceive the message phonologically due to the interference of the -но in абсолютно which could have been wrongly understood as не (імпонує);

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: And fortunately Mr Telek is present. You have the floor! Here and fortunately can be wrongly interpreted as unfortunately and only the context and the diplomatic protocol of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly allow selecting a correct option.

However, interpreters have to remember that there are no "perfect" speakers (as well as no "perfect" interpreters) and that there is always a threat to mishear or misunderstand the message due to various objective and subjective factors of the real-life communication. Thus, the main focus should be made on the context so that to reduce these risks to a minimum.