Abstract：Identification of main ideas is a fundamental skill of great importance in interpreting. The unique process and aims of interpreting mandate that great attention be given to the nurturing of the skill because it makes a great difference in the quality of interpreting. The paper proposes that training on identification of main ideas should be conducted on the sentence level and the discourse level . On the sentence level, interpreters should be exposed to the linguistic disparities between the languages. On the discourse level, background investigation, note-taking, logical analysis of types of speech, visualizing, and anticipation are emphasized.
