During consecutive interpreting the speaker stops every 1-5 minutes (usually at the end of every "paragraph" or complete thought) and the interpreter then steps in to render what was said into the target language. A key skill involved in consecutive interpreting is note-taking, since few interpreters can memorize a full paragraph at a time without loss of detail.
In spite of the vast differences in the skills of translators and interpreters, besides deep knowledge of both languages, it is crucial that they also understand the subject matter of the text or speech they are translating. Translation and interpretation are not a matter of substituting words in one language for words in another. It is a matter of understanding the thought expressed in one language and then explaining it using the resources and cultural nuances of another language.