Ask the villager to slow down a little so that you can make your notes, then check your notes at the end of the interview by translating them back into the villager's language for him. Radio and television journalists can overcome this problem by using their tape recorders, but newspaper reporters might also find a tape recorder useful in such situations. You should still make notes, but have a tape recorder running at the same time so that you can check later to make sure that you made the correct translation during the interview. (See Chapter 16: Interviewing basics.)