Cultural Conflicts And Coping Strategies In C-E Guide Interpreting In Light Of Skopos Theory

With the development of China’s economy and the deepening of globalization,there are increasingly more exchanges between China and the internationalcommunity. China’s abundant natural and cultural tourism resources have long been amagnet to foreigners. Inbound tourism has become an important force in thedevelopment of China’s economy, giving rise to the profession of guide interpreting.One distinct element in inbound tourism is culture while guide interpreting is also across-cultural communicative activity. Due to the cultural differences between Chinaand the West, cultural conflicts are inevitable in such communication. Only whenproper methods and strategies are adopted to handle and resolve these culturalconflicts, the ideal effects of guide interpreting can be achieved so as to realizeeffective cross-cultural communication.Based on previous researches and available materials of guide interpreting, thisthesis endeavors to seek the specific strategies for tackling the communicative barrierscaused by cultural conflicts, which, hopefully, will improve the quality of guideinterpreting.As a major form of liaison interpretation, guide interpretation is a cross-culturalcommunicative activity. Guide interpreters transfer the information about the sceneryspots given by the guide to target tourists. While sharing the common features ofliaison interpretation such as bi-directional, impromptu, interpersonal, extensive andcomplex etc., guide interpretation also has its own unique characteristics:tourist-oriented and culture-oriented. The differences in values, thinking patterns,religions, traditions and geographical locations between China and the West willsurely lead to cultural conflicts in guide interpreting, which require the interpreter toplay the role of cultural intermediary to ensure successful cross-culturalcommunication.The theoretical framework of this thesis is Skopos theory which is proposed byGerman scholar Vermeer and has great influence on practical translation and interpretation. Skopos theory breaks the traditional translation theories based onlinguistics, taking translation and interpretation as activities with certain aims orintentions. The core idea of the theory is that the methods and strategies adopted ininterpreting are determined by the aim or function of the interpreting activity. Later,Skopos theory was further developed by other scholars of German school, forexample, Nord with her famous “function-plus-loyalty theory”. Vermeer and Nord putforward three basic rules of Skopos theory: Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelityrule. Among the three rules, Skopos rule is the dominant one, emphasizing theprimary role of the aim.In light of the three rules of Skopos theory, this thesis proposes the basicprinciples in coping with the cultural conflicts in guide interpreting: put tourists first,promote Chinese culture as much as possible, and keep neutral. At the same time, thestandards of guide interpreting are also raised in this research, namely, accurateness,smoothness and promptness, providing guidelines for guide interpreting. Based on thematerials collected from guide interpreting field work and personal experiences as aguide interpreter, the present author puts forth five feasible and specific strategies tocope with communicating barriers during guide interpreting. They are culturalamplification, cultural omission, adaptation and paraphrase, vague rendition ofsensitive cultural elements and analogy.