A Study Of Listening Barrier In Gist Interpreting At The Fourth Cross-Strait Interpreting Contest

Gist interpreting is a skill widely used in listening abstracts, escort tours, conferences and forum, company affairs and telephone interpreting. However, it invites little attention either on the part of the interpreter or in the related academic community. Previously, studies were focused on the application of interpreting theories, skills, interpreter qualifications, conference interpreting and interpreting strategies as well, with few related to the listening barriers of interpreting. Gist interpreting is applied in the cross-strait interpretation contest, which was firstly held in April,2009. Since it is the area that has come into prominence just in the decade, there’s few literature reviews to be referred to in this aspect. In2011Gao Ruilin, a student from the school of foreign language studies, Xiamen University, published a paper A Preliminary Study In Gist Interpreting, which was the first paper in this regard.This thesis is intended to investigate the causes attributing to the mal-performance in gist interpreting. By analyzing the top five contestants’performance and the last five contestants’ performance of the fourth cross-strait interpreting contest, the writer tries to find out the barriers and variables that impede the contestant from a successful gist interpreting. Examining how these barriers and variables play a role in the performance of gist interpreting aids contestants with a better understanding about these problems that influence their success in the practice. In this paper, the characteristics of the gist interpreting, the students’ ability to interact cross-culturally and the adaption of skills are all critical components that need further discussion. The research shows that linguistic barrier and extra-linguistic barrier are the main reasons causing the listening barrier in gist interpreting.