A Brief Introduction To Business Interpretation And The Shanghai Business Interpretation Certification Program

This thesis first introduces the definition of an interpreter and the five categories of interpretation according to the different settings of interpretation, namely conference interpretation, business interpretation, court interpretation, escort interpretation and broadcasting interpretation. After that, the thesis gives a general account of academic interpretation training and certification as well as the private interpretation market in China after 1979 when the UN set up the first ever professional interpretation training program in Beijing Foreign Studies University. This paper then focuses on the quality standards of business interpretation, including professional, educational and linguistic quality. It also emphasizes that interpretation trainers have to be active interpretation practitioners themselves. It goes on to talk about the requirements for a candidate and how can the candidate prepare himself/herself before he/she starts the training. In Chapter Three, the paper analyzes in detail the Shanghai certification program of business interpretation, including its preparation phase, textbook design and course design. The paper also analyzes the design and the current status of the written and oral exams for the Business Interpretation/Translation Certificate and provides statistics on previous exams in the past three years. In Chapter Four, the paper offers some recommendations and suggestions on the Shanghai business interpretation training in terms of program promoting, trainer recruiting, candidate screening and classroom setting.