Aspects Of Chinese Diplomatic Interpreting

The current thesis is an attempt to present a panoramic picture of the Chinese diplomatic interpreting (CDI), its history, unique features, special role of the interpreters, difficulties, strategies and the training.The paper comprises of five chapters in addition to Introduction and Conclusion. In the introduction, the author takes a look at what research has been done so far in this regard, and specifies how the current research distinguishes itself from the previous ones. Chapter one is a review of the history of DI in the world and the features of DI in terms of the language, content and role of interpreters. Chapter two presents a picture of CDI and its unique characteristics. Chapter three focuses on the diplomatic interpreters in China, who they are, what their social status is, and what specific problems they face during interpreting. Chapter four proposes strategies for the specific problems Chinese diplomatic interpreters encounter. In this chapter, the author argues for the idea of literal interpreting as the guiding principle for the sake of cultural diplomacy, coupled with some other flexible strategies to guarantee effective understanding on the parts of the listeners. The author backs the proposed strategy with the skopostheorie. Chapter five answers the question of how to become a diplomatic interpreter in China, focusing on institutional training and self-training. Chapter five also talks about how to prepare for an interpreting assignment before and during the interpreting.This paper touches upon the major aspects of Chinese diplomatic interpreting. What merits special attention is that, given the importance of cultural diplomacy, the author argues for the need to increase the output of Chinese culture through literal interpreting.