Fostering Professional Interpreters & Professionalism In The Interpreting Market

Interpreting is no different from other expertise in terms of its domain-specific nature and skill-orientation. Faced with higher requirements and expectations from the interpreting market, interpreters have no choice but try their best to become more professionalized by upgrading their interpreting skills and improving their professional ethics and practice. In other words, professionalization of interpreting has been a global trend that is irreversible and irresistible.This paper is first an endeavor to review the history of interpreting practice and studies both in the West and in China, pointing out the very fact that interpreting, despite its long history and indispensable role in bridging different cultures and peoples, was not rapidly developed as a profession or seriously considered as something to be studied until after 20th century. Meanwhile, due to the distinction of geopolitical and economic development as well as of academic foundations, the pace of professionalization of interpreting has been varied in different countries.The paper afterwards explores the status quo of underdevelopment of professional interpreting in China. Existing problems in domestic interpreting research, training and practice are expounded upon mainly in light of the lack of systematic interpreting studies, the absence of professional standards and ethics, disorganized interpreting training, imperfect quality assessment systems, immaturity of professional associations, deregulation of the interpreting market and insufficient external recognition for interpreters. Those imperfections are reflected in and testified by the survey conducted by the author about the Shanghai interpreting market. It is then followed by an attempt of some feasible and effective suggestions towards these problems, such as promoting innovative interpreting studies, standardizing various training programs, improving accreditation procedures, and strengthening regulation of the interpreting market, etc.In conclusion, the paper proposes that despite a daunting task to accomplish, professionalization of interpreting is not a mission impossible but a future to embrace in China.