An Analysis On Interpreting Quality-Gauging Criteria And Improving Methodologies

Interpreters have long played a pivotal role as linguistic and cultural intermediaries. In modern times, due to rapid advances in technology as well as to increases in international trade, travel and migration, frequency of contact between peoples of various cultural backgrounds and languages has increased enormously. As the need for multilingual and multicultural interchange grows, so will the need for interpreters. The professional interpreter is an intermediary, whose job is to enable others to communicate. Various unfortunate metaphors have been used in relation to the manner in which this role is perceived: a conduit, a transparent tube, a telephone wire, a photocopy machine, a transformer. Which one of these could be counted as a proper epitome of interpreter and the nature of interpreting performance? Interpreting quality has been a most recurrent theme in research concerning interpretation. What has been long recognized is that quality and reliability of interpreting are difficult to ascertain.This dissertation sets out from interpreting in modern times and related research around it, proceeds to examine the prerequisites, factors affecting interpreting quality, then by going through a series of views and theories on interpreting quality and discussion of their pros and cons in the light of the nature of interpreting and linguistics, proposes the best system to capture the elusiveness of interpreting quality to be a norm-based system, a normative model based upon putting interpreting and interpreter in behavioral context. In the wake of the establishment of proper criteria about interpreting quality, the second part of this paper tackles interpreter training or education from five aspects based upon the foregoing expounding of interpreting quality which serves as the goal of interpreter education. The object of this dissertation consists in, through shedding light on the multi-faceted flowing nature of interpreting quality, presenting one dimension of the panorama of interpreting event as an interactive social event in a ever-changing world and putting forward constructive advices for interpreter training.