Packaging In The Perception Of Interpreting Quality

Against the background of globalization,interpreting is turning into a service sector,which calls for a new perspective for its quality assessment."Packaging",as an important component of quality perception,deserves ample attention and careful analysis.In order to achieve good performance and ensure a perceived high quality from the audience,attention should be attached to all aspects involved in packaging.The thesis starts with an introduction of the framework and main ideas,followed by five chapters of elaboration and a conclusion.Chapter One focuses on the importance and complexity of interpreting quality perception.With a brief review of the development of interpreting profession and popular quality standards and criteria in interpretation,the author points out that interpreting quality assessment is a complex process with the interpreter as a communication-facilitator as well as a server.Chapter Two reviews the interpreting quality assessment criteria of major international organizations.It introduces three major international organizations in which simultaneous interpreting and consecutive interpreting prevail,including Association Internationale des Interpr(?)tes de Conf(?)rence(AIIC),The Directorate General for Interpretation(DG Interpretation) and United Nations Interpretation Service.Their different assessment criteria of conference interpreting are presented to introduce two aspects of interpreting quality assessment:content and packaging.Chapter Three is an analysis of packaging's importance.The author gives a brief account of the differences betwe??uality and perceived quality of interpretation followed by the packaging's impact on quality perception.Then Gile's Effort Model is adopted to justify packaging's function as a production or delivery technique in interpreting.Chapter Four,the most important part in the thesis,presents different aspects of packaging,including vocal rendering(voice projection,articulation,rate of delivery, pause,fluency,and microphone manners),and body language,especially eye contact in consecutive interpreting.Then the author points out that various components of packaging are not exercised independently of one another when needed,but come together to constitute a whole.In Chapter Five,the author leads the dissertation further into the ways of packaging enhancement.An interpreting curriculum design is proposed,and hopefully, it can contribute to the cultivation of new interpreters,synergistic exchanges among researchers and the enhancement of overall quality in the end.In the conclusion,the author points out the limitations of this study;and it is the author's hope that the research on interpreting quality,conducted through the perspective of packaging,can shed light on the future research in this field and inspire more practitioners and researchers to carry out a wider body of research.