A Study Of Cultural Discrepancies And Corresponding Coping Tactics In Interpretation

Along with the rapid development of globalization, people from different parts of the world begin to realize an increasing need to communicate with each other. As a bridge for communication between different cultures, interpreting has acquired more and more attention internationally. It is not only a simple bilingual process of transferring meaning, but also a communicative activity that exchanges underlying cultural connotations. Therefore, cultural discrepancies can greatly influence interpretation. Apart from language competence and technical skills, an interpreter is required to, above all, have a profound understanding of the SL and TL cultural discrepancies. This paper summarizes and classifies the cultural discrepancies between Chinese and English cultures from an inter-cultural perspective, analyzes the understanding deviation caused by these discrepancies, and explores some interpreting strategies to cope with them.There are mainly three parts in the paper. In the first part, the author discusses the definition, classification of interpretation, and the historical development of interpreting, especially SI and CI. In the second part, the focus is on the general cultural discrepancies between China and western countries as a whole. First, one of the major cultural dimensions, collectivism-individualism, which predominate China and the general English-speaking countries respectively, is introduced. It provides a powerful explanatory framework for understanding cultural similarities and differences in communication across cultures. Then the two corresponding communicational tendencies, high-context and low-context communications, are put forward, which exert great influence on interpreting activity. Later on, with these two pairs of intercultural terms, the author looks into the detailed cultural discrepancies between China and western countries in general. At the end, in the third part, the author further explores into the coping tactics used in various situations in interpreting, and explains the importance of flexible and comprehensive application of these tactics.Generally, interpreting is more a cultural-level communicational activity than a simple bilingual process. In order to achieve successful interpreting, an interpreter should not only strengthen his theoretical basis, but, more importantly, promote his cultural sensitivity and inter-cultural awareness.