On Sports Interpreting From The Perspective Of Fidelity To Sense

Sports interpreting, as a newly arisen profession of ISP-Interpreting for SpecialPurpose, has taken its prominence in booting international fraternity andcross-cultural intercourses at sports venues by clearing off language obstacles andmisunderstandings. This owes to the glocalization of gymnastic and athletic activities,including world-level competitions and exchanges among sports experts. A sportsinterpreter comes in handy when athletes from various countries in the same team areunable to speak the same language. Professional sports interpreting can not onlyreduce miscommunications among teammates who need to get their messages acrossprecisely, but also help players shun gaffes when facing media. At the level ofinternational athletic assembly like Olympic Games, interpreters are even expected tobe faultless.Taken that effective communication is apt to be ruined during cross-countryexchange by simply sending a bilingual as an interpreter, we can ascertain there haveto be a rigorously established criteria for sports interpreting. Moreover, given that thesocial, commercial and superstructural value that sports undertakings are multiplying,sports interpreting is earnestly expected to become more specialized, standardized andprofessionalized.Nevertheless for the time being, the process of interpreting professionalization inChina is still in its infancy, lagging behind that of the Western world, partly due to itslate commencement and partly due to an immature training system. As a result, it ishoped that a sound academic research in this regard will serve as a foundationalimpetus to ameliorating sports interpreting. Rather than a well-explored area,academic exploration of ISP is still in its initial stage which deserves a focal footholdin the study of interpreting. Therefore, the author takes pains elaborating on this issue,dabbling extensively in the relative literature works and empirical researches, with aview to make it better known.Sports interpreting with its unique characteristics in terms of linguistic features and objective setting, entails a particular inspection, so a complete process of L1production, interpreting and interpreter activities in question and L2recipience will beanalyzed from the perspective of Interpretive Theory and Fidelity Principle. Thecombination of the two paradigms yielding Fidelity to Sense can help interpreterssmooth out comprehensive knots in his profession and facilitate prime understandingamong different parties of multi-lingual backgrounds.By doing so, the author attempts to give emphasis to the importance of sportsinterpreting in this paper so as to offer her humble contribution to the development ofinterpreting undertakings. More than a guinea pig for the academic study, this paper ismoreover a piece of advice for those who take interest in this field, who are or will beactual practitioners in sports interpretation.