The Subjectivity Consciousness Of Liaison Interpreters

With the development of China’s reform and opening up to the outside world,interpreting plays a more important role in the international communication. It becomesmore significant in the interpreting activities that how an interpreter views his own role,which would inevitably affect the outcome of the interpreting. Interpreters were onceregarded as the transparent conduit. However, this concept is widely challenged ininterpreting activities. Therefore, the research on the subjectivity of interpreters receivesmore attention.Compared with conference interpreting and simultaneous interpreting, liaisoninterpreting is more common. Liaison interpreters often engage in face-to-facecommunication and meet more unpredictable problems. They would assume more rolesand shoulder more responsibilities. However, the research on the interpreters is the least.Therefore, the study on the subjectivity consciousness of the liaison interpreters is moreimportant.In the1980s, the German Functional Translation Theory, represented by scholars inGermany, began to flourish. They transcended the discussions on the formal equivalenceand dynamic equivalence, and shifted their focus from the original text to the target text.They attach more significance to the functions of the original text in the culturalenvironment of the target text. Therefore, they highlight the role played by the translator.The thesis aims to testify the necessity and significance of the subjectivityconsciousness of liaison interpreters with German Functional Translation Theory. Themanifestations of subjectivity consciousness of liaison interpreters would shed light oninterpreting teaching, enrich teaching forms, and provide new ideas to better meet therequirements of society.The thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter introduces the researchbackground, significance and possible contributions, and the structure of the thesis. Thesecond chapter is literature review. It introduces the current situation of studies ofsubjectivity consciousness of liaison interpreters at home and abroad and GermanFunctional Translation Theory. The principles of the theory are introduced. The third chapter discusses the definition of liaison interpretation, and elaborates on the differencesbetween liaison interpretation and conference interpretation. The fourth chapter combinesthe German Functional Translation Theory with three manifestations of the subjectivityconsciousness of liaison interpreters. Examples are provided in this chapter. Objectivefactors are indicated to fully demonstrate the communicative environment of theinterpretation process. In the fifth chapter, the author introduces the current situation ofinterpretation teaching at home and discusses the feasibility of applying the subjectivityconsciousness of liaison interpreters into interpreting teaching. Also, the author providesthe mode of role play to help students better understand the subjectivity consciousness ofinterpreters. The author also calls for specialized interpreting lessons, and improvement ofthe test and accreditation system. The sixth chapter is the conclusion part.At present no universally recognized conclusion has been achieved on interpreter’srole. The thesis proposes tentative ideas, hoping to facilitate the improvement ofinterpreting teaching and training of professional liaison interpreters. It is expected that thethesis would catch more academic attention for further research.