A Study Of The Telephone Interpreting From The Perspective Of Translation Action Theory

With the rapid development of the technology, more and more modern technical tools and devices are being applied to translation industry, so that a variety of new translation forms have been emerging, and telephone interpreting is included. At present, the institutions or organizations and even some individuals show their increasing interests in it for its unique characteristics, such as:convenience, high efficiency and relatively low cost. Therefore, it shows a huge potential in translating market.Although telephone interpreting appears in western countries much earlier, it is still in its infancy in China. After the successful holding of Beijing Olympic Games2008, the World Expo2010Shanghai, the16th Guangzhou Asian Games, more and more foreigners immigrate into China or establish companies in China. The need for telephone interpreting is growing at a very fast speed, so we can witness that this new model of interpretation has great potential in Chinese market undoubtedly. And this paper will analyze telephone interpreting action from the perspective of translation action theory, aiming at giving a new vision of telephone interpreting study and letting others know this new interpretation form the angle of the theory of translation action, which is a significant branch of German functional translation school.In order to find out how the theory of translation action guide the telephone interpreting action, the author analyzes telephone interpreting in views of the participants, the cross-cultural elements, as well as the function and purpose. Through intensive and careful analysis, it can be concluded that the telephone interpreting can be summarized as a cross-cultural translating action concerning at least three sides and with two languages involved. And the author also tries to categorize telephone interpreting texts into groups based on their functions and purposes, in hope of finding out translation strategies for different types through analyzing living examples.In order to test the feasibility of the guidance of translation action theory to telephone interpreting action, the theoretical analysis in this paper is mainly qualitative. And some typical and persuasive examples are also provided.Although telephone interpreting is a new form of interpretation, it hasn’t changed much in nature. As for the telephone interpreters, they should enrich their knowledge continuously and improve themselves constantly to keep pace with the changing times. In spite of abundant knowledge of all walks of life, the telephone interpreters should also equip themselves with strong psychological diathesis and excellent service attitude.Unfortunately, the present study of telephone interpreting, mainly focusing on the introduction of the present situation as well as its advantages and disadvantages, has not been developed into a systematic theory. This paper hopes to help people to get a better understanding of the telephone interpreting, to enrich the telephone interpreting study from the perspective of translation action theory, and to offer some practical suggestions for telephone interpreters.