A Report Of Liaison Interpretation Based On The Skopos Theory

Liaison interpretation plays an increasingly important role in international exchanges inthe era of global integration. Nowadays liaison interpretation is widely used in diplomacy,commerce, tourism, law and medicine and other occasions as a common form ofinterpretation. Liaison interpretation, as a special language communication activity, has itsown characteristics, which are interactive, instantaneous and cross-cultural communicative aswell as involving broad-coverage knowledge. Due to the complexity of liaison interpretation,interpreters may encounter several difficulties during the practice of liaison interpretation.This thesis discusses problems I encountered during the practice of liaison interpretation inthe Fourteenth International Fruit and Vegetable and Food Exposition and puts forwardinterpreting strategies on the basis of the Skopos theory.The Skopos theory emphasizes the importance of the function and purpose of thetranslation, which requires translators to focus on the needs of the target text. Since thedifferent backgrounds between Chinese culture and western culture, liaison interpretation hasunique and distinct cross-cultural purposes. Therefore, the interpreters should make greatefforts to eliminate cross-culture and language barriers and bridge the communication of thetwo sides. As a breakthrough to the traditional equivalence-oriented approaches, the Skopostheory offers a new perspective to translation studies. According to the Skopos theory,translation is a purposeful intercultural action and translation strategies are decided byspecific translation purposes. In order to achieve the purpose of translation, translators shouldgrasp the intention of the source text to choose the proper translation strategies according tothe intended function of different types of the texts. In terms of the Skopos theory, it plays anextremely important role of theoretical support for liaison interpretation to some extent.The report begins with the background of this interpretation project, the FourteenthInternational Fruit and Vegetable Exposition, including my main task and preparations for theExpo. After pointing out the definition and features of liaison interpretation, the reportdiscusses the problems encountered in the practice. The problems can be attributed to three aspects: lack of preparations before the interpretation, how to deal with problems in theprocess of interpretation and how to play the role of interpreters. According to the Skopostheory, five interpreting strategies are brought forth, which is inquiry strategy, transliterationstrategy, omission strategy, free translation strategy and adaptation strategy. I have learnedhow to figure out problems during liaison interpretation with relevant strategies through thispractice, which is of vital importance for later study. The research about liaison interpretationand problems in the practice may also provide references for interpreters.