A Report On The CTS-CCL Dalian One-day Tour Interpreting Project

This report aims to explore strategies for tour interpreting based on the reporter’s interpreting experience on the CTS · CCL Dalian One-day Tour. The reporter was confronted with a series of difficulties when interpreting the Chinese introduction to the city of Dalian, spot sites in Dalian, and Chinese customs and culture. These problems mainly involve the problem that "faithful" translation was not understood, the difficulty with expressions concerning Chinese culture and history, and the difficulty in dealing with politically sensitive topics raised by tourists. After her research of previous studies and repeated reflections, the reporter found some interpreting strategies that can help interpreters to a large degree. The first is adopting a tourists-centered perspective, which means that the interpreter should convert Chinese expressions into expressions with which foreign tourists are familiar. The second is adding background information. The interpreter needs to add background information about some Chinese cultural elements to the interpretation to help foreign tourists understand speeches from the Chinese tour guide. The third is expanding the scope of knowledge. The interpreter should pay close attention to the Chinese elements that might be involved so as to provide appropriate interpretation. The last is developing the interpreter’s own initiative. The tour interpreter should actively participate in the tour and always ready to help, in addition to playing a role of an interpreter. The report points out that a qualified tour guide interpreter ought to employ these strategies coupled with consciousness of accumulation of knowledge and experience with the language and cultural differences between Chinese and English. With proper flexibility a tour guide interpreter can offer foreign people novel experience and original taste of the culture and history of China. Through analyzing the difficulties during the tour interpreting project in detail, the reporter offers advice to in-service interpreters in the tourism industry and MTI students as well.