The Role Of Liaison Interpreters

With China’s accession to the WTO and the accelerating globalization, international trade and business exchange develop rapidly. Against this backdrop, there is a growing demand for liaison interpreters. Those interpreters are of great importance in facilitating cross-cultural communication. The roles they play in this process have attracted growing interest accordingly.This report, based on the practice conducted by the researcher in serving as the liaison interpreter for a German client to attend the 2015 Sino-German SME Cooperation and Communication Conference, visit the SINO-GERMAN METAL ECO CITY in Jieyang, and conduct business negotiations, and the author’s practice of liaison interpreting at the 2015 Guangzhou International Documentary Festival(GZDOC), analyzes the characteristics, problems and possible solutions of liaison interpreting. The discussion concentrates on three roles that the author played during his liaison interpreting: the role of an activity organizer, a personal assistant and a conflict mediator.It is hoped that this report could shed some light on potential interpreters who might have interest in liaison interpreting.