| Interpreting can be categorized into conference interpreting and community interpreting based on the occasion it is conducted.Conference interpreting is practiced at international summits,professional seminars,and bilateral or multilateral meetings of heads of State and Government;while community interpreting is mainly conducted at a country's public service institutions and agencies such as hospitals,courts,schools,the deaf and mute communities,etc.Past studies on interpreting mainly center on conference interpreting.In recent years,with the increasing pace of progress in economic globalization and economic integration and the continued rise of China's status in the world,international exchange is increasing in breadth and depth with each passing day,an increasing number of foreigners come to study,work or live in China.The issue of language barrier and misunderstanding caused by differences in values is becoming prominent and a growing number of cross-cultural communication problems are encountered in public sectors such as hospitals,schools and courts.Therefore,the shaping of community interpreting ethics relevant to the need of crosscultural communication is becoming a new topic faced by the development of tranlative ethics.In the past,the defining of the role of interpreters was largely influenced by the Conduit Model,which was brought forward based on the features of conference interpreting.From the perspective of ethics,those roles are constructed on the principle of “faithfulness”.There are more face-to-face contacts in community interpreting than in conference interpreting,which renders community interpreters' active participation in the cross-cultural process instead of just playing a conduit role.This switch of role is undoubtedly a challenge to the traditional translative values constructed on the value of “faithfulness”.The author first analyzes the characteristics of community interpreting,then probes into the switch of role of community interpreters from a cross-cultural communication perspective and maintains community interpreters are cross-cultural communication facilitators which serve at the same time as oral language translator,cultural mediator and turn manager.Those new roles call for the introduction of new ethical priniciples for community interpreting.Confronted with possible misunderstanding and conflicts in cross-cultural encounters such as in medical,court or telephone interpreting scenarios,it has become a key issue for practice in light of community interpreting ethics to uphold the value goal of translative activities and in the meantime promote harmonious interactions between people from different cultural backgrounds.The author maintains that community interpreting ethics is a communication ethics based on the “Skopos theory” and “Discrouse Ethics” and it encompasses the ethical principles of “faithful reproduction,flexible coordination,active facilitation”.In light of these ethical principles,community interpreters need to break away from the role defined by the Conduit model and the binding of neutralism imposed by conventional translative ethics,and take initiative in promoting the unfolding of the communicative process and materializing the ultimate goal of interation – interpersonal harmony.The author uses cases from different community communicating settings to study the ethical dimension of community interpreting guided by the Skopos Theory and the Discourse Ethics.The author also invokes research data and conclusions from the research project titled Cross-cultural communication in Chinese-English interpreted situations conducted during the author's visit in Australia as a visiting scholar to confirm the necessity,importance and ethical justifiability of community interpreter's function as facilitator of cross-cultural communication. |
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