Analysis On The Role Of Interpreter In The Setting Of Business Dialogue

The report is based on a business dialogue interpreting practice for Lancaster China Catalyst Program in May,2016.The author accompanied Director of UK Site-eye to visit Shenzhen Junxian Company and discussed the time-lapse system,potential business cooperation and Chinese tea culture with Junxian's counterparts.The report firstly introduces background of the interpreting scenario including clients' information and task requirement.Then it elaborates the entire process of the practice,involving pre-task preparation,on-task performance and post-task evaluation.Literature review covers the definition of some key concepts such as business interpreting,dialogue interpreting,and the role of interpreter as well as Wadensj?'s notion of the double role of a dialogue interpreter.Then under the guidance of Wadensj?'s concept,the author conducts a detailed case analysis of the interpreting practice from the perspective of interpreting tactics and turn-taking,aiming at exploring the role of interpreter in business dialogue.Through case analysis,it is found that the interpreter in business dialogue performs the double role of “relaying” and “coordinating” demonstrated by Wadensj?.On the one hand,the authors adopts multiple interpreting tactics,like addition and ellipsis to properly relay information and facilitate communication when countering contents loaded with traditional Chinese culture or beyond the pre-task preparation;on the other applies turn-taking principles,transfer turns,create turns,interrupt or neglect turns and accept turns to coordinate the whole progress of dialogue.Therefore,the interpreter in business dialogue is not invisible or a mere conduit,but serves as an active information relay,negotiation coordinator and cultural communicator,supporting the entire conversation and enhancing mutual-understanding.