Cultural Conflicts In Business Interpreting And Coping Strategies

Cross-cultural communication is no longer a strange scenario in business activities,like negotiation.To ensure a smooth cross-cultural communication,there is indeed the necessity of bridging the gap of languages,which explains the thriving of interpreting in the business negotiation.A language,however,is closely interwoven with its culture,to which an interpreter should pay close attention,because quite often improper management of cultural conflicts will bring about confusion and even lead to the breakdown in business negotiation.This practice report gives a detailed account of author's interpreting at the business meeting between Titan Ltd.,a Spanish solar power company,and Chinese entrepreneurs interested in Titan.In the report,the author describes the whole process of interpreting,which consists of pre-task preparation and on-site performance.After the description come several case analyses that illustrates the explicit and implicit issue,colliding negotiation pace and disparity of emotional displays.Case analyses are followed by coping strategies,which consist of explicitation of logic,simplification and amplification,and adjustment of tone.The author hopes that this report can serve as a reference for further study on similar topics.