An Analysis Of The Roles Of Escort Interpreters

During the internship in Beijing International Chinese College in July 2016,the author acted as an escort interpreter for a visiting group of participants from nearly ten different countries,who had outstanding performance in “China Unlimited” Creative Competition.This experience made the author realize that an escort interpreter may have to undertake different types of responsibilities other than just interpreting.However,as the author has been pursuing his Degree of Master of Translation and Interpretation,he notices that MTI education barely contain any contents concerning the roles of escort interpreters,which means that students' proficiency in undertaking escort interpreting tasks cannot be enhanced in a targeted way.The author selected specific cases in which he had to play different roles and made correspondent analysis,hoping to find strategies and solutions for the tasks originated from these roles.The research methods he adopted include reading professional literature and keeping record of interpreting process in written or audio form for analysis.Through task description and cases analysis,the author draws some conclusions as follows: 1.Escort interpreters usually have to stay with the clients for longer periods of time and have more interactions.Therefore,they must always bear in mind that they are representing the image of their employers and even their country;2.Escort interpreters work in various occasions and their work contents can be very close to life,meaning that they must obtain good bilingual proficiency and abundant cultural reserves;3.As escort interpreting can be highly spontaneous,escort interpreters should always be mentally prepared and quick-witted for unexpected problems.