A Skopos Theory Approach To Diplomatic Interpreting Strategies

Over the past years,China’s rising international status has contributed to the increasing of diplomatic activities between China and other countries or regions.As a result,diplomatic interpreting gains more and more significance.Compared to other types of interpreting,the purpose of diplomatic interpreting determines its own uniqueness.This thesis takes Hans Vermeer’s Skopos theory as its guiding theory,and Fu Ying’s speech and interview at the 2015 U.S.-China Forum at the University of Chicago as the source text for my consecutive interpreting.Through a guided analysis,this thesis tries to summarize key features and difficulties of the task,and discuss viable interpreting strategies and skills.The core of the Skopos theory regarding translation is about viewing a task from the perspective of the target language functions.It is function-oriented and emphasizes practicality.In this thesis,the author combs through the interpreting task and identifies four main difficulties arising in the interpreting process.They are,namely,politically sensitive language,diplomatic language,idioms and relatively long and complex sentences.In response to these difficulties,four main strategies are recommended.And they are literal translation,additive translation,corresponding translation and linear translation.The thesis concludes with a discussion on the meaning of this task and it is hoped that analysis like this may serve future interpreters when they go about similar interpreting tasks.