On Cultural Mediation In Community Interpreting From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

As a particular manifestation of translational activities,community interpreting is a highly complex activity which includes enormous cultural-related issues,generating tensions that may lead to ethical conflicts,which in turn make it difficult for legitimate decision.For recent translation studies,research focus on cultural issues has been mainly placed on strategies or surveys to intercultural differences,among which research categories of community interpreting are similar.Besides,scarce attention has been paid to the practice of cultural mediation by interpreters in community interpreting,thus research on borderlines between cultural mediation and neutrality for interpreter is also limited.This paper attempts to shed light on the significance and influence of cultural mediation in community interpreting.With reference to quality criteria for community interpreting as well as the role of community interpreter,the paper discusses the suitability of cultural mediation within common interpreting criteria.Based on skopos theory from translation studies,the paper proposes accuracy,impartiality and coordination as the guidelines for cultural mediation in interpreting practice.Through case study,the paper illustrates and analyses the main difficulties for cultural mediation in community interpreting from general to specific dimensions;then it explores the application effect of the mentioned guidelines considering the practical communicative effect.Finally,the author suggests that self-knowledge and self-reflection are two important qualities for cultural mediation in community interpreting.