The Role Of Interpreters In Business Negotiation

The role of an interpreter has become a vexed issue for researchers both at home and abroad.Two most representative models have thus been proposed: “Talking machine” and “Communication facilitator”.Directed by the first model,authoritative institutions have set up some codes of practice for interpreters and required them to do their job in a fixed and professional manner.Based on personal work experience,the author discovers that it is somehow impractical to follow these principles all the time.This thesis firstly analyzes three typical examples that the author encountered while interpreting for 2017 China-CEE Enterprises Cross Border Investment and Cooperation Conference.During the interpreting process,the author notices that simply serving as a neutral,invisible talking machine may not fulfill the needs of the interpretation assignment,and considering the high level of interaction and other features of business negotiation,it may be necessary to reconsider the role of an interpreter in this special interpreting setting.Combined with a thorough analysis of those real cases,the author also conducts a series of follow-up interviews on 20 professional interpreters in order to figure out veteran interpreters' views on their role and learn some practical strategies mostly adopted by them.The author expects that trainee interpreters could draw some new insights from this thesis and make more flexible adjustments during their interpreting work.