Coping Strategies For Technical Terms In Technical Interpreting

This report is based on a real interpreting task themed on 3D glasses.The most prominent difficulty is that there are too many technical terms describing a complicated procedure or a concept.As a result,the interpreter has difficulties in understanding the technical details.During the meeting,three types of problems constantly flare up,namely,misinterpretation,loss of important information and interpreting failure.This report is aimed at discussing the coping strategies for technical terms in the process of interpreting.Guided by the Skopos Theory,the author uses strategies “inquiry”,“explanation”,“omission” and “visualization” to analyze the three types of problems.“Inquiry” refers to inquiring about related background information before interpreting;“explanation” refers to using general words to convey information of technical terms;“omission” refers to keeping core information and omitting unimportant messages of a speaker;“visualization” refers to using drawings or figures to vividly explain a complicated concept.In this report,misinterpretation is mainly analyzed with strategies of inquiry and explanation;loss of important information is mainly analyzed with strategies of explanation and omission;interpreting failure is mainly analyzed with strategies of explanation,omission and visualization.The author hopes the four coping strategies can guide his future interpreting practice,help him grasp and convey the key points of speakers,so as to realize the goal of communication.