An Analysis Of Guide Interpreting From The Perspective Of Contextual Correlates Of Adaptability

As a bridge of cultural communication between China and foreign countries,guide interpreting makes a great contribution to promoting Chinese culture.Therefore,the quality of guide interpreting has a direct impact on cultural exchanges and the national image of China.The fact that Chinese tourism industry develops rapidly demands a higher quality of guide interpreters.This thesis is based on the service provided by the author for a Pakistani student.The most valuable part of the interpreting task focused on the tour to the Zhengzhou Confucius Temple.Featuring the Muslim background,the foreign visitor had a little understanding of Chinese culture.He used relatively simple words in English and many grammatical mistakes appeared in his remarks when he visited the temple.In the second half of his tour,the foreign visitor had an amicable conversation with a Chinese tourist.Contextual correlates of adaptability,a perspective from pragmatics,is the theoretical basis of this thesis.Guide interpreting has the general characteristics of interpreting,which is not only a linguistic behavior,but also a communicative behavior,containing complex cultural,social mental context of language users.Therefore,in such specific contexts,interpreters' awareness of adaptation from language users,the mental world,the social world and the physical world is the manifestation of contextual correlates of adaptability.This thesis integrates an approach of pragmatics with guide interpreting to improve communication between different contexts.Examining the practice of providing interpretation services for a Pakistani student studying in China within the framework of contextual correlates of adaptability in the Adaptation theory,this thesis summarizes the application of Contextual Correlates of Adaptability in guide interpreting and evaluates the performance of the interpreter in this task in light of fidelity,the acceptance of audience,swiftness and the technical details so as to improve the delivery of interpreting in different contexts.Analyzing the interpreting task mentioned above in the framework of Contextual Correlates of Adaptability,this thesis not only broadens the application scope of the Adaptation theory,but also offers a new theoretical approach for the study of guide interpreting.The author hopes to offer some help and inspiration to beginners of guide interpreting and other interpreting learners.