A Survey Into MTI Students’ Perceptions Of The Role Of The Conference Interpreter

In recent years,studies on the role of conference interpreters have indicated that conference interpreters should be regarded as co-participants or cultural mediators in communication.This recognition is different from previous studies and the ethics code for conference interpreters of various international translation associations.Based on the previous survey of professional conference interpreters,the author conducted a survey of student interpreters.In this paper,the author first introduces the background and purpose of the research,then summarizes previous studies on the role of interpreters,explains the design of the questionnaire survey and the process of data collection,carries out a detailed analysis based on the obtained data,and finally comes to the research conclusions and puts forward suggestions accordingly.The questionnaire is designed according to a survey targeted at professional interpreters and it is mainly consisted of four parts.It mainly involves student interpreters’ rating on the degree of neutrality of conference interpreters,the use of interpreting strategies,the choice of communication ways and the choice of interpreting strategies under different meeting themes.The author sets these questions to find out how student interpreters’ perception of the neutrality of conference interpreters influences their choice of interpreting strategies and communication ways and to compare student interpreters’ data with those of professional ones.As a result,a majority of student interpreters think that conference interpreters should be highly neutral but their perception of neutrality has little influence on their choice of interpreting strategies.Besides,subject to their inadequate experiences and cultural background,most MTI students are active in their choice of interpreting strategies and show a preference for direct speech.