Fuzziness-Related Interpreting Strategies In Diplomatic Interpreting

Fuzziness,as an internal characteristic of natural language,is one of the essential properties of diplomatic speech.Diplomats sometimes intentionally use fuzzy language as a strategy to mitigate their expressions.In the diplomatic field,the handling of language is especially important,and the interpretation of diplomatic language is different from that of other fields,which requires political sensitivities,accuracy,and appropriateness.So,it is a test faced by interpreters to accurately grasp the degree of fuzziness in diplomatic speech,interpret appropriately,and convey diplomatic intentions correctly.In terms of fuzzy language in diplomatic interpretation,previous studies mostly started from theories such as Skopos theory or Adaptation theory,but there were few interdisciplinary studies that combined with the sociological perspective.As for the sociological perspective,Bourdieu believes that the three major elements of social practice are "field","habitus",and "capital",The three of them are intertwined and interact with each other.Any practical human behavior,including interpretation,is carried out in a specific field and shaped by the field itself,personal and social habitus,and capital within the field.Therefore,this thesis adopted Bourdieu’s sociological theory to discuss three questions:a)what were the features of the fuzzy language used by professional and student interpreters in diplomatic interpreting?b)what were the similarities and differences in the selection of interpreting strategies?c)what were the reasons for the various strategies chosen by the professional interpreter and student interpreters from Bourdieu’s field,habitus,and capital?Twelve student interpreters were selected to conduct the mock interpretation in this study,and they were divided into two groups in accordance with their interpreting capability.The materials were from the Premier Minister Li Keqiang’s 2022 press conference(Questions and Answers Section).Then after data collection,this study inputted the interpretation of the professional and student interpreters into NVivo.v12,coded the interpreting strategies,and corresponded to the fuzzy language in the source material.Finally,the reports were analyzed and summarized from Bourdieu’s sociological perspective.Based on the analysis of NVivo.vl2,this study summarized several findings.Firstly,the main types of fuzzy language used by student interpreters were relatively consistent with those of the professional interpreter.According to the frequency from high to low,they were the rounders,adaptors,then negations.Other types of fuzzy language,such as strong fuzzy verbs,plausibility shields,attribution shields,rhetorical structures,and non-subject structures,appeared less frequently and in different frequencies.Secondly,for the interpreting strategies in use,student interpreters’ top options were literal interpretation and omission,followed by liberal interpretation and addition.The professional interpreter preferred literal interpretation much more than the other three types of interpreting strategies:omission,liberal interpretation,and addition.Thirdly,among the three factors,capital had the most significant influence on student interpreters’ strategy.Student interpreters with poor cultural capital had to choose specific strategies because task saturation or ability limitation left them unable to choose other strategies.That means cultural capital directly affects the choice of interpreting strategies,and omission became student interpreters’ primary interpretation strategy.The characteristics of the diplomatic field made literal interpretation their second choice because literal interpretation is the most conservative interpreting strategy.Furthermore,that was also why literal interpretation ranked first among interpreting strategies used by the professional interpreter.In addition,student interpreters in both groups each formed their own personal habitus according to their practice,which influenced the choice of omission and addition.Different from previous studies,this study compared the professional interpreter with student interpreters in their fuzziness-related interpreting strategies from the perspective of Bourdieu’s sociological theory.Thus,this study enriched the research of fuzzy language interpreting strategies while making suggestions for the development of student interpreters and their transition to professional interpreters,thus providing theoretical guidance for cultivating foreign interpreting talents.