A Practice Report On Guide Interpreting In Zhongshan Museum

Carrying the core of a city’s culture,museums serve as a window to promote Chinese culture and play a crucial role in cultural exchanges.This report is based on the author’s interpretation practice at Zhongshan Museum in Guangdong Province on August 2^nd2022.In the practice,the author provided Chinese-English interpretation service for a client from the United States in two main exhibition halls—the Exhibition of Zhongshan History and the Exhibition of Zhongshan Overseas Chinese History accompanied by the museum tour guides.The foreign client therefore had a further understanding of the historical and cultural development of Zhongshan City.In this report,the author analyzes the difficulties encountered in the interpretation process from the perspective of Translation Variation Theory put forward by the Chinese translation scholar Professor Huang Zhonglian.“Adaptation”is the heart of the Translation Variation Theory,which requires the interpreter to be flexible so as to meet the needs of clients.Based on the interpretation practice,the author summarizes three major types of difficulties in processing the source language:culture-loaded words and phrases,synonymous expressions and implicit logical relations.She adopts three techniques in the theory that are suitable for interpretation—amplification,combination and editing to conduct cases analysis in a detailed way.Through this interpretation practice,the author believes that adequate pre-task preparation is pivotal in guide interpreting in museums such as conducting on-the-spot investigations in advance.They should also obtain relevant cultural knowledge,strengthen the abilities to improvise and to respond immediately to emergencies,so as to achieve a high degree of competency in interpretation.