A Report On Escort Interpreting For A Tradtional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis-Inquiry

Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)has started to exist in the Spring and Autumn Period and has been in development in successive dynasties.It enjoys a far-reaching impact on the countries in the Chinese culture circle.As a unique medical achievement in China,TCM embodies rich Chinese cultural values,such as yin and yang,the five elements,qi and blood,meridians and collaterals.Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019,the role of TCM in the fight against the disease and prevention of infectious diseases has been attracting attention and recognition of people all over the world.Cervical spondylosis is a common and frequently occurring clinical disease,which causes great mental and physical pain to patients.TCM,which provides favorable support for non-surgical treatment,has its unique advantages of less pain,non-toxic,low cost and fine effects.In March 2020,the author was offered a chance for an escort interpreting service regarding a TCM diagnosis-inquiry.The client has suffered from the Whiplash Syndrome(a type of cervical spondylopathy)that she has got from a car accident.The task as an interpreter is to help the client with this TCM diagnosis-inquiry and take care of things related to it(like making appointments with the doctor,taking medicines,arranging for the follow-up visits,etc.).This report focuses two phases of communication,on-site diagnosis-inquiry interpreting and pharmacy interpreting,for an analysis of the difficulties and challenges the author has encountered under the guidance of the Interpretive Theory.The difficulties encountered in this task include handling TCM and medical terms,dealing with cultural and colloquial expressions and responding to emergencies.In response to the issues,the author has followed the Triangular Model guided by the Interpretive Theory in three processes-comprehension,deverbalization and reformulation to analyze cases through some interpreting coping strategies.These strategies suggested from the model have not only helped to ensure effective and flexible communication between the speaker and listener,but also make the interpreting task go smoothly.Through the analysis of this report,the author hopes to share the experience in the escort interpreting service with the trainee interpreters and inspire them for better performance in similar interpreting services.