A Report On Interpreting For SCO Qingdao Forum On Local Economic And Trade Cooperation

Liaison interpretation is a cultural exchange activity under specific historical and social backgrounds.Interpreters used to be regarded as "language converters" before the late 20th century.However,the author finds that liaison interpreters have played a more vital role based on her interpreting activity at Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao Forum on Local Economic and Trade Cooperation(referred to as SCO Qingdao Forum thereinafter).And interpreters serve as active participants in interpreting activities by giving full play to the Interpreter’s Subjectivity Consciousness.From April 23nd to April 29th,2021,the author took part in the SCO Qingdao Forum as a liaison interpreter and then composed this report based on her practice.This report records a series of challenges faced by the author,including communication conflicts between the two sides involved,imbalance of discourse power,stereotypes from foreign guests and insufficiency of interpreting competence.The author made strenuous efforts to coordinate the two sides in order to complete the task of publicizing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Demonstration Area(SCODA)to the world,promoting the success of the SCO Qingdao Forum and spreading Chinese culture.Serving as the liaison interpreter for Mr.Babak Besharati,a senior representative of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry,and Ms.Sun Yang,a Chinese liaison officer from the Qingdao Municipal Government,the author was mainly assigned three tasks:liaison interpreting for Mr.Besharati’s reception at the airport,for the banquet,and for the visit to the SCODA Trade Fair and Tsingtao Beer Museum.Thanks to her good understanding of three main components of the Interpreter’s Subjectivity Consciousness:visibility,empowerment,and non-neutrality,the author successfully completed all her tasks assigned.Visibility ensured the author acted as a gate-keeper,co-interlocutor and coordinator when MS.Sun lacked the passion for participating and communication conflicts arose;empowerment guided the author to empower Ms.Sun when Sun was not able to perform her duties due to her inferior social position;to dispel the stereotypes of Mr.Besharati,who had a lot of misunderstandings towards China,and to promote Chinese culture,the publicization of SCODA and the success of SCO Qingdao Forum,the author inclined to Ms.Sun and the organizer according to the non-neutrality.It is hoped this report could help the author deepen the understanding of the various roles liaison interpreters should play in interpreting for the future and provide a reference for interpreters to improve their on-site interpreting skills.