任姝玥
武警工程大学，陕西西安 710086
0.Introduction
In this new era of change, the human society is progressing rapidly on various fronts. As the earth gradually turning to a “village” and nations connecting more closely, it is high time to urge interpreters participate in the communication and make it more explicit and easier to understand. In the following parts, I intend to explore what is interpreter and culture, why “the interpreter is always by necessity an instance of intercultural communication”, how to approach intercultural mediating and some bad parts that need to be eliminated while preserving the good ones.
1.Interpreter and Culture
Many people hold the opinion that anyone with a certain level of bilingualism who is able to provide effective interpretation can be called an interpreter. It is quite common to see kin, friends and auxiliary staff taking on the role of interpreter in the daily life. However, throughout this essay, “interpreter” is defined in terms of a trained and qualified one who translate the words of a person speaking a different language.
To discuss the role of neutral go-between or intercultural mediator the interpreter should play, it is necessary here to clarify clearly what do the author mean by “culture”. Numerous scholars have given various definitions of culture, which resembles an onion having many layers. According to Hofstede, culture compose of "a set of likely reactions of citizens with a common mental programming"', a "collective programming of the mind which distinguishes members of one human group from another" .(Geert Hofstede: 1980,p.25)In this essay, the term culture will be used in its broad sense suggested by Masaomi Kondo(1990) to refer to
…all that is learned by the person after his birth in the process of socialisation, i.e., language, customs and mores, beliefs, ways of communication, ways of life, fine arts, and all other products of a group of people, handed down from generation to generation. (p.62)
2. Necessity and Significance of culture conveyance
The most vital and apparent reason is that during the communication, disparate language speakers may get each other wrong because of distinct cultural background. Take the business setting as an example. Affected by Confucianism, Chinese people always behave diligent in duties and careful in speech. When holding business banquets, Chinese merchants may say “菜准备得不好，招待不周，还望海涵”. If the interpreter just converts the literal message disinterestedly, the words will be switched to English as “ The food we prepared is not good enough. Please forgive us for inconsideration.” Without Chinese social background, the British businessmen will definitely be disappointed. Nevertheless, Chinese businessmen say this just to show modesty and politeness. Instead of that interpretation, it is much better to interpret that into “Welcome to our party. We hope you would like it”. While in British culture, by saying “It has been very nice meeting you / It has been interesting talking to you” the businessman means he/she would like to end the conversation quickly. If interpreted literally to Chinese, it means “见到你很高兴／和你谈话非常愉快”. The Chinese businessmen will take that as a signal of the negotiation going well and continue to talk. However, in fact, it is the reverse that is just to be the case. Under such circumstances, misunderstandings will arise from diverse ways different languages express original intention linguistically.
Moreover, “language is an expression of culture and the way in which culture organizes reality ”(Medical Interpreting Standards of Practice,2007:15), therefore, interpreter need to explain the deeper meaning carried by the language. This can be best illustrated with the example of idiomatic expressions. In English, people often use “keep your finger crossed” and “break a leg” to wish someone good luck. Not knowing this, Chinese people will feel confused (sometimes even offensive)on hearing “把你的手指绕在一起”（keep your finger crossed）or “打断你的腿”（break a leg）. We Chinese people all know the meaning of “拳头产品” and“一口价”. Yet, a word-for-word meaning like “fist product” or “one mouth price” absolutely seems weird for the British. Only if the deeper message be rendered, can English-speaking people know those two words actually means “highly competitive product” and “fixed price”. Thus, it is necessary for an interpreter censor during the process of interpretation iso as to clarify a message.(Helen Spencer-Oatey and Jianyu Xing,2010)
Additionally, it is commonly accepted that misunderstandings will also be caused by the various that may be regarded as appropriate in certain situation while not acceptable in another language-speaking country.(Sandra Hale: 2014) Specifically, social customs vary widely from one country to another. As the old proverb goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. In some particular scenarios, the interpreter has to bridge the gap to promote the communication. Interpreters need to tell the clients there are cultural differences existing and prepare for the customers beforehand. From a broad sense, in western cultures, the most vital factors concerning business are to be open and honest. In contrast, hospitality means crucial to the east. (Margaret C. McLaren:1998) If we look at the details, British people believe it is polite to avoid talking loudly in public; while in China, people like to be happy together talking with each other loudly in public. We need to confirm to the kind of culture and show our respect, which is built on the basis of knowing all the differences. As some behaviours may seem very normal, yet offensive to another culture. For instance, if a Chinese businessman goes to the airport and pick up the cooperate partner from UK, he may offer to help with the heavy luggage. Because showing hospitality is significant to Eastern people. But the case is that it can be very offensive to a businessman comes from Western culture.
3. Various Approaches for Different Settings
Interpreting applies in a diversity of settings, comprising various circumstances both physical and social. A certain kind of setting is one influential factor to the degree of precision of the original speech. (Viera MakaroA: 1998) I will illustrate two kinds of settings, one of intra-social interpreting, medical interpreting; one of inter-social interpreting, diplomatic interpreting.
3.1 Medical Interpreting
“Language is not the only element at work in the interaction between providers and patients who speak different languages. The meaning inherent in the messages conveyed is rooted in culturally based beliefs, values, and assumptions. ”(Medical Interpreting Standards of Practice:2007,p.15)
3.1.1 The Role of Medical Interpreter
When interpreting in the medicine environment, the interpreter plays the role of Patient Advocate, Cultural Clarifier, Message Clarifier and Message Converter. The interpreter can never just be a bilingual converter, who output target language fluently and accurately. Considering the particularity of medical interpreting, the interpreter must master a good command of both source and target languages and at least quite familiar with all kinds of medicine(name, function, prescription etc.). The interpreter has to assist the doctors to explain some underlying information and instructions which may seem to be vague for the patience. Sometimes, the interpreter need to interpret something untranslatable, such as disease only spread in a certain area or some bacteria merely found in rural places. The interpreter has to enhance the understanding of each other for both doctors and patients.(Medical Interpreting Standards of Practice:2007)
3.1.2 Assessment of Medical Interpreting (Medical Interpreting Standards of Practice:2007)
3.2 Diplomatic Interpreting
Diplomatic interpreting is unique in its style being very formal suitable for the official needs and broad coverage.
3.2.1 Equivalence Approach
Equivalence approach adjusts formulaic expression, maintaining the translation version is based on an equivalent expression in the target language. It aims to find a perfect match in the target language to obtain the same effects as the original one. (Sequeiros, Xosé Rosales: 2005)
The interpreter of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Sun Ning, put this method into practice excellently. All of Premier Li Keqiang’s answers to the press after the NPC and CPPCC sessions sounds very plain to Chinese people, yet hard to explain in English. When he needed to interpret “喊破嗓子不如甩开膀子”, he used “Talking the talk is not as good as walking the walk” instead of literal meaning to achieve an equivalent effect in English audience. This English proverb is more understandable than making up a loyal edition of the source speech.
3.2.2 Sense-to-sense Approach
Sometimes, the original words cannot match perfectly either literally or equivalently, where sense-to-sense approach should be applied.
Another outstanding interpreter can be a good example here. Zhang Lu, the interpreter of former Premier Wen Jiabao, exploited best use of this approach. Premier Wen Jiabao is very good at elegant ancient Chinese. It sounds very beautiful but also multiply the difficult of interpreting. “亦余心之所善兮，虽九死其犹未悔” was interpreted into：For the ideal that I hold dear to my heart, I'd not regret a thousand times to die. The best part of the interpretation is changing the original “nine times” to “a thousand times”. In ancient Chinese, number “three” “nine” means a substantial amount. Another sentence is“人或加讪，心无疵兮”. She interpreted as “My conscience stays untainted in spite of rumours and slanders from the outside” convert the meaning of the source speech.
4. Problems
The most primary difficulty is the lack of enough culture accumulation of the interpreters. Mediating between languages and cultures is very demanding. It requires the interpreter to have an excellent mastery of both original and target cultures. (Eleonora Federici: 2006) Acquiring such abundant knowledge is relatively hard and time-needing. Fortunately, there are plentiful information on the internet and much easier to get. Second, during the simultaneous interpreting, the necessity of instantaneity actually lowers the possibility for the interpreters to predict the potential underlying message. Third, some interpreters may cross the border and change the original meaning .
5. Conclusion
With the level of globalization becoming deeper and wider, the importance of intercultural communication keeps rocketing. To enhance the efficiency of communication among diverse languages, trained and qualified interpreters has to play the role of intercultural mediator. Under various settings, the interpreter is well-advised to choose a suitable method and take measures to prevent over-intervention or inadequate background information. Meanwhile, the speakers as well should exert to promote the communication.