On Interview Interpreting In Light Of Skopos Theory

With the development of diplomatic, economic and cultural exchangesbetween countries and regions in the world arena, interpreting has enormouslydeveloped as it is the most effective method of eradicating the obstacles ofcommunication, reinforcing the relations and facilitating the understanding ofcultures. In recent years, owing to the rapid advancement of media technology,interview programs containing recorded interpreted version have been increasinglypopular among the public. However, quite contrary to the prosperity of interviewinterpreting, research on this field is backward and fairly limited. The SkoposTheory indicates that every translational action has its own intended purpose, and“the end justifies the means”(Reiss and Vermeer cited, Nord2001:29). Therefore,under the guidance of the Skopos Theory, interpreting can effectively andefficiently proceed with guaranteed accuracy. In interview interpreting, interpretershave to adopt flexible tactics in order to solve the problems arising from fieldinterpreting with strict time constraint and requirement of effective communicationas well as accurate delivery of program’s information. The author finds thatinterview interpreter can grasp the exact idea of the speech segment and presentquality output which makes sense in target culture in light of Skopos Theory.Regarded as the core of Functionalist theories of German School, the SkoposTheory is the theoretical ground of this thesis. The paper starts with a briefintroduction to the origin, development, and the three main rules of the SkoposTheory, namely, the Skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule. Further, itdiscusses the applicability into interpreting. Then, emphasis is put on theapplication of the Skopos Theory to interview interpreting. Regarding the specialfeatures of interview interpreting, tactics with examples from field interpreting bypractitioners for interview programs are raised under the guidance of the SkoposTheory. In conclusion, the author points out the limitation of the paper inexpectation of further study in this field. Based on the Skopos Theory with adequate examples displayed, this paperaims to propose tactics which meets the requirement of quality interviewinterpreting. However, flexibility and creativity in interview interpreting is theultimate goal in accordance with certain practices.