On The Choice Of Strategy For Business Interpreting From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Traditional theories regard faithfulness or equivalence as the ideal result of translation. In business interpreting, however, interpreters’loyalty and treason alternate from time to time. That means interpreters have to face the problem of choosing different strategies for business interpreting. Many scholars have been discussing the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies. Few of them, however, have conducted systematic and theoretical analyses of various factors for the choice of a certain strategy in a particular situation of business interpreting.This thesis attempts to study business interpreting strategies from the perspective of Skopos Theory, the nucleus of German Functional School. Abundant examples of interpretation from different business settings are collected and analyzed to prove the applicability of Skopos Theory to business interpretation. Skopos Theory assesses translation behavior by the level of achievement of the expected function and purpose of communication in the target culture, thus it may successfully explain interpreters’ choice of loyalty or treason.This thesis contains four parts. The first part serves as an introduction, which presents the background of this study, the purpose of this study and the structure of this thesis. In the second part, there is an overview of the main contributions of Katharina Reiss, Hans J. Vermeer, Justa Holz Manttari and Christiane Nord, the four prominent figures of German Functionalist School. Then the author discusses several core concepts of Skopos Theory, namely Translation and Translational Action, as well as the purpose of translation. Finally the three guiding rules of Skopos Theory are analyzed in detail, i.e. the Skopos Rule, Coherence Rule and Fidelity Rule, which serve as the theoretical foundation of this study. The third part is the core chapter of this thesis, in which the author attempts to probe into the decisive factors for interpretation strategies under the guidance of Skopos Theory. Specific cases of business interpretation are analyzed to show the two major functions of interpreters in business interpretation:firstly, to bridge cultural gaps and coordinate intercultural communication, and secondly, to mediate business negotiations and facilitate maximizing the benefit. The last part of this thesis is a conclusion summarizing the findings of this study.