On Interpreter’s "Subjectivity" In Business Negotiation Interpretation

With the continuous growth of economic globalization and China’s reform and opening up, an increasing number of foreign business men have come to invest in China, which has boosted China’s language service industry. Meanwhile, the increase in business exchanges has led to the demand for business interpreters. However, interpreters are still considered as voice types or invisible people by traditional ideas despite the important role they play in the business activities. In the real interpretation practice, it is very difficult for interpreters to be fully invisible. This is because of the huge differences between Chinese and foreign culture which frequently causes disputes in business activities. In this case, interpreters even act as "fire extinguishers" who drive the business negotiation forward. In addition, unlike the common interpretation, business activity requires interpreters to know and observe the business etiquette because it has a great impact for business cooperation. Given this, the author take her personal interpreting experience in a business negotiation as object of study and explores interpreter’s subjectivity.This article is an interpretation report based on my own experience for an auto parts company. It mainly introduces what is business interpretation and then makes a brief introduction about the entire process of the business interpretation. It also talks about the concept and features of interpreter’s subjectivity. Then, it analyses in details how the interpreter’s subjectivity is displayed before, during and after the interpretation and it also concludes the lessons learned in the entire process of the interpretation.All the materials used in this paper are selected from the author’s firsthand interpreting experience in the business negotiation. The materials the author select are abundant and representative enough to support her view. In addition, the introduction of interpreter’s subjectivity plays a positive role in boosting the entire business negotiation and in helping interpreters using proper tactics to improve interpreting quality. This paper is of great significance in instructing interpretation beginners how to become a good business negotiation interpreter and a professional interpreter.