The Interpreter’s Initiative In Dialogue Interpreting

Traditionally, language interpreters are often portrayed as invisible language facilitators in an interpreter-mediated event. However, with the increasing of various interpreter-mediated manoeuvres, empirical studies show that traditional hypotheses may not apply to all interpretations.In the dialogue interpreting, which is featured with a two-way and three-party interaction, the interpreter is engaged in a communicative event as an active participant with the original interlocutors.The present author takes a funneling approach in revealing the performance of the interpreter‘s initiative in dialogue interpreting, examining the translator‘s and interpreter‘s roles respectively and reevaluating similarities and dissimilarities between the translator‘s initiative and that of the interpreter‘s. Based on factors influencing the interpreter‘s initiative, the present author argues that the interpreter, owing to the initiative he/she takes in an addresser-addressee interaction, adopts and enacts a visible role in dialogue encounters.