Strategies Of Interpreting Cultural Elements In Lectures Under The Guidance Of Skopos Theory

The interpreting of the lecture is a simulative one, which is about the Confucian culture.After interpreting, the author works on the strategies of interpreting cultural elements in the lecture under the guidance of the Skopos theory. The Skopos theory attaches much importance to the specific purpose of the translation behavior. The purpose of this lecture is to enable the foreign students to get the main content of the lecture. Therefore, the interpreter should put the audience’s understanding in the first place and spreading Chinese traditional culture in the second and try his or her best to help the speaker achieve the goal of the lecture with various interpreting strategies.This report consists of four parts. The first part is the task description, which contains the description and analysis of the lecture and the audience. The second part is the process description, including the preparation of interpreting, the description of the interpreting process and the quality evaluation of the interpretation. The third part is the case analysis.Firstly, the author analyzes the application of the Skopos theory in this lecture interpreting.Before interpreting, the translation brief helps interpreter decide the purpose of the lecture.During interpreting, the translation rules provide guidance for interpreting cultural elements.After interpreting, the translation criteria help interpreter evaluate the quality of the interpretation. Secondly, the author summarizes four strategies of interpreting cultural elements in the lecture under the guidance of the Skopos theory, including literal translation,literal translation with explanation, free translation and omission. Literal translation can keep the cultural characteristics of the original text well but it can easily cause confusions for the foreigners. The literal translation with explanation will not confuse the foreigners, but if it is used too much, it will cause understanding pressure. Free translation can help interpret the meanings of the original text freely and it contributes to keeping the smooth and coherence of the interpretation. The omission will reduce the understanding pressure of the audience by omitting the unnecessary information. The other translation strategies the author put forward will be used in particular cases. The last part of the report is conclusion, in which the author makes a summary of the research results and also gives some experience and lessons on interpreting the lecture in hope of providing some reference for the future lecture interpreting.