An Interview-Based Survey Of Intercultural Awareness In Interpreting Practice

Interpreting,as a vehicle of interlingual communication between twolanguages,is also an intercultural behavior,in which intercultural awareness plays a significant role in promoting information understanding and sharing.Intercultural awareness is substantially shaped and restricted by all forms of cultural factors,including religion,values,environments,customs and habits.Intercultural awareness in the interpreting context means that an interpreter has the sensitiveness and responsiveness to intercultural problems in the process of interpreting.It not only refers to the perception of an intercultural problem,but also covers the ability to analyze such a problem from the perspective of intercultural communication and to adopt the appropriate strategy to deal with intercultural difficulties in interpreting.This study investigates interpreters' intercultural awareness in interpreting practice,based on the connotative,affective and behavioral divisions of the notion.Based on interviews and quantitative analysis,it seeks to find out about MTI students' perception of intercultural awareness,the role of intercultural awareness in interpreting practice and types of strategies used to deal with intercultural problems in interpreting.The results show that intercultural awareness plays an important role in interpreting practice and has an direct impact on the quality of interpretation.Based on these findings,it is claimed that intercultural awareness should be addressed in three respects: emphasizing the perception of intercultural problems in interpreting,analyzing intercultural problems in the process of interpreting and selecting the right strategy to solve intercultural problems.