Report On Simulated Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpreting Of "The Gatekeeper Of The Forbidden City":Cultural Schem A Defaults And Coping Tactics

"The Gatekeeper of the Forbidden City" was a lecture on Chinese culture given by the curator of the Palace Museum at the nationwide science publicity program Chinese National Geography Lecture in October 2016.Based on the first part of the lecture,this report summarizes the major difficulties encountered in the interpretation practice.Thanks to the systemic analysis on difficulties,coupled with the three principles of Skopos Theory,the difficulties are solved respectively.Three main difficulties faced are highlighted as follows:(1)how to promote target audience’s understanding and produce a kind of interpretation that’s consistent with the cultural schemata of target audience when words without proper names cause culture schema defaults in the audience;(2)how to adopt specific interpretation strategies when words with proper names cause culture schema defaults in the audience;(3)how to transmit cultural information as much as possible when culture-loaded words in enumeration cause culture schema defaults in the audience.Three principles of Skopos theory need to be applied in target text.In the context of the culture of the target language,the translator should follow the rules of the target language,in accordance with the purpose of the interpretation,to produce a the target language text that is "fully functional".Coping tactics adopted in this report are listed here:(1)Explanation and paraphrasing of cultural schemata are needed for communicative purposes when words without proper names cause culture schema defaults in the audience;(2)Related cultural schema defaults are added to render a more coherent interpretation when words with proper names cause culture schema defaults in the audience;(3)Summary and generalization are adopted on the basis of the fidelity rule when culture-loaded words in enumeration cause culture schema defaults in the audience.This report attempts to provide different perspectives for the simultaneous interpretation of lectures on Chinese culture.The discussion of the cultural schema defaults and the coping tactics involved in lectures on Chinese culture can provide a useful guide and reference for other simultaneous interpreters in dealing with cultural reports.