An Interpreting Report On BBC’s Documentary Britain And The Sea(Episode 3 And 4)

The material of this report is selected from the author’s interpreting practice of BBC’s documentary Britian and the Sea.This documentary follows the British host David Dimbleby as he sails his yacht Rocket around the British coastline to show the audience about the different aspects of Britain’s maritime history.In the process of the interpreting practice,the author accomplished the task by combining the professional knowledge and translation theory that she acquired.In the 1970 s,Functionalist translation theory emerged in Germany.In the course of its development,Hans Vermeer,one of the very important representatives of German Functionalist school comes up with Skopos theory.Skopos theory has three different rules,they are Skopos rule,Coherence rule and Fidelity rule.Skopos theory emphasizes that one of the most important factors of the translation and interpreting purpose is target reader,who has possessed the related background information,has his/her own expectation to the interpreting activities and his/her communication requirements.Hence,he believes that the highest principle of the interpreting is the purpose.And the whole interpreting and translation strategies should be made by following the purpose of interpreting activities.Under the guidance of Skopos theory,this report aims at taking the practice of documentary interpreting as a case to analyze the failure and success of the interpreting practice,and accordingly offers methods to improve the interpreting skills for future practice.