Chinese Market's Expectations Of Interpreters

Market-needs surveys have been conducted in the current literature to bridge market-academia gap by eliciting data from a wide range of sources — for example,students,trainers,course profiles,graduates,professional translators and interpreters,clients,and employers.Yet surveys of interpreting market needs based on content analysis of job advertisements are rare.Against such a background,the current survey aims to investigate interpreting market demands in China,in terms of qualifications,interpreting modes and directions,and competences,as well as the difference in demands between LSPs(language service providers)and non-LSPs.To achieve that goal,an eleven-step content analysis method was systematically applied to the coding of a job ad corpus created by collecting 400 full-time interpreting job ads from online job posting websites and WeChat official accounts between July 2017 and February 2019.The results highlight that the standard for market entry in China is low and that the dominant mode is consecutive interpreting.The results also indicate that the market requires interpreters to both interpret and translate into and from English,prefers versatile language users with prior interpreting experience and o verseas experience,expects certain physiological,psychological and interpersonal competences,and demands interpreters to have professional ethics,computer literacy,as well as a background in certain areas of thematic knowledge.Another finding is that LSPs and non-LSPs have different expectations from interpreters.Based on the results,the author has made relevant suggestions,namely,enhancing collaboration among all stakeholders to standardize market entry prerequisites;providing more internships,placements,and exchange programs;adding to the interpreting curriculum compulsory or elective courses that meet market needs,for example,translation,retour interpreting,subject-specific interpreting,language enhancement;improving students' professional ethics and computer literacy;including screening examinations on students' physiological and interpersonal competences and incorporating them into training.For trainees,they may take advantage of the difference in demands between LSPs and non-LSPs and make their learning more targeted.Hopefully,the current survey can inform interpreting curriculum modification,keep interpreters informed of the current market demands,and help student interpreters get prepared for their future careers.