Discussion of Avenues to Improve the Quality of Business Interpretation

In the face of increasingly international business activities,business interpretation becomes a bridge of smooth communication.Business interpretation with high quality plays a positive role in business activities.This essay will discuss avenues to improve the quality of business interpretation from the following aspects:

1 Improvement of ability to use language

Listening, speaking, reading, writing and interpreting are comprehensive reflection of language skills.Listening,speaking,reading and writing are basic language skills,and interpreting is the highest level of language skills and integrated use those basic language skills.

Interpretation refers to original language is rendered into target language in an oral way and business interpretation is one of interpretations.It involves 3 processes of listening,conversion and expression.As we can see,listening is primary condition of a good interpretation.As an interpreter,if he or she cannot understand what the opposite side says,he or she,obviously,has no possibility to make interpretation.Conversion is followed after listening and means interpretation from original language into target language.Expression is next.That’s to say,interpretation with high quality builds on excellent language skills.

2 Expansion of knowledge of relevant professions and terms

In the process of business interpretation,interpreter will touch various fields.With the development of society and economy,business has already not been limited in the area of export&import,negotiation and corresponding and so on,and it covers trading,economy,business law,marketing and others right now.In order to make accurate interpretation and employ proper technical terms,the interpreters have to grasp certain professional knowledge and business knowledge.Besides that,the interpreter has to come to understand some subjects like agriculture policy,anti-dumping,property right,safeguard measures,technical barriers,globalization,trading policy,MFN,leadership,organization structure and project management etc.as well as the relevant technical terms.Otherwise,the information of original language cannot be rendered truly.

For example,we can see a word called dan(单)that appears in lots of Chinese phrases such as保险单，对账单，提单，宣传单.However,there are different English words for the same Chinese word单like insurance policy,statement,bill of lading and brochure respectively matching with the Chinese words above.Let’s see the other example.This is the interpretation the writer of this essay assumed concerning coal.It involves the knowledge of coal and its according technical terms,like lean coal(贫煤),brown coal(褐煤),thermal coal(动力煤),coking coal(焦煤),PCI(喷煤)and its properties like proximate analysis(工业分析)and ultimate analysis(元素分析)including calorific value(热量),moisture(水分),ash(灰分),volatile matter(挥发分),fixed carbon(固定碳),total sulfur(总硫)and so forth.If these words and relevant background knowledge are not familiar to the interpreter or prior preparation is not done,the interpretation cannot proceed smoothly.

3 Understanding of culture difference between original language and target language

Language does not exist isolatedly.Any language embodies a kind of culture behind it.The formation of one language is also the time when the culture is formed.During this,thinking mode,customs and idioms etc.are generated.

In Chinese culture, collectivism is strengthened; however,individualism in the culture of English-speaking countries is emphasized.Therefore,the people from western countries don’t like to be asked some personal questions that are considered as privacy like age and marriage etc.In the business dinner,Chinese people like to ask some personal questions to make them feel they are close,by which personal emotion can be brought in negotiation so that they can reach consent smoothly.On the contrary,foreign businessmen won’t think so and this kind of communication won’t influence the result of negotiation.Therefore,interpreter should take the culture of original language into account in the process of interpretation.

The people from Eastern countries especially China is always modest,and those from western countries are straight.English-speaking countries’people will say thank you after they hear some real compliments,but Chinese people will say no,no,not better than you etc.For example,at the beginning of business negotiation,Chinese people are used to say你一路过来，辛苦了.If interpreter put this sentence into English directly,foreign representatives will frown after they hear this and say “no,we are not tired,we are happy to come here”.Exactly,if they are tired,they will not come to make negotiation.How do we know that since we are not them?So when interpreter has this circumstance,he or she should interpret indirectly,saying “welcome to come here”.And at the end of business activities,in order to express thanks foreign representatives will say “thank you a lot for your sincere cooperation”,Chinese representatives always respond saying “It’s my duty”.As foreign representatives hear this,they will think you are not willing to cooperate with them,just because of the duty on your shoulder.Therefore,as a good interpreter,he or she should understand culture difference and avoid this,saying “It’s my pleasure or I am pleased to cooperate with you”instead.

4 Grasping of interpretation skills

Business interpretation is consecutive interpretation and has similar methods like general interpretation such as literal interpretation and free interpretation etc.Besides that,note-taking is a common used approach in business interpretation.

In business interpretation,figures,price,quality,property and functions of products and so on are interpreted directly.Interpreter does not have to consider the deep meaning of original language,simply put what he or she hear into target language.Of course,it is not possible to only discuss those above during business negotiation.The representatives of both sides will usually express their own opinions,advice or take some examples to convince opposite side of accepting their own conditions or make concessions for reaching agreement.Under that circumstance should interpreter grasp main meaning of the discussion,integrate,anticipate and make logical reasoning from pronunciation,grammar and sentence structure of original language and then make expression in target language.As a qualified interpreter,he or she cannot only interpret word by word or sentence by sentence without concentration on main idea,if so,both sides will be confused and business activities will be forced to be suspended.

During discussion,the representatives of both sides are impossible to say one sentence each time.They always say many sentences to express their own ideas.Therefore,note-taking is necessary under this circumstance.Note-taking is adopted to help interpreter memorize by taking down important words,so it does not mean to write down each word of what they say.During note-taking,symbols are often used to save time and not to miss the information of original language.As for what kind of symbols will be used,interpreter can summarize some according to his/her own experience or others’ notes.For example, “↑”means go up,rise,increase etc.;“→”means lead to,cause,generate etc.;“↓” means get down,decrease,decline etc. “?” means problem,and question etc. “≈”means about,approximately etc. “∵”means reason,because,due to etc.“∶”means say,state,indicate etc.

5 Improvement of psychological quality

When presentation of one product or project is made in the hall with hundreds of audiences,when the negotiators are aggressive and serious during negotiation,or when discussion comes to conclusion the people are excited and talk about anything,whether interpreter can keep calm depends on his or her mental affordability.

Psychological stress brings a negative role to the performance of people’s work,leading to nervousness,discomfort,lack of confidence and distraction.Due to over stress,the quality of interpretation will descend.Therefore,elimination of psychological stress for interpreter is pretty crucial.There are several measures to help interpreter depressurize.Firstly,interpreter should learn to calmly and rationally control and adapt his/her mentation like taking a deep breath prior to interpretation.Secondly,one effective method is to make adequate preparation in advance.Interpreter should grasp relevant background and dynamic information as specific as possible and communicate with the parties before interpretation.Thirdly,strength of basic training and professional training of interpretation is the most fundamental factor of psychological stability.

All in all,business interpretation with high quality can promote communication of both sides.Improvement of interpretation quality plays an important role in business activities and economic development.As an interpreter,he or she should continue to increase interpretation level to bring contribution to social and economic progress.

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