A multi-dimensional analysis of the representation of conference interpreters in the Chinese media

Though interpreters’ professionalism has been discussed in interpreting studies, there have been few studies on how the general public see the image of interpreters. The present study is a multi-dimensional analysis of the image of conference interpreters as represented by the media, which is based on a corpus of 60 news reports about interpreting and interpreters in the Chinese media in the past 10 years. It explores the research question: How are conference interpreters represented in the Chinese media? Through thematic and rhetorical analysis of the headlines and body texts as well as multimodal analysis of the photos in the news reports, it is found that conference interpreters are represented by institutional conference and diplomatic interpreters, who are in turn represented as “stars” or public celebrities of the profession; they are frequently presented along with big events and big names, and portrayed as affiliating to power and as distant from the public. Images of female beauties among them are also selected and “consumed” as in popular culture. This implies a discrepancy between the self-perception of the interpreting profession and their representation by the media.

A TAXONOMIC ANALYSIS PROPOSAL FOR RESEARCH IN DIPLOMATIC INTERPRETING

This paper focuses on Diplomatic Interpreting (DI), a speciality often included either in the conference or dialogue interpreting branch, depending on geographic and modal variables. Historically, diplomatic interpreters resorted to bilateral interpreting or mediation, but in the modern day, they oscillate between short and full consecutive, and on occasion simultaneous (presidential press conferences). This diffuse affiliation and the relatively small job market niche – hence its absence from degree syllabi – might be two of the motives why DI has not captured more attention from scholars. One interesting avenue for researchers might be the identification and classification of those aspects DI has in common with other types of interpreting, and what makes it different. In my discussion, I recapitulate DI specificities, encompassing requirements, expectations and devices, among which optimisation (as a strategy to overcome barriers and ensure full communication) is pivotal. As an illustration, I analyse an example of optimisation in the case of Romanian PM Viorica Dăncilă’s political blunder on her first visit to Montenegro. Finally, I advocate the recognition of the specificity of DI and I call for focussed research in this area.

Dragomans and “Turkish Literature”: The Making of a Field of Inquiry

Theories of cultural and linguistic mediation have tended to posit intermediaries as conduits through which one culture/language either enters another unproblematically, or gets “distorted” due to intermediaries’ incompetence or self-interest. Both these perspectives presuppose stable, well-bounded, and coherent cultures/languages as what intermediaries purportedly mediate. Instead, this paper proposes an understanding of cultural and linguistic mediation as a process that constitutes its objects, that is, as an essential dimension of all acts of cultural and linguistic boundary-making. It focuses on dragomans (diplomatic interpreters) who operated at the interface between the Ottoman government and foreign diplomats to the Porte throughout the early modern period. The paper suggests how dragomans’ practices of knowledge production were profoundly collaborative, involving a range of Ottoman and Venetian interlocutors. Such practices thus belie any facile distinction between “local” and “foreign,” but rather challenge us to consider the emergence of “Oriental” studies as a dialogical project that necessitated ongoing recalibrations of prior knowledge through a multiplicity of perspective, where diplomatic institutions and epistemologies played a key role.

Conference interpreters and their perception of culture

This paper seeks to explore the perception of culture held by conference and diplomatic interpreters in post-WWII Japan. Based on oral history research with five Japanese pioneers, interpreters’ perceptions about culture and cultural barriers in communication are studied and then compared with their role perceptions and their actual practice. Although the pioneering conference interpreters perceived their role as more or less invisible, showing little interest in the discussion of culture and cultural mediation, their narratives in life-story interviews demonstrate that they were essential participants in intercultural communication, bridging cultural barriers. Without being aware of their role as cultural mediators, the five interpreters were actively and autonomously involved in intercultural communication as indispensable co-participants.