Norms, challenges and solutions in diplomatic interpreting : a case study of two speeches by Kishore Mahbubani

With political and diplomatic engagements growing, the demand for the language pair of Chinses and English interpreting develops fast. Under such circumstances, what norms or ethics of conduct do the consecutive interpreting activities and challenges that interpreters face and how to cope with it in the diplomatic setting are the issues the study tries to explore. In this study, consecutive interpreting test from English to Chinese was conducted. The source speeches are the speeches delivered by Kishore Mahbubani in 2019 and corresponding CI recordings were analyzed as the target text through a linguistic approach to find potential solutions for issues or challenges when interpreting and to identify norms in this initiative. The participant’s common errors, coping strategies and underlying causes applied were analyzed. The challenges described in this study and other studies show that consecutive interpreting of the language pair of Chinese and English in diplomatic settings is quite demanding and highly sensitive. Hence, interpreters need to prepare carefully before carrying formal tasks. The summary provided in the study of feasible coping strategies to handle challenges when conducting consecutive interpreting in diplomatic settings is hoped to be useful for other interpreting students.Master of Arts (Translation and Interpretation