An Application of the Interpretive Theory to the Press Conference Interpreting

Abstract

With opening and reform policies and its entrance into WTO, there are more and more political, economic and culture exchanges between China and the rest of the world. In recent years, the Chinese government holds international and regional press conferences of different kinds. Every March, the press conferences held by the Foreign Ministry during the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) draw more attention from the world. This does not only raise higher demand for interpreters, but also provides a new research field for interpreting studies. Thus, the subject of this thesis is official press conference interpretation (PCI). On one hand, interpreters are "bridge" for foreign journalists and speakers; on the other hand, the study on PCI is far from being enough. The Interpretive Theory was established on the basis of observation and analysis of interpreting reality. Its starting point and research perspective are completely different from that of the linguistics-based translation theories. In addition, the Interpretive Theory has its own explanation to "faithfulness". This paper, based on the Interpretive Theory, with the concept of "faithfulness" as its starting point, is to discuss and explore what "faithfulness" is, what criteria of "faithfulness" are and what methods the interpreters use in order to be faithful to the speakers at the press conferences during the NPC and the CPPCC sessions.