Guidance to Business Negotiation Interpreting from Functionalism

Chapter I Literature Review

 

1. An Introduction to Functionalism

Business negotiation is quite a complex process and business negotiation interpretingis quite a tough job. But how to be a good business negotiation interpreter and how toachieve an extraordinary job? Except for the qualifications of the interpreter, sometheoretical knowledge is also very important. Functionalism provides an excellenttheoretical guidance for the interpreters. This part will introduce previous studies onFunctionalism and also the views and representatives of Functionalism.

​A. Previous studies on Functionalism

​Since 1950s, western theories on translation have kept pace with linguistics.Translation theorists show interest on translation from the perspective of linguistics. In1960s and 1970s, equivalent translation raised by Eugene A. Nida was a popular one.Nida said, “Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closestnatural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning andsecondly in terms of style”.(Nord, 2004:13)

​Therefore, from this sentence, we can figure out that even if Nida supports thatcontent comes before form, and name this kind of translation as sociolinguistics, he stillputs translation at the level of language, not knowing that translation is the cross-cultural​ communication in forms of language rather than a simple switch between two languages.

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​2. An Overview of Business Negotiation Interpreting

Both home and abroad, most scholars on business negotiation interpreting focus oninterpreters themselves and cultural differences. Following are some representatives andtheir ideas to figure out the relations between Functionalism and business negotiationinterpreting.

​Antowana Berman is an interpreter theorist focusing on business knowledge.Interpreters, he thinks, are more important than source and target language.

​Dell Hymes is a Sociolinguist from Poland. He was convinced that interpretersshould be equipped with both language skills and cultural knowledge. Interpreters’ job isnot only to transfer the language but also the different cultures.

​In China, these two factors are also hot issues in business negotiation interpreting.

Xu Jun believes that interpreters, speakers and interpreters, interpreters and listeners,all the speakers, interpreters and listeners are all interpreting subject.

​Wang Zuoliang tells us that business negotiation interpreting stresses thecross-cultural differences.

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Chapter II Guidance to Business Negotiation Interpretingfrom Functionalism

 

​1. The Impact of Functionalism on Business Negotiation Interpreting

In the previous parts, readers could see that all those theories are expected to beused in translation instead of interpreting. Interpreting to some degree is more practicalthan translation. However, they do have something in common. Interpreters sometimeshave to turn to the translation theories for help while they could indeed find somethinguseful.

​Although plenty of representatives and views of Functionalism have been introduced,Skopos Theory and Faithfulness Principle are the two major parts. This part will give anelaboration on the theoretical guidance from Functionalism especially Skopos Theoryand Faithfulness, to the interpreting.

​A. Impact of Skopos Theory

Skopos Theory emphasizes the purpose of the target text, we can also say that thecommunicative purpose. A business negotiation aims to reach an agreement. The SkoposTheory requires the interpreters to put that purpose first and to achieve that purpose inany ways.​

​However, the process of a business negotiation is quite complex and could beimpacted by large amounts of factors. Two most significant ones are culture and theinterpreters’ subjectivity.

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​2. The Requirements for Business Negotiation Interpreters

Business negotiation, especially international business negotiation happens betweentwo parties from different countries or regions. The purpose of this interpreting isobvious enough to make this negotiation come to a successful end. Thus, Functionalismis quite useful in this field. Because Functionalism attaches great importance to thepurpose. It does not require interpreters to finish the interpreting word by word. Thetarget language accepted by readers is the most important standard.

This part will talk about some information on business negotiation. Requirements forinterpreters must not be omitted. As a bridge of great importance, interpreters have directimpact on the negotiation. An interpreter has to meet a series of requirements, which willbe discussed in this part in detail.

​A. the Characteristics of Business Negotiation

​What does business negotiation mean? During a business negotiation the two partieshave communications and discussions, constantly improving their views to solve theirdifferent ideas in order to reach an agreement accepted by both sides while theinternational business negotiation involves different interest groups of different countries.The features of international business negotiation includes information barriers, culturaldifferences, different law systems, complex political issues and the most important one—spendy cost, all of which information barriers are of the greatest importance. The reasonis that only through fluent language discussion can we achieve our goals. That explainsthe importance of a business negotiation interpreter.

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​Chapter III Strategies for Business Negotiation Interpreting under the Guidance ofFunctionalism..................... 16

1. Strategies Focusing on Purpose.................. 16

2. Strategies Focusing on Conciseness ........................ 21

 

Chapter III Strategies for Business Negotiation Interpretingunder the Guidance of Functionalism

 

​1. Strategies Focusing on Purpose

In a business negotiation, the only and final purpose of interpreting is to ensure thesuccess of the negotiation and reach an agreement. Thus, no matter what strategies youmay adopt, which theory you choose, what communication impact you may have,according to the Skopos Theory, you still adhere to the only goal, namely let the twoparties arrive at an agreement in a business negotiation. “That is the, ‘the end justifiesthe means’”(Vermeer,2000).

​Adopting the Skopos Theory does not mean an interpreter could leave every other ​factors behind. In terms of the Skopos Theory, interpreters should tell the purpose of abusiness negotiation. Then interpreters do all their jobs around that purpose. They cantake the proper strategies but the final interpretation can not run far way from the originaltext or made up by the interpreters.

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​Conclusion

​Translation is a subject of great importance and popularity all over the world.Every translation school has its own theories which are well-known and strong. In the1970s, Functionalism has risen up as the leader both in the east and the west.Functionalism focuses on two major theories: the Skopos Theory and the FaithfulnessPrinciple. Not many people have ever considered that Functionalism is an effective wayto do the business negotiation interpreting. Therefore, the author chose the relationbetween Functionalism and business negotiation interpreting as the central idea of thisthesis.

​The main aim of this thesis is to provide some interpreting strategies for theinterpreters to achieve better results in a business negotiation based on Functionalism.The author of this thesis prefers a descriptive way to further study the relationshipbetween the theory and practice to provide some coping tactics under the guidance ofFunctionalism.

​The author has made a conclusion that Functionalism especially FaithfulnessPrinciple and Skopos Theory can have a huge impact on the business negotiationinterpreting. This also proves the hypothesis that the author has proposed in the first partof this thesis that under the guidance from Functionalism, interpreters can do better jobswith various strategies instead of a fixed one.

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