Practice of Impromptu Interpretation in Sino-Thai Student Exchange Activities: Reflections from a TCFL Interpreter

Tao Xu

doi:10.63313/LLCS.9173

Authors

Tao Xu Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, Chiang Rai, Thailand Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63313/LLCS.9173

Keywords:

Interpretation, Impromptu Interpreting, Cross-Cultural Communication, Teaching Chinese As A Foreign Language

Abstract

Interpretation is a core skill for language major students, playing the role of a bridge to connect people in communication. In cross-language and cross-cultural activities, for a major in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL), college students should have basic language communication skills and the ability to do impromptu interpretation. This article is based on a cross-cultural activity between Chinese and Thai students held at Krirk University in Bangkok, Thailand. This article reviews on-site impromptu interpretation practice and summarizes the characteristics of impromptu interpretation, such as its immediacy, temporariness, and on-site nature. Interpreters use colloquial real-time translation and combine it with body language and other methods to complete communication tasks in real activities where there are a large number of participants and many unexpected situations occur. In this activity, I also participated and served as the sole interpreter for this activity, responsible for on-site interpretation work. This article analyzes the language ability and curriculum of the undergraduate students majoring in TCFL at this university and proposes effective improvement suggestions. This study takes the cross-cultural communication activities of Chinese undergraduate students majoring in TCFL at Krirk University (the only university in Thailand that offers the "TCFL Major" at the undergraduate level) and Thai first-year students majoring in non-business Chinese as research cases. It aims to fill the gap in research on impromptu interpretation by students of "non-interpreting majors" and "TCFL majors" in cross-cultural activities at Thai universities and provides empirical cases of professional interpretation in situ from the perspective of cross-cultural communication in the field of International Chinese Education. At the same time, it offers practical suggestions for optimizing the curriculum of the International Chinese Education Major at the undergraduate level of this university.

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