On Obstacles and Strategies of International Medical Conference Interpreting - Take the 2nd China SMA Conference as an Example

Abstract

There is a growing need of quality medical conference interpreters worldwide, yet conference interpreting in medical setting is bristled with difficulties for even experienced interpreters. To address these issues, this study cites the video of the 2nd China SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) Conference as a corpus and makes an in-depth analysis of it under the guidance of the Interpretive Theory. Through a series of data mining on issues related to speech such as pre-post conferences situation, interpretation procedures and skills employed, the study summarizes the triple difficulties during interpretation and conveys solutions by adopting a qualitative approach. It further highlights some new strategies to train more professional interpreters based on the discussions above. The result of this study contributes to the improvement in the quality of medical interpreting, the increasing research to medical conference interpretation and eventually help meet the surging need of medical interpreters in the health care industry.