Interpreting at B2B wine tasting events. Pragma-dialectical insights

Abstract

This paper addresses the specific communicative context of interpreter-mediated business-to-business (B2B) wine tasting events bringing together Italian wine producers and English-speaking buyers. Given the difficulty of obtaining authentic recordings of interactions in business contexts, the study examines the scripted dialogues that are used for role-play simulations in dialogue interpreting (DI) courses at the University of Trieste. These scripts were prepared by making use of authentic materials delivered to interpreters and gathered by the author of the paper while working as an interpreter at B2B wine tasting events. The investigation draws on the pragma-dialectical theory of argumentation to answer the following research question: what are the argumentative features of interpreter-mediated wine tasting encounters? Focusing on the notions of dialectical profile, argumentative pattern and argumentative structure, the paper will show that, unlike other B2B encounters, wine tasting meetings do not generally entail actual negotiations between producers and buyers, but rather focus on the description, promotion and tasting of wine. They shape up as relatively informal meetings, which share features of business and tourist settings and in which the role of the interpreter is continuously negotiated.