Interpreting in business settings: dynamics and patterns at play

Abstract

This article outlines the main features of interaction in business settings based on the experience of the author, who dealt with this kind of work first as a free lance interpreter and then as a juniormanager for a decade, and was thus able to see the dynamics of this type of social interaction at play first as an external consultant and then as an employee. Understanding the virtual rules on which a specific type of interaction is based enables to know what to expect and this is precisely what junior interpreters need to know, in that: Knowledge of the negotiating styles adopted by different cultural groups is of paramount importance for successful interpreting. The interpreter must be familiar with these styles, which largely emerge through a combination of behaviors and only some of which are linguistic.(Gentile 1996: 119-120)