Page 254 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

232 Helen Spencer-Oatey and Jianyu Xing

Sun: jiu zheyang ba. tamen yao jiesuan, jiesuan wanle yihou ba qian na chulai
tamen hao gouwu [it’s like this. they want to settle the expenses, after
they’ve settled the expenses they can get the spending money so that they
can go shopping]
[not interpreted]
Xu: zou ba [let’s go]
Chen: nimen buyao zou ta [pointing to Sajid] hai you hua shuo ne. hai dei
suanzhang [no wait a minute he [pointing to Sajid] hasn’t finished yet.
And we have to settle the expenses.]
[not interpreted]
Sajid: so where do they want to go? what do they want to do? they want to go to
the Bank of China (.) to change your money (.) yes? can you ask them?
Int: shi bu shi xian xiang dao Zhongguo Yinhang na’r? [do you want to first
go to the Bank of China?]
[Chinese visitors discuss among themselves. Some say: suan le, no, for-
get it]
Sun: bu shi (.) tamen de yisi shi xianzai keyi suanzhang. (turning to other
members) wo de yisi shi bu shi zhe ge yisi ya? jie le zhang zhi hou neng
bu neng gou ba qian na chulai name tamen hao gouwu. shi bu shi zhe ge
yisi? [no (.) they want to settle the expenses now. (turning to other
members) is this what you want to say? After the settlement could they
have the money so they can go shopping with it. Isn’t it what you wanted
to say?]
[Visitors chorus: shi ya, yes]
[not interpreted]
Res: [to interpreter] na ni jiu wenwen ta shi bu shi keyi xian na nage spending
money. ni keyi wen ta (2) ruguo huan bu liao qian de hua. [you could ask
him if they could have their spending money. You can ask him that. (2) if
they can’t change their money.]
Sajid: so they want to go to the Bank of China?
Int: no (.) they don’t think they can change their money there.
Sajid: so what do they want to do?
Res: well actually they said if they can get eh (.) for example (.) the spending
money now (.) today (.) so that they can do some shopping in London
they don’t need to change money.

As can be seen from this extract, the Chinese visitors asked four times if their
‘expenses could be settled’, which was an indirect way of asking to be given
their spending money. However, the interpreter did not interpret any of these re-
quests into English, and only translated the British host’s question about which
part of London they wanted to visit. Needless to say, Sajid, the British host, was
extremely confused by the interaction and Xing, the on-the-spot researcher, felt