China is in the midst of an exciting transformation that is opening her doors ever wider to the outside world. As international contacts multiply, growing demand for high-quality interpretation is creating the conditions for the emergence of conference interpreting as a true profession. In this article, we give an overview of the development of conference interpreting in the world's largest developing country, and describe the joys - and challenges - of working as conference interpreters in a rapidly changing China.

Introduction

With Beijing's selection as host city for the 2008 Olympics and WTO accession just around the corner, China's level of international engagement has reached an unprecedented height as a result of more than two decades of reform and opening. In the context of ever-increasing international contacts in both the public and private sectors, professional conference interpreters are becoming valued for their critical role in ensuring effective and successful communication across the linguistic and cultural divide. Higher demands are being placed on quality, professional credentials are becoming recognised - and even required, new and more diverse training programmes are being offered, and increasing numbers of colleagues are becoming full- or part-time freelances in a rapidly maturing and diversifying conference market.

I. The beginnings

The profession of conference interpreting was formally introduced into China with the establishment of the United Nations Training Programme for Interpreters and Translators in 1979. Set up as a joint project between the UN and the Chinese government to train professionals for the United Nations, the programme turned out 98 interpreters (out of 217 graduates), many of whom are now working for the UN and other international organisations, some for the Chinese government, and a few as full-time freelances.

In 1994, the UN programme was reconstituted as the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation of Beijing Foreign Studies University ("Bei Wai"). It continues to offer a two-year course of professional training in conference interpreting at the MA level, but its graduates (32 in conference interpreting out of 57 to date) are now responsible for securing their own employment. Most become staff interpreters or officers in government ministries and agencies, with a minority taking positions in the private sector; it is still rare for a graduate to go freelance.

To date, the majority of China's professional interpreters have been trained at Bei Wai, but these make up only a fraction of the large number of practitioners, including government officers and corporate personnel who perform interpretation duties.

II. Interpreting in the government system

The government is by far the largest user of interpretation (and translation), and mostly meets its needs in-house. Almost every government entity, from the central government to the provinces and municipalities, and from ministries to agencies to state-owned enterprises, has a unit specifically in charge of dealing with the "non-Chinese" world. Variously known as the Foreign Affairs Office, Department of International Cooperation, Office of Foreign Economic and Trade Relations, etc., these units employ officers with foreign language degrees who provide, inter alia, T&I services for their institution.

In most cases, there is no distinction between interpretation and translation responsibilities, and the majority of these officers have no specific training but learn their skills on the job. In addition to T&I, these "foreign-affairs personnel" tend to have other responsibilities, and are regarded more as government officers than T&I professionals. Interpreting and translating are considered lower-level duties, and it is rare to make them a career. As officers are promoted to increasing levels of responsibility, T&I duties are taken over by the incoming generation. (Both China's current foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, for example, began their careers as interpreters in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

This model even applies to a number of Chinese booths in the UN system. Government ministries are designated official counterparts, and hence Chinese interpretation providers when interpreters are recruited from mainland China, to various UN agencies. For example, the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for FAO, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for ILO, the Ministry of Health for WHO, etc. When there is a need for Chinese interpreters to be sent from China to a UN conference organised by one of these agencies, in-house teams are often dispatched from the foreign-affairs unit of the counterpart ministry in China. When more people are needed for a larger conference, these teams can be put on loan to each other.

III. The emergence of freelance professionals

Against this background, the recent move of credentialed, experienced conference interpreters to become (full- or part-time) freelances is significant for the Chinese interpreting community, representing an initial breakaway from the official monopoly and a step toward the establishment of conference interpreting as an independent profession.

The trail-blazer was ZHANG Wei, a graduate of the UN programme on staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who decided in 1993 to quit the official establishment and test the waters as an independent professional. Zhang was soon followed by others, who joined him either by leaving their in-house positions or by working with him and other colleagues to build up the Chinese market in other innovative ways (see section VI below).

Freelance professionals are now becoming a strong competitor and even a preferred service-provider for many users, especially in the private market sector. As most freelances have had formal professional training and years of experience working in-house, they are more valued by users who have come to appreciate the importance of high-quality interpretation. For those who can compete in the freelance market, there is strong incentive to do so, since a day's fees are double (or more than double) a month's salary for a government employee, and further growth in the ranks of freelances can be expected.

While the monopoly is being broken, though, it would be difficult for a freelance to get started without having some government background. Hence, the most successful full-time freelances tend to be former government employees, and most professionally trained interpreters still turn to the government for their first job, rather than attempting to go freelance.

The Chinese counterpart ministries continue to be the only recruiters for their respective UN agencies. They are now more open to recruiting freelances in addition to their own in-house teams, but freelances recruited through the ministries are deemed to have been seconded by the government, and work under a separate agreement. Outside the ministry system, however, freelances have been recruited directly by the UN in their independent professional capacity, which is a very encouraging and welcome development. As China's economy grows and with further political and social reforms, freelances will only stand to profit from a more open, transparent, and competitive environment, and hence expanded job opportunities.

IV. The conference market

Before the 1990s, conferences tended to be government-organised, and topics were more macro than micro, more policy-oriented than operational, and more general than technical. The interpreters were either free labour supplied in-house or paid only nominal fees if borrowed from other institutions. Conference interpreting, and the need for high-quality professionals, was a new concept to many conference organisers, let alone the general public.

The beginning of real growth in the Chinese conference market came in the 1990s. Cities in China, particularly Beijing and Shanghai, became increasingly popular venues for international meetings. The UN and a number of its specialised agencies, Interpol, the Fortune Global Forum, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, to name just a few, have brought major international conferences to these cities. This continuing trend has greatly increased the need for multi-language conference interpreting services.

The most dynamic segment of the conference market, however, is the private market sector, as the international corporate community implements aggressive business plans in a growing and more open China, and becomes increasingly active in organising conferences, seminars, and workshops as part of its government and public relations campaigns.

Significantly, the corporate world has been largely responsible for major positive changes on the demand side. As international corporations are generally more quality-focused than budget-sensitive, and their organisers are accountable for results, they are more demanding in terms of the performance of the interpreters and demonstrate more appreciation for high-quality professional services. It is in the private market sector, then, that professionalisation is most evident, as professionals prove their value by outperforming less-qualified practitioners.

The corporate world has also made the lives of conference interpreters more interesting and challenging by introducing a host of technical issues into the booths. Many IT companies, for example, have begun to choose cities in mainland China to launch their products, and conference

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