Interpreters play a crucial role in international communication. They help people overcome language and cultural barriers and understand each other better. As a practitioner and instructor of interpreting, I was always intrigued by the mystery of how interpreting as a skill or subject is taught and learned in universities and interpreting schools around the world. Are there any universal laws governing interpreter training? What kind of educational principles and/or pedagogy should apply when it comes to teaching and learning in China’s (undergraduate-level) consecutive interpreting courses? Bearing these questions in mind, I started my research journey from China to Europe, travelling across the vast oceans of liter ature to search for an answer. This book is the culmination of the research and teaching journey I took over the past decade or so. I started my doctoral research on interpreting studies at Utrecht University in late 2009. When I first arrived in the Netherlands and started as a language specialist at the International Criminal Court (ICC), I had only a rough proposal and an unpredictable future. History has proved once again that it is by no means easy to complete a Ph.D. Four-and-a-half years of painstaking work plus time-testing fluctuations in this preparation process have made me a man of endurance. After earning the Ph.D. in early 2015, I returned to China and took up an associate professorship in translation and interpreting, which also provided me with an opportunity to try out the pedagogic framework and principles I developed or discussed in the dissertation, and it has proved to be conducive to the conclusion of the book under production. This book describes the need to re-assess the applicability of major European interpreter training models in the Chinese interpreting training scene. Indeed, interpreting training as a social practice must be receptive to context. In the light of the specific Chinese context, this thesis also proposes newly developed interpreting pedagogies that can empower Chinese interpreting students into well-rounded professionals. This book is not intended to serve as a teaching manual for learners of inter preting and interpreter educators, but is rather a critical inquiry into training models and develops principles and pedagogies that can empower learners of interpreting in China, thus cultivating their competence in interpreting, creative thinking and intercultural communication. For this project, I am grateful to a number of individuals and institutions for their help, trust and encouragement during the entire Ph.D. journey. My thanks go first to the Research Institute for Cultural Inquiry of Utrecht University, for hosting a project outside the institute’s traditional areas of specialization, and for providing a stimulating, friendly and supportive atmosphere for research. Our institute is a fervent and dynamic place for anyone considering doing research here. I am most indebted to my doctoral supervisor Prof. Ton Naaijkens, for his unfailing guidance and academic support, which have helped me go through the trials and tribulations of the research and writing process. My thanks also go to the research coordinator, Dr. José van Aelst, for her continuous support in raising morale, especially in times of crisis. I would also like to extend my gratitude to many colleagues and friends, for their support in various ways. Daniel, Benjamin, Eric and Junting, in particular, are warmly thanked for their encouragement and psychological support in various aspects of social and academic life during the whole Ph.D period. Our exchanges of ideas and day-to-day discussions in the office will always remain a fond memory in my heart. My thanks also go to the Chinese department of Leiden University, for allowing me to offer a one-semester-long consecutive interpreting course in 2012 to apply my teaching principles and ped agogy. My gratitude finally goes to the Forum Journal and the Korean Journal of translation studies, for allowing me to include my published papers (see Liu 2014, 2015) into this monograph. Apart from that, I thank the professional and secretarial staff at Utrecht University’s international office, for their assistance in arranging for accommodation, visa and other practical matters over the Ph.D period. It has been a long journey of inquiry into interpreter training from China to Europe, we have now reached one destination—yet the common aspiration to upgrade interpreting edu cation to a new level will never cease. Finally, I am especially indebted to my parents, for without their support over the years, my monograph would never have come to fruition.
