COMM683

Xiaowan Zheng

Final Project Interpersonal Case Study


Story:


Time: Spring, 2013

Location: The Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China, Washington DC

People involved: Assistant Mayor of Chengdu, his interpreter, and American guests

Background:

Two months before the 12th Fortune Global Forum, seven government officials from
Chengdu (the Chinese hosting city) paid a visit to US and chose Washington DC as
their last stop. The group was arranged to have a dinner with more than fifty
distinguished guests from the town in The Embassy of the Peoples Republic of
China. Before the dinner, the assistant mayor of Chengdu told his interpreter he
wanted to switch from the originally assigned dinning table to another table.

WHY?


Questions:

1. State the reason why the assistant mayor wanted to switch to another dinning
table.
2. State the reason why the assistant mayor told this to the interpreter, but not to his
secretary.
3. Reflect on the cross-culture communication issues we covered in this course, if
you were the interpreter, what aspect would you emphasize in the following
interpretation?


Analysis:

1.
There might be a few reasons that the assistant mayor wanted to switch to another
dinning table. Before going straight to the possible reasons,
a. First, if we have a look at the power distance index of China (80), it is much
higher than that of US (40). This means Chinese employees accept and expect
that power is distributed unequally and tend to know their place. In fact,
COMM683 Xiaowan Zheng

within the group of seven people from Chengdu government, only three high-
level officials names were listed as the guests to the dinner. All the rest only
came for the pre and post-dinner networking session.
b. Seats were assigned in order to make 9-10 seats per table and 6 tables total.
There are more than 50 American guests and only three Chinese officials, so
these three Chinese officials were assigned to three different tables, as shown
in the figure below.

c. The assistant mayor was originally assigned to Table #2. He told the
interpreter he wanted to switch to another table. This could be basically due
to the following reasons:
i. In higher power distance country (China), older and senior
employees get respect from junior employees because of age and long
tenure in the organization. The assistant mayor, who was the
youngest among three Chinese government officials, probably felt not
appropriate to sit in the center table of the room.
ii. Besides high power distance, in China, seating customs play important
roles in Chinese dining etiquette. Normally, the most senior member
or the one who holds the most powerful position sits in the center of
the dinning table as well as the room. As a result, the assistant mayor
wouldnt let himself sit in the middle of the mayor and the vice mayor.

d. Besides the possibility described in c, there might be other factors involved
in this case. The associate mayor expected himself to sit and have dinner with
Americans who held the same rank, social or political power as him. However,
the dinner planner might simply not notice the power distance difference
between China and US or a persons rank in one area simply does not match
COMM683 Xiaowan Zheng

his/her rank in another. In fact, American guests in Table #2 were mostly

people from academic circles.

2.
As Washington DC was the last stop of these Chinese officials American trip, the
assistant mayor, who had never been to US before the trip, might already experience
the culture differences (different power distance). The fact that he told it to the
interpreter instead of his secretary could be mainly due to two reasons. First, the
secretary was not invited to the dinner, as described in the 1(a). Second, trust had
been built between the assistant mayor and his interpreter. He told this to the
interpreter to get his/her opinion rather than a request.

3.
a. Reflect on what I learned from Intercultural Communication Theory in
Translation and Interpretation classes, if I were the interpreter, I would work hard
on choosing the appropriate register in the following interpretation. For example,
compared to China, in US cultures, business is conducted in a less formal manner. I
would choose a little bit higher register when interpreting from Chinese into English
in order to raise the American guests awareness that my Chinese client was more
serious toward this business dinner.

b. I would also give some cultural background to my client when he was asked about
his opinion on an American topic, just because he was not very familiar with
American culture. I think it wouldnt hurt anyone because this was a dinner, not a
disputation.