Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a socio-historical perspective of interpreting as a postmodern profession. It speculates that the speed and flexibility particular to the globalised era has created the backdrop for the development of conference interpreting. The book aims to identify discourse elements which operationalise the principle of infotainment, which it considers as the merging of agendas between politics and television. It involves those contexts and realities that—by their very nature—are unavailable for scientific scrutiny, which ultimately raises the issue of research validity done on simulated encounters staged in these contexts. The book focuses specifically on norms and quality in the changing profession. Christina Schaffner discusses the implications of dealing with conceptual metaphors in conference interpreting. Cornelia Zwischenberger carries out a study of conference interpreters' social role as construed through professional self-perception.