Franz Pöchhacker

This talk reviews a number of terminological issues in the field of interpreting. Some general comments on the relationship between interpreting and terminology in professional practice and at the level of academic disciplines will be followed by an examination of central concepts of interpreting studies and their definition. Using the theory of terminology as a foundation, some fundamental conceptual distinctions relating to interpreting mode and social context will be revisited, with particular concern for overlaps and fuzzy boundaries. The merits of the Wüster model notwithstanding, its limits will be pointed out with reference to notions that are particularly open to the impact of the sociocultural context. Community-based interpreting as a distinctly context-bound social practice will be mentioned as a case in point, showing that a socio-cultural approach to terminology, while not facilitating harmonization or even standardization, emerges as the more realistic option for literally coming to terms in interpreting.