How do you say "linguistic mediation" in Chinese?

[Dlezcano]

If anyone isn't sure about what "mediation" means, it is a skill which consists to facilitate communication between two or more speakers of the same or different languages. It can be oral but also written. For instance, you have to explain a foreigner a letter he can't understand and which is written in your language.

This skill is tested in some foreign language exams mainly carried out in Europe, so I hardly could find any Chinese words referring this concept. One was 语言转换, which I saw used in only one institution, while the other one was 语际交流, which I heard from a Chinese teacher and couldn't find referenced in any website.

So, does anyone know if there is a generally accepted word for "linguistic mediation"? Also, it would be great knowing how to say "written mediation" and "spoken mediation".

Thanks

[Shelley]

Mediation means - intervention in a dispute in order to resolve it; arbitration.

 

and also  -  intervention in a process or relationship; intercession.

 

I don't know if this is a use of the word I would consider natural.

 

The word I would use would be translation/translate/ translator.

You translate a letter for a person into his language, this could be written or oral.

 

 

[roddy]

Ok, so, something I do when looking for a translation of a term is to do a site:gov.hk search - the Hong Kong government produces a huge amount of material in both English and Chinese, and it's usually quite easy to find the 'other' version if you can find your original term. Thinking about it, looking at Singapore might also be useful. I can't think of anywhere else that has English and Chinese as official languages. 

 

And I couldn't find it there. Sad face. So I searched for the term in general and found it's often used alongside cultural mediation. Ah-ha. Let's see if we can find that. Yes, "cultural mediation" appears in this pdf. A bit of searching found the Chinese version (or at least a similar document) where we find  文化中介. I wouldn't have thought of 中介 in this context. So work backwards and search for 语言中介 and we find this abstract using the term in a language learning context (actually making reference to the CEFR, which brings us right back to the language exams mentioned in the OP. So 语言中介. 

 

But, caveats. It's not a common term, and - like in English - you can't expect anyone to know what it means. And there's possibly a better alternative - I haven't referred to an authoritative source, I've made some guesses and then found one result (cited by precisely no other papers, if I'm reading CNKI right) that confirms my guess. Someone with a dictionary of linguistics on their desk may be more reliable.

 

Edit: Also here, found by searching the term and CEFR - again, a bit of a self-fulfilling translation. And here. Also found the English term 'language brokering', which would be another rabbit hole to jump down.

[Dlezcano]

Well thanks lot Roddy, I wouldn't have expected such a great and useful answer! All the links you provided are great and I will certainly take advantage of your suggested method for searching words.

I know this concept isn't yet widespread in China (if ever). As I told in my first message, it has been introduced recently in some exams for foreign languages carried out in Europe, so even many people here do not know exactly what it is actually about. It is not certainly (only) a translation since you have to summarize the general idea of a text, sometimes from one language to another one, but sometimes to the same language.

For now, I guess 语言中介 might be the best option.

[Jim]

Maybe 调停? Seems to be used in that sense e.g. here: http://www.cssn.cn/yyx/qtfzxk/201806/t20180612_4362799.shtml ETA Or maybe not, that's more a debate between two schools of thought.