TRADUCCIN E INTERPRETACIN

Taller de Interpretacin Ingls I

2014-II
Community Interpreting
By Margareta BOWEN
"The community interpreter has a very different role and responsibilities
from a commercial or conference interpreter. She is responsible for
enabling professional and client !ith very different bac"grounds and
perceptions and in an une#ual relationship of po!er and "no!ledge to
communicate to their mutual satisfaction."$%&
This definition still applies today. The clients it refers to are mainly
immigrants refugees of all age groups migrant !or"ers and their
children. Even if they have been living in their host country for years their
community li"e Ne! 'or"(s ")ittle *taly" or the +olish area of ,hicago has
protected them from the need to learn English until they need social
security or health care. The settings are hospitals and doctors( offices
schools the various offices dealing !ith immigrant matters housing and
social security and police stations. ,ompared to conference interpreting
the range of languages needed is enormous even !hen compared to !hat
is in store for the European -nion. Moreover the language level may be
#uite different from that of a diplomatic conference. regional variations
and dialects can be a problem. +reviously the difficulties of dealing !ith
this population have only been described by psychologists in the literature
on the #uestioning of suspects or victims of accidents. The clients are
!orried afraid and sometimes illiterate. They find themselves in strange
surroundings. /dd to these difficulties the fact that the professionals 00 the
doctors nurses police officers social !or"ers etc. 00 are usually in a
hurry. They have a given case load to ta"e care of and are disinclined to
let the interpreter do "a beautiful consecutive." *n a nutshell community
interpreters need people s"ills as !ell as language and cultural "no!ledge
00 and interpreting "no!0ho!.

TRADUCCIN E INTERPRETACIN
Taller de Interpretacin Ingls I
2014-II
Some languages dominate. Spanish in the -S Tur"ish in 1ermany and
/ustria *talian and 1ree" in /ustralia. But the 2ealth ,are *nterpreting
Services office of the 2eartland /lliance in ,hicago at present has demand
for 34 languages. *t is also obvious that it is not only the clients of
community interpreters !ho are usually immigrants but that the
interpreters themselves are foreign0born. Their bac"grounds vary
accordingly. 2ardly any of these interpreters have proper training in
interpretation. Even !here some efforts in this direction are made the
most common length of training is 56 hours.$3& "Most interpretation in
health care settings unfortunately is still provided by a variety of other
people !ho have been neither screened nor trained and !ho do not self0
identify as being interpreters." $7&
*nterest in this "ind of interpreting ho!ever has gro!n by leaps and
bounds. )ast year the *nternational ,onference on -niversity *nstitutes for
Translation and *nterpretation $,*-T*& decided that institutes do not have
to teach conference interpreting e8clusively in order to become a member.
They may offer any of a range of interpreter speciali9ations including
community interpreting.
There is not sufficient space to include a comprehensive bibliography on
community interpreting here. The best sources !ould be the proceedings
of the ,anadian conferences on "interpreters in the community" 00 the
ne8t one is planned for 366% in Montreal 00 and of the Babelea conference
$:ienna November %;;;&.
%. $Shac"man <ane. The Right to be Understood: A Handbook on Working
With, Employing and Training Community Interpreters. %;45 ,ambridge
England National E8tension ,ollege.&
3. ,ynthia E. =oat /T/ ,hronicle March 3666&
7. *bid.
Margareta Bowen has ritten idely on interpretation. !he is Head o" the #i$ision o"
Interpretation and Translation at %eorgeton Uni$ersity &Washington, #C' and a
member o" AIIC.