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Interpreters Interpreters are language specialists with a perfect command of their mother tongue and one or more foreign languages. They have mastered interpreting techniques for rendering a message orally from the source language to the target language. Interpreting requires close concentration and considerable responsiveness, mastery of terminology in several fields, in-depth knowledge of these fields and the ability to assimilate knowledge in other sectors.
Uses of courtesy As regards language register, how is one to know whether to use a familiar or more formal style of address if the source language makes no distinction between them? In order to interpret “I want” or “I’d like”, the interpreter has to be able to register the tone and understand whether the expression should be translated as a demand or a wish.
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Translators Translators are language specialists who translate written texts out of a source language into one or more target languages, usually their mother tongue(s).
Explicit or implicit communication style A speaker who favours an implicit style of communication tends to make more use of silences, ambiguity and suggestion, while an explicit style aims for transparency, a direct approach and precision. Thus in order to interpret a “yes”, the interpreter must be able to decipher whether it is a clear “yes” or a veiled “no”.
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Roles and definitions
a way of getting them across that is more in keeping with the user’s culture?
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Community interpreters Community interpreters specialise in interpreting in three-way situations to facilitate mutual understanding between speakers of different languages. When interpreting they take into account the speakers’ social and cultural backgrounds. They have a basic knowledge of intercultural communication. They are familiar with the misunderstandings and conflicts that may occur in this context and are able to react to such situations appropriately.
Resistance associated with perceptions36 Should an interpreter announce a disease such as cancer, knowing that in the minds of people from some countries the diagnosis is tantamount to a sentence of death, whereas in the West, although it is a very serious disease, users know that there are treatments with encouraging results?
Cultural mediators Cultural mediators provide immigrants and public-service professionals with easily understandable information about cultural differences, the different rules of the social and political systems in the host country, and different ways of behaving. In so doing, they build bridges between immigrants and education/support systems, thus facilitating understanding between doctors and patients, lawyers and clients, and teachers and parents. They work either as a team or independently, organising and implementing prevention projects, information sessions for immigrants, etc. Unlike traditional mediators, they are not specialists in conflict mediation, but through their work they can help to forestall possible conflicts.
B. The role of the interpreter All relations between an institution and its users should form part of an approach to dialogue which must make it possible for people to be understood in their own language or express themselves in the language of the person to whom they are talking. The professional interpreter’s role is to reproduce what the user has said “as accurately as possible” and faithfully convey the words of the staff. A professional interpreter is trained to reproduce a message fully, faithfully and comprehensibly. The presence of a professional interpreter offers safeguards with regard to quality and observance of professional ethics. He or she is able to speak with clarity, using short, easily understood sentences. Institutions usually require the language skills of professional interpreters to be tested before they do any actual work (see Appendices 3 and 4).
Source: Information from INTERPRET, a Swiss training and certification association for community interpreting and cultural mediation: www.inter-pret.ch, accessed 6 June 2011.
C. Conditions for effective action 33
36 See in particular: Chiu L. F., Straight Talking: Communicating Breast Screening Information in Primary Care, a Participatory Action Research Report produced for the National Health Service Cancer Screening Programme, Nuffield Institute for Health, 2002.
Promoting professional interpreting standards
In order to get over the language barrier, staff members may sometimes spontaneously ask a third party to interpret, such as another family member, a friend, a
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Translation, mediation and assessment: communication tools