Chapter 12

Telephonic dialogue interpreting

The use of telephone interpreting (TI) is becoming increasingly popular in both the public and private sectors. Dialogue interpreting (DI) carried out over the telephone is an extremely complex interpreting mode, which requires an in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of communication and of the techniques used in “traditional” DI; only with these foundations, will students be able to develop the skills that are specifically required for TI. With this in mind, we propose a specific short teaching course for telephone interpreters, where prospective students have already received teaching in dialogue (and, if possible, consecutive) interpreting, or have practical experience in these fields. After describing the underlying principles of our work, we present five practical units in growing order of difficulty, which can be used for various language combinations.