Professionalisation of interpreting with the community

In this paper, I argue for a revised understanding of interpreting as a comprehensivelycollaborative activity. In presenting this case, I focus on the interpreter’s role as a weaver-together of narratives and a connector of people. I stress the interpreter’s task of working with others, i.e. actively bringing them into the process of negotiating meaning, to share triadic communicative events where participants constantly align and re-align themselves in complex kaleidoscopic ways to achieve their collective communicative goals. Building on previous work, I work towards the notion of a cycle of empowerment, reinforcing the imperative to work closely with the full range of relevant stakeholders to construct, implement and refine a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities.