Cover not available

Article published In: Translation Spaces
Vol. 6:2 (2017) ► pp.182–208

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required
Global Dynamics

Towards a typology of interpreters in war-related scenarios in the Middle East

ORCiD logo with link | University of Geneva, Switzerland
 | University of Geneva, Switzerland
Published online: 4 December 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.6.2.01rui
Abstract
The figure of the interpreter in conflict is as interesting as it is elusive to the rest of the profession and academia. One of the regions that has caught the attention and the interest of scholars is the Middle East. The literature tends to focus on one specific category – locally recruited interpreters – and the application of different theoretical concepts to their role and consideration by the parties involved, and does not delve too deeply into the intricacies of the specific role of other categories of interpreter in this context. Also, the existing narratives do not always frame this role through the typology of the conflict in which it is developed. This paper identifies narratives included in the literature that represent interpreters working in armed conflicts in the Middle East in order to examine the different existing categories. The paper then draws on the results of a qualitative study carried out with staff interpreters at an international organisation with the aim of completing this categorisation. Our focus will be on the characteristics of the different categories of interpreter in terms of their involvement in the different stages of the conflict, their positionality, working conditions, status and recognition by the parties involved in the conflict.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conflict, armed conflict and war
  • 3.Interpreters and interpreting in armed conflicts
  • 4.Research methodology
  • 5.Defining the categories
    • 5.1Military language specialists
    • 5.2Local interpreters recruited by the military
    • 5.3UN language assistants
    • 5.4Staff or freelance conference interpreters
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (47)
References
Agamben, Giorgio. 1998. Homo Sacer. Sovereign Power and Bare Life, translated by Daniel Heller-Roazen. Stanford, CA.: Stanford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Allen, Katharine. 2012. National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators. Accessed October 27, 2016. [URL]
Alves, Israel. 2015. “The Use of Language Assistant in UN Peace Missions. Benefits and Risks. Brazilian Peace Operations Joint Training Centre.” Accessed November 2, 2016. [URL]
Askew, Louise, and Myriam Salama-Carr. 2011. “Interview: Interpreters in Conflict – The View from Within.” Translation Studies 4 (1): 103–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baigorri, Jesús. 2003. “Guerras, extremos, intérpretes.” Paper presented at the I Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Ibérica de Estudios de Traducción e Interpretación , Granada, February 12–14.
. 2011. “Wars, Languages and the Role(s) of Interpreters.” in Les liaisons dangereuses: langues, traduction, interprétation, edited by Henri Awaiss, and Jarjoura Hardane, 173–204. Beirut: Sources-Cibles. Université Saint-Joseph.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, Catherine. 2010a. “The Care and Feeding of Linguists: The Working Environment of Interpreters, Translators, and Linguists during Peacekeeping in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” War & Society 29(2): 154–175. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010b. “It’s not their Job to Soldier: Distinguishing Civilian and Military in Soldiers’ and Interpreters’ Accounts of Peacekeeping in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Journal of War and Culture Studies 31: 137–150. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, Mona. 2006. “Contextualisation in Translator- and Interpreter-Mediated Events.” Journal of Pragmatics 381: 321–337. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. “Interpreters and Translators in the War Zone.” The Translator 16(2): 197–222. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, Mona, and Carol Maier. 2011. “Ethics in Interpreter and Translator Training.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 5(1): 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bassford, Christopher. 2016. “Clausewitz’s Categories of War.” In Quaderno Sism 2016. Future Wars. Storia della distopia militare, edited by Virgilio Ilari, 577–590. Milan: Società Italiana di Storia Militare.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beebee, Thomas O. 2010. “Shoot the Transtraitor!” The Translator 16(2): 295–313. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bos, Geesje, and Joseph Soeters. 2006. “Interpreters at Work: Experiences from Dutch and Belgian Peace Operations.” International Peacekeeping 13(2): 261–268. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brahm, Eric. 2003. Conflict Stages. Website Beyond Intractability. [URL].
Clausewitz, Carl von. 1989. On War. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collier, Craig A. 2010. “Now that We’re Leaving Iraq, What did We Learn?” Military Review, Sep.-Oct. Issue: 88–93. [URL]
Dragovic-Drouet, Mila. 2007. “The Practice of Translation and Interpreting During the Conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia (1991–1999).” in Translating and Interpreting Conflict, edited by Myriam Salama-Carr, 29–40. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edwards, V. 2002. The role of communication in peace and relief mission negotiations. The Translation Journal, 6(2) [Online]. Retrieved from [URL]
Footitt, Hillary. 2010. “Languages at War: Cultural Preparations for the Liberation of Western Europe.” Journal of War & Culture Studies 3(1): 109–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Footitt, Hillary, and Michael Kelly, eds. 2012. Languages and the Military Alliances, Occupation and Peace Building. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gleditsch, Nils P., Peter Wallensteen, Mikael Eriksson, Margareta Sollenberg, and Havard Strand. 2002. “Armed Conflict 1946–2001: A New Dataset.” Journal of Peace Research 39(5): 615–637. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guo, Ting. 2015. “Interpreting for the Enemy: Chinese Interpreters in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931–1945).” Translation Studies 8(1): 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heimburger, Franziska. 2012. “Fighting Together Language Issues in the Military Coordination of First World War Allied Coalition Warfare.” in Languages and the Military. Alliances, Occupation and Peace Building, edited by Hillary Footitt, and Michael Kelly, 47–57. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hsieh, Hsiu-Fang, and Sarah E. Shannon. 2005. “Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis.” Qualitative Health Research 15(9): 1277–1288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. “The Ethical Task of the Translator in the Geo-Political Arena: from Iraq to Guantánamo Bay.” Translation Studies 1(2): 212–223. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “Translators in War Zones: Ethics under Fire in Iraq.” in Globalisation, Political Violence and Translation, edited by Esperanza Bielsa, and Christopher Hughes, 207–221. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. “You don’t Make War without Knowing Why. The Decision to Interpret in Iraq.” The Translator 16(2): 175–196. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Inghilleri, Moira, and Sue-Ann Harding. 2010. “Translating Violent Conflict”. The Translator 16(2): 165–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacquemet, Marco. 2005. “The Registration Interview: Restricting Refugees’ Narrative Performance.” in Dislocations/Relocations: Narratives of Displacement, edited by Mike Baynham, and Anna de Fina, 197–220. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Juvinall, Ben. 2013. “Heaven or Hell? The Plight of Former Wartime Interpreters of the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts Living in the U.S.” Michigan State Journal of international Law 211: 205–227.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kelly, Michael, and Catherine Baker. 2013. Interpreting the Peace: Peace Operations, Conflict and Language in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kriesberg, Louis, and Bruce W. Dayton. 2017. Constructive conflicts. From escalation to resolution, 4th edition. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moser-Mercer, Barbara, and Grégoire Bali. 2008. Interpreting in Zones of Crisis and War: AIIC. Accessed June 2, 2016. [URL]
Ozawa, Tomoko. 2008. “Nisei Interpreters/Translators of the US Military.” JICA: Journal of the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum 31: 37–50.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Packer, George. 2007. “Betrayed: The Iraqis Who Trusted America the Most.” The New Yorker, 26 March. Accessed November 24, 2016. [URL]
Palmer, Jerry. 2007. “Interpreting and Translation for Western Media in Iraq.” in Translating and Interpreting Conflict, edited by Myriam Salama-Carr, 13–28. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Persaud, Clementina. 2016. “Interpreting at War: A Case Study on EUFOR BiH ALTHEA.” PhD dissertation, University Pablo de Olavide.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rafael, Vincente. 2007. Translation in Wartime. Public Culture 19(2), 239–246. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sharma, Vivek Swaroop. 2015. “A Social Theory of War: Clausewitz and War Reconsidered.” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 281, 327–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Samall, Melvin, & Joel David Singer. 1982. Resort to Arms. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Somers, Margaret R., and Gloria D. Gibson. 1994. “Reclaiming the Epistemological ‘Other’: Narrative and the Social Constitution of Identity” in Social Theory and the Politics of Identity, edited by Craig Calhoun, 37–99. Oxford UK & Cambridge USA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stahuljak, Zrinka. 2009. “War, Translation, Transnationalism: Interpreters in and of the War (Croatia, 1991–1992).” Translation Studies III1: 345–374.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taft, Ronald. 1981. “The Role and Personality of the Mediator.” in The Mediating Person: Bridges between Cultures, edited by Stephen Bochner, 53–88. Boston: Hall.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takeda, Kayoko. 2009. “Wars and Interpreters.” Across Languages and Cultures 10(1): 49–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. “Interpreters in Conflict Resolution.” Reflections 2(2). Accessed November 24, 2016. [URL]
Cited by (16)

Cited by 16 other publications

Valero-Garcés, Carmen
2025. Aprendizaje horizontal en las relaciones entre militares de las Fuerzas Armadas Españolas e intérpretes en situaciones de conflicto. Babel. Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation / Revista Internacional de Traducción 71:3 ► pp. 412 ff. DOI logo
Barea, Manuel
2024. Formación y autoaprendizaje del intérprete local en entornos de conflicto. Entreculturas. Revista de Traducción y Comunicación Intercultural :15 ► pp. 61 ff. DOI logo
Footitt, Hilary
2023. Reversing the Gaze. In Afghan Interpreters Through Western Eyes [Palgrave Studies in Languages at War, ], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Haidar, Cherine & Lucía Ruiz Rosendo
2023. The impressionist tale as a way to negotiate the challenges of ethnography in field missions for international organisations. The Translator 29:2 ► pp. 231 ff. DOI logo
de Jong, Sara
2022. Resettling Afghan and Iraqi interpreters employed by Western armies: The Contradictions of the Migration–Security Nexus. Security Dialogue 53:3 ► pp. 220 ff. DOI logo
de Jong, Sara
2022. Segregated brotherhood: the military masculinities of Afghan interpreters and other locally employed civilians. International Feminist Journal of Politics 24:2 ► pp. 243 ff. DOI logo
de Jong, Sara
2025. Brokering war: Afghan interpreters, western soldiers and unequal encounters in crisis. Cultural Studies 39:2 ► pp. 248 ff. DOI logo
Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía & Maura Radicioni
2022. Humanitarian Interpreting in the Age of COVID-19. In Translation and Interpreting in the Age of COVID-19 [Corpora and Intercultural Studies, 9], ► pp. 165 ff. DOI logo
Antonini, Rachele
2021. Non-professional translators and interpreters. In Handbook of Translation Studies [Handbook of Translation Studies, 5], ► pp. 171 ff. DOI logo
Barea Muñoz, Manuel
2021. Psychological Aspects of Interpreting Violence: A Narrative from the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. In Interpreting Conflict, ► pp. 195 ff. DOI logo
Gómez-Amich, María
2021. Local Interpreters Versus Military Personnel: Perceptions and Expectations Regarding the Local Interpreter’s Role and Agency Within the Afghan Conflict. In Interpreting Conflict, ► pp. 85 ff. DOI logo
Haidar Ahmad, Cherine
2021. United Nations Interpreters in the Arab Spring. In Interpreting Conflict, ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo
Méndez Sánchez, Verónica
2021. The Spanish “Military Interpreter”: A Practical Application in International Operations Arising from Armed Conflicts. In Interpreting Conflict, ► pp. 135 ff. DOI logo
Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, Alma Barghout & Conor H. Martin
2021. Interpreting on UN field missions: a training programme. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 15:4 ► pp. 450 ff. DOI logo
Abdel Latif, Muhammad M. M.
2020. Researching Professional Translator/Interpreter Experiences and Roles. In Translator and Interpreter Education Research [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 125 ff. DOI logo
Gallai, Fabrizio
2019. Interpreters at War: Testing Boundaries of Neutrality. In The Palgrave Handbook of Languages and Conflict, ► pp. 205 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue