Cover not available

Article published In: Teaching and practising interpreting: From traditional to new remote approaches
Edited by Pilar Rodríguez Reina and Estefanía Flores Acuña
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 6:2] 2020
► pp. 114–130

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

Community/Public-service interpreting as a communicative event

A call for shifting teaching and learning foci

 | Heriot-Watt University
Published online: 12 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00048.ang
Abstract
Research in Community/Public-Service Interpreting, also referred to as Dialogic Interpreting, has been growing at a steadily pace in the last two decades. Developments in technology enabling remote access to services, as well as increasing immigration waves, and people’s mobility are all factors that contribute to the growth of interactions requiring interpreting, and, consequently, the resulting studies about them. Interestingly, however, the results of empirical research have barely begun to permeate practice, specifically the teaching and learning of community/public-service interpreting. A look at the professional development opportunities offered by community agencies, some educational programs, as well as some statements in codes of ethics or standards of practice of interpreting associations, reveals little dialogue between practice and theory/research. In this paper I explore this disconnect and suggest areas that could benefit from a deeper dialogue among stakeholders to enhance the education of current and future interpreters.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Some relevant theories to interpreting
    • 2.1Theories on social psychology on interpersonal relations
    • 2.2Social theories
    • 2.3Theories from linguistic anthropology
  • 3.CI/PSI as a communicative event: What can we learn and why does it matter?
  • 4.Interpreter’s communicative competence and its relevancy to the teaching and learning of CI/PSI
  • 5.Tensions between research and practice: Some possible explanations/examples
    • 5.1A narrowly-defined situated practice
    • 5.2Transfer of initial efforts in interpreter education from conference interpreting
    • 5.3Conceptualizations of professionalism of CI/PSI around the world
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
References (57)
References
Angelelli, Claudia V. 2000. “Interpreting as a Communicative Event: A Look through Hymes’ Lenses.” Meta 45 (4): 580–592. Accessed May 22, 2019. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2001. Deconstructing the Invisible Interpreter: A Critical Study of the Interpersonal Role of the Interpreter in a Cross-Cultural/Linguistic Communicative Event. PhD diss. University of Stanford.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004a. Medical Interpreting and Cross-cultural Communications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004b. Re-visiting the Interpreter’s Role. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2005. “Healthcare Interpreting Education: Are We Putting the Cart Before the Horse?” The ATA Chronicle XXXIV (11): 33–55.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. “Designing Curriculum for Healthcare Interpreting Education: A Principles Approach.” In New Approaches to Interpreter Education, ed. by Cynthia B. Roy, 23–45. Washington: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2008. “The Role of the Interpreter in the Healthcare Setting: A Plea for a Dialogue between Research and Practice.” In Building Bridges: The Controversial Role of the Community Interpreter, ed. by Carmen Valero-Garcés, and Anne Martin, 139–152. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2012. “Challenges in Interpreters’ Coordination of the Construction of Pain.” In Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting, ed. by Claudio Baraldi, and Laura Gavioli, 251–268. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2014a. “Interpreting in the Healthcare Setting: Access in Cross-Linguistic Communication.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Health Communication, ed. by Heidi Hamilton, and Wen-ying Sylvia Chou, 573–585. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
, ed. 2014b. The Sociological Turn in Translation and Interpreting Studies. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2016. “Looking Back: A Study of (ad-hoc) Family Interpreters.” European Journal of Applied Linguistics 4 (1): 5–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2017. “Anchoring Dialogue Interpreting in Principles of Teaching and Learning.” In Teaching Dialogue Interpreting, ed. by Letizia Cirillo, and Natasha Niemants, 29–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2019. Healthcare Interpreting Explained. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Apostolou, Fotini, Effie Yannopoulou, and Angeliki Papahadjopoulos, dirs. 2018. “Round Table Discussion. Perspectives II: The Voice of Community Interpreters”. Communication submitted in International Symposium Narratives of Immigration: Community Interpreting as a Right/Rite of Passage, Thessaloniki, Greece, November 23, 2018. Accessed May 22, 2019. [URL]
Bachman, Lyle. 1990. Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio, and Laura Gavioli, eds. 2012. Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berk-Seligson, Susan. 1990. The Bilingual Courtroom. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. “Negotiation and Communicative Accommodation in Bilingual Police Interrogations: A Critical Interactional Sociolinguistic Perspective.” Translators and Interpreters: Geographic Displacement and Linguistic Consequences 2071: 29–58. Accessed May 22, 2019. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolden, Galina. 2000. “Toward Understanding Practices of Medical Interpreting: Interpreters’ Involvement in History Taking.” Discourse Studies 21: 387–419. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Braun, Sabine, and Judith L. Taylor, eds. 2011. Videoconference and Remote Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings. Guildford: University of Surrey.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brewer, Marilynn B. 1988. “A Dual Process Model of Impression Formation.” In Advances in Social Cognition, ed. by J. Thomas, K. Srull, and Robert S. Wyer, 1–36. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erilbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, D. 2001. Teaching by principles. An interactive approach to language pedagogy, 2ª edition. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
CHIA [California Healthcare Interpreters Association]. 2002. California Standards for Healthcare Interpreters: Ethical Principles, Protocols, and Guidance on Roles and Intervention. Sacramento: California Endowment.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cirillo, Letizia, and Natasha Niemants, eds. 2017. Teaching Dialogue Interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colina, Sonia. 2003. Translation Teaching from Research to the Classroom a Handbook for Teachers. Boston: McGraw-Hill Companies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corsellis, Ann. 2008. Public Service Interpreting. The First Steps. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
D’Hayer, Danielle. 2013. “Public Service Interpreter Education. A Multidimensional Approach Aiming at Building a Community of Learners and Professionals.” In Interpreting in a Changing Landscape: Selected Papers from Critical Link 6, ed. by Christina Schäffner, Krzysztof Kredens, and Yvonne Fowler, 321–337. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davidson, Brad. 1998. Interpreting Medical Discourse. A study of Cross-Linguistic Communication in the Hospital Clinic. PhD diss. University of Stanford.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. “Questions in Cross-Linguistic Medical Encounters: The Role of the Hospital Interpreter.” Anthropological Quarterly 74 (4): 170–178. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ervin, Feyza, and Bernd Meyer, eds. 2016. Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation: Translational Cultures in Focus. Special issue of European Journal of Applied Linguistics 4 (1). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Festinger, Leon. 1954. “A Theory of Social Comparison Processes.” Human Relations 71: 117–140. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fiske, Susan T., and Shelley E. Taylor. 1991. “Attribution Theory and Errors and Biases in the Attribution Processes.” In Elements of Social Cognition, ed. by Susan Fiske, and Shelley E. Taylor, 22–56 and 66–86. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gavioli, Laura. 2017. “Foreword.” In Teaching Dialogue Interpreting, ed. by Letizia Cirillo, and Natasha Niemants, xii1. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hymes, Dell. 1974. Foundations in Sociolinguistics. New Jersey: The University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mason, Ian, and Wen Ren. 2012. “Power in Face-to-Face Interpreting Events.” In The Sociological Turn in Translation and Interpreting Studies, ed. by Claudia Angelelli, 115–133. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meyer, Bernd. 2012. “Ad-hoc Interpreting for Partially Language-proficient Patients: Participation in Multilingual Constellations.” In Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting, ed. by Claudio Baraldi, and Laura Gavioli, 99–114. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ozolins, Uldis. 2017. “It’s not about the Interpreter.” In Teaching Dialogue Interpreting, ed. by Letizia Cirillo, and Natasha Niemants, 46–62. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Accessed May 22, 2019. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ridgeway, Cecilia. 1993. “Legitimacy, Status and Dominance in Groups.” In Conflict Between People and Groups: Causes, Processes, and Resolutions, ed. by Stephen Worschel, and Jeffry A. Simpson, 110–127. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rillof, Pascal, and Lieven Buysse. 2015. “Getting Organized to Beat Babel in Multilingual Service Encounters: The European Network for Public Service Interpreting and Translation (ENPSIT).” Translation and Interpreting 7 (3): 186–197.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, Gemma. 2015. Public Service Interpreters: The Emotional and Psychological Impact of Interpreting within Public Service Settings. PhD diss. University of Cardiff.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roy, Cynthia B. 2000. Interpreting as a Discourse Process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. New Approaches to Interpreter Education. Washington: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Desa Conniff. 2015. “Legislation as Backdrop for the Professionalisation and Training of the Healthcare Interpreter in the United States.” JoSTrans. The Journal of Specialised Translation 231: 292–315.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Savignon, Sandra J. 1983. Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice. Texts and Contexts in Second Language Learning. Reading: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sela-Sheffy, Rakefett, and Myriam Shlesinger. 2008. “Strategies of Image-Making and Status Advancement of Translators and Interpreters as a Marginal Occupational Group.” In Beyond Descriptive Translation Studies: Investigations in Homage to Gideon Toury, ed. by Anthony Pym, Miriam Shlesinger, and Daniel Simeoni, 79–90. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Skaaden, Hanne. 2018. “Invisible or Invincible? Professional Integrity, Ethics, and Voice in Public Service Interpreting.” Perspectives. Studies in Translation Theory and Practice 27 (5): 704–717. Accessed May 22, 2019. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stouffer, S. A., E. A. Suchman, L. C. Devinney, S. A. Star, and R. M. Williams. 1949. The American Soldier: Adjustment during Army Life. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tipton, Rebecca, and Olgierda Furmanek. 2016. Dialogue Interpreting: A Guide to Interpreting in Public Services and the Community. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tipton, Rebecca. 2017. “Contracts and Capabilities: Public Service Interpreting and Third Sector Domestic Violence Services.” The Translator 23 (2): 237–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdés, Guadalupe, Cristina Chávez, and Claudia Angelelli. 2000. “Bilingualism from Another Perspective: The Case of Young Interpreters from Immigrant Communities.” In Research on Spanish in the United States. Linguistic Issues and Challenges, ed. by Ana Roca, 42–81. Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valero-Garcés, Carmen, and Anastasia Anatol’Evna Atabekova. 2013. “Public Service Interpreting and Translating: Providing Human Rights and Access to Social Justice.” RUDN Journal of Law 11: 173–77.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wadensjö, Cecilia. 1998. Interpreting as Interaction. New York: Addision Wesley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Maryns, Katrijn & Marie Jacobs
2025. Refugee languages and the right to interpretation. Translation and Interpreting Studies DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 november 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