Article,
Interlocutor roles and the pressures on interpreters
Traducción e interpretación en los servicios públicos, (2002)
Abstract
«I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant» I once heard a communication skills trainer say «communication is communication –it’s all the same». That isn’t so, as linguists have always known. However, as Public Service or Community Interpreters (PSIs) we always work in a multi-disciplinary team, and it is common for us to meet non-linguists who don’t understand what we’re doing, or what it takes to do it. We need to understand very clearly why we are trained to do the things we do. Why the Impartial Model, why the need to debrief, so that we can ask clearly and assertively to have our professional needs met. Many people think that interpreting is interpreting; it’s all the same. I think Public Service interpreting is different from other types of interpreting, in very significant ways. In fact in medical settings I think we have more in common with other allied health professions (AHPs) than we do with other interpreting specialisms. Nathan Garber 1 has described the six major aspects of our field of work that set it apart from Conference or Diplomatic interpreting, or interpreting in Commerce and Industry.
