Interpreters' Role, Professionalism or Integrity? Cia Log Pg Dip Bsl/English Interpreting
SLI/UCLAN Postgraduate Diploma in British Sign Language/English Interpreting
Critical Interpreting Awareness
Log 3
Interpreters’ Role, Professionalism or Integrity?
The discussion about what is and isn’t my role has cropped up regularly throughout my interpreting career, be it in the workplace, at conferences, during training or in discussions with Deaf people and/or other professionals. Since attending the PG Diploma, the issue of ‘role’ has become somewhat of an anomaly in my mind. Llewellyn-Jones and Lee (2008) propose ‘that the interpreter is there to enable two or more people who don’t speak or sign the same language to communicate in a way that they would want to communicate. Full stop. How this is achieved depends entirely on the setting, the interlocutors and their goals and the communicative competence of the interpreter.’
I wanted to explore this notion of role and the confusion over the ‘role of the interpreter’ that there seems to be within the field. We are human beings and cannot step out of our role as a human being; I do not stop being a human being when I am working as an interpreter, just as I do not stop being an interpreter when I am in a situation which does not require interpretation. I do, however, consider my actions and behaviour when both in and out of interpreting situations and what the consequences could be for other aspects of my life, therefore behaving as a professional. For example, to mock Deaf people in an inappropriate manner in the pub amongst friends could ruin not only my reputation but the views of others about Deaf people. To accept an interpreting job which would affect me negatively i.e. a difficult mental health case, may not be suitable for me, and so I may not accept it. I cannot switch off my emotions because I am in a situation as ‘an interpreter’ because I am in the situation as me, one cannot be extracted from the other.
Role as a means of escape?
The notion of ‘role’,
Critical Interpreting Awareness
Log 3
Interpreters’ Role, Professionalism or Integrity?
The discussion about what is and isn’t my role has cropped up regularly throughout my interpreting career, be it in the workplace, at conferences, during training or in discussions with Deaf people and/or other professionals. Since attending the PG Diploma, the issue of ‘role’ has become somewhat of an anomaly in my mind. Llewellyn-Jones and Lee (2008) propose ‘that the interpreter is there to enable two or more people who don’t speak or sign the same language to communicate in a way that they would want to communicate. Full stop. How this is achieved depends entirely on the setting, the interlocutors and their goals and the communicative competence of the interpreter.’
I wanted to explore this notion of role and the confusion over the ‘role of the interpreter’ that there seems to be within the field. We are human beings and cannot step out of our role as a human being; I do not stop being a human being when I am working as an interpreter, just as I do not stop being an interpreter when I am in a situation which does not require interpretation. I do, however, consider my actions and behaviour when both in and out of interpreting situations and what the consequences could be for other aspects of my life, therefore behaving as a professional. For example, to mock Deaf people in an inappropriate manner in the pub amongst friends could ruin not only my reputation but the views of others about Deaf people. To accept an interpreting job which would affect me negatively i.e. a difficult mental health case, may not be suitable for me, and so I may not accept it. I cannot switch off my emotions because I am in a situation as ‘an interpreter’ because I am in the situation as me, one cannot be extracted from the other.
Role as a means of escape?
The notion of ‘role’,
References: Metger, M. (1999) Sign Language Interpreting: De-constructing the Myth of Neutrality. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press Roy, C. (2000) Interpreting as a Discourse Process, Oxford: Oxford University Press Llewellyn-Jones, P & Lee, R. G. (2008) The ‘Role’ of the Community/Public Service Interpreter. Supporting Deaf People Online Conference Paper Witter-Merithew, A. & Johnson, L. (In Press). Market Disorder Within the Field of Sign Language Interpreting: Professionalization Implications. In D. Watson (ed), Journal of Interpretation. RID Publications: Alexandria, VA. Tseng, J. (1992) Interpreting as an Emerging Profession in Taiwan – A Sociolinguistic Model. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved August 19, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/integrity Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved August 19, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/role www.asli.org.uk www.nrcpd.org.uk