Ineke Crezee | Auckland University of Technology (original) (raw)
Papers by Ineke Crezee
Journal of Research Design and Statistics in Linguistics and Communication Science, 2016
Since the budding of interpreting research (IR) between the 1960s and the early 1970s, IR has dev... more Since the budding of interpreting research (IR) between the 1960s and the early 1970s, IR has developed by leaps and bounds, moving from what Gile (2011) calls 'speculative theorizing' to interdisciplinary substantive inquiries, and from the early 'interpretive theory paradigm' to the recent 'social paradigm' (Pöchhacker, 2004a, b). Despite this eventful, yet fruitful, history, it would appear that research methodology has been given less attention in IR than it rightfully deserves. Few books or monographs are available, providing a systematic account of and/or guidance to doing IR for novice researchers. As such, the book under review, co-authored by Sandra Hale and Jemina Napier, both experienced interpreting practitioners, educators and researchers, is the first of its kind in the field of IR. As a 'practical resource' and a 'comprehensive guide' primarily targeting 'research students undertaking Masters or PhD research projects' (p. 210), the book aims to 'demystify the research process' by providing readers with 'an accessible step-by-step guide to conducting research in Interpreting' (p. 2). Bearing this in mind, the reviewer cannot wait but find out what the book has to offer, and whether the book serves its intended purpose. Overall, the book consists of eight chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 are largely introductory, contextualizing the book and paving the way for the presentation on research methodology. As a core of the book, Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 focus on using questionnaire, ethnographic, discourse analytic, and experimental methods in IR. Being a rather separate chapter, Chapter 7 concerns
New Zealand has welcomed over fourteen thousand refugees under the quota programme into this coun... more New Zealand has welcomed over fourteen thousand refugees under the quota programme into this country over the last couple of decades; additionally, others have applied for refugee status on-arrival at the border. Quota refugees entering New Zealand spend and initial welcoming period at the New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Centre in Mangere, Auckland, where they undergo assessments and attend English language and orientation to New Zealand classes for approximately six weeks (Hayward, 2007). At the Resettlement Centre, refugees have contact with a range of specialist services, including those provided by the Public Health Service, Refugee Services and Refugees As Survivors (RAS). Interpreters are used during many of these encounters, most of whom have completed an interpreter training course. However, sometimes individuals are employed to act as „interpreters‟ or language aides on an ad hoc basis if trained interpreters in minority languages are not available. These individuals share a language with the incoming refugee group, although they may not derive from the same culture or ethnicity and will not have received the relevant professional interpreting training. For interpreters to be effective, it is important that they share the same language and cultural background as the clients for whom they interpret. The lack of ability to attract interpreters from identical ethnic background in itself creates challenges (dialectal differences and variance in cultural understandings, for example); but this may be unavoidable in refugee contexts, as they may constitute entirely new ethnic or language groups in New Zealand. This was the case with Rohingyan refugees from Bhutan, and with minority ethnic groups from Burma, for example. This presents challenges in terms of dialect and correct cultural interpretations, but there are also other challenges in refugee interpreting situations and this occurs when interpreters themselves share the same experiences as the clients they work with. The Interpreter Code of Ethics demands that interpreters are at all times accurate and impartial (Roberts-Smith, Frey & Bessell-Browne, 1991); however, the fact that interpreters might share the same traumatic experiences as the clients they work with, may make it problematic for interpreters to be impartial at all times.
Journal of applied linguistics and professional practice, Feb 11, 2013
Many countries around the world become recipient societies for refugees from a number of internat... more Many countries around the world become recipient societies for refugees from a number of international 'hotspots'. The current paper examines problems facing interpreters in refugee settings in both the New Zealand and Australian contexts. New Zealand receives 750 quota refugees each year, all of whom spend the first six weeks after arrival at the Refugee Resettlement Centre in Mangere, Auckland. Several studies have shown that inadequate communication between healthcare providers and patients with limited English not only limits their ability to access services but also affects the quality of the services received (Minas et al. 2001). In theory, this issue could be alleviated by the use of interpreters; however, the latter may not always find it easy to carry out their task, especially when interpreting in refugee settings. Research instruments in this study included an online survey for interpreters and separate focus discussion groups involving interpreters and professionals working with interpreters in refugee settings. Responses indicated that refugee mental health interpreting, in particular, often involves unexpected challenges for both interpreters and professionals, which may be difficult to address. An examination of issues is followed by recommendations for ways of addressing these issues.
Benjamins translation library, Jun 15, 2020
This article looks back on a large nursing textbook translation carried out by two translators in... more This article looks back on a large nursing textbook translation carried out by two translators in partnership. Time zone differences meant the translators worked with detailed discussion worksheets. Challenges involved in the translation of this 912-page text (the corpus) included Language and Culture Specific Challenges (LCSCs), which included SL and TL stylistic preferences, syntactical challenges, differences in ‘semantic coverage’, commissioner expectations and the need to align the Target Text with previous TL translations of standardized nursing terminologies. A review of the literature on the translation of text types, skopos and CSIs, is followed by a look inside the translators’ workspace. An examination of translation challenges found that Aixelá’s taxonomy of approaches to the translation of Culture Specific Items (CSIs) was often relevant to the translation of LCSCs. The findings of the analysis of challenges and approaches can be easily applied to translation of health-...
Interpreter Education in the Digital Age
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2017
Court interpreting is a challenging and highly skilled profession. Legal questions are designed t... more Court interpreting is a challenging and highly skilled profession. Legal questions are designed to achieve a large variety of functions. Often the true function is not the most obvious, the meaning is not literal, or there is no direct lexical or grammatical equivalent in the target language. Preparing interpreting students for interpreting legal questioning is very difficult and best achieved by exposing learners to a wide range of question forms in a safe practice environment. In order to ascertain which question types are most difficult to interpret, the authors undertook an analysis of question forms extracted from courtroom discourse, had students interpret these questions, and then conducted an error analysis of the interpreted utterances. The extracts were taken from YouTube clips of televised New Zealand High Court murder trials and were interpreted by 17 student legal interpreters into eight different languages. Certain question forms proved more difficult to interpret accurately than others. Suggestions are provided for interpreter educators to best prepare students for courtroom interpreting.
International Journal of Interpreter Education
Welcome to what will be our final editorial as co-editors of the International Journal of Interpr... more Welcome to what will be our final editorial as co-editors of the International Journal of Interpreter Education (IJIE). The title of this editorial focuses on resilience, which can be defined as "a universal capacity which allows a person, group or community to prevent, minimize or overcome the damaging effects of adversity" (Grotberg, 1995, p.7). As we wrote in our 2020 editorial (Crezee & Major, 2020, p.1), the COVID-19 pandemic "has impacted interpreting in numerous ways, " and it has affected many of us hugely. The immediate effects of the pandemic were reflected in the need to teach remotely, involving the stresses of having to suddenly redesign course delivery and student assessment. The need to work remotely has resulted in other types of stress, such as the need to work from home while also looking after young children or sick family members or having to deal with background noise and possible technological issues. On April 29, 2021, The New Yorker carried a piece written by emergency room resident Clifford Marks that focused on what he referred to as the "Lonely, Vital Work of Medical Interpretation. " In it, the author reported on a conversation that he had with Lourdes Cerna, a medical interpreter, in November 2020. Cerna said she had interpreted many end-of-life discussions with patients whose lungs were failing or interpreted bad news for patients' relatives in faraway countries. Working in isolation, and with her own neighbors and relatives affected by the pandemic, she would log in to her computer at home to undertake interpreting assignments remotely, with many of the calls being COVID-related. But with a near endless succession of potentially traumatizing assignments, just how do Cerna and other interpreters take care of themselves and maintain their resilience? Some interpreters have told us thatlooking back-what they also missed was "me time, " the ability to leave responsibilities behind and spend some time recharging their batteries. Early in 2021, Lisa Morris invited Ineke Crezee to present a keynote address at Paving the Way to Health Care Access, a 2-day educational conference sponsored by UMass Medical School's MassAHEC Network. Ineke was overjoyed to see the conference theme-"Interpreter Resilience: Growing and Adapting to Change as Essential Workers in the Healthcare Setting"and dedicated her keynote address to "Interpreting Through Trauma: Selfcare and Resilience Among New Zealand-Based Interpreters. " This involved sharing some of the experiences and self-care habits of those involved in interpreting in health and refugee settings as well as those involved in language access following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. The conference took place entirely online, and the organizers hope that many more medical interpreters will attend the 2022 iteration. Morris, from UMass Medical School and the director of Cross-Cultural Initiatives at Commonwealth Medicine, was the driving force behind this conference. When asked for a summary, she wrote: The Day 1 keynote speaker, Ryan Foley, spoke about the power and the messages of nonverbal communication and how to comprehend the meaning of common useful nonverbal messages as well as how to modify our own nonverbal behaviors to project approachability and competence. The message truly resonated for the audience of spoken language and American Sign Language interpreters [who] for the most part currently
Welcome to the first issue of Volume 9 of the International Journal of Interpreter Education. Thi... more Welcome to the first issue of Volume 9 of the International Journal of Interpreter Education. This issue offers a thought-provoking array of insights into the connection between research inquiry and interpreter educationwhich forms the very heart of this journal. IJIE's inaugural editor Jemina Napier (2009), in her first editorial, wrote, "[Interpreter education research] provides us with the opportunity to compare educational outcomes with real-world expectations. It presents us with the challenge of identifying what else we need to know about interpreting in order to improve the education of interpreters" (p. 1). Certainly in the last couple of decades we have learnt a lot more about the interpreter's role, for example, as an active participant in the co-construction of talk (e.g., Angelelli, 2004; Napier, 2007) and as a professional whose role inhabits different spaces depending on the demands and characteristics of different settings and interactions (Llewellyn-Jones & Lee, 2013). Contributions in this journal have explored innovative ways to bring new theory into to the interpreting classroom (both face-to-face and online). Nonetheless, there is still much to learn about what interpreters do in interaction, and about how best to bring this to the classroom and connect theory to practice in a clear and useful way. Each of the contributions in this volume presents some suggestions. Volume 9(1) is the first since IJIE became an open-access journal, meaning that all volumes, past and present, are now accessible without any subscription or membership. This change is an important step forward for the journal and its status, as it will not only create opportunities for sharing scholarship in wider circles, but also lead to more citations of our articles. Please share this news and encourage your colleagues and students to go to the CIT website 2 to see some of the fabulous resources that are now freely available. Contributions to this issue come from the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand and Belgium. They tackle an array of topics, from social media to legal interpreting to a report on a recent symposium. All authors highlight the immense and practical value of making explicit links between research and education, demonstrating the ways educators can use those research findings to improve teaching or better engage interpreting students. In the first research article in this issue, Brett Best explores the pervasive topic of social media, examining interpreters' use of Facebook and Twitter. Best held focus groups with signed language interpreters from the U.S., U.K. and Denmark. Participants reported on specific strategies for managing their 'professional' selves within this domain. The study uncovered interesting findings in terms of what participants felt is and is not permissible to share on social media, particularly related to posting about events or pictures of themselves working at events on
At the time of writing this editorial, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging around the world and... more At the time of writing this editorial, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging around the world and has taken a huge physical, financial, and emotional toll on many of our readers in many countries; thanks to the work of dedicated researchers, however, viable vaccines will soon become available (Chow, 2020). The creativity that led these researchers to their innovative vaccines is reflected, on a different level, in the ways interpreter educators and researchers internationally have come up with novel solutions in high-pressure situations. Conferences and workshops of course continue to be cancelled and replaced by online events, but, as Dr. Oktay Eser (Amasya University, Turkey) remarked recently in a Zoom meeting with Ineke, the pandemic has encouraged increased collaboration and sharing between interpreter educators globally. Educators in a wide range of spheres have come up with novel ways to interact with their students and colleagues. It is fascinating to see these creative solutions begin to be shared through research articles. For example, Braun, Davitti, and Slater (2020) describe highly multimodal and interactive Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and the opportunities these provide for collaborative learning in interpreter education; and Henderson and colleagues (2020) report on the success of using Microsoft Teams to disseminate medical training and as a discussion platform for staff in London. Figueroa and colleagues (2020) surveyed the responses of orthopedic residents in Chile on the use of several online learning modalities. They found that respondents missed the usual mix of practical and theoretical activities, and the same will have been true for students in our field. We know first-hand how very challenging it is for students to practice their interpreting skills in relative isolation online; even with well-organized mechanisms for teacher and peer feedback it is just not the same. We have a new appreciation for our face-to-face interpreting classes after this year! We have to acknowledge that we are in the privileged position of being in New Zealand, whereat least at the time of writing this editorialour early and strict lockdowns have allowed us to return to relatively normal life. We are thinking often of our colleagues in other countries who are still in the thick of COVID-related challenges, especially while entering into the winter months. Online events can result in new opportunities for joint research and collaboration from afar, which many readers may also have experienced this year. Ineke has presented to colleagues and students in Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Turkey, Australia, and the United States using a range of different online presentation modalities including Zoom, Google Meet, GoToWebinar, and Teams. In each instance, testing the "system" a few days ahead of the online event provided an opportunity to identify and address possible technical issues. Many of us will have become experts in a variety of new online teaching tools this year, whether it was a welcome challenge, or just out of sheer necessity! Another positive that has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shining humanity and collegiality across our field. In our own work environment, first Ineke and then George have been lucky to be able to take 6month sabbaticals this year, and our colleagues (including junior colleagues who are relatively new to teaching) have stepped up and taken responsibility for teaching and assessment, allowing us to take this opportunity. It has
We hope this editorial finds you safe and well. When we started planning our first draft for this... more We hope this editorial finds you safe and well. When we started planning our first draft for this editorial, the world was just beginning to enter lockdown on a large scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we now come to publish issue 12(1) of the International Journal of Interpreter Education, the world is already a drastically different place to live in than it was just a few months ago. The pandemic has impacted interpreting in numerous ways. In some countries, signed language interpreters have become highly visible interpreting for heads of states, governors, mayors and public health officials. In others, communities are battling for access to vital information about the pandemic and government responses, such as can be seen in the #whereistheinterpreter campaign by the Deaf community in the United Kingdom. As essential workers, both spoken and signed language interpreters have been on the frontline, working faceto-face as well as having to quickly adapt to providing services online. We would direct readers to Jemina Napier's recent blogpost on Acadeafic (https://acadeafic.org/2020/06/10/interpreting/), in which she considers the impact of the pandemic on signed language interpreters. She sounds words of warning, lest the suboptimal working conditions which have resulted from the pandemic response become the new normal, potentially eroding hard-fought gains regarding breaks and team interpreting. While Jemina Napier's comments are underpinned by the experiences of signed language interpreters specifically, there are many parallels for spoken language colleagues as well. We invite contributions to the Open Forum section of our next IJIE issue from interpreters and interpreter educators wishing to share their own perspectives on issues related to COVID-19 and on the creative strategies they have found to confront these issues. As we have all seen in recent months, conferences and workshops around the world are being cancelled, postponed, or moved online during the pandemic. While unfortunate, this trend has also given rise to a great many online professional development opportunities for interpreters! The interpreting field seems to have responded by
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2019
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2015
Filip Verstraete has been involved in advocacy work for Deaf people in Flanders, Belgium, since h... more Filip Verstraete has been involved in advocacy work for Deaf people in Flanders, Belgium, since he was a young adult. Belgium has three official spoken languages (Dutch, French, and German), and is divided into three communities. Moreover, the signed languages used in the Dutch speaking community (Flemish Sign Language or VGT) and the one in the French speaking part (la Langue des Signes Francophone-Belge or LSFB) are also recognised by the regional parliaments. The Flemish Community exercises authority in the Flemish-speaking region, whereas the French community exercise authority in the French and German speaking regions. The Flemish and French communities both have authority in the bilingual Brussels-Capital area. Filip's work has included giving lectures and presentations, lobbying at the highest level, and generally raising awareness of the rights of Deaf people in Flanders. Filip was recently appointed Director of FEVLADO: the Federation of Flemish Associations of the Deaf. In this interview, Filip shares his experiences in working with interpreters in healthcare settings, his views on remote interpreting services in Flanders, and recommendations for interpreter educators, students and practising sign language interpreters. The interview follows a presentation by Filip at a medical interpreting congress organised by the University of Leuven in December 2014.
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2017
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2018
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2015
International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies, Dec 1, 2020
This article illustrates a mode of inquiry for reaping the benefits of experiencing vicarious tra... more This article illustrates a mode of inquiry for reaping the benefits of experiencing vicarious trauma that can be utilized in interpreter education, mentoring and supervisory relationships, debriefing, and personal reflection. An adaptation of constructivist self-development theory and a narrative therapy approach are described. The latter approach includes the uncovering of what is absent but implicit, the uncovering of actions reflective of one’s personal agency, the relevant skills that one utilizes, and the social/relational history of these skills. Mitigating the risks and reaping the benefits of vicarious trauma may catalyze significant professional and personal growth such as clarification of values, self-identity, and skills, and provide interpreters with the essential fuel to sustain their passion for the work they do and the lives they live.
Journal of Research Design and Statistics in Linguistics and Communication Science, 2016
Since the budding of interpreting research (IR) between the 1960s and the early 1970s, IR has dev... more Since the budding of interpreting research (IR) between the 1960s and the early 1970s, IR has developed by leaps and bounds, moving from what Gile (2011) calls 'speculative theorizing' to interdisciplinary substantive inquiries, and from the early 'interpretive theory paradigm' to the recent 'social paradigm' (Pöchhacker, 2004a, b). Despite this eventful, yet fruitful, history, it would appear that research methodology has been given less attention in IR than it rightfully deserves. Few books or monographs are available, providing a systematic account of and/or guidance to doing IR for novice researchers. As such, the book under review, co-authored by Sandra Hale and Jemina Napier, both experienced interpreting practitioners, educators and researchers, is the first of its kind in the field of IR. As a 'practical resource' and a 'comprehensive guide' primarily targeting 'research students undertaking Masters or PhD research projects' (p. 210), the book aims to 'demystify the research process' by providing readers with 'an accessible step-by-step guide to conducting research in Interpreting' (p. 2). Bearing this in mind, the reviewer cannot wait but find out what the book has to offer, and whether the book serves its intended purpose. Overall, the book consists of eight chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 are largely introductory, contextualizing the book and paving the way for the presentation on research methodology. As a core of the book, Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 focus on using questionnaire, ethnographic, discourse analytic, and experimental methods in IR. Being a rather separate chapter, Chapter 7 concerns
New Zealand has welcomed over fourteen thousand refugees under the quota programme into this coun... more New Zealand has welcomed over fourteen thousand refugees under the quota programme into this country over the last couple of decades; additionally, others have applied for refugee status on-arrival at the border. Quota refugees entering New Zealand spend and initial welcoming period at the New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Centre in Mangere, Auckland, where they undergo assessments and attend English language and orientation to New Zealand classes for approximately six weeks (Hayward, 2007). At the Resettlement Centre, refugees have contact with a range of specialist services, including those provided by the Public Health Service, Refugee Services and Refugees As Survivors (RAS). Interpreters are used during many of these encounters, most of whom have completed an interpreter training course. However, sometimes individuals are employed to act as „interpreters‟ or language aides on an ad hoc basis if trained interpreters in minority languages are not available. These individuals share a language with the incoming refugee group, although they may not derive from the same culture or ethnicity and will not have received the relevant professional interpreting training. For interpreters to be effective, it is important that they share the same language and cultural background as the clients for whom they interpret. The lack of ability to attract interpreters from identical ethnic background in itself creates challenges (dialectal differences and variance in cultural understandings, for example); but this may be unavoidable in refugee contexts, as they may constitute entirely new ethnic or language groups in New Zealand. This was the case with Rohingyan refugees from Bhutan, and with minority ethnic groups from Burma, for example. This presents challenges in terms of dialect and correct cultural interpretations, but there are also other challenges in refugee interpreting situations and this occurs when interpreters themselves share the same experiences as the clients they work with. The Interpreter Code of Ethics demands that interpreters are at all times accurate and impartial (Roberts-Smith, Frey & Bessell-Browne, 1991); however, the fact that interpreters might share the same traumatic experiences as the clients they work with, may make it problematic for interpreters to be impartial at all times.
Journal of applied linguistics and professional practice, Feb 11, 2013
Many countries around the world become recipient societies for refugees from a number of internat... more Many countries around the world become recipient societies for refugees from a number of international 'hotspots'. The current paper examines problems facing interpreters in refugee settings in both the New Zealand and Australian contexts. New Zealand receives 750 quota refugees each year, all of whom spend the first six weeks after arrival at the Refugee Resettlement Centre in Mangere, Auckland. Several studies have shown that inadequate communication between healthcare providers and patients with limited English not only limits their ability to access services but also affects the quality of the services received (Minas et al. 2001). In theory, this issue could be alleviated by the use of interpreters; however, the latter may not always find it easy to carry out their task, especially when interpreting in refugee settings. Research instruments in this study included an online survey for interpreters and separate focus discussion groups involving interpreters and professionals working with interpreters in refugee settings. Responses indicated that refugee mental health interpreting, in particular, often involves unexpected challenges for both interpreters and professionals, which may be difficult to address. An examination of issues is followed by recommendations for ways of addressing these issues.
Benjamins translation library, Jun 15, 2020
This article looks back on a large nursing textbook translation carried out by two translators in... more This article looks back on a large nursing textbook translation carried out by two translators in partnership. Time zone differences meant the translators worked with detailed discussion worksheets. Challenges involved in the translation of this 912-page text (the corpus) included Language and Culture Specific Challenges (LCSCs), which included SL and TL stylistic preferences, syntactical challenges, differences in ‘semantic coverage’, commissioner expectations and the need to align the Target Text with previous TL translations of standardized nursing terminologies. A review of the literature on the translation of text types, skopos and CSIs, is followed by a look inside the translators’ workspace. An examination of translation challenges found that Aixelá’s taxonomy of approaches to the translation of Culture Specific Items (CSIs) was often relevant to the translation of LCSCs. The findings of the analysis of challenges and approaches can be easily applied to translation of health-...
Interpreter Education in the Digital Age
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2017
Court interpreting is a challenging and highly skilled profession. Legal questions are designed t... more Court interpreting is a challenging and highly skilled profession. Legal questions are designed to achieve a large variety of functions. Often the true function is not the most obvious, the meaning is not literal, or there is no direct lexical or grammatical equivalent in the target language. Preparing interpreting students for interpreting legal questioning is very difficult and best achieved by exposing learners to a wide range of question forms in a safe practice environment. In order to ascertain which question types are most difficult to interpret, the authors undertook an analysis of question forms extracted from courtroom discourse, had students interpret these questions, and then conducted an error analysis of the interpreted utterances. The extracts were taken from YouTube clips of televised New Zealand High Court murder trials and were interpreted by 17 student legal interpreters into eight different languages. Certain question forms proved more difficult to interpret accurately than others. Suggestions are provided for interpreter educators to best prepare students for courtroom interpreting.
International Journal of Interpreter Education
Welcome to what will be our final editorial as co-editors of the International Journal of Interpr... more Welcome to what will be our final editorial as co-editors of the International Journal of Interpreter Education (IJIE). The title of this editorial focuses on resilience, which can be defined as "a universal capacity which allows a person, group or community to prevent, minimize or overcome the damaging effects of adversity" (Grotberg, 1995, p.7). As we wrote in our 2020 editorial (Crezee & Major, 2020, p.1), the COVID-19 pandemic "has impacted interpreting in numerous ways, " and it has affected many of us hugely. The immediate effects of the pandemic were reflected in the need to teach remotely, involving the stresses of having to suddenly redesign course delivery and student assessment. The need to work remotely has resulted in other types of stress, such as the need to work from home while also looking after young children or sick family members or having to deal with background noise and possible technological issues. On April 29, 2021, The New Yorker carried a piece written by emergency room resident Clifford Marks that focused on what he referred to as the "Lonely, Vital Work of Medical Interpretation. " In it, the author reported on a conversation that he had with Lourdes Cerna, a medical interpreter, in November 2020. Cerna said she had interpreted many end-of-life discussions with patients whose lungs were failing or interpreted bad news for patients' relatives in faraway countries. Working in isolation, and with her own neighbors and relatives affected by the pandemic, she would log in to her computer at home to undertake interpreting assignments remotely, with many of the calls being COVID-related. But with a near endless succession of potentially traumatizing assignments, just how do Cerna and other interpreters take care of themselves and maintain their resilience? Some interpreters have told us thatlooking back-what they also missed was "me time, " the ability to leave responsibilities behind and spend some time recharging their batteries. Early in 2021, Lisa Morris invited Ineke Crezee to present a keynote address at Paving the Way to Health Care Access, a 2-day educational conference sponsored by UMass Medical School's MassAHEC Network. Ineke was overjoyed to see the conference theme-"Interpreter Resilience: Growing and Adapting to Change as Essential Workers in the Healthcare Setting"and dedicated her keynote address to "Interpreting Through Trauma: Selfcare and Resilience Among New Zealand-Based Interpreters. " This involved sharing some of the experiences and self-care habits of those involved in interpreting in health and refugee settings as well as those involved in language access following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. The conference took place entirely online, and the organizers hope that many more medical interpreters will attend the 2022 iteration. Morris, from UMass Medical School and the director of Cross-Cultural Initiatives at Commonwealth Medicine, was the driving force behind this conference. When asked for a summary, she wrote: The Day 1 keynote speaker, Ryan Foley, spoke about the power and the messages of nonverbal communication and how to comprehend the meaning of common useful nonverbal messages as well as how to modify our own nonverbal behaviors to project approachability and competence. The message truly resonated for the audience of spoken language and American Sign Language interpreters [who] for the most part currently
Welcome to the first issue of Volume 9 of the International Journal of Interpreter Education. Thi... more Welcome to the first issue of Volume 9 of the International Journal of Interpreter Education. This issue offers a thought-provoking array of insights into the connection between research inquiry and interpreter educationwhich forms the very heart of this journal. IJIE's inaugural editor Jemina Napier (2009), in her first editorial, wrote, "[Interpreter education research] provides us with the opportunity to compare educational outcomes with real-world expectations. It presents us with the challenge of identifying what else we need to know about interpreting in order to improve the education of interpreters" (p. 1). Certainly in the last couple of decades we have learnt a lot more about the interpreter's role, for example, as an active participant in the co-construction of talk (e.g., Angelelli, 2004; Napier, 2007) and as a professional whose role inhabits different spaces depending on the demands and characteristics of different settings and interactions (Llewellyn-Jones & Lee, 2013). Contributions in this journal have explored innovative ways to bring new theory into to the interpreting classroom (both face-to-face and online). Nonetheless, there is still much to learn about what interpreters do in interaction, and about how best to bring this to the classroom and connect theory to practice in a clear and useful way. Each of the contributions in this volume presents some suggestions. Volume 9(1) is the first since IJIE became an open-access journal, meaning that all volumes, past and present, are now accessible without any subscription or membership. This change is an important step forward for the journal and its status, as it will not only create opportunities for sharing scholarship in wider circles, but also lead to more citations of our articles. Please share this news and encourage your colleagues and students to go to the CIT website 2 to see some of the fabulous resources that are now freely available. Contributions to this issue come from the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand and Belgium. They tackle an array of topics, from social media to legal interpreting to a report on a recent symposium. All authors highlight the immense and practical value of making explicit links between research and education, demonstrating the ways educators can use those research findings to improve teaching or better engage interpreting students. In the first research article in this issue, Brett Best explores the pervasive topic of social media, examining interpreters' use of Facebook and Twitter. Best held focus groups with signed language interpreters from the U.S., U.K. and Denmark. Participants reported on specific strategies for managing their 'professional' selves within this domain. The study uncovered interesting findings in terms of what participants felt is and is not permissible to share on social media, particularly related to posting about events or pictures of themselves working at events on
At the time of writing this editorial, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging around the world and... more At the time of writing this editorial, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging around the world and has taken a huge physical, financial, and emotional toll on many of our readers in many countries; thanks to the work of dedicated researchers, however, viable vaccines will soon become available (Chow, 2020). The creativity that led these researchers to their innovative vaccines is reflected, on a different level, in the ways interpreter educators and researchers internationally have come up with novel solutions in high-pressure situations. Conferences and workshops of course continue to be cancelled and replaced by online events, but, as Dr. Oktay Eser (Amasya University, Turkey) remarked recently in a Zoom meeting with Ineke, the pandemic has encouraged increased collaboration and sharing between interpreter educators globally. Educators in a wide range of spheres have come up with novel ways to interact with their students and colleagues. It is fascinating to see these creative solutions begin to be shared through research articles. For example, Braun, Davitti, and Slater (2020) describe highly multimodal and interactive Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and the opportunities these provide for collaborative learning in interpreter education; and Henderson and colleagues (2020) report on the success of using Microsoft Teams to disseminate medical training and as a discussion platform for staff in London. Figueroa and colleagues (2020) surveyed the responses of orthopedic residents in Chile on the use of several online learning modalities. They found that respondents missed the usual mix of practical and theoretical activities, and the same will have been true for students in our field. We know first-hand how very challenging it is for students to practice their interpreting skills in relative isolation online; even with well-organized mechanisms for teacher and peer feedback it is just not the same. We have a new appreciation for our face-to-face interpreting classes after this year! We have to acknowledge that we are in the privileged position of being in New Zealand, whereat least at the time of writing this editorialour early and strict lockdowns have allowed us to return to relatively normal life. We are thinking often of our colleagues in other countries who are still in the thick of COVID-related challenges, especially while entering into the winter months. Online events can result in new opportunities for joint research and collaboration from afar, which many readers may also have experienced this year. Ineke has presented to colleagues and students in Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Turkey, Australia, and the United States using a range of different online presentation modalities including Zoom, Google Meet, GoToWebinar, and Teams. In each instance, testing the "system" a few days ahead of the online event provided an opportunity to identify and address possible technical issues. Many of us will have become experts in a variety of new online teaching tools this year, whether it was a welcome challenge, or just out of sheer necessity! Another positive that has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shining humanity and collegiality across our field. In our own work environment, first Ineke and then George have been lucky to be able to take 6month sabbaticals this year, and our colleagues (including junior colleagues who are relatively new to teaching) have stepped up and taken responsibility for teaching and assessment, allowing us to take this opportunity. It has
We hope this editorial finds you safe and well. When we started planning our first draft for this... more We hope this editorial finds you safe and well. When we started planning our first draft for this editorial, the world was just beginning to enter lockdown on a large scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we now come to publish issue 12(1) of the International Journal of Interpreter Education, the world is already a drastically different place to live in than it was just a few months ago. The pandemic has impacted interpreting in numerous ways. In some countries, signed language interpreters have become highly visible interpreting for heads of states, governors, mayors and public health officials. In others, communities are battling for access to vital information about the pandemic and government responses, such as can be seen in the #whereistheinterpreter campaign by the Deaf community in the United Kingdom. As essential workers, both spoken and signed language interpreters have been on the frontline, working faceto-face as well as having to quickly adapt to providing services online. We would direct readers to Jemina Napier's recent blogpost on Acadeafic (https://acadeafic.org/2020/06/10/interpreting/), in which she considers the impact of the pandemic on signed language interpreters. She sounds words of warning, lest the suboptimal working conditions which have resulted from the pandemic response become the new normal, potentially eroding hard-fought gains regarding breaks and team interpreting. While Jemina Napier's comments are underpinned by the experiences of signed language interpreters specifically, there are many parallels for spoken language colleagues as well. We invite contributions to the Open Forum section of our next IJIE issue from interpreters and interpreter educators wishing to share their own perspectives on issues related to COVID-19 and on the creative strategies they have found to confront these issues. As we have all seen in recent months, conferences and workshops around the world are being cancelled, postponed, or moved online during the pandemic. While unfortunate, this trend has also given rise to a great many online professional development opportunities for interpreters! The interpreting field seems to have responded by
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2019
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2015
Filip Verstraete has been involved in advocacy work for Deaf people in Flanders, Belgium, since h... more Filip Verstraete has been involved in advocacy work for Deaf people in Flanders, Belgium, since he was a young adult. Belgium has three official spoken languages (Dutch, French, and German), and is divided into three communities. Moreover, the signed languages used in the Dutch speaking community (Flemish Sign Language or VGT) and the one in the French speaking part (la Langue des Signes Francophone-Belge or LSFB) are also recognised by the regional parliaments. The Flemish Community exercises authority in the Flemish-speaking region, whereas the French community exercise authority in the French and German speaking regions. The Flemish and French communities both have authority in the bilingual Brussels-Capital area. Filip's work has included giving lectures and presentations, lobbying at the highest level, and generally raising awareness of the rights of Deaf people in Flanders. Filip was recently appointed Director of FEVLADO: the Federation of Flemish Associations of the Deaf. In this interview, Filip shares his experiences in working with interpreters in healthcare settings, his views on remote interpreting services in Flanders, and recommendations for interpreter educators, students and practising sign language interpreters. The interview follows a presentation by Filip at a medical interpreting congress organised by the University of Leuven in December 2014.
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2017
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2018
International Journal of Interpreter Education, 2015
International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies, Dec 1, 2020
This article illustrates a mode of inquiry for reaping the benefits of experiencing vicarious tra... more This article illustrates a mode of inquiry for reaping the benefits of experiencing vicarious trauma that can be utilized in interpreter education, mentoring and supervisory relationships, debriefing, and personal reflection. An adaptation of constructivist self-development theory and a narrative therapy approach are described. The latter approach includes the uncovering of what is absent but implicit, the uncovering of actions reflective of one’s personal agency, the relevant skills that one utilizes, and the social/relational history of these skills. Mitigating the risks and reaping the benefits of vicarious trauma may catalyze significant professional and personal growth such as clarification of values, self-identity, and skills, and provide interpreters with the essential fuel to sustain their passion for the work they do and the lives they live.