Becoming an interpreter through experience: The perceptions of the non-professional public service interpreters in Turkey (original) (raw)
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Çeviribilim ve Uygulamaları Dergisi, 2020
Due to the Syrian civil war, nearly 3.5 million Syrians have taken refuge in Turkey in the last nine years. Although Syrians and Turks are regionally and culturally close to each other, there is the linguistic difference, leading to communication barriers between them. Public service interpreters are recruited to meet the communication needs in healthcare institutions, especially in provinces with the highest Syrian populations, and in other state institutions and courts. Furthermore, a limited number of non-governmental organizations, such as Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), recruit interpreters. Turkey is a country which has faced flows of refugees only recently, and thus adequate steps regarding immigration policies have not been taken yet in the country. Therefore, public service interpreting for refugees has not developed sufficiently, and the number of well-trained interpreters among 1 This article is based on the ongoing PhD thesis conducted by Aslı POLAT ULAŞ under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atalay GÜNDÜZ at Dokuz Eylül University, Institute of Social Sciences, Translation Studies Ph.D. Programme.
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The so-called refugee 'crisis' could not be managed without the help of volunteers, on a global as well as on a local scale. The focus of this thesis is on one particular group of people whose commitment is crucial for handling the situation: interpreters in the refugee context in Germany. Since most of the refugees speak neither German nor English, it would be impossible to go through the different processes to obtain asylum, but also to provide social support, without the help of interpreters. They play a very significant role and are confronted with highly challenging tasks. They are the linguistic and cultural mediators between two parties and they can be considered as agents of transculturality. They have to be able to adapt to different situations because depending on the context, where and for whom they work, different qualities and strategies are expected from them. In this dynamic and complex situation, the interpreters have to discover and define their own agency and role, while trying to meet the expectations of their employers as well as those of the refugees. Therefore, it is necessary to raise awareness, create a dialogue, analyse the different perspectives, and provide adequate training to prepare the interpreters for the challenges.
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Translation & Interpreting, 2010
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), in partnership with the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC), has, since 2002, been offering a Diploma of Interpreting program in rare and emerging languages which has been approved by the Australian National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI). In addition to the usual challenges of initiating programs in relatively new languages-such as recruiting teaching staff and developing bilingual teaching materials-the training in these languages presented some unique challenges which required modified and/or alternative approaches. This paper will outline the structure of the Diploma program given in 2008 in two language streams, Burmese and Swahili (Kiswahili), and present the findings of a research case study which investigated both the academic and the professional reactions from both staff and students. The findings of this study have implications for the provision of interpreter training programs in rare and emerging languages. There are also implications for both teachers and students in the area of cross-cultural communication.
The present study aims to explore the level of professionalism and the self-perceptions of community interpreters who work in different settings such as hospitals, sports clubs, courts, police stations, churches, and schools in Türkiye. To this end, this study adopted a fieldwork in which 34 students, who enrolled in Community Interpreting course offered at the Department of Translation & Interpreting, administered a survey to 32 community interpreters. The goal of this awareness-raising task was twofold: 1) to provide students with opportunities to interact with market participants in order to improve empathy and observational skills; 2) to provide some insights into the current portrayal of community interpreters, their professional competencies, shortcomings, and, consequently, their selfperception. Findings have revealed that the interpreters are skilled in different interpreting modes such as consecutive and sight interpreting; however, they have difficulties in taking notes while interpreting and lack knowledge of interpreting theories and technological advances. More importantly, they cannot improve those deficiencies through an established self-development program. This research further revealed discrepancies between the expectations from the self-development programs and their contributions in practice. Overall, student feedback demonstrated positive effects of the direct interactions with the interpreters to observe the status quo of the profession.
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The research is implemented within the framework of the RUDN university participation in the Russia-wide 5-100 project. The current importance of the present research rests on the fact that despite long-standing traditions and intensive research work in the field of interpretation studies, the Academia and Industry still make first steps to consider urgent needs in the area of language service provision to refugees in the migration crisis zones. The research aims to explore the interpreters' needs that produce specific challenges in the context of their work with refugees in the border crossing and temporary settlement zones with the view to consider the concept and constituent components of interpreter's bespoke training for refugee crisis settings. The research methodology applies the qualitative analysis and rests on theoretical and empirical activities. Materials for theoretical analysis involve publications on the issues under study. Empirical studies encompass observations and case studies of concrete situations outlined by professionals working with refugees in Greece, Italy, Germany, the Yugoslav Successor States, and Russia. The research also includes cluster and factor types of analysis to identify aspects of training and ensure quality when interpreting in the migration crisis settings. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences is used for data procession. The research findings allow for drafting preliminary recommendations on adequate administrative and training tools regarding interpreters' activities in refugees' transit/border crossing zones and refugee camps.
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 2024
This research unveils retrospective child language brokering experiences within local ethnic minorities in Turkey. Employing a multiple-case study research design, the investigation delves into the brokering experiences of three adult participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds – Kurdish, Arab, and Pomak communities. The semi-structured interviews shed light on individual encounters, including primary motivations and settings for brokering, employed translation strategies, perceived impacts of brokering, and the normativity of child language brokering. They also illuminate the societal positioning of these ethnic minorities, especially minority women, within Turkey and the prevailing state policies affecting minority language rights. The findings obtained are discussed in connection with a nuanced exploration of the contextual and historical dimensions surrounding these ethnic minorities. In this sense, departing from the prevailing focus on child language brokering within immigrant families, this research redirects attention to brokering practices among local ethnic minorities. Beyond the preliminary exploration of child language brokering in Turkey, this study is an early investigation into non-professional interpreting activities among ethnic minorities residing in the country. The study also generates implications that intersect the domains of public service interpreting and politics.
From Conference to Community Interpreter Education
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The aim of the chapter is to determine whether the current education of interpreters in the Republic of Slovenia responds to the needs of the society. In order to do that, the chapter first briefly outlines the development of the education of Slovene interpreters from its beginnings to the present. By drawing on the results of a nationwide survey of language-support needs in Slovene healthcare institutions from 2016, which gathered responses of 564 healthcare workers, and on statistics of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia providing the countries of origin of applicants for international protection in Slovenia in the period between 2013 and 2019, the language needs on the contemporary Slovene society are outlined. These needs are then compared to the results provided by a nationwide survey of interpreters and sworn interpreters from 2020 (n = 123), focusing on language combinations they offer and identifying different settings in which they work. The results of this comparison show that there is a serious mismatch between the needs of the society and the existing language profiles of professional interpreters in the market, which results in the fact that ad hoc interpreters are used for almost all the languages of newly arrived migrants with negative consequences for society at large. The chapter concludes with the description of educational efforts aimed at remedying the situation: first, a short specialisation program for sworn interpreters introduced in 2018, and second, the education of teachers of community interpreters for Albanian, Arabic, and Persian which took place from 2019 to 2020.