At conferences and in the literature on community interpreting there is one burning issue that reappears constantly: the interpreter s role. What are the norms by which the facilitators of communication shape their role? Is there indeed only one role for the community interpreter or are there several? Is community interpreting aimed at facilitating communication, empowering individuals by giving them a voice or, in wider terms, at redressing the power balance in society? In this volume scholars and practitioners from different countries address these questions, offering a representative sample of ongoing research into community interpreting in the Western world, of interest to all who have a stake in this form of interpreting. The opening chapter establishes the wider contextual and theoretical framework for the debate. It is followed by a section dealing with codes and standards and then moves on to explore the interpreter s role in various different settings: courts and police, healthcare, schools, occupational settings and social services.

This book provides critical perspectives on issues relating to writing norms and assessment, as well as writing proficiency development, and suggests that scholars need to both carefully examine testing regimes and develop research-informed perspectives on tests and testing practices. In this way schools, institutions of adult education and universities can better prepare learners with differing cultural experiences to meet the challenges. The book brings together empirical studies from diverse geographical contexts to address the crossing of literacy borders, with a focus on academic genres and practices. Most of the studies examine writing in countries where the norms and expectations are different, but some focus on writing in a new discourse community set in a new discipline. The chapters shed light on commonalities and differences between these two situations with respect to the expectations and evaluations facing the writers. They also consider the extent to which the norms that the writers bring with them from their educational backgrounds and own cultures are compromised in order to succeed in the new educational settings.

This edited collection brings together new research on public service interpreting and translation (PSIT) with a focus on ideology, ethics and policy development. The contributions provide fresh theoretical and empirical perspectives on the inconsistencies in translation and interpreting provision observed in different geonational contexts and the often-reported tensions between prescribed approaches to ethics and practitioner experience. The discussions are set against the backdrop of developments in rights-based discourses on language support services and the professionalisation of the field, drawing attention to how stakeholders and interpreting practitioners navigate the realities of service in the context of shifting ideological landscapes. Particular innovations in the collection include theorisations about policy and practice that draw on political science, applied ethics and paradigms of trauma-informed care. The volume also presents research on settings that have received limited attention to date such as prison and charitable services for survivors of violence and trauma.

This is a comprehensive overview of the field of Community Interpreting. It explores the relationship between research, training and practice, reviewing the main theoretical concepts, describing the main issues surrounding the practice and the training of interpreters, and identifying areas of much needed research in answering those issues.

The field of community interpreting is characterised by continually changing political, social, institutional and cultural contexts. Over the last few years new approaches to the training of community interpreters have been conceptualised to meet the requirements of these developments and to replace lay interpreters by trained interpreters. The contributions of this volume present both innovative models of didactics and curricula for community interpreters and empirically and methodologically challenging analyses of various fields of community interpreting.

Public Service Interpreting is a hugely complex activity, encompassing human, ethical, commercial and political dimensions. It is unseen and unrecognized by most of the population but vital to those who depend on it for their security or wellbeing. The quality of PSI provision is seen by the authors as a clear indicator of how a society views and responds to the realities of a multi-ethnic and multilingual global community. Following recent significant changes in the power balance between them this book explores the increasing tensions among multiple stakeholders who together deliver such a fundamental service in a modern open society. Chapters focus on how all stakeholders need to appreciate the wider context of political and economic realities whilst collaborating more responsibly to deliver the conditions, training and support needed for expert linguists to be attracted to and retained in this vital profession.

This book of selected papers from the Critical Link 6 conference addresses the impact of a rapidly changing reality on the theory and practice of community interpreting. The recent social, political and economic developments have led to phenomena of direct concern to the field, for example multilingualism in traditionally monolingual societies, the emergence of rare language pairs, or new language-related problems in immigration application procedures, social welfare institutions and prisons. Responding to the need for critical reflection as well as practical solutions, the papers in this volume approach the changing landscape of community interpreting in its diversity. They deal with political, social, cultural, institutional, ethical, technological, professional, and educational aspects of the field, and will thus appeal to academics, practitioners and policy-makers alike. Specifically, they explore topics such as interpreting roles, communication strategies, ethics vs. practice, interpreting vs. culture brokering, interpreting strategies in different interactional contexts, and interpreter training and education.