Interdisciplinarity: Community Interpreting in the Medical Context

Abstract

Interpreters work with other professionals in the delivery of their services. There is often misunderstanding about each other’s tasks, roles, needs and expectations. Untrained interpreters may not understand the reasoning behind procedures, specific questions or mode of delivery in different settings, as well as the significance of the lay person’s responses in allowing the primary service providers to perform their duties adequately. On the other hand, professionals working with interpreters rarely understand the complexity of the task and the interpreter’s needs in producing an accurate rendition. Professional interpreters have a responsibility to acquire the necessary language and interpreting skills, to gain an understanding of the settings in which they work and their requirements, of the purposes for which language is used in each of these settings, and to abide by a code of ethics. However, few training opportunities exist, pay and working conditions are poor, and the lack of understanding of the interpreter’s role and others’ lack of appreciation of the task place pressures on interpreters which make it difficult for them to perform at a professional level. Even the best qualified and most competent professional interpreters will have difficulty interpreting accurately if they are not provided with adequate conditions. These relate to the provision of preparation material prior to the interpreting event, appropriate physical facilities, adequate breaks to avoid fatigue and the correct management of turns during the event.

Liaison interpreting is a profession where, like medicine, teaching and the law, the client’s welfare is usually affected directly. This is not only because most liaison interpreting takes place in the context of other professions such as medicine, teaching and the law, but also because interpreting has its own particular kinds of knowledge, skills and practices which require particular ethical considerations. Liaison interpreting is, then, subject to ethical considerations both along the lines of any other profession and along lines of its own. And because liaison interpreting takes place in the context of so many other professional institutional settings, ethical conflicts often arise for the interpreter.

(Gentile et al., 1996: 57)