1st Edition

Interpreter Training in Conflict and Post-Conflict Scenarios

Edited By Lucía Ruiz Rosendo, Marija Todorova Copyright 2023
    238 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    238 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The role of interpreters in conflict situations is of increasing real world importance. There are ethical, cultural, and professional issues that have yet to be explored, and there is a need for specialised training that addresses the specific contexts in which interpreters perform their duties, considering the situated nature of interpreting in these contexts.

    This volume is structured around interpreter training in different contexts of conflict and post-conflict, from military operations and international tribunals to asylum-seeking and refugee, humanitarian, and human rights missions. Themes covered include risk management and communication, ethics and professional demeanour, language technology and its use, intercultural mediation, training in specific contexts, such as conflict resolution and negotiation, and working with trauma. Chapters are authored by experts from around the world with a range of different profiles: military personnel, scholars, the staff of international organisations, and representatives from refugee and asylum-seeker-assisting institutions.

    Interpreter Training in Conflict and Post-Conflict Scenarios is key reading both for students and scholars researching interpreting in conflict zones and conflict-related scenarios and for practising and trainee interpreters and mediators working for international organisations and the military.

    1. Introduction

    Lucía Ruiz Rosendo and Marija Todorova

     

    Part I. Training interpreters for the military

     

    2. Ethics in military interpreter training

    Pekka Snellman

     

    3. Military interpreter training for context-specific situations

    Magnus Dahnberg

     

    4. Training interpreters servicing China’s Peacekeeping Forces

    Zerong Wei and Luo Tian

     

    Part II. Training interpreters in the context of international organisations and tribunals

     

    5. Developing interpreter competence: Training interpreters servicing UN field missions

    Alma Barghout and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo

     

    6. Resourcefulness when resources are lacking: A case study of field interpreters at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court

    Nada Melhem, Nathalie Collart and  Dimitri Elman

     

    7. Main challenges of interpreting in the context of the international protection determination procedures

    Michele Arcella

     

     

     

    Part III. Training interpreters to work with refugees in national and regional contexts

     

    8. Training needs of interpreters in the refugee crisis in Africa

    Ebenezer Tedjouong and Marija Todorova

     

    9. Interpreting for vulnerable populations: Training and education of interpreters working with refugee children in the United States

    Indira Sultanić

     

    10. Interpreter training in an asylum context

    Sonja Pöllabauer

     

    11. Ethics and training of interpreters in the asylum context

    Fabrizio Gallai

     

    12. Technology affordances in training interpreters for asylum seekers and refugees

    Mariachiara Russo and Nicoletta Spinolo

     

    Part IV. Crosscutting implications of interpreter training in conflict and post-conflict scenarios

     

    13. Interpreting trauma: Service providers’ and interpreters’ perspectives

    Simo K. Määttä

     

    14. The psychological implications of interpreting in conflict zones, elements for potential mental-health and self-care training for interpreters

    Eleonora Bernardi

     

    15. Enhancing short term memory for conflict zone interpreters

    Anjad A. Mahasneh

    Biography

    Lucía Ruiz Rosendo is an associate professor at the University of Geneva’s Interpreting Department. She has co-edited Interpreting Conflict (Palgrave 2021). Her research has appeared in Linguistica Antverpiensia, Target, War & Society and Armed Forces & Society, among others. She is the coordinator of the project AXS.

    Marija Todorova is a research assistant professor at the Department of Translation, Interpreting, and Intercultural Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. She has authored Translation of Violence in Children’s Literature (Routledge 2022) and co-edited Interpreting Conflict (Palgrave 2021). She is editor of New Voices in Translation Studies.

    Interpreters with experience of working in numerous conflicts and their aftermaths have repeatedly called for better training to prepare future language intermediaries for these challenging roles. For the first time, this volume draws together perspectives on interpreter training from a wide spectrum of organisations and conflicts into a collection that anyone who trains, recruits or prepares interpreters to operate in conflict and post-conflict settings should read.

    Catherine Baker, University of Hull, UK

    "the pioneering volume strongly contributes to our understanding of the essential role of interpreters in conflict and post-conflict scenarios, supported by a fascinating collection of revelations from narratives, surveys, interviews, case studies, and interpreter diaries. Recommendations are made to improve institutional recognition, develop adequate professionalisation support, bridge international criminal justice and non-Western languages and cultures, and ultimately the need to standardise institutional training. With its clear merit of multilingual inclusiveness and geographical diversity, this insightful book is thus an invaluable asset for readers interested in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, interpreting studies, and beyond."

    Ran Yi, UNSW Sydney, Australia in Interpreter training in conflict and post-conflict scenarios, Peacebuilding, DOI: 10.1080/21647259.2023.2187991