Call for Papers: Special Issue on Public Service Interpreting
Call for Papers
Public Service Interpreting: Paving the Way to Social Justice Through Professionalization
Stefanos Vlachopoulos & Sotiris Livas (eds.)
Public Service Interpreting (PSI) has been increasingly investigated by scholars in the field of Translation and Interpreting (T&I) Studies. The 2023 Handbook of Public Service Interpreting is one of the many recent publications in this line of inquiry. PSI encompasses the provision of interpreting services in public institutions and state-controlled organizations, such as hospitals, courts, schools, and social services. Its main purpose is to ensure that non-native users can access public services, thus exercising their basic rights, and fulfilling their fundamental responsibilities toward the country where they reside (Corsellis, 2005). As such, PSI is closely associated with providing support to allophone users who are mainly disadvantaged, in transit, in a precarious state, and, subsequently, in urgent need of services aiming to alleviate their vulnerability. Similarly, PSI ensures that the state and its institutions fulfill due diligence towards citizens and residents regardless of sex, age, color, creed, language, culture, and place of origin.
Because of increased migration flows worldwide, the provision of interpreting services in various languages makes effective communication hard to achieve, especially when the onus of receiving and caring for immigrants and asylum seekers falls within the realm of state responsibility, where resources are often scarce. In crises, non-professional forms of interpreting emerge, disguised as a panacea to a problem requiring immediate response, especially when the state fails to react promptly or sufficiently. Critical as they may be, non-professional practices reinforce the perception of interpreting services as an unregulated commodity, a charitable good, relegated to individuals or civil society bodies acting alone and projecting themselves as key players in dispensing language/cultural services. Rethinking interpreting as a valued service/good, bearing the appropriate price tag, being associated with specialized (university-run) training, armed with the corresponding regulatory (legal) framework, and specifically designed codes of ethics and standards of practice is vital if we are to consider PSI in terms of a profession.
The inception and implementation of Public Service Interpreter Registers in various countries (including all too recently Greece) is an important step towards professionalization. Such registers create a new paradigm in regulating interpreting practices by shifting the prevalent discourse away from a simplistic dichotomy between state and civil society. Instead, registers allow for a legal, professional, and academic space to emerge; the latter ensures all providers are regulated and operate for the general good. Registers rely on regulatory frameworks; they are under state or professional association supervision, and follow a strict quality assurance framework. Registers aim to create and sustain a unified link between mandatory training, advancement options, certification levels, continuous development, accountability, monitoring, supervision and assessment, professional awareness, and expansion to providers servicing emerging language groups.
As Gentile, Ozolins, and Vasilakakos (1996) claim, all efforts to legalize and professionalize PSI in Europe and other parts of the world focus on two things, namely, the development of standards of practice and a certification process paired with appropriate training. The experience drawn by model registers (i.e., NRPSI in the UK, Aequitas and TRAFUT in Europe, the Norwegian Register, the Swedish Register, etc.) suggests that standardization of qualifications contributes to putting an end to market disorder, thus improving the public’s understanding of the role of the interpreter and their satisfaction for services rendered.
Against this backdrop, PSI registers merit further scholarly scrutiny both at the inception and implementation stages, precisely because of a ubiquitous need to implement measures that are fair, transparent, cost-effective, guarantee due process, ensure adequate and timely remuneration of service providers, and provide service users with ways to make objective-value judgments regarding the competence of the interpreters they commission.
In light of the above, we invite researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders to submit papers on the topic of Public Service Interpreting: Paving the Way to Social Justice Through Professionalization in the following thematic areas but not strictly limited to them:
- Issues of professionalization in PSI
- Creating Registers for PSI
- Testing and Assessment in PSI
- Training of Public Service Interpreters
- Certification
- Codes of Ethics and Standards of Practice
- Terminological and technological issues in PSI
- Social aspects of PSI
In this special issue, we seek to present evidence-based practices that could provide a further understanding of PSI in the areas listed above. We welcome contributions that are 6,000 to 8,000 words long, following the Journal’s guidelines. (https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/latic/about/submissions#authorGuidelines).
Important Information and Dates
Deadline for abstracts: August 25, 2024
Deadline for approval: August 31, 2024
Deadline for submission of full papers: September 30, 2024
Expected publication date of the issue: October 2024
Proposals and final articles must be submitted only in English
You must register as an author to submit a paper in the International Journal of Language, Translation and Intercultural Communication (https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/latic/index).
Please check Submissions Author Guidelines ( https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/latic/about/submissions) and use the format sample you will find in the same link.
For more information or questions, please contact Professor Stefanos Vlachopoulos at vlachopoulos@ionio.gr and/or Professor Sotiris Livas at sotlivas@ionio.gr.
