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>Deconstructing the invisible interpreter: A critical study of the interpersonal role of the interpreter in a cross-cultural/linguistic communicative event.
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Deconstructing the invisible interpreter: A critical study of the interpersonal role of the interpreter in a cross-cultural/linguistic communicative event.
It is often the case that language interpreters are portrayed as invisible language facilitators between two parties. As a multi-level study of the role that interpreters play in the interpreted communicative events they facilitate, this research is framed with the understanding that interpreters—capable of highly complex information-processing tasks—are social human beings facilitating cross-linguistic/cultural communication. As such they are engaged in the co-construction of a communicative event with other interlocutors. In doing so, their interaction and their interpersonal relation are embedded in, and constrained by power differentials that exist in any institution.; This study used a funneling approach to the problem of the invisible interpreter. It started with the interpreters' individual perceptions of their role across settings and then took a deep look at the materialization of the role in a medical setting. Two sets of research questions guided the study: the first set emphasized the perception that the interpreters have of their role, the second set focussed on the materialization of the role in a medical setting. Using a variety of data sources (293 surveys, 392 interpreted interactions and 11 interviews) and doing multiple quantitative and qualitative analyses, this research traced the interpreters' interpersonal role as perceived by interpreters and, as enacted by interpreters and as described by interpreters in their own voices.; The research concludes with three propositions relevant to understanding the powerful role of interpreters, which has so far been overlooked. One, interpreters perceive their role as visible in all the settings where they work. Two, not only do interpreters perceive their role as visible but visibility is also evident when they enact their role. Three, interpreters not only perceive and enact their role as visible, but they talk about their visible role in their own words.; The study has significant implications. It calls for a more complex theory of interpreting. The role of an interpreter should be described based on the reality of all the parties at work. This theory should consider the interpreter as a visible powerful individual who has agency in the interaction.
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