Developments in Liaison and Dialogue Interpreting: from Insights of Practitioners towards Prospective Training?

Abstract

Interpreting in Estonia has undergone many important changes in the past 20 years. The society and the interpreting market have witnessed an essential makeover and the areas where interpreting is needed have grown from the once often state-controlled political and conference interpreting to include different varieties typical of a modern open society. Although the attention in training has tended to focus on conference interpreting, awareness of dialogue interpreting and the role implications of interpreters is rising both among interpreters and clients. An urge for organising liaison and dialogue interpreter training has been indicated by practitioners in the field as well as clients, and has been documented by research cf. [1-7]. The training and professionalisation of liaison and dialogue interpreters, however, are currently still in an embryonic state. Nevertheless, research has been able to contribute to the development of practices, in many cases constituting thus a positive example of “action research”. In the article below, we analyse the relevant on-going processes and developments in the field through the results in recent research. The main focus will be on the interpreters’ role.