INTERPRETING: Sociolinguistic perspectives on challenges in interpreting encounters in the Danish public sector
Contemporary societies are overwhelmingly characterized by various types of linguistic and cultural diversity. One of the consequences of such societal complexity is an increasing need for interpreting in institutional encounters.
In Denmark interpreting in the public sector represents a significant cost. Approximately 305 million DKK was spent on interpreting services in the legal, asylum and health-care sectors in 2016 (Rigsrevisionen 2018:5), and it is certainly important that interpreter mediated meetings work as well as possible. From an academic perspective, the social encounters in which interpreting services are used also provide a window into important social and linguistic processes, and interpreting encounters are therefore vital to explore for the socially engaged science of language.
INTERPRETING investigates communicative challenges emerging when citizens who are estimated to need an interpreter meet the public sector, here: police, court and the health care system. The aim is to achieve insight into linguistic and cultural aspects of interpreter mediated encounters, including how the conversations evolve, and what expectations to and experiences with the encounters participants hold. INTERPRETING compares insights from three domains (police, court, health care), and it takes into account the perspective of the three main participants (interpreter, the institutional interpreter user, the citizen).
INTERPRETING is the first Danish project with a sociolinguistic perspective on the use of interpreters by the public sector. With its a unique set of data the project will eventually enable new theoretical and societally relevant insights in interpreter mediated encounters in contemporary societies.
The project follows a comprehensive data management plan and security procedures for storage and usage of personal information consistent with guidelines issued by Datatilsynet (Persondataforordningen 2018) and in accordance with the University of Copenhagen’s data security regulations
INTERPRETING’s international advisory board consists of:
- Professor Marco Jacquemet (University of San Fransisco)
- Assistant professor Katrijn Maryns (Ghent University)
- Associate professor Salla Kurhila (University of Helsinki)
- Associate professor Philipp Angermeyer (York University)
In addition, INTERPRETING works with a number of stakeholders.
- Tolkeforsker: Katastrofal mangel på uddannelse af tolke i Danmark, Politiken, 6 August 2019
- Test skulle løfte kvaliteten hos EasyTranslate. Men tolke kunne tage testen om igen og igen, Information, 15 October 2019
- Covid-19 exposes language and migration tensions in Denmark, Language on the Move, 9 September 2020
- Forskere: Covid-19 er blevet en ny undskyldning for at diskriminere og dæmonisere minoriteter, Politiken, 18 September 2020
- Watch our contribution to the 2020 Hieronymus Day: Language Policies: Communication Channels and Barriers, 30 September 2020
- To år efter tolkekaos i retssystemet er der fortsat grundlæggende problemer, AdvokatWatch, 4 January 2022.
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Dårlig tolkning skaber problemer for retssikkerheden, advarer ny forskning, Jyllands-Posten, 24 January 2023
- Martha Sif Karrebæk, Marta Kirilova, Solvej Helleshøj Sørensen, Lara Iversen og Narges Ghandchi (2022): Sociolingvistiske perspektiver på retstolkning i Danmark – udvalgte konklusioner fra forskningsprojektet INTERPRETING (pdf), Institut for Nordiske Studier og Sprogvidenskab
- Martha Sif Karrebæk og Marta Kirilova (2022): Tolke spiller en hidtil overset rolle i retten, Vid&Sans
- Karrebæk, Martha Sif (2023). No puedes hablar ahora: Voice in an interpreter-mediated court meeting I: Language & Communication.93
- Højland, Line & Kirilova, Marta (2022): Tolkning og fortolkning – forståelse og betydningsformidling i terapisamtaler med tolk I: Tidsskrift for Psykoterapi. 2022/1
- Karrebæk, Martha Sif & Kirilova, Marta (2020): Neoliberal governance vs expert authority in Danish legal interpreting: Issues of social justice, www.academia.edu
- Karrebæk, Martha Sif & Kirilova, Marta (2021). Retssproget er dansk: Sproglige ideologier i grundlovsforhør med tolk In T. Kristiansen & A. Holmen (eds.): Sprogs status i Rigsfællesskabet 2031, s. 79-98, Københavnerstudier i tosprogethed. København: Københavns Universitet
- Karrebæk, Martha Sif & Sørensen, Solvej Helleshøj (2021). Interpreting as creating a potential for understanding: Insights from a Danish courtroom I: International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, s. 59-97
- Karrebæk, Martha Sif & Højland, Line (2021). En følelse af henrettelse: Om affektive bevægelser i en terapisamtale med tolk I: Nordand – Nordisk tidsskrift for andrespråksforskning, s. 94-113
- Karrebæk, Martha Sif & Kirilova, Marta (2022). Chaos in court: Interpreting as a mediatized object in a state of law I: International Journal of the Sociology of Language 275: 21-41
- Karrebæk, Martha Sif, Sørensen, Solvej Helleshøj & Kirilova Marta (2023). "You may now speak to your lawyer". When interpreters mediate judges' information to be accused I: Language and Law / Linguagem e Direito. 9, 2, s. 116-137
- Kirilova, Marta & Højland, Line (2023) 'I feel it’s something that irritates her’:
Emotions in interpreted trauma therapy sessions I: Communication & Medicine: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Healthcare, Ethics and Society. - Sørensen, Solvej Helleshøj & Karrebæk, Martha Sif (2021). L’interprétation d’informations implicites – le cas de la requête de recours à la visioconférence dans les audiences préliminaires danoises I: Langage & Societe.
- Sørensen, Solvej Helleshøj (2021): HVEM TOLKER TOLKEN FOR? - En interaktionsanalyse af tolkens gengivelser i grundlovsforhør med arabisk tolk, Københavnerstudier i tosprogethed, 82. København: Københavns Universitet, Humanistisk Fakultet
- Iversen, L. (2022). Tolke bidrager med meget mere end ord. Translatørforeningen.dk
Researchers
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Funding
INTERPRETING has received a three-year grant (Thematic Research) by Independent Research Fund Denmark.
Project: Interpreting in institutional interaction: Sociolinguistic challenges in Denmark as a globalized society (8091-00018B)
Principal Investigator: Martha Sif Karrebæk
Start: 1 February 2019