BEING one of the most multicultural regional centres in the country, Greater Shepparton has many bilingual people stepping up to be unofficial interpreters and translators for family, friends and co-workers.
These community members help with everyday day scenarios, but when they are called to interpret educational, financial, legal and health matters, it becomes extremely challenging and could go against personal boundaries while breaching ethical codes.
To help local organisations navigate the complexities of interpreting and translating, Monash University in conjunction with GSCC’s Resilience in Recovery team hosted several workshops for local stakeholders. The aim was to understand the role and responsibilities of interpreters and the importance of the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) certification.
“The job of the interpreter is to convey the meaning and linguistic features from one language to anotherx. That is all. It’s not to convey emotion, not to convey opinion, not to convey perception, it’s just to convey the meaning,” said Dr Leah Gerber, senior lecturer of translation and interpreting studies at Monash University.
Linguistic skills, even fluency do not give you the skills and understanding of the ethics required to be an interpreter.
“Speaking the languages, reading the languages, writing the languages, does not mean you are a translator or an interpreter. In Australia, you usually must complete a one-and-a-half to two-year Master’s program or Advanced Diploma in order to qualify to sit the NAATI test,” said Dr Gerber.
The training sessions provided by Monash and the GSCC flood recovery team play an important role in this space, but more work needs to be done to help our local multicultural community access the training and services of qualified interpreters and translators.
“I think regional communities are really disadvantaged in the sense that all training for translators and interpreters happens in metropolitan Melbourne. There aren’t any regional opportunities other than either going to Melbourne to study or accessing the courses online, which doesn’t suit everybody’s learning needs,” said Dr Gerber.
“I think there’s a lack of awareness also of the very specific challenges that regional communities face, whether it’s in terms of a weather event, whether it’s in terms of particular language demands that you can’t just get an interpreter from Melbourne to come out to Shepparton when you need them. Those kinds of things are important to recognise.”
Correction: A quote in this article has been amended as there was a mistake in the print version. It should have said That is all. Not that is law.
