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INH BULLETIN JANUARY 2015
This edition is devoted to a professional refresher!
TALK THE TALK, WALK THE WALK
Being an interpreter is not easy as it seems
If you are an interpreter, you
realize how intense our line of
work can be! Interpreters in
training spend much of their time
memorizing and internalizing
eight ethical principles and forty-
seven standards of practice that
guide our interpretation role. We
analyze
countless
case studies,
learn to think
and speak
outside our
comfort zones
(Remember the session
“interpreting obscenities”?), and
we interpret role simulations that
test our knowledge, skills and
application of principles. This on
top of all the necessary language
competencies and interpretation
skills that we must possess. So why
do we undergo all this training?
Simply because we love our work,
and because we strive to do it
well; in essence that is the
difference between bilinguals
who claim to be “language
interpreters” and those who
undergo training and
accreditation tests. On the other
hand, we must also admit that
not every situation is as clear as
we encountered in class. Every
once in a while we are taken by
surprise by
all the real-
life “gray
zones”
found in our
working
environments. So what do we do
then? How do we analyze and
determine our course of action
when faced with real-time
ethical or language dilemmas?
How do we walk the tight-rope of
interpreting faithfully, remaining
as “invisible” as possible and
asserting our professional role so
that communication does not
breakdown?
PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE
Principles in
Practice (see below)
provides examples of
challenges that we
may encounter in
interpretation. It is
our desire to refresh
and ignite the
knowledge that you
are already possess;
to help you develop a
sense of professional
judgment so that
ultimately we can
continue upholding
our mandate in every
session that we
interpret: To deliver
the message, as
faithfully as possible
between individuals
who do not share a
common language.
Every once in a while we are
taken by surprise by all the real-
life “gray zones” found in our
working environments

2. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE - APPLYING ACCURACY AND FIDELITY
Are we conveying the nuances in a speaker’s message?
OK, so we don’t “add, omit,
embellish or distort a speaker’s
message”. Easy enough to
remember, but the trick is to
convey the nuances found in a
speaker’s message. The “mm’s”,
“ah’s”, and restarts of sentences,
tone of voice and register of the
speaker, body language…all
make up the speaker’s intended
or unintended message. Let’s
take a look at the following
sentence as an example: She
didn’t steal his money.
- She didn’t steal his money.
(Implies that someone else stole
his money)
- She didn’t steal his money.
(Implies that the action of
stealing his money was not done
by her)
- She didn’t steal his money.
(Implies that she may have done
something with his money, but
she didn’t steal it)
- She didn’t steal his money.
(Implies that she stole someone
else’s money)
- She didn’t steal his money.
(Implies that she could have
stolen something from him but it
was not the money)
This sentence can have five
different meanings, depending
on the emphasis given on any of
the individual words. (Yikes!)
Let’s take a look at another
example: the interpretation of a
victim statement in a legal
setting. If a victim of domestic
violence is giving a statement to
the police, and her sentences are
full of “ah’s, mm’s” and
hesitations… this itself can convey
that the victim is not sure of what
she is saying, that she is editing
her message as she goes.
If nuances are properly included
in the interpretation, then the
police will be able to assess for
themselves the credibility of the
victim’s story. These nuances are
so important that they are even
included court transcripts!
So, as interpreters we must refrain
from including our own nuances
in the interpretation (by thinking
out loud, for example) as this can
distort the original.
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE?
Interpreting idioms and phrasal verbs
I recently heard a story in class: There once was an
old Chinese man who was getting a psychological
assessment to determine his mental status. The
psychologist working on the Chinese man asked,
“When are you most depressed?” The interpreter
proceeded to interpret and the old man replied:
“when the cow jumps over the blue moon”.
Naturally, if you are not Chinese and are unfamiliar
with this idiom the tendency would be to provide a
literal interpretation of the message, but the
meaning of the message would be completely lost!
The idiom in the previous story means: when winters
are long. Effective communication can only take
place when the intended message uttered by the
speaker is indeed
the message
understood by the
listener. In the case
of this short story,
the psychologist
may make a wrong report of the client’s mental
status if the interpreter does not recognize that the
client’s answer was an idiom. As interpreters we are
expected to possess general knowledge of the
culture of the language that we are interpreting; but
when in doubt, always ask for clarification and don’t
be afraid to embrace cultural humility.

3. ]
INTERPRETATION TABOOS
What do we do when a service provider asks you not to interpret the message?
The service provider has asked you to pause
your interpretation because the following is not
important to convey to the other party. Apart from
the warning bells that are immediately going off in
your head, what do you do? Perhaps that
scenario may look like this:
- The phone rings in the middle of the
session, and the service provider
picks up and starts a phone
conversation.
- Another service provider walks in
the middle of your session and
starts a side conversation with the
service provider.
- A service provider is mumbling
something under their breath while typing
away in the computer.
- A service provider asks you not to interpret
everything said in the session because it
would take too much time to do.
- The service provider is asking for your
opinion.
As an interpreter, how would you respond to all
these scenarios? We must remember that our sole
presence in the encounter is to bridge a
communication gap. If these were English-to-
English situations (meaning that if the client and
service provider could communicate in the same
language), the client would have understood
everything said in the above examples. However,
since there is a language barrier, we are present
as an aid to communication, even if
communication was not at all intended towards
our client. Omitting interpretation could result in a
lack of transparency and power balance
between the parties. Choosing to omit some parts
of communication can hinder the overall trust in
the encounter. Therefore, as interpreters, we
should assertively remind all parties
of the expectations for the
encounter. We begin to do that
proactively at the beginning of the
session by providing a well-informed
professional introduction of our role,
in both languages. It is also equally important to
recognize that each situation that tests our
standards and principles will be unique in their own
way. Memorizing a set of scripts to address
different challenges and to spit them out as robots
at the appropriate moment will not do the trick.
One shoe size does not fit all! However, what will
work and will get you out of a hitch is a good
comprehension of your role, standards and
principles. Based on your own understanding you
should provide the reasons why you need to take
a specific course of action. Remember to always
be transparent by also providing your intervention
in both languages at all times.

4. ]Interpretation Lab - Case Studies
Ethical Dilemma
You are interpreting for a
client and a social worker at
the client’s home. Three of
the client’s family members
are also present in the
appointment and they are
bilingual. The family members
continuously interrupt,
speaking in both English and
Spanish, and occasionally
correcting your interpretation
as you interpret. How would
you handle this situation?
Issue
The flow of interpretation
is being disrupted as
different parties speak
simultaneously and in
different languages. It’s
difficult to interpret when
others are scrutinizing
and “correcting” your
work.
Accuracy of
interpretation is affected
as the interpreter will
have to interpret back
and forth all utterances
said in the assignment.
Ethical Decisions
- Determine whether the
presence of an interpreter is
needed in the session; seek
direction from the service
provider and N/LES.
- If services are needed,
clearly state your professional
accreditation, re-state the
interpreter introduction about
accuracy, fidelity, impartiality
and confidentiality and
request that one party speak
at a time.
- If third parties continue
interrupting and suggesting
“interpretation” of utterances,
the interpreter should
gracefully thank the party and
interpret that intervention and
continue on with the
interpretation, if possible.
Sample Intervention
“The interpreter, would
like to remind you that
my professional services
were contracted for this
session. If my services are
not required, please let
me know. If you would
like me to stay I will
interpret all utterances
during communication in
this session. Each party
needs to speak one at a
time and allow for
interpretation as I will
faithfully and accurately
render all your
communication in the
other language. “–
(interpret exact same
script in the other
language and wait for
directions.)
The nurse tells the mother,
whose baby is running a
fever and has a cough, that
her baby has a virus and they
will not be prescribing
antibiotics. She advises the
mom to give her baby
Tylenol and cough medicine.
The mother responds angrily
and complains that the clinic
is a waste of time, that they
never give her children the
medicine they need. She
quickly also asks you not to
interpret her comment. - How
will you interpret this
response?
- The mother is fearful
that the nurse will react
negatively once she
hears the interpretation
of her comments and
quickly asks the
interpreter to omit what
she has just said.
- The interpreter is
expected to interpret all
communication in the
assignment faithfully and
accurately.
- The interpreter’s role is
not to fix or filter
communication.
Interpret the client’s message
anyway. If this was an English
to English situation the nurse
would have heard the
comment directly from the
patient’s mother.
-Remind both parties that
everything said in the
appointment will be
interpreted. If there is
something that you do not
want interpreted then it is
better not to say it.
“The interpreter is
obliged to interpret all
messages, without
omitting, adding or
embellishing any part of
the message.” – interpret
the exact same script in
the other language and
continue interpreting.

5. ]Ethical Dilemma
A consent form for access is
handed over to you by the
probation officer. He asks
you to sight translate for the
L/NES the form while he goes
to consult about another
client for a moment.
Issue
- The interpreter and the
L/NES are not supposed
to be left alone because
it could compromise the
interpreter’s impartiality.
- The interpreter also has
to first determine if they
are able to do a sight-
translation of the
document in terms of
length and terminology
of the document.
- The L/NES might not
understand the
document and might
have questions for the
interpreter. The
interpreter is present to
interpret, not to explain
anything.
Ethical Decisions
The interpreter must inform the
probation officer that he is not
to stay alone with the L/NES.
- The interpreter informs the
probations officer that he
needs a couple of minutes to
briefly look over the access
form to confirm that he is able
to perform a sight-translation
faithfully and accurately in the
time that has been provided.
- The interpreter requests that
the sight-translation be done
only in the presence of all
parties in case the L/NES has
any questions.
Sample Intervention
“The interpreter needs
you to stay in the room
while he performs a
sight-translation of this
legal document. The
client might have some
questions that I would
not be able to answer.
The interpreter also
requests two minutes to
go over the access
document in order to
ensure that he will be
able to sight-translate all
information accurately in
the time provided.”
Interpret exact same
script in the other
language and continue
interpreting.
You have interpreted for a
man that has been charged
with domestic assault. He
also has AIDS and drug and
alcohol problems. You
discover he is dating your
cousin. What should you do?
My client’s girlfriend is
my family.
- This knowledge affects
my impartiality towards
the client.
- I immediately lose
focus on interpretation
because I may be in
shock and may start to
wonder if my cousin is
aware of her boyfriend’s
health problems.
- I may start to wonder if
my cousin is HIV positive.
I will have to excuse myself
from the assignment the
moment I realize that I can no
longer be impartial in this
situation.
- A bi-product of not excusing
myself would be that I could
unconsciously start filtering the
information that I am
interpreting and I could also
be judgmental towards my
client in my demeanour
towards him.
“I am unable to continue
interpreting in this session
as I have a conflict of
interest. I will contact my
interpreting agency and
will request that they find
another interpreter to
replace me.”

6. ]
INH PROTOCOL REMINDERS
 It is important to remember to let Haydee (Interpreter
Coordinator) know if your assignment was unfulfilled, if the client
did not come, or if you missed the appointment.
 If you were scheduled to provide phone interpretation and were
unable to connect with the service provider at the assigned
time, definitely contact Haydee to let her know so that she can
follow up.
 If you learn you will be unable to interpret for an assignment that
you accepted earlier, please contact Haydee immediately to let
her know. She will arrange for another interpreter and will
contact the service provider.
 You are responsible as a self-employed individual, to keep your
pay stubs as proof of income. INH will not provide further
documentation.
 Be in the habit of keeping a reliable scheduling tool, be it
electronic or paper.
 Plan to be at your appointment location a minimum of 15
minutes before your assignment time. That way if there is traffic,
or you have trouble finding the location, you will still be on time.
 Please refrain from providing your own business cards to service
providers or clients. If a service provider wishes to request your
services, they must make their request to Haydee, but there is no
guarantee that you will be given the assignment.
Finally, INH extends a warm thanks to you, our interpreters, the key player in the INH team. Your work enables
thousands of victims of domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking to break the silence and
isolation they would otherwise suffer.
Elizabeth Martinez
Newsletter Editor and Interpreter Liaison
Inh@incommunities.ca
905 682-1900 ext. 320
MARK THE DATES...
INH WORKSHOPS
Mental Health Workshop
Lunch N Learn
February 6th @ noon
Improving your memory for
interpretation
April 18th @ 9:00 AM
Improving your note-taking
skills for interpretation
May 16th @ 9:00 AM
Please confirm your interest
in attending these training
activities by emailing or
calling Elizabeth Martinez
(contact info is below) so we
can better accommodate
all participants. Seating is
limited to 15 spots.