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What is PSIT?
Public service interpreting is the type of interpreting that enables public authorities to communicate with people with a migrant and/or refugee background who do not speak or understand the national language(s) or do not do so sufficiently well, in order for them to access public services such as health care, municipal and police services. It enables a clear dialogue between migrant and the host country’s authorities, by offering two-way communication through the interpreter.
Apart from the term public service interpreting, other, overlapping terms are in use, such as community interpreting, social interpreting, dialogue interpreting, or (inter)cultural mediation. ENPSIT chooses to use public service interpreting, because it is value-neutral and captures the contextual scope in which the relevant activities take place.
The task of the public service translator fits within the same framework, the only difference is that the communication takes place in written mode rather than orally.
Key aspects of PSIT in a nutshell
- Strengthen interpreting/translation techniques
- Compliance with the ethical framework
- Familiarity with the context of public services who require the services of a public service interpreter or translator
- Continuous and lifelong learning
Context
Over recent years, the PSIT services market in Europe has been on the rise. Demand has grown, yet to date PSIT has been essentially a non-regulated profession that lacks uniform standards when it comes to quality, training, ethics, remuneration or a shared definition. Few countries have regulations for the recognition, training, certification or the employment of public service interpreters and translators, and among those that do variety abounds.
The PSIT market also fluctuates in terms of the languages that are in demand at any given time, as it follows migration and refugee flows that defy prediction. Many of the languages that are in high demand across Europe are so-called languages of lesser or limited diffusion, viz. languages that have low currency in the region. This mismatch between supply and demand further amplifies interpreter and translator shortages on the market.
Not all public service interpreters and translators have received the necessary professional training or indeed access to training that is commonly recognised. In some cases, either for want of trained interpreters or of funding to pay for those, public services make use of ad hoc interpreters, often relatives or friends of those appealing to public services. Needless to say, this is not the best guarantee of an accurate interpreting performance, and may even entail the risk of bias. Awareness has been growing, though, on the importance of training and accreditation, as a result of which more and more education centres and universities have started to develop specialised courses. Research has also helped to foster insight into the intricacies of interpreted interaction, and identify challenges and success factors in PSIT settings.
The field of PSIT is clearly in full development and many steps have been taken to move in the right direction. Strategic action, however, remains vital to convince policy makers that the use of adequately trained interpreters and translators is a small investment that makes public service providers’ operations run more smoothly and, therefore, on the whole more cost-efficiently, while safeguarding every individual’s human right to access public services.
(The content of this page is inspired by the Knowledge Centre on Translation and Interpretation, certain extracts are a copy of the original text, others have been adapted)
