Non-Profit Organization and Professionalization of Community Interpreting in Taiwan

• Main Authors: HSU, TING-TING, 許婷婷
• Other Authors: Elma Ming-Li Ju
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/25r8y9

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 跨文化研究所翻譯學碩士在職專班 === 102 === Taiwan's overall research studies related to community interpreting remain very limited. Most of these studies have specifically focused on judicial interpreting, and little attention paid to the overall professionalization of community interpreting. In view of other countries' longer history in having non-profit organizations provide community interpreting services, this study began with collection of review of the related literature. Bsed on the literature review result, the study devised a questionnaire to look intoTaiwanese non-profit organizations' practices in community interpreter training, assessment, and dispatch. In addition to comparing the results with the existing literature, the study also compiled various ongoing problems associated with community interpreting as pointed out by the participating non-profit organizations in a follow-up semi-structured interview. Finally, based onmodels related to professionalization of interpretation, the study explored the current status of community l interpreting and its future development. The questionnaire and interview results show that in terms of interpreter training, non-profit organizations not only provide basic teaching contents, they also add diverse contents of varying difficulty levels in order to enable new immigrants to leverage available resources and to adapt to life and culture in Taiwan. Moreover, due to the participation of academic institutions, the course contents and training lprograms have become more professional in terms of theoretical underpinnings. However, survey findings show that compared to training hours for similar programs in other countries, far fewer hours of training are required in Taiwan. As for interpreter assessments, some non-profit organizations not only require trainees to take written tests, oral tests, or interviews, they also adopt other interpreter assessment methods such as attendance records, leave records, work performance self-evaluation, individual supervision and group supervision. As for dispatch of interpreters, some non-profit organizations have applied relevant evaluation methods to track interpreters' work performance periodically. Finally, communication platforms (such as Taiwan Judicial Interpreter Association) have been established to serve as reference examples intended for Taiwan's future development of non-profit organization community interpreting professional associations. The model put forth in this study has an extended scope, rather than focused on judicial interpretation. Secondly, the model highlights the role of non-profit organizations as professional conference organizers (dispatch) as well as interpretation schools (training/assessment) in the field of community interpretation. It has been further recommended that these non-profit organizations jointly set up a community interpreting professional association to integrate the existing training, assessment, dispatch approachess and propose the best practices that serve as a reference for non-profit organizations engaged in similar work, thereby contributing to further professionalization of community interpreting in Taiwan.