A functional-contextual appraisal of professional interpreting. Entextualisation in multi-phased institutional procedures

Start - End 
2023 - 2026 (ongoing)
Type 
Department(s) 
Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication
Other institution(s) 
University of Antwerp
Research Focus 

Tabgroup

Abstract

This project examines interpreting practices in marriage fraud investigations conducted by Belgian authorities, in which a complex chain of interviews and reports results in the decision whether a transnational couple's marriage application is genuine or fake. Both professional and non-professional interpreters are relied on to interpret the statements and answers given by the applicants not proficient enough in Dutch or French during an interview with a municipal officer and later on with a police officer. During the interpreter-mediated interaction, a written statement and interview report is noted down by the interviewer. The project incorporates two analytical foci, each of which entailing a PhD project: one about the spoken interpreting practice and one about the role of the interpreter in the entextualised codification of spoken evidence. The descriptive objectives pertain to the role of the interpreter in their spoken interpreting practice and the cross-sectional differentiation in entextualisation involvement. The theoretical objective of the project aims to further our understanding of how the context and function of an interpreter-mediated encounter influences the behaviour of the interpreter, irrespective of his/her professional status. The project's final, applied objective is to increase awareness of the significant role and complexities involved in interpreter selection and entextualisation in marriage fraud investigations by Belgian authorities.

People

Co-supervisor(s)

Phd Student(s)

External(s)

Mieke Vandenbroucke

Antwerp University, Linguistics