The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of  Growing Needs in Türkiye

Polat Ulaş Aslı

doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

Research Article

DOI :10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105 IUP :10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105 Full Text (PDF)

The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye

This study aims to assess community interpreting students’ perceptions of the inter preter’s role. The migrant and refugee population in Türkiye has grown following global developments, wars and crises in the country’s neighbouring geography. This has increased the need for community interpreters who play a key role in over coming language and communication barriers between the host community and foreigners. Growing community interpreting needs requires adjusting the structure and content of community interpreting courses offered at the academic level in the relevant university programmes. As future community interpreters, students’ understanding of and attitude towards the community interpreter’s role is vital for their effective performance of the job and the tasks it entails. This study utilises data collected from 14 community interpreting students enrolled in the Department of Translation and Interpreting at a state university. The students’ perceptions of the community interpreter’s role, task boundaries, and status were explored through an open-ended questionnaire including scenarios based on ethical dilemmas that com munityinterpreters may face in different contexts and a Likert scale survey designed accordingly. The data were analysed under the following headings: communication issues, conveying emotions, impartiality and neutrality, addressing cultural differ ences, and managing power differentials. The analysis revealed findings pointing to the transgression of the boundaries of the mechanistic role traditionally attributed to interpreters. This indicates a developing awareness among the students of the mediating role of interpreters as active agents in different humanitarian contexts. It is hoped that the findings will contribute to the structure and content of community interpreting courses offered in the relevant programmes of higher education insti tutions and to prospective students’ understanding of the community interpreter’s role.

Keywords: Community interpreting needs, community interpreter’s role, commu nity interpreting training, ethical dilemmas, student perceptions

DOI :10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105 IUP :10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105 Full Text (PDF)

Türkiye’de Artan Toplum Çevirmenliği İhtiyaçları Bağlamında Çevirmenin Rolüne İlişkin Öğrenci Görüşleri

Aslı Polat Ulaş

Bu çalışmanın amacı toplum çevirmenliği öğrencilerinin toplum çevirmeninin rolüne ilişkin algılarını tespit etmektir. Türkiye’deki göçmen ve mülteci nüfusu komşu coğrafyada yaşanan savaş ve krizler sonrasında ve küresel gelişmeler ne deniyle oldukça artmıştır. Bu durum, ev sahibi toplum ile yabancılar arasındaki dil ve iletişim engellerinin aşılmasında kilit rol oynayan toplum çevirmenlerine olan ihtiyacı da artırmıştır. Kapsamı genişleyen toplum çevirmenliği ihtiyaçları üniversitelerde ilgili bölümlerde akademik düzeyde sunulan toplum çevirmenliği derslerinin yapısının ve içeriğinin aynı doğrultuda güncellen mesini gerektirmektedir. Bu kapsamda toplum çevirmeni adayları olan çeviri bölümü öğrencilerinin göçler ve kriz durumlarının ön plana çıkardığı çevirmenin rolünü kavrayış biçimleri çevirmenlik mesleğini ve gerektirdiği görevleri etkili ve verimli icraları açısından elzemdir. BuçalışmabirdevletüniversitesindeMütercimveTercümanlıkBölümündetoplumçevirmenliğidersinialan 14 öğrenciden toplanan verilere dayanır. Öğrencilerin toplum çevirmeninin rolü ve görevleri ile statüsüne ilişkin algıları toplum çevirmenlerinin farklı bağlamlarda karşılacabilecekleri etik ikilem durumlarına dayalı senaryolar içeren açık uçlu soru formu ile aynı doğrultuda tasarlanmış Likert ölçekli anket aracılığıyla araştırılmıştır. Elde edilen veriler iletişim hususları, duyguların aktarımı, tarafsızlık ve yansızlık, kültürel farklılıkların ele alınması ve güç farklılıklarının yönetimi başlıkları altında incelen miştir. İnceleme sonucunda tercümanlara geleneksel olarak atfedilen mekanik rol sınırlarının aşıldığına işaret eden bulgular ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu durum, tercümanların farklı insani yardım bağlamlarında aktif aktörler olarak üstlendikleri rollere ilişkin öğrenciler arasında gelişen bir farkındalığa işaret etmektedir. Bulguların, yükseköğretim kurumlarının ilgili programlarında sunulan toplum çevirmenliği derslerinin yapısına ve içeriğine ve öğrencilerin toplum çevirmeninin rolünü anlayışına katkıda bulunacağı umulmaktadır.

Keywords: Toplum çevirmenliği gereksinimleri, toplum çevirmeninin rolü, toplum çevirmenliği eğitimi, etik ikilemler, öğrenci görüşleri

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APA

Polat Ulaş, A. (2024). The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye. Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies, 0(21), 13-28. https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

AMA

Polat Ulaş A. The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye. Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies. 2024;0(21):13-28. https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

ABNT

Polat Ulaş, A. The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye. Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies, [Publisher Location], v. 0, n. 21, p. 13-28, 2024.

Chicago: Author-Date Style

Polat Ulaş, Aslı,. 2024. “The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye.” Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies 0, no. 21: 13-28. https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

Chicago: Humanities Style

Polat Ulaş, Aslı,. “The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye.” Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies 0, no. 21 (Dec. 2024): 13-28. https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

Harvard: Australian Style

Polat Ulaş, A 2024, 'The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye', Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies, vol. 0, no. 21, pp. 13-28, viewed 22 Dec. 2024, https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

Harvard: Author-Date Style

Polat Ulaş, A. (2024) ‘The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye’, Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies, 0(21), pp. 13-28. https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105 (22 Dec. 2024).

MLA

Polat Ulaş, Aslı,. “The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye.” Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies, vol. 0, no. 21, 2024, pp. 13-28. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

Vancouver

Polat Ulaş A. The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye. Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies [Internet]. 22 Dec. 2024 [cited 22 Dec. 2024];0(21):13-28. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105 doi: 10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

ISNAD

Polat Ulaş, Aslı. “The Community Interpreter’s Role: Students’ Perceptions in the Context of Growing Needs in Türkiye”. Istanbul University Journal of Translation Studies 0/21 (Dec. 2024): 13-28. https://doi.org/10.26650/iujts.2024.1548105

Issue 212024, P. 13-28

TIMELINE

Submitted	11.09.2024
Accepted	15.10.2024
Published Online	18.12.2024

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