The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/1149191
@Linguist_CIOL AUGUST/SEPTEMBER The Linguist 13 FEATURES learnt about the needs of the people conducting interviews, how to understand the behaviour of people in an interview scenario through observation, and different questioning styles and techniques. They also found out how legal experts observe and interpret non-verbal communication signals, such as gaze, an increase or decrease in nodding, leg movements and pitch, from a criminological perspective. Gaining a precise understanding of the tasks of the other people involved in an interaction, and practising communicative techniques in advance, helped them to manage their own behaviour, and assess and explain the possibilities and limitations of their work in the context. The use of theatre pedagogy in this interdisciplinary class allowed students to experience the perspective of professions they might work with closely in their future careers. The professions face similar challenges with regard to evaluating and shaping communication. The fact that they employ this understanding differently makes the interaction of the two groups especially interesting. Notes 1 Boal, A (1993) Theater of the Oppressed. New York: Theatre Communications Group 2 'Exploring Legal Interpreting Service Paths and Transcultural Law Clinics for Persons suspected or accused of crime', DG Justice, JUST-AG-2016, Grant Agreement no. 760157 Playing the part Can theatre training aid interpreters? Actor- interpreter Remi Rachuba shares his experiences A Polish client once told me that I interpret differently from other people: "You not only interpret what the person says but you also interpret the pauses, the intonation… everything." I started interpreting in 2009 after graduating from drama school in Scotland, and I think this is where acting training is beneficial: it's the idea of repeating someone else's sentences in another language but keeping the same rhythm and energy. We mimic the other person, and acting training helps with that. I decided to explore interpreting because I needed paid work between theatre productions and I had always loved English (I worked as an English teacher in Poland, my home country). At that time, agencies didn't require interpreting qualifications. When I moved to London in 2013, I started interpreting for The Big Word, but it wasn't until three years later that I decided to do a level 3 interpreting course at the Mary Ward Centre, and later the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI) to get into legal work. As an interpreter, you're in a lot of different situations, for example mental health assessments and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) tribunals for people appealing benefits decisions. If someone asks angrily in Polish "Why aren't you giving me incapacity benefit?", I would say it with the same force in English. In contrast, a judge or therapist tends to be very calm and quiet, and I always take on that persona. People often ask me, "Are you a therapist as well as an interpreter, because you speak like a therapist?" It's acting. At the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, one of the rehearsal exercises involved someone feeding you a line from a play and then you putting it through your filter and delivering the line to a character in that play. I always loved this exercise. For me, interpreting is similar: I hear the line and I deliver it. Except that at drama school the line is fed with no emotion and with interpreting the emotion is already expressed by the speaker. Interpreting is very helpful for actors because you are in situations that you would never be exposed to otherwise – like telling parents that their child is going to die or going to an anaesthesia room to say goodbye to a person before they have an operation. It can help you learn how people behave in certain situations. In mental health assessments, for example, doctors are very airy – they speak on an outbreath, they're very slow – so if I was playing a character like that it could be useful. Remi Rachuba is currently working on a production of his semi-autobiographical bilingual play. See theintruderplay.com. RECREATING DRAMA Acting exercises promote expressiveness and enable students to play out scenes again and again until the best outcome is achieved IMAGES© SHUTTERSTOCK