The Linguist

@CIOL_Linguists WINTER 2022 The Linguist 13 FEATURES What remote does deliver, however, is availability. I have been working, via a platform, for a church in the USA. There is no way that I would have been chosen for that assignment if remote interpreting didn't exist. For me personally, remote has meant that I can get paid to do the kind of interpreting I love, even if the local market for it is practically non-existent. It no longer matters where the church needing my services is located, I can still serve them. While this might mean interpreting the words "Good morning, church" while my stomach is looking forward to dinner, that is a small price to pay. The growth in remote church interpreting came in the later stages of the growth in online religious services. As the pandemic limited or eliminated opportunities for people to go to a religious service in person, services came to them via YouTube and Zoom. This explains why a quarter of UK adults attended at least one online religious meeting during lockdown. It took a while, but churches began to see the opportunities this gave them, as they could use the same technology they were using for streaming to allow people to access the services in multiple languages. The remote interpreting platform Interactio saw such a growth in remote interpreting for religious services that they now have a dedicated Project Manager for Houses of Worship. It is true that many – if not most – churches still prefer to work with interpreters who are members of their church. But there are churches that wish to hire professionals. This seems to be more common for special events, such as large conferences or festival services, where the requirements of the interpreting might be more exacting than normal. This Easter, I was part of the interpreting team for a service that involved music, a drama in several parts, a sermon, and detailed instructions about where to get more information if you were new to the church. Having to switch quickly between text types and approaches to interpreting is something that most professionals should be able to handle, but which can prove too tricky for those who aren't specially trained. Remote church interpreting takes all the same skills and engagement as in-person interpreting but adds a layer of technology while removing the kind of connection that comes from being in the room. It enables us to take on assignments that would not otherwise be possible but makes them technically more challenging to perform. In that regard, it is much like remote interpreting for any other assignment. Remote giveth and remote taketh away. Notes 1 Vigouroux, C B (2010) 'Double-Mouthed Discourse: Interpreting, framing, and participant roles'. In Journal of Sociolinguistics 14 (3), 341-69 2 Balci Tison, A (2016) 'The Interpreter's Involvement in a Translated Institution: A case study of sermon interpreting'. PhD Thesis, Spain, Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Tekgül, D (2020) 'Faith- Related Interpreting as Emotional Labour: A case study at a Protestant Armenian church in Istanbul'. In Perspectives 28 (1), 43-57 3 Karlik, J (2010) 'Interpreter-Mediated Scriptures: Expectation and performance'. In Interpreting 12, 2, 160-85; doi.org/10.1075/intp.12.2.03kar 4 Hokkanen, S (2017) 'Experiencing the Interpreter's Role: Emotions of involvement and detachment in simultaneous church interpreting'. In Translation Spaces 6 (1), 62-78 5 Downie, J (2016) 'Stakeholder Expectations of Interpreters: A multi-site, multi-method approach'. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK

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