Chartered Institute of Linguists
SUMMER 2026 The Linguist 33
OPINION & COMMENT
Agency issues
diagnosed
The focus of the news item on 'Linguist
Shortages' (TL65,1) is on Sign Language and
Welsh; these are very specific and niche
languages. I am experiencing this chronic
issue on a daily basis with more common
languages. Clients tell me that their medical
appointments have been cancelled several
times because of an inability to find
interpreters. I believe this is due to the way
agencies book interpreters.
I have a few examples: I accepted a
booking a month ahead and the day
before, I emailed the agency to check that it
would go ahead. I received a confirmation
email the next day, just 20 minutes before I
had to leave. It took about 1.5 hours to get
to the clinic but, on arrival, I was told the
booking had been cancelled three weeks
earlier. They had not informed the agency
due to "a lack of staff". It was clear that the
agency had not contacted the clinic before
confirming with me and sending me on a
wild goose chase.
The booking was for 3 hours but I got
paid for 15 minutes. I travelled for 3 hours
and lost out on another job, and the
agency did not even cover travel costs.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8
9 10
11 12
13
14 15
16 17
18
19 20 21 22
23
24 25
26 27
Across
1 Funny sort of ditch? (2-2)
3 Means of transport from Japanese for
'human-powered vehicle'. (8)
9 Pale yellow cloth, named after the capital of
Jiangsu province. (7)
10 Port _____ was the original name of
Durban, from the Portuguese for Christmas. (5)
11 E African nation where English and Swahili
are official languages. (5)
12 Chinese martial art aka shadowboxing. (3,3)
14 Egyptian PM and President 1956-1970. (6)
16 An incarnation of Vishnu, or a popular film
franchise. (6)
19 "Everything has _____, but not everyone
sees it," Confucius. (6)
21 Mexican people who speak Nahuatl. (5)
24 Feng shui translates as 'wind _____' (5)
25 A word which, with same spelling and
pronunciation, can have different meanings. (7)
26 'All cows eat grass' is a mnemonic for its
spaces. (4,4)
27 An Egyptian goddess, or the upper
reaches of the River Thames. (4)
Down
1 Region of China taking its name from
Cantonese for 'Fragrant harbour'. (4,4)
2 Mao Zedong came from this inland
province of China. (5)
4 Inborn. (6)
5 Chinese characters used in Japanese. (5)
6 It's buried when you make peace. (7)
7 Jung Chang's bestseller from 1991 was
'_____ Swans'. (4)
8 This relationship may be complicated if
'a trois'. (6)
13 100 Lepta used to make up one of this
pre-Euro currency. (8)
15 Afternoon naps in mediterranean
countries. (7)
17 Flemish in Flemish. (6)
18 Fleshy fruit from S E Asia, especially
China, Taiwan and Vietnam. (6)
20 Language family including Hungarian,
Khanty and Mansi. (5)
22 They differentiate meaning in Chinese. (5)
23 A small piece of e.g. gauze to clean a
wound, or take a sample. (4)
Crossword no.40
Solution, page 34
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