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FEATURES 'It is not unusual for it to take 10-15 meetings with a traumatised victim before they share a single thing with us' ESSENTIAL WORK Participants work in groups (above); and an abandoned child in the care of GTR in Timişoara (left) applied themselves with great diligence and sensitivity to the task in hand. Jan Cambridge was lead tutor but the training was very much a team effort – helped enormously by the GTR administration and catering teams – allowing a broad range of insights and experiences to be shared. On the first day, Jan guided the group through an in-depth look at essential theory, which dealt with what impartiality means in the interpreting setting. She stressed the importance of explaining, at the start, the interpreter's role in the interpreted dialogue, and of not inserting additional, unprompted cultural information. She also explained the harm that not staying faithful to the message (including strong and emotional language) can do to a vulnerable victim, and of not relaying every utterance by each of the parties. Whispered interpreting could be particularly threatening. Jan looked at the role of the interlocutor and issues of 'face and face threat' (in this context, 'face' being a sense of self, autonomy and dignity).4 Each day, Gabriela led at least one short session of interpreting-specific yoga relaxation practice, and gave advice and tips about protecting, using and projecting the voice, and maintaining a grounded, balanced and non-threatening posture – essential when working with such distressing cases. On days two and three, the participants rehearsed 18 intense role-plays based on realistic and challenging situations, typical of those experienced by refugees prior to their arrival in Timişoara. At the request of GTR, a Vol/52 No/5 2013 hard-hitting video of the NGO's first successful legal action relating to human trafficking into prostitution in France was included. As a final challenge, groups of three were asked to act out an individual but realistic role-play to the whole class, which required the implementation of all the techniques they had been taught. The tutorials were delivered in English, not the mother tongue of any of the participants. The make-up of each working group was regularly switched and while Romanian was the predominant mother tongue and the working languages Romanian and English, German, Spanish, Slovak, French, Finnish, Swedish and Arabic were also represented. Despite the seriousness of the subject, this enthusiastic and dedicated group were able to share moments of considerable amusement, especially during terminology Q&As after each round of role-plays and in respect of shared misunderstandings during interpreting assignments, which were also the subject of much discussion during lunch breaks and feedback sessions. Improvements on the ground Feedback forms for each day were helpful and positive. A few days after the course, we met up with one of the participants who conducts regular interpreted interviews with victims for GTR and the ETC, and also does some interpreting herself. 'It is not unusual for it to take 10-15 meetings with a traumatised victim before they are able to share a single thing with us,' she told us. 'I am convinced that implementing this impartiality mode will improve this situation greatly and I have already arranged to meet with one of my regular interpreters to discuss a change in how we approach the interviews. It will also change how I deal with the more informal interpreting assignments that I do, often relating to sensitive medical issues at the hospital.' We continue to be in touch with GTR and are available for any further queries they may have in this area. The head of translating and interpreting at the local university is now interested in exploring opportunities to collaborate with IoLET on relevant qualifications, such as the DPSI, and in forging a link with a similar university in the UK. He is also keen to repeat the masterclass, especially in the run up to an international conference in 2015. There is much work still to be done, but potentially life-changing improvements are already being made. Written in collaboration with Gabriela Bocanete, Jan Cambridge and Andrea Duristova. Notes 1 www.generatietanara.ro/en/unhcr-partner-inromania/ 2 www.unhcr-centraleurope.org/pdf/what-wedo/resettlement/etc-timisoara/bringing-refugeesto-safety.html 3 Fifth Dimension, GTR, Prefectura Judetului Timis (Timis County Council) and Universitatea Politehnica Timişoara 4 Cambridge, J, 2013, 'Protecting your "face". Why failing to remain impartial means things are left out', http://publicserviceinterpreting.com /167/; 2005, 'The Public Service Interpreter's Face. Rising to the challenge of expressing powerful emotion for others', http://publicserviceinterpreting.com/ 217/; and 2012, 'Interpreter Output in Talking Therapy. Towards a methodology for good practice', PhD thesis, University of Warwick, http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/55929 17