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Training sign language interpreters in Australia: An innovative approach
Babel: Revue internationale de la traduction/International Journal of Translation, (2005)
Аннотация
An accreditation system for the qualification of Australian Sign Language (Auslan)/ English1 interpreters has been available in Australia for approximately twenty years, under the auspices of the National Authority for the Accreditation of Translators and Interpreters (NAATI). Blewett (1987) stated that “Australia leads the world in the provision of community interpreting and translating services and in the regulation and training of interpreters and translators for that provision” (cited in Roberts-Smith, Frey & Bessell-Browne 1990: 3). After long negotiations, NAATI accepted Auslan as one of 26 official languages in Australia in which interpreters can be tested (Flynn 1985, 1990). Accordingly, Auslan is indirectly recognised as a community language, along with languages of other minority groups in Australia,such as Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders; as well as languages of other migrant communities, such as Bosnian, Cantonese, Greek, Hindi, Italian, or Vietnamese languages. This makes Australia one of the few countries in the world that accredits spoken and signed language interpreters through the same system (Bridge 1991), which may lead us to think that Blewett’s (1987) comments were somehow justified — at least in relation to the system of testing and accreditation. Accreditation is offered through three different routes: (a) completion of a NAATI approved course; (b) sitting a one-off accreditation examination in the specific language of the translator or interpreter; or (c) assessment of specialized interpreter/ translator qualifications obtained from overseas (Bell 1997).
