Community interpreting?

[Swissoconnors]

I'm starting to look at getting back into interpreting in the not-too-distant future and just wondered whether anyone on here has worked officially as a community interpreter in Switzerland? If so I would love to hear about how/why you got into it, what difficulties you've encountered or any tips/comments/...

(Should this be in the language section?)

[Swissoconnors]

I'm really suprised that in such a large expat community there are no community interpreters. (Do you know how low the language requirement is?! B2 in local language, and something like B1 in the foreign languages you can do. Crazy.)

Or perhaps you have considered it and decided against it for some reason?

[Bartholemew]

I had to google community interpreter to figure out what it is. Is this what you mean?

	Quote:	Swissoconnors
	I'm really suprised that in such a large expat community there are no community interpreters.

[Swissoconnors]

I don't think so. That looks like an integration service. Community interpreters are oral translators who act within the community, as opposed to conference interpreters who sit in a booth with headphones on - community interpreters might be called on for medical visits, for interviews with asylum applicants who don't speak the local language...

http://www.inter-pret.ch/interkultur...bersetzen.html (also available in French and Italian)

[Bartholemew]

thanks for explaining that--got it now. So is it more like this then?

Though I would've thought an English service is a bit of a moot point considering the prevalence of English as a foreign language here.

	Quote:	Swissoconnors
	... Community interpreters are oral translators who act within the community, as opposed to conference interpreters who sit in a booth with headphones on - community interpreters might be called on for medical visits, for interviews with asylum applicants who don't speak the local language...

[Swissoconnors]

Yes that's the sort of thing.

I don't imagine English is so difficult to find (although we could have used some help when my son was hospitalised immediately after birth when we first got here) but plenty of people on here speak other languages. Spanish and Portuguese for instance.

[mabern]

But there are already many Portuguese and Spanish settled here since 30 or 40 years ago, with children and grandchildren born here, so many "Swiss" can speak these languages perfectly.

[Swissoconnors]

Many Swiss can also babysit and clean houses but it doesn't stop expats doing it too, if the jobs forum is anything to go by. (Besides, just because many can speak it doesn't mean they choose to. I gave birth to my first son in German, which I didn't speak at the time, because the doctor spoke no Spanish, Dutch, French, Danish, or English. Any one of those would have done for me. Same applied to the subsequent three-week stay in hospital.)

Not to worry - you don't have to make excuses, I'm just surprised is all. But then interpreting has always been my dream job (conference though, but that's out of the question now) so I'm biased.

[mabern]

Sorry, I think you misunderstood me, I wasn't making excuses but offering a possible explanation why there may be no need for those particular two languages. I meant that to many, it is their mother tongue, not just an acquired language skill and apart from Italians they would have been the majority of non-Swiss living here!

[miniMia]

My mother used to do this in the US. She would go to doctors and courts to provide translations for people who didn't speak English fluently. Sorry, I can't help with this type of thing in CH though.