Language is Everything

Interpreting in a changing landscape: Critical Link 6

Dawn Bowes, our senior account manager, presented a paper at Critical Link 6 last month. Running over five days at Aston University in Birmingham — and based on the theme of "Interpreting in a changing landscape" — this was the first international conference devoted to public service interpreting to be held in the UK. In a joint presentation with Gillian Trainor, the lead nurse at Brent Mental Health Services, Dawn presented a paper on interpreter training and education.

Critical Link 6 in numbers

• 300+ delegates
• 36 countries
• 167 papers
• 10 panel sessions
• 7 workshops
• 5 round table discussions
• 3 plenary sessions
• 2 general meetings

Critical Link 6 in quotes

• Multilingualism is an asset not an obstacle
• English is not enough
• Maybe it's time to put forward a proposal for an international standard
• I do not work as an interpreter. I am an interpreter
• Positioning of interpreters when interpreting: some say this, some say that. Should there be a standard?
• Continual Professional Development is imperative
• Is there room for apprenticeships?
• Invest in interpreters
• Everything has its place as long as there are guidelines
• Are there limits to telephone interpreting?

In today's Guardian

Today's Guardian featured Carolyn Burgess (our chairman) talking about the effect of the economic downturn on the interpreting and translation industry.

On public sector cuts:

• "Things haven't fallen back yet, but I do see it coming"

• "This is a fantastic way to change how the public sector buys its services"

On resisting the temptation to cut rates of pay for linguists:

• "These are qualified linguists we are talking about often with specialisms such as in medicine or law ... As a business, without our linguists we are nothing"

On the private sector:

• "There's a big drive by people to do business in China, India, Brazil and Russia"

You can read the full article here.