Giving interpreters a voice: interpreting studies meets theatre studies

Interpreters have to negotiate interpersonal power relations, for which their professional training often leaves them insufficiently prepared. The article outlines an approach to organising the teaching of interpreters with a view to giving them a voice under challenging social constraints. From the point of view of educational sociology this implies strengthening students' individual potential for self-determination on a number of levels, especially in taking on increased social responsibility. This provides the basis for specifying didactic strategies tailored to individual forms of interpreting, incorporating approaches adapted from other disciplines, especially practical theatre studies, into the context of interpreter training. The interdisciplinary elements are not simply used in a cumulative fashion, but are complementary to each other. From the participant's perspective they can be regarded as dialogically structured life contexts, and from the observer's perspective they are construed as a system. This idea is illustrated in more detail with methods taken from the Theatre of the Oppressed.