ERIC ED360819: Interpreting Translating and Language Policy. Report to the Language and Society Centre, National Languages Institute of Australia. NLIA Occasional Paper No. 3.

139 Pages·1991·2.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 360 819
FL 021 353
AUTHOR
Ozolins, Uldis
TITLE
Interpreting Translating and Language Policy. Report
to the Language and Society Centre, National
Languages Institute of Australia. NLIA Occasional
Paper No. 3.
INSTITUTION
Australian National Languages Inst., Melbourne.
REPORT NO
ISBN-1-875578-00-5
PUB DATE
91
NOTE
139p.
PUB TYPE
Reports
Evaluative/Feasibility (142)
Viewpoints
(Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Educational Policy; Foreign Countries; Language
Planning; Language Role; Opinion Papers; Policy
Formation; *Public Policy; *Translation
IDENTIFIERS
*Australia (Victoria)
ABSTRACT
This research report is intended to provide
the
National Languages Institute of Australia (NLIA.)
with an overview of
the issues demanding attention in the fields of
interpreting and
translating. While interpreting and translating
have received
attention in major language policy reports,
subsequent language
policy implementation has rarely encompassed
these issues. This
report argues that the NLIA could have
a significant policy and
practical role in evaluating present needs
related to interpreting
and translating and addressing problems in
the field. The project
described reviews major policy documents
on language service
organization and review; outlines institutional
development in the
interpreting and translating field in terms of
language services,
courses, professional issues, and the private market;
and identifies
some major policy issues. Recommendations to the NLIA
based on these
analyses are included. The
paper is organized into several topics:
interpreting and translating in the context
of the NLIA and the
National Policy on Languages; the history
and current status of
interpreting and translating in Australia;
and relevant policy
issues. Appended items describe
persons consulted for the report, a
telephone interpreter service, and
a interpreting/translating and
language aide course accredited by the National
Accreditation
Authority for Translators and Interpreters. (Contains
58 references.)
(JP)
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LANGUAGE POLICY
ULDIS OZOLINS
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Office of Educational Research and Improvement
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INTERPRETING
TRANSLATING AND
LANGUAGE POLICY
REPORT TO THE
LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY CENTRE
NATIONAL LANGUAGES INSTITUTE
OF AUSTRALIA
ULDIS OZOLINS
PRINCIPAL RESEARCHER
NATIONAL LANGUAGES INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA
MELBOURNE
1991
rl
0
NLIA Ocassional Paper Isla 3
Copyright
1991 National Languages Insti le of Australia
National Languages Institute of Australia
THE NA110NAL
Level 3
112 Wellington Parade
East Melbourne Victoria 3002
OF AUSTRALIA
Australia
ISBN 1 875578 00 5
4
1,
CONTENTS
i
Preface
Joseph lo Bianco
Introduction
1
Interpreting and translating, the NLIA
and the National Policy on Languages
5
Historical development of the interpreting/
translating field in Australia
15
Understanding interpreting and translating
39
The present organization of interpreting and
translating in Australia
51
Policy issues in interpreting/translating
81
A summary of interpreting/translating issues ..107
Bibliography
121
Appendices
126
r
tJ
PREFACE
The fourth principle of the National Policy on Languages
addresses the question ofthe equitable and widespread provision
is a term which
of language services. Language services
embraces aspects of language planning in Australia which ere
not encompassed under education. Interpreting and translating
services are the most obvious, but not the only, language
service.
The National Languages Institute of Austalia has been
entrusted in the charter issued by the federal government with
the responsibility of taking forward the National Policy on
Languages and, accordingly, we need to address systematically
all aspects of interpreting and translating. Among the many
aspects of interpreting and translating which warrant attention
are:
meeting the needs of the community who require
interpreting and translating some immigrants from
non-English speaking background, some Australian
Aborigines, some deaf people;
upgrading its
meeting the needs of the profession
status in the community, assisting the further
professionalization of the field, attending to expansion
and improvement in the quallity of training;
meeting the needs of the nation assisting Australia's
trading and tourism efforts by making available
specialized and/or general interpreting and translating
services which are appropriate to the countries
economic needs, assisting people to participate more
fully in Australia society by giving them access to
information and services.
For these important reasons, the National Languages
Institute, through its Language and Society Centre at Monash
University has produced this report on interpreting and
translating. Dr Uldis Ozolins has done a fine job in analyzing
the history and development of interpreting and translating in
Australia and is proposing a series of concrete measures which
the Institute will be able to take forward, in co-operation with
bodies such as NAATI, AUSIT, the Language Services Bureau
and others.
JOSEPH LO BIANCO
Director
National Languages
Institute of Australia
7
Introduction
This brief research report is intended to give the National
Languages Institute of Australia (NLIA) an overview of the
issues demanding attention in the field of interpreting/
translating.
Given the substantial initiatives in language policy taken
over the last decade, it must be noted that while some att.ention
has always been paid to interpreting/translating (henceforth V
T) in major language policy reports, subsequent language policy
implementation has rarely encompassed VT. Thus, DT is not
included in any of the programs funded under the National
Policy on Languages, has no clear place in the programs of any
of the centres of the NLIA, was explicitly excluded from the
DEET review of language and literacy programs (DEET 1990),
and alt vether looks like one of the areas of language policy
which has gained least from recent developments.
It will be the argument of this report that such exclusion
is not an oversight. It clearly reflects on the one hand problems
within LT itself, particularly historical problems ofprofessional
development, clarity of role and organization of In' services;
and, on the other hand, the problems that policy makers and
potential contributors to policy - politicians, institutional heads
but also applied linguists - have in understanding this area,
which all profess to understand but seldom do.
Both within language policy and within vr, the present
moment (late 1990/early 1991) is a period of considerable
activity and not a little turmoil in terms of organization of
programs and services, issues of federal/State relations, and
revision of hitherto established policies and practices. There is
intense debate over desirable courses of action, while a
threatening economic climate is forcing a narrowing ofpriorities.
In this climate it is particularly important to to be able to clearly
see present yr needs, difficulties and prospects, and to calculate
realistically its contribution to the society, real and potential,
and address the manifold problems and difficulties in the field.
It will be the argument of this report that the NLIA could have
2 Interpreting, translating and language policy
a significant policy and practical role in this field.
The wider context of language policy indicates
cause for
concern after several years of slow butundeniable achievements.
The establishment of the NLIA in 1990, for example, carried the
potential for a substantial mainstream support for language
policy and development across many language issues. By
contrast, the recent green payer ofDEET(DEET 90) on language
and literacy learning, with its implied threat of Commonwealth
withdrawal from a wide range oflanguage programs, ostensibly
speaks in the name of a national policy on languages while in
other ways retreating from it. Within yr, several key policy
developments have made the area more complex but also
more
volatile: the establishment of a national professional body
(AUSIT - the Australian Institute of Interpreters and
Translators), the 1990 election promise of
a National
Bureau ofLanguage Services, and incessant debates
over federaV
State relations and cost recovery have sharpened attention
on
in priorities but also caused considerable uncertainty about
future directions, and about support for the field
as a whole.
This research project is, first of all, not an exhaustive study
of the field. in is an area little researched,
as distinct from being
an area incessantly "reviewed" by endless attempts at
coordination andbureaucratic transmogrification. Indeed,
many
areas of potential research will be identified, for there is a
dearth of publications in this field not tied to immediate
bureaucratic or political ends.
More modestly, this project bases itself
upon three
approaches:
a review of major policy documents and other
publications largely devoted to language service
organization and review
an outline of institutional development in the I/
T field in language services, guiding bodies in I/
T, courses and the profession, and to
some
extent the private market.
an identification of some of the major policy
issues, problems and potential devek prnents
arising from the present situation of the field.
This analysis will lead to recommendations for the NLIA
on areas where it could make a contribution either in a policy
or
a quite practical way.
9'
Uldis Ozolins 3
The work in this project has been based largely on public
documentation, and this has been supplemented by the principal
researcher also interviewing several key figures in the vr field
in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney to understand the work of
particular agencies and organizat ions, and to seek comments on
present policy issues. Gratitude is expressed to all these people
who gave generously of their time to assist this project.
I 0