earticle

영어

Since ancient times, there has existed a figure that bridges oral communication between speakers of different languages and facilitates understanding among natives of differing cultures: the interpreter. This figure, with the passing of time, adapts to the necessities of their own time and must currently work surrounded by war and conflict, joining two or more realities while making all parts understand each other linguistically and culturally. This papers intends to shed light on the figure of the interpreter in conflict zones, particularly focusing on certain data collected through a series of narrative interviews carried out with five Afghan local interpreters who worked for the Spanish troops deployed in Afghanistan. The initial hypothesis was that the contexts in which these interpreters offer their services involve several distinctive features capable of altering the invisibility and neutrality that, in theory, is expected of interpreters, regardless of the context in which they work. Data for this project - analysed with NVivo 11 Plus software - proves the initial hypothesis to be correct and shows regularities in certain strategies applied by the five local interpreters interviewed, who seem to lack training in a number of skills closely related to the setting of interpreting in conflict zones. Results, thus, highlight the necessity to train conflict zone interpreters not only on interpreting techniques and strategies, but also on cultural and ethical matters that tend to be more complex in this particular setting of interpretation. However, due to the challenging features that characterise these contexts, training in these scenarios may take the shape of distance-learning, which would imply recognising the impact that technology has on Translation and Interpreting Studies in all kind of scenarios. It is concluded, therefore, that in order to help interpreters in conflict zones build their linguistic, cultural, emotional and interpreting capacity, innovative e-learning designs may be a suitable solution, as it has previously been the case in similar settings. This knowledge/competence-oriented training approach will not only help conflict zone interpreters to enhance their understanding on field challenges, efforts and strategies, but also to be seen as more than lay persons with no skills nor expertise in such contexts