Community Interpreting Training in Türkiye: A Study Based on the Views of Academics and Interpreters

Health tourism along with cultural tourism, educational opportunities, natural disasters, and recent conflicts in the region have made community interpreting an indispensable service in Türkiye. This rise in the sector should also, in correlation, affect the training of professionals. Proper training to develop competent community interpreters is a prerequisite for qualified community interpreting services. Hereupon, this study, which is a part of a larger study, aims to investigate to what extent the current community interpreting training offered in the translation and interpreting departments of higher education institutions in the country is adequate and to display the link between the field and the academy. Within this context, semi-structured interviews with nine academics working on the subject and eight community interpreters working in different subfields were conducted to comprehend their views on community interpreting training. The interviews are analysed in relation to the expectations in the field from a community interpreter and how current translator training meets these expectations. The answers of the participants reveal that even though there are still certain unresolved issues, there are efforts to advanced community interpreting training within translator training in Türkiye. The views of participants also constitute a set of suggestions to improve community interpreting training.