“Maybe I Say Something, I Understand a Bit”: On the (In)Accessibility of Translation

Working with interpreters is common in qualitative social research. It can even be necessary when researchers address the perspective of people with whom they do not share a lingua franca. Interpreters are then brought into the research endeavor to enable a communication setting that would otherwise be impossible. Following the theme of enabling communication, the dominant perspective on interpreted interviews suggests that there is only one person involved in the interaction—the interpreter—who can understand and speak both languages. This perspective falls short as it relies on a monolithic understanding of refugees as perpetually removed from (the linguistic requirements of) their new surroundings. However, when people have visited language courses or have otherwise been exposed to the language of their new contexts, they are gaining ground as agents of translation. Thus, the interactional dynamic of the interpreted interview changes drastically as the interviewee can participate more in how they and their stories are interpreted. Faced with the varying language proficiencies of the interviewees, the interpreter adapts their strategies of interpreting. Drawing from narrative interviews with refugees from Syria, collected at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), this article explores the question of how the interviewees’ language proficiency influences the interpreted interview, as it is rooted in situated performativity. Focusing on the interactions between all three participants, three empirical constellations highlight the relevance of acknowledging the performative density of translating and interpreting collaboratively.