Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Ege University First International Symposium on Arts and Humanities (EGE-ISAH), İzmir, Türkiye, 12 - 14 Aralık 2019
Abstract
This paper aims to highlight the need for
interpreting that is ever increasing with the influx of particularly Syrian
refugees in the recent few years in Turkey after the outbreak of the civil war
in Syria. Thus, this study analyzes how these needs are met in a country where
community interpreting is not commonly recognized as a profession. For this
need, the civil society currently appears to be the most concerned party since
the government falls behind providing organized interpreting services. To this
end, civil society organizations have been contacted in order to identify their
needs and challenges in their interaction with refugees and how they recruit
interpreters in order to eliminate communication problems. As for a method, the
representatives of such organizations have been given semi-structured
interviews to provide an overview of interpreting for refugees from the
perspective of one of the primary interlocutors of the interaction refugees
have in their host country. The results of the study discuss the challenges that
Turkey has in the face of new phenomenon of having a large group of potentially
permanent refugees, which is a big change since Turkey was only a transit
country for asylum-seekers from the Middle East until recently. According to
the analysis, due to the lack of trained community interpreters in Arabic,
refugees themselves who are non-professionals act as interpreters in various
situations such as asylum applications, interaction at the UN office or at any
service providing institution at the public or private level. While these
crossovers in interpreting practices are identified, challenges are laid out
with a descriptive approach and solutions are offered intending to eliminate
shortcomings in the interpreting needs of refugees in Turkey.
Key Words: refugee interpreting,
community interpreting, civil society, semi-structured interviews, descriptive
approach