Interpreters are used throughout Germany in a wide variety of governmental and non-governmental contexts to facilitate communication with clients, patients and customers who do not have sufficient knowledge of the German language. The professional qualifications of the interpreters used can vary to a great extent. As a consequence the interpreted conversation may not be of the necessary quality, neither in the outcome not in the course of the conversation. Poorly interpreted conversations may lead to loss of information, dissatisfaction, frustration, helplessness or, in some cases, even to wrong decisions. On the system side, unachieved conversation goals result in avoidable follow-up appointments and additional employment costs.
Development and evaluation of freely available educational films to strengthen the communicative competences of clients of interpreters.
07/2018-06/2020
Within the 24-month AMIF project „Educational films to strengthen the communicative competences of language interpreter users”, the objectives were achieved with the help of the following modules:
Conducting and evaluating qualitative individual interviews with professionals from various fields, with interpreters as well as with experts from different fields (science, education, public authorities, community interpreting, etc.). Additionally, a research and evaluation of already available material in German language for the strengthening of communicative competence for users of interpreters was carried out.
Development of a detailed concept for the educational films based on the results of the need analysis, which was reflected and discussed with different experts. This was followed by the development of the script and the conception of the scenic realization.
The production of the films was carried out by a professional film production company. Authentic professionals, clients and interpreters acted as actors.
Development of evaluation material to evaluate the relevance, responsiveness, comprehensibility and usability of the teaching material. Recruitment of subjects of the target group and implementation of the evaluation.
The educational films will be published online and will be available for free.
The project is realized in close cooperation with INTERPRET, the Swiss Association for Intercultural Interpreting and Mediation.
INTERPRET has many years of experience and competence in the qualification and professionalization of language mediators, as well as in the sensitization and empowerment of professionals for the cooperation with language mediators. The Swiss Interest Group for Intercultural Interpreting and Mediation is responsible for the nationally established qualification system for intercultural interpreters. On behalf of the federal government in Switzerland, INTERPRET carries out tasks in raising awareness and in the field of public relations.
With the learning platform Trialog INTERPRET operates an online platform that provides didactic materials on the quality of cooperation between professionals and language mediators. The core of the learning platform is formed by films that show examples of what can go wrong when untrained language mediators are involved (“Examples of failed communication”) and how cooperation with professional interpreters can succeed (“Examples of successful communication”).