Abstract
AbstractThis article presents a comprehensive analysis of the role that interpreters and translators of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge[Bamf]) played during the 2015–2016 migration crisis in Germany along with the improvements made by the German Ministry of the Interior. To this end, we first investigated all the occasions when a refugee needs interpreting and translation services. We then present the requirements to be a Bamf interpreter/translator as well as their working conditions. In addition, we offer research into all the working tools that the German Government has made available to these interpreters/translators, so they can get a comprehensive training in the profession of community interpreter, one of the most demanding branches of interpreting and translation services. Finally, we have summarized the challenges that, in our opinion, Germany faces for the future in order to achieve a better quality in their interpretation and translation services.
Highlights
Without engaging in the discussion of cultural conflicts that may appear between the host country and the incoming refugees, this article will present an analysis of the role of the interpreter and/or translator in Germany as an essential figure to offer the linguistic help the refugees need as soon as they arrive
Community interpreting has become a discipline with its own traits in its professional practice, in many cases identifying itself with the figure of the cultural mediator or community interpreter
If no country can be designated on the basis of these criteria, the first member state in which the application has been lodged will be responsible for examining it (EUR-LEX 2013). In this process, where they present a personal application, the applicants have the right of assistance of an interpreter to help them understand their rights and duties within the asylum procedure or to explain to the refugee which country is responsible for their asylum and why (Bamf 2016b)
Summary
Without engaging in the discussion of cultural conflicts that may appear between the host country and the incoming refugees, this article will present an analysis of the role of the interpreter and/or translator in Germany as an essential figure to offer the linguistic help the refugees need as soon as they arrive. Most of the refugees in Germany come from a completely different culture and need someone to help them understand the social and cultural structure of the host country, in this case Germany, as well as how the government works This means that, other than in simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, the community translators and interpreters may encounter compromised situations that force them to make decisions about their activity (try to make the refugee feel more comfortable by talking to him or her about different matters, asking question in order to understand what happened, seeing through the trauma of the refugee, etc.). We will look for the required studies or skills to become an interpreter and/or translator for the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (Bamf), the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, with the aim of understanding how this office works as well as to see the quality standards they hold
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