Community interpreting services by marriage migrants for marriage migrants in South Korea

Abstract

This paper deals with community interpreting services for migrant women in South Korea. The number of migrant women in South Korea has increased dramatically in recent decades. Faced with demographic changes in the wake of the influx of marriage migrants, the South Korean government has implemented policies to support marriage migrants’ early settlement and adjustment to life in South Korea, and the related public services have expanded to support multicultural family life and child education. Interpreting and translation services have played a crucial role in the delivery of such migrant support programmes. The services have been provided by migrant women who have successfully settled in South Korea. The services, which are funded largely by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and partly by local governments, serve the dual purposes of providing employment to migrant women and providing language assistance to migrants and multicultural families. This paper first provides an overview of interpreting and translation services provided by the Multicultural Family Support Centres, then, based on interviews with 23 interpreters and 10 supervisors at the Multicultural Family Support Centres, discusses how it has empowered marriage migrants and what needs to be done to further their career development.