Narratives as approach to interpreter identity

Abstract

Translator and interpreter identity came into focus with the “cultural turn” in the first decade of the new millennium (PYM, 2004) and even more in the 2010s with the “sociological turn” in translation and interpreting studies (WOLF, 2012). In this paper we explore narratives as an approach to understanding complex and not rarely conflictive interpreter identities in two ways. In a theoretical sense we understand that interpreting is to process, adapt and reconstruct narratives in a cognitive way that is compatible with, accessible and acceptable for all parties involved, based on Humboldt (1999), Wittgenstein (1922), Eco (1986), Blikstein (1997), and others as well as on Baker (2006) who describes the world as a projection of conflicting narratives that are the same time the very reason for the need for interpreting and for identity conflicts of interpreters. On the other hand, we look at literary narratives about interpreters or written by interpreters to illustrate the findings of the first part of this article.

Keywords

• narratives
• translation and conflict
• intercultural identity
• interpreter identity