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Rebecca Tipton: From citizen linguists to…? Why history matters for understanding non-professional translation and interpreting

In this presentation I critically examine the applicability of the label ‘non-professional interpreting and translation’ to situations of interpreting and translation that arose in Britain in the years immediately following the Second World War in state and non-state services. This was a period of acceleration in terms of cultural and language diversity, driven primarily, but not exclusively by postwar reconstruction efforts, and one that demanded a level of planning for language support services that differed substantively to the approach taken in wartime. I explore examples of interpreter and translator recruitment processes, working conditions and reflections - by interpreters and government agents - on their practice. Shining a spotlight on the framing used to describe roles, articulate lived experiences, and monitor practice, I examine the significance of such framing for understanding perceptions of ‘professionalism’ in their historical context.

Rebecca Tipton (University of Manchester, UK) is a Senior Lecturer in Interpreting and Translation Studies at the University of Manchester at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies. Her research examines professional and non-professional interpreting in statutory and voluntary sector services from contemporary and historical perspectives. She is the author of The Routledge Guide to Teaching Ethics in Translation and Interpreting Education (2024).