Dialogue Interpreting

<p>Dialogue interpreting includes what is variously referred to in English as Community Public Service Liaison Ad Hoc or Bilateral Interpreting - the defining characteristic being interpreter-mediated communication in spontaneous face-to-face interaction. Included under this heading are all kinds of professional encounters: police immigration and welfare services interviews doctor-patient interviews business negotiations political interviews lawyer-client and courtroom interpreting and so on. Whereas research into conference interpreting is now well established the investigation of dialogue interpreting as a professional activity is still in its infancy despite some highly promising publications in recent years. This special issue of The Translator guest-edited by one of the leading scholars in translation studies provides a forum for bringing together separate strands within this developing field and should create an impetus for further research.</p><p>Viewing the interpreter as a gatekeeper coordinator and negotiator of meanings within a three-way interaction the descriptive studies included in this volume focus on issues such as role-conflict in-group loyalties participation status relevance and the negotiation of face thus linking the observation of interpreting practice to pragmatic constraints such as power distance and face-threat and to semiotic constraints such as genres and discourses as socio-textual practices of particular cultural communities.</p>