Recent research in Interpreting Studies has favoured the argument that, in practice, the interpreter plays an active role, rather than the prescribed role stipulated in professional codes of conduct. Cutting-edge studies utilising multimodal research methods have taken a more comprehensive approach to investigating this argument, searching for evidence of the interpreter’s active involvement not only through textual analysis, but also by examining a range of non-verbal communicative means. Studies using multimodal analysis, such as those by Pasquandrea (2011) and Davitti (2012), have succeeded in offering new insights into the interpreter’s role in interaction. This research presents further investigation into the interpreter’s role through multimodal analysis by focusing on the use of gesture movements, gaze and body orientation in interpreter-mediated communication; it also looks at the impact of the state of knowledge asymmetry on the interpreter’s role. This thesis presents findings from six simulated face-to-face dialogue interpreting cases featuring three different groups of participants and interpreters representing different interpreting settings (e.g. parent-teacher meeting, business meeting, doctor-patient meeting, etc.). By adapting a multimodal approach, findings of this study (a) contribute to our understanding of the active role of the interpreter in Interpreting Studies by exploring new insights from a multimodal approach, and (b) offer new empirical findings from interpreter-mediated interactions to the technical analysis of multimodal communication.

This master's thesis studies explicit manifestations of the interpreter's role in consecutive interpreting - specifically in interpreted debates after films at the One World film festival. Consecutive dialogue interpreting in front of an audience is an interesting genre of interpreting, which is fairly common in the Czech Republic, but rather underrepresented in interpreting research. Its unique features are especially salient in case of interpreting between English and Czech, as this means a large part of the audience is then likely to have some level of comprehension in both of these languages. The One World festival also often employs young interpreters - students or graduates of Translation Studies at Charles University - and serves as one of their first work experiences. The theoretical part of the thesis provides an overview of existing research in the field of dialogue interpreting and film festival interpreting. It also presents the theoretical framework used to analyse the manifestations of the interpreter's role in authentic interactions. The framework divides these manifestations into several layers of analysis - role as an activity, facework, and norm orientation in language management. It also employs the tools and terminology used by conversation analysis. The empirical part is then...

The present thesis applies the sociolinguistic concepts of politeness and face on interpreting theory and practice. Interpreting is, in its essence, highly face-threatening, which is reflected in codes of ethics adopted by interpreting vocational associations. Having insight into two cultures, interpreters can use their communication competence to preserve the face of their recipients or the speaker. For the Western society, it is natural to protect one's own face in communication; however, such efforts can collide with the endeavour to convey the message faithfully and precisely. The thesis therefore studies the strategies that interpreters apply in face-threatening situations and presents examples of what interpreters do to save face, including such events when face- preserving outweighs conveying the message. There is also a discrepancy between the conventional role of a neutral or passive interpreter as a message conduit and the role of interpreters as active communication participants who take the initiative. By analysing interviews and an online survey, the study demonstrates that many interpreters believe that their role is an active one and their impact on the output of interpreted interactions is significant. Keywords: face, politeness, interpreting, face-preserving strategies,...

This thesis deals with the communication between primary school representatives, foreign students and their parents. Our primary focus is the use of professional community interpreting and child language brokering for this purpose. In the theoretical part of our paper we firstly describe migration in the Czech Republic and then introduce the two main points of interest: community interpreting and child language brokering with a focus on the school setting. The empirical part of this study presents the results of our research, that was conveyed as a case study. Our aim was to analyze how certain primary schools in Prague communicate with students and parents who do not speak Czech; to what extent they use community interpreters and what is their opinion on the role of interpreter at school and on this service in general. We also asked the schools whether and how often they request the foreign students to act as interpreters and to what extent they feel this solution is acceptable in various situations. In order to obtain a comprehensive view, we conveyed a similar survey among community interpreters. We discovered that community interpreting is not a common solution in overcoming language barriers in the selected schools. Even though they perceive this service in a positive way, they struggle with...

The thesis studies gender inequality in interpreting studies. In specific, gender imbalances in European interpreting institutions such as the Institute of Translatology of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. At the Institute of Translatology, it investigates the gender ratios among master's and doctoral graduates and the gender ratios in individual language programs from 1989 to the present. Through a survey, it traces the opinions of lecturers and students at the institute regarding gender issues and ascertains their views on the causes and consequences of the high proportion of women in the interpreting studies program.

El artículo analiza las perspectivas de un grupo de intérpretes de lenguas indígenas sobre la interpretación en el sistema judicial del Perú. Se condujeron entrevistas semiestructuradas con ocho intérpretes de diferentes lenguas indígenas, quienes relataron la adquisición de la lengua de su pueblo y del castellano, sus actividades profesionales, sus procesos de inserción en las políticas lingüísticas estatales y sus miradas sobre las relaciones de poder que se evidencian en su trabajo con el Estado y en el sistema judicial en específico. Se exponen las perspectivas de las y los participantes sobre su relación con las comunidades indígenas que reciben el servicio lingüístico y con operadores de justicia. Estas interacciones construyen diferentes dimensiones identitarias en el conjunto de intérpretes, a la vez que marcan sus entendimientos sobre sus roles y estatus. / This paper analyzes the perspectives of a group of Peruvian indigenous language interpreters regarding interpreting in the Peruvian justice system. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight indigenous language interpreters, in which they described the learning process of both their indigenous language and Spanish, their professional experiences, their integration process through the language policies implemented in Peru and their perspectives about the power relations they experienced while working in Peruvian governmental entities, specifically in the Peruvian judicial system. This paper also presents the interpreter’s perspectives regarding their interactions with judicial officials and the indigenous communities requesting the interpreting services, which helped to build different aspects of their identities within the group of Peruvian indigenous languages interpreters and shaped their insights about role and status. / Tesis