Guidance on use of Translators and Interpreters
Interpreting: When to use a professional interpreter
Whenever the service user (or parent, carer, potential service user, voter or
citizen) and the officer of the Authority do not fully share a language, an
interpreter may be needed. In making a decision, you must consider that:
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Failure to use a qualified or trained interpreter where needed could
lead to legal challenge.
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Not providing interpreting or translation, or providing it “on the cheap”
by using people who do not have the relevant qualifications, is to
provide a poorer service to people whose first or preferred language is
not English which can be a form of discrimination and/or racism. If
mistakes are made, the Council could be sued and you could be
disciplined if the service user suffered detriment.
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Under stress, people are likely to be less competent than usual in their
second language.
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A superficial fluency in everyday English should not be mistaken for an
ability to convey or understand complex information or to express the
nuances of emotion and feelings.
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Second language speakers usually first develop competence in the
limited number of contexts where they use the language most, e.g. for
shopping, travel, or in their own type of work.
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Family and friends who can use British Sign Language (BSL) may
similarly have limited fluency.
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Local government and social work use their own technical terms and
jargon, sometimes using common words in specialised ways.
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Some encounters with social services are crucial events, and
misinterpretations can have very serious consequences.
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For example, translating the word “rocking” as “shaking” when referring
to a baby could be disastrous for the family concerned, even though
the difference in meaning between the two words is not enormous.
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Family and friends may have conflicts of interest or may wish to protect
a family member from criticism or bad news.
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Some languages have words which cannot be directly translated into
English, and vice versa.
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Languages may have many words for which there is only one word in
English and vice versa. For example, some languages have different
words for a whole range of family relationships which are not
distinguished in English - distinguishing between maternal and paternal
grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, blood relatives and relatives
by marriage, for instance. It will be very difficult to make sense of these
crucial relationships when working in English alone.
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In practice, struggling to communicate without an interpreter may
extend the length of an interaction or interview by two or three times,
and even then there may be misunderstandings which will have to be
resolved later.
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Multi-lingual staff are a very useful resource for communicating with
people whose language they share; however, they are not professional
interpreters and should be protected from being expected to have
those skills, and from additional or skewed workloads because they are
called on to “interpret”.
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It therefore makes sense in terms of justice, fairness, value for money,
and quality to employ qualified or trained interpreters whenever
needed.
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In an emergency - in high risk situations - you may have to dispense
with an interpreter if one is not immediately available, and
communicate by whatever means you can. This may include using
friends, neighbours, even children, signs, gestures, or, with deaf
people, simple writing. All these means have major limitations. As soon
as possible, you should revisit the situation using a qualified or trained
interpreter.
You may ask the service user whether they need an interpreter, but you
should also use your own judgement about their fluency in English. When a
service user indicates that they require an interpreter, or where it is your
judgement that they need one, if the service user’s or carer’s civil liberties
may be implicated, or where prosecution may be involved (for example, child
protection conferences, mental health assessments, protection of vulnerable
adults), you must use a qualified or trained interpreter. You must do this even
if the service user states that they do not want an interpreter, or that a friend
or relative will interpret.
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Using qualified or trained interpreters has been shown to have major benefits
for service users, professionals and the service, including
 better, more accurate communication
 improved outcomes
 shorter interventions
 better informed service users, better able to participate
 reduced stress for all participants
 better practical provision to meet cultural needs and preferences
Process
 As part of your initial assessment, you must record the first or preferred
language of the service user (or parent, carer, or potential service
user); this includes recording where someone’s first or preferred
language is British Sign Language (BSL).
 If the service user’s (or parent’s, carer’s, or potential service user’s)
first or preferred language is not English (and you or others attending
the meeting are not fluent in this language) you must consider whether
an interpreter is needed.
 If the service user (or parent, carer, or potential service user) is deaf,
you must consider whether a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter is
needed. Some deaf people may require a lip speaker or note taker.
Deaf blind people may require a specialised interpreter.
 If you conclude that an interpreter is not needed for someone whose
first or preferred language is not English, you must record your reasons
in the file.
 You must have the approval of your line manager to use an interpreter.
 Aim to provide as much notice as possible to the Interpretation service
provider.
 Book the interpreter utilising the County Council’s Approved List of
Interpreters and Translators . Contact details, including office hours,
emergency number and prices are found on the Equality & Diversity
Web Pages.
Important note for staff who carry out interviews under caution:
 Crown Prosecution Guidelines for interviewing defendants under
caution require the use of interpreters from the National Register of
Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI).
 Therefore staff who carry out interviews under caution must use
interpreters selected from the National Register of Public Service
Interpreters (NRPSI). When booking an interpreter with one of our
approved suppliers, you will need to advise them that you require
an interpreter who is NRPSI registered.
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Before you start the interview or meeting
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Brief the interpreter about the interview, and explain any concepts or
technical terminology you might use.
Tell the interpreter how you want to work - in most situations, verbatim
translation will be needed, but in some circumstances the interpreter
may explain matters to both parties.
Ask the interpreter how they need to work in order to achieve a
satisfactory outcome.
Ask the interpreter to stop you if you talk too fast or do not pause often
enough.
You should take account of gender, religion, class, caste and age. Ask
the interpreter about specific cultural or social protocols (whether it is
appropriate to shake hands, and make eye contact).
Discuss how you want to proceed if the service user becomes upset,
angry or distressed.
Arrange the seating so that everyone can see each other fully.
At the beginning of the Interview or Meeting you should
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Try to check that the service user feels able to talk openly to the
interpreter - this is difficult to do, but ask the interpreter whether there is
any reason why the service user might be reluctant; and ask the
interpreter to reassure the service user about complete confidence.
Remember that the interpreter and service user(s) may need time to
get to know each other. In some cultures, it would be seen as
discourteous to go straight into the content of the discussion. Allow
some time for this.
During the Interview or Meeting you must
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Remember that you are still responsible for the service user(s). Greet
them, face them when you speak, make appropriate eye contact, use
normal gestures and expressions - try not to draw back (physically or
emotionally) because you are communicating through an interpreter.
Keep your English simple and jargon-free. Break up what you have to
say into manageable chunks. Use all your normal communicating skills
- listening, observing, responding, explaining, and checking.
Recognise that interpreting is tiring for all present, but especially for the
interpreter - build in short breaks.
Do not expect the interpreter to do your job for you - it is your
responsibility to ensure that the service user understands, has no
unanswered questions, knows what will happen next, or what he or she
must do next.
Ask the interpreter for a summary of any direct conversations he or she
has with the service user.
Although your first responsibility is to the service user, try to support
the interpreter, be patient if interpretation sometimes takes a while, and
respect the interpreter’s expertise and judgement.
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After the Interview or Meeting you should
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Go over it with the interpreter and the service users and check whether
there was anything which could not be explained or understood,
whether there were non-verbal messages you might have
misunderstood, whether there were cultural or religious references you
might have missed, and whether there were ways you could have
made the interpreter’s task easier (for next time!).
 If the session has been at all distressing for the service user(s), you
may need to spend time helping the interpreter to come to terms with it.
 Ensure that you record that an interpreter was used, with name and
contact details, and any comments you may have, completing any
feedback questionnaire provided by the interpreter.
Translation: When to translate documents or communications
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Even in parts of the country with large minority ethnic populations, the take
up of information produced in other languages has reportedly not been
large. It is usually therefore most effective to offer translation for printed
documents on demand or in response to known needs or when targeting a
specific community.
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All essential letters, reports and minutes of meetings should be translated
for service users, and they should be given sufficient time to read them
before an interview, meeting or case conference. If the service user cannot
read well, then documents should be read onto tape or read to the service
user by the interpreter at the start of the meeting. For British Sign
Language users, provision should be made for a sign language interpreter
to go through the documents in advance of a meeting.
Using Translators (for other languages including British Sign Language)
You must us the County Council’s Approved List of Interpreters and
Translators. Contact details, including office hours, emergency number and
prices are found on the Equality & Diversity Web Pages. The provider will give
details of acceptable formats for translated documents and response times.
Explain the purpose of the translation - is it a formal or an informal letter? a
leaflet? an advertisement? who is going to read it? what level of prior
knowledge will they have? what level of literacy can you assume?
Ensure timescales are understood and wherever possible give as much notice
as possible ahead of deadlines.
Some deaf people may have poor literacy in English since English may not be
their first language. It is therefore essential to use Plain English and you
should consider supplementing the written text with pictures and signs.
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If your information is written in Plain English, it will be much easier to
translate. The basic rules are:
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use active rather than passive tenses
keep sentences short
use short words in everyday use
keep paragraphs short
For comprehensive guidance and information on improving communications,
please see the section on Accessible Communications on the Equality and
Diversity web pages.
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