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BILINGUALISM AND INTERPRETING

Engliana, S.S., M.Hum.Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, Universitas Indraprastae-mail: engliana@gmail.com

Abstract

‘Interpreting’ atau pengalihbahasaan dan ‘bilingualism’ atau penguasaan dua bahasa (kedwibahasaan) sering dianggap dua praktik yang sama meskipun tidak demikian. Pemahaman kedua istilah ini patut dimiliki agar tidak terjadi kesalahpahaman. Tujuan tulisan ini adalah memberi wawasan atau pemahaman akan perbedaan antara praktik pengalihbahasaan dan penguasaan dua bahasa. Metode kualitatif digunakan dalam tulisan ini untuk mengumpulkan data. Sejumlah bidang dalam prinsip, teknik, dan proses pengalihbahasaan diulas bersama dengan hubungannya dengan kedwibahasaan. Teori penerjemahan juga dibahas dalam hubungannya dengan prinsip dan praktik pengalihbahasaan. Pada akhirnya, pertimbangan untuk memperkuat kemampuan bahasa amat diperlukan untuk menjadi seorang pengalihbahasa profesional, karena menguasai dua bahasa saja tidak cukup.

Keywords/phrases: bilingual, bilingualism, interpreter, interpreting, language competence

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Introduction

Bilingualism or multibilingualism are often still seen and assumed as an

interpreting service in Jakarta. There is an understanding that being bilingual is the

leading road to become an interpreter. It is true, since the interpreter has to transfer

one language to another and for that reason he or she has to be a bilingual being

capable enough to communicate the intended meaning at the very moment. The

interpreter has to be a bilingual individual. However, being bilingual does not

necessarily turn someone into an interpreter. Both are alike yet each of it has

significant principles and process which involves various techniques. Being able to

decode a message in an utterance is one step to interpreting, however finding

equivalent language items of the target language and presenting it in the

corresponding audience’s language are the others someone might want to consider.

Interpreting requires a number of skills which have not acquired yet by the bilinguals.

Thus having a close look on interpreting and bilingualism is the first step in

understanding the differences.

DISCUSSION

Definitions: Interpreting and Bilingualism

A. Defining Interpreting

In a process of communication, both speakers and hearers should be able to

intend as well as infer the meaning conveyed in the speech and it should be relevant.

As Schleiermacher (1992) defines that “… interpreting is usually understood to mean

oral transferral …” (p.37). If there were two different languages involved in this

process, an interpreter should stand at the centre of this dynamic process to bridge the

communication gap.

Moreover, in the context of direct communication, the mediating matter is the

spoken language which performs by interpreters who can be seen while they are

mediating in a direct way; whereas translators work in an indirect way through written

language as their medium of communication. Then interpreting may also be defined

(Mahmoodzadeh, 1992, p.231) as the action of “presenting in the target language, the

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exact meaning of what is uttered in the source language either simultaneously or

consecutively, preserving the tone of the speaker.” In interpreting, some translation

principles are possible to be applied to interpreting process according to the

importance of the subject matters, i.e. court, community or medical interpreting. The

exact meaning means that the interpreters should be able to find the closest meaning

of the source language (SL) to the target language (TL) and to make it not only the

most possible equivalent but also the closest reproduction of utterance. Interpreting

process (Mahmoodzadeh, 1992, p.232) can be divided into five following stages:

1. receiving the message uttered in the source language

2. comparing the message with the interpreter’s source language

competence

3. decoding the message

4. finding equivalents in the interpreter’s target language competence

5. presenting the subject in the target language

An interpreter at the beginning must be able to take and understand the

message of the SL; otherwise, if the received message does not be able to

comprehend, then it is very possible to have wrong interpretation of message. The

wrong interpretation is definitely can cause a catastrophic situation, for instance the

interpreters who perform in court and hospital must not misunderstand the conveyed

utterance of clients. Therefore, it is a must that the interpreters have to have

comprehensive knowledge of both source and target language as well as in their

cultures. Being familiar with the topic is also would be one of the best selling points

for interpreters since they know the specific or particular terminologies of the subject.

This point also will help them to be sharp and quick in going through the process

because they are operating in a very little amount of time to produce the utterance of

TL.

The parallel between the interpreter and language competence means that

(Gentile et.al., 1996, p. 42) that “it takes a high level of language skills as well as

interpreting skills to achieve such communication … The interpreter’s objective is to

effect as accurately as possible the communication between the parties.” This means

the interpreter should be equally competent in both the source and the target language.

The skills are including the mastery in grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic and

strategic competences.

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Other than those skills, it should be considered that transfer competence is a

must for an interpreter. Transfer competence means the ability to transmit the

message, which includes the meaning of a speech, remark or utterance from the

speaker to the receiver or hearer, appropriately and correctly.

In decoding the message, interpreters must possess comprehensive vocabulary,

general knowledge of the subject and a great memory. The interpreter functions to

smooth the bridge of cultural differences between the two parties. For instance, the

interpreter should be able to recognise or at least has enough general knowledge of

conventions, practices, taboos, histories, and customs of the speaker’s so as to avoid

confusion, misinterpretation and misunderstanding in the message.

Note taking skill will help the interpreters to memorise the speech, especially

with the long ones. Meanwhile, comprehensive vocabulary and general knowledge of

the subject may be obtained through self-learning from reading as well as discussion

of the particular subject with their clients in case the topic is relatively new to the

interpreters. Hence, these points are very resourceful to the interpreters to find the

exact meaning or language equivalent of the TL.

When presenting the subject in the target language, the interpreters should

remember to preserve the tone of the SL speaker. The tone here includes language

expressions of the SL, for instance, if the SL speaker utters an interrogative or

exclamation sentence, then the interpreters should be able to retain the similar tone in

the TL. However, it depends on where the speaker addressing the stress then the

meaning or intonation in TL may occur different or change to another language

expression.

There are two modes of interpreting which are still being used by interpreters

to render the message to the receiver (Newmark, 1991, p.36): “simultaneous

interpreting (from booth) and consecutive interpreting (from notes of each

conversation)” which are differentiate by situation and method of interpreting. In

order to be capable of those two modes, an interpreter is recommended to have a

certificate and well-equipped with language knowledge as well as strategic

competence.

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B. Defining Bilingualism

Bilingualism is defined by Bloomfield (as cited in Wigglesworth & Chin,

2007, p.5) as “native-like control of two languages”, meanwhile Mackey thinks that

bilingualism is “the ability to use more than one language.” It is clearly defined that

bilingualism is involving at least two languages which also concerning about the

usage of one or both language in all domains of activity of different tasks such as

reading newspaper and books, making presentation, ordering food, etc.

Degrees of Bilingualism. There are several degrees of bilingualism (Wigglesworth &

Chin, 2007, p.5-8), which refers to “the level of linguistic proficiency a bilingual must

achieve in both languages to be considered a bilingual.” These degrees may be used to

rate the accountability a bilingual person to be capable in performing interpreter’s

work.

1. Balanced bilinguals

Lambert et. al. (as cited in Wigglesworth & Chin, 2007, p.6) describe this term as

“individuals who are fully competent in both languages” in all settings.

2. Dominant bilinguals

These refer to “bilinguals who are dominant in one language.” (p.7)

3. Passive or recessive bilinguals

This term refers to “bilinguals who are gradually losing competence in one language,

usually because of disuse.” (p.7)

4. Semilinguals or limited bilinguals

This term refers to people “who lack proficiency in both their languages.” (p.8). These

people deficit in sex language competence: size of vocabulary, correctness of

language, unconscious processing of language, language creation, mastery of the

function of language (emotive, cognitive), meanings and imagery.

Some bilinguals in the writer’s community are mostly consisting of dominant

and passive bilinguals. It is very rare to find such person who is competent in two or

more languages in all settings due to several reasons such as domiciles, schooling,

experiences, etc. In the case of dominant bilinguals, for instance an English language

teacher who is actively teaching and speaking in English language almost every day

thus we can say that he is dominant in English, only speak English when performing

the teaching in the classroom and this dominance may not applicable to all areas or

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settings. He may speak English most of the time when performing the teaching.

Special jargon such as medicine, sports, legal or business, are required, then he will

choose to speak in English he normally uses in the classroom and day-to-day jargon

because he is familiar with them rather than uttering the special and unfamiliar jargon

in the specific subject. Meanwhile, the passive bilingual usually does not performing

his language regularly and only use it in reading and writing which do not require

active involvement in conversational situations. Therefore, the skills are gradually

decreasing due to lack of involvement and utilizing the language on a subject.

Bilingual Acquisition. Some researchers have come across to find out how

bilingualism is achieved and how it affects the language acquired. Two situations are

differentiated in the following paragraph (Wigglesworth & Chin, 2007, p.10):

1. Primary context or naturalistic setting is “where a child acquires both

languages in a naturalistic setting without any structure instruction”.

2. Secondary context or formal setting is “the situation when a child acquires

one of the languages in a structured setting, usually school.”

Whereas the child who is trained in school, usually classroom teaching

acquires his language skill through several training process, we can say that the child

who is raised to become a bilingual in naturalistic setting learn his language skills

through environment and surrounding such as family. The researchers believe that

these differences in language acquirement influence their ability in language

knowledge.

Having knowledge of a language is also means to know the language and

capable in using it for the purpose of communication. In order to be able to speak and

use a language in different kind of situations or settings someone needs to understand

aspects of language skills. The required language skills for someone to be measured

are including listening, reading, writing and speaking. These four skills will be used to

measured language skills whether the person is qualified in one or the other.

According to Bachman and Palmer (as cited in Wigglesworth & Chin, 2007,

p.26), for someone who wants to have communicative language ability, he has to

consider: language knowledge that “includes the knowledge which is required to use

language appropriately in particular contexts” and strategic competence or

organizational knowledge that “refers to the formal properties of language acquires

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for understanding and producing language, as well as organising language into longer

stretches. It consists of grammatical knowledge and textual knowledge.”

When language knowledge asks someone to be capable in using the language

in particular condition, it means that this person understands to operate the language

appropriately in either it is a formal or informal situation. For instance, greetings in

Indonesian and English differ to each other. An English phrase ‘How do you do?’ is

not suggested to transfer it into ‘Apa kabar?’ because this phrase ‘Apa kabar?’ is

equivalent to another English phrase ‘How are you?’. In this case, an interpreter is

hoped to tackle this language issue immediately and correctly because he only has

very little time and it is impossible to look for references.

Interpreter and Bilingual People

It is believed until these days that the interpreting is still can be performed by

bilingual person even though such person has not been trained yet as a skilled

interpreter who must have gone through examination on language competence.

Gentile et.al. (1996) state that until now “interpreting has been carried out by people

with some bilingual skills who have been willing; or who have social obligations, to

help those unable to speak the dominant language” (p. 13). This person may have

been chosen due to his or her fluency with both languages as well as cultures.

However, being bilingual and knowing the related culture(s) do not make

someone instantly becomes an interpreter; it might in a certain level of ‘informal

situation’ or casual circumstances such as when introducing and greeting people,

helping travelling foreigners in Indonesia to bargain at flea market, etc. These

conditions in some way can help the individual to understand the remarks or message

of the speaker. The core problem of interpreting here is not just being capable in two

different languages, but also the ability to transmit the message which involves both

linguistic and language problems such as linguistic equivalence for example.

Bilingual persons use more than one language to interact with people in their

community. The usage of each different language is affected by the typical

interactions they have everyday or any other particular days. Therefore, particular

language may be used with particular interlocutors in particular settings. For

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example: Indonesia has many tribal languages, among them is Javanese language. In

several communities, other than using Indonesian as their national language, the

Javanese people, who are still capable in using the language actively, also use this

tribal language with Javanese speaking community in typical settings.

Bilingual person or interpreter is assumed as someone who is having personal

experience in living of particular language community. He may knows better custom,

habit, expression of the said community and using the right language to say the

speech or utterance of a person who uses his or her service for interpreting. As a

reason of those qualities, bilingual or multilingual person may be the right one to

bridge the cultural gap. These people are often being employed to become an

interpreter of another mastery language because on the premises that their language

skills should form part of cross-language communication. The perspective here is that

we need not to examine and doubt the position since their knowledge of those

languages has given them a direct access to construct the meaning of a message.

Bilingual interpreters probably share their cultural and historical experience with the

community where they are working with. However, the issue on language use may

arise within the practice.

The idea that bilingual interpreters can be chosen without affecting the result

as long as they speak the relevant language has also affected the interpreters as a

whole. As it has been confronted (Gentile et. al., 1996, p.13) that “seeing any

interpreter performing that role as ‘helping’ the immigrant or indigenous people” has

completely deconstruct the identity of this profession. Many people have

misunderstood the concept of interpreting with bilingualism thus; the purpose of

interpreting is often misunderstood by people.

Gentile et.al.(1996) differentiate the roles and functions of bilinguals opposing

to the real meaning and role of interpreting:

Bilingual aides are the people who “have a capacity in two or more

languages and use another language in the direct conduct of their

primary role (for example, an airline booking clerk, a social welfare

etc.) They can conduct interviews with clients in another language,

keep records in the dominant language, etc. Those roles do not involve

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transfer of message from the speaker of another language, but rather

monolingual work in another language. (p.14)

From the description, it is very clear that an employee who works in a

multinational or international company in Jakarta – for instance – and fluently speaks

as well as writes in Indonesian, English and Mandarin for instance has the ability and

capacity to transfer message as a language mediator between two or more different

languages. Even in Indonesia, this multilingualism is still seen and assumed as an

interpreting service.

Secondly, we are quite familiar with the role of bilingual guides (Gentile et.al.,

1996, p.14), who are define as a bilingual with “a specific kind of bilingual aide

commonly met in tourism, business travel, cultural and recreational pursuits. The

expectation than an interpreter will also on many occasions be a bilingual guide is

very strong”. For this reason, an expectation of people on interpreter turns into

something that is risky to his profession and professionalism. The assumption that

interpreter may work on any different occasions has confused the position in many

settings.

Being an interpreter is more than having a multilingual skill but it definitely

requires a legitimate certification, especially for professions such as medical,

conference or court interpreters which have particular terminologies and language

expressions in each of the subject matters. According to Henderson (as cited from

McGroarty, 2003, p.63), an interpreter is assumed as an individual who has “a very

extensive command of his working languages, constituting if not a ‘perfect’ grasp

then at least an extremely surefooted mastery not only of the language itself but all

aspects, social, cultural, political, etc., of the linguistic community concerned.”

Furthermore, being a professional is defined by Newmark (1991) “as a calling

requiring knowledge and long and intensive academic preparation” (p.45).

Consequently, being a professional is a calling and it is not just being good at or

serious about something, in this case is interpreting, but also has to go through some

intensive on-going academic trainings, acknowledgements and achievements.

For instance, the international certified interpreters must have gone several

examinations both oral and written in order to obtain the interpreter license. Other

than those administrative matters, an interpreter must also have language

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competence that includes mastery in linguistic as well as grammatical knowledge of

minimum two languages, which Newmark (1991) defines this as the competence of

having “the sensitivity to language” (p.49). This subject of language sensitivity is

often not considered by some people or institutions.

Semantics is also another important thing not only for translator but also for

interpreter to become aware of, especially when performing a community or business

interpreting in which he is not familiar with. Semantics is dealing with meaning of

language(s); meanwhile interpreting is dealing with transferring meaning of

language(s). Schogt (1992) says in his writing that comparison between lexical or

semantic fields in two different languages “are based on the same assumption of

general validity of each field within its own speech community” (p.196).

This can be explained by an example that one unit of language may belong to

different fields in different languages, for instance, Schogt takes an example the word

potatoes. In Holland, potatoes belong to the same category with noodles and rice

because considering that they have similar scratch component of the meal, whereas in

France and Indonesia, potatoes belong to vegetables category. It means that one

speech community can have different assumptions on one meaning; therefore, the

legitimate of semantic unit in one language should be balanced by the interpreter, who

knows the nature of the SL and TL well enough.

Luis Prieto (as cited in Schogt, 1992, p.198) says that when someone wants to

say or speak about something, then how they want to utter the idea will be affected

by several factors which the foremost factor is how the language is being used. Other

factor in the conveying process is extralinguistic situation, which is interpreted by

Prieto as the situation where it is “not only the physical environment, but also the

personality of the speaker, his assessment of knowledge and personality of his

interlocutor and cultural traditions [italics added]” (p.198). Factors in interpreting

and interpreters undeniably will affect the interpretation and their variety depends on

the context and extralinguistic conditions.

For instance, the Indonesian word ibu will vary in meaning when we use it in

different context and circumstances. In formal greeting with a relatively older or

mature female figure, we may call ibu to the addressed person in order to maintain the

formality as well as respect manner in greeting, i.e. students call their female teacher

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ibu. In this case, in interpreting from Indonesian into English the interpreter can

transfer the word ibu into Mrs. or Ms. On the other hand in family and relatives

circumstances, ibu is used to express the relationship of a child(ren) to his mother as

well as a husband to his wife. Thus, the English word mother or mommy is the most

accurate and appropriate translation instead of having the words such as Mrs and Ms.

The task and type of interpreting are classified based on the social domain

where interpreting takes place, for example, conference interpreting, hospital

interpreting.

Health or Medical Interpreting

In medical setting, interpreting is needed to convey the medical source

language into the patient’s target language in order to avoid mistreatment and

misunderstanding especially in doctor-patient’s consultation which most of the time

needs to explain some sorts of medical jargon. In this circumstances, the interpreter

acts as the third party in the consultation to mediate between the doctor and the

patient. Sometimes when registered or professional interpreter does not available in

the time they need, then hospital or medical bilingual staffs are asked to become a

mediator between the two parties. They are often to be called as ‘language aides’ or

‘language facilitators’.

Most of the time, the language proficiency of the medical staff is found to be

poor and often lacks of language and cultural sensitivity. Therefore, hospitals and any

other medical services need to have their staffs to be fluent and well-trained in

interpreting so as to prepare and ready them to help the patients if they cannot find a

professional or skilled interpreter at the time in need. Moreover, cultural sensitivity is

also needed for court as well as liaison interpreters.

The patient-doctor setting usually consists of answering and making questions,

yet it is more difficult for bilingual medical staff if the conversation requires more

than just some brief answers, especially when involving cultural issues. Therefore

bilingual staffs in the hospital need to be fully trained as a professional interpreter, for

example, giving a course about interpreting in medical setting. Gentile et.al. (1996)

suggest that “the interpreter will need to develop a technique to convey exact and full

nature of the patient’s response [italics added] …” (p.80) because doctors often more

interested in the patients’ reactions.

The problem of equivalence often occurs in transferring the message form SL

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into TL, either in translation which deals with text or in interpreting. Hatim and

Mason (1997) convey this problem by taking example from negotiation setting:

At crucial point in diplomatic negotiations, interpreters may need to

translate exactly what is said rather than assume responsibility for

reinterpreting the sense and formulating it in such a way as to achieve

what they judge to be equivalence of effect (p.7)

Hatim and Mason mentions that in crucial point of a particular setting, in this

case in diplomatic negotiations, interpreters should position themselves as

professional by translating everything that the parties uttered to them. If the patient

expresses his or her opinions, the interpreter should be able to transfer the equivalent

message into the TL even though the interpreter may agree or disagree with the

opinions. This means that in this occasion, the interpreter could not influence and

should not let himself to be affected as well as does not have any authority to affect

the message such as editing, omitting, adding or summarising the message.

The interpreters should be aware of culturally significant issues that affect

patient, and translate in a way that conveys the cultural framework. The interpreters or

trained bilingual staff member doing the interpreting should try to explain things to

the patient and the doctor in a way that communicates the cultural context of the

conversation and they should be understandable so as to achieve communication

success in a consultation. For example, an Asian female patient due to the cultural

situation generally does not feel comfortable being examined by male doctor. She

possibly feels embarrassed or shy to describe illness or symptoms. Thus, interpreters

should translate the concern in such a way that the doctor completely understands

why this Asian female patient does not talk a lot in consultation.

Liaison Interpreting

Liaison or community interpreting is one of the most popular types in many

countries because it is widely use in situation such as immigration interview. There

are special requirements for community or liaison interpreting. As it has been

remarked by someone that community or “liaison interpreting is the name given to the

genre of interpreting where the interpreting is performed in two language directions

by the same person” (Gentile et al., 1996, p.17). This type of interpreting is used

where two parties do not speak the same language and where the interpreter must be

there in order to bridge the communication gap as a mediator, for example, social

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worker’s home visits.

In understanding the distinctive role between bilingual person and interpreter

Gentile et.al. (1996) state that “Because bilingual helpers are almost always from the

minority group, and virtually everyone associated with that group is an advocate of

that group in official eyes, they are seen as advocates rather than as interpreters”

(p.15). It is clear that nowadays, there are many bilingual people speaking more than

two languages equip their interpreting skills through formal and comprehensive

education, still the difference between roles of bilingual helper and professional

interpreter.

Effective communication is essential to effective law enforcement in a

community and language barriers will prevent community to communicate effectively

in order to success in relation of each of the members. Thus by providing language

assistant, especially it is equipped with professional competence, companies,

communities or organisations will be able to tackle unreported and unresolved issues.

Therefore it is seriously important for bilingual person to seek for continuing or

formal education. Even without formal interpretation training, bilingual staff members

can learn to do many of the things mentioned in this paper. To improve their

interpretation skills, however, they should participate in educational programs.

Bilingual workers in medical settings or bilingual citizens in community can be

effective interpreters only if they are trained to fill the role because they can be taught

to provide interpreting services when professional interpreters are not available.

Finally, an interpreter is a profession which can be achieved and worked on

because it involves skills, hard work, comprehensive general and linguistic

knowledge, experience as well as excellence in personality traits. Thus being a

bilingual is something that cannot be called a profession because it does not have any

business interests, needs no comprehensive linguistic training and certification; it can

be experienced and learnt yet have not received any training in interpreting.

Conclusion

In other words, being bilingual is not a guarantee a person can be qualified to

become an interpreter. Using English speaking family members and friends as

interpreters should be carried out at a cautious approach although we may hear from

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several testimonies of some people who were using these bilingual/multilingual

persons found these persons had worked in a satisfactory level. Without unawareness

and full reconsideration that some of these bilingual people are possible to cause their

college, relatives, and friends are suffered the disadvantages from a terrible

interpreting. The quality of interpretation may be bad and they may not have

sufficiently good linguistic competence, make some errors and problems such as

omissions, substitutions, additions, etc. which possibly will cause severe damage in

semantic fields of SL and TL. This damage sometimes can be permanent, particularly

when performing medical, business, international conference, court room interpreting

and so on. Other issue like confidentiality is also need to take account when choosing

an interpreter.

A professional and certified interpreter should have genuine characteristics of

someone who is professional in his performance. These includes several years of

experience, thorough knowledge of language competence and extra linguistic

knowledge, comprehensive vocabulary and general knowledge, note-taking skills and

a recognised training certification which differentiate the quality and performance to

the bilingual one. It is suggested that a bilingual person takes an interpreting training

to qualify him to be a bilingual/multilingual interpreter. We need far greater skill to

become an interpreter and being a bilingual is not just enough for someone to be

qualified and capable in transferring language in particular context.

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REFERENCES

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Hatim, B., & Mason, I. (1997). Discourse and the translator. London: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

Newmark, Peter. (1991). About Translation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Mahmoodzadeh, Kambiz. (1992). Consecutive Interpreting: Its Principles and Techniques. In Loddegaard, Anne & Dollerup, Cay (Eds.), Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent and Experience. Papers from the First Language International Conference, Elsinore, Denmark, 31 May to 2 June 1991 (pp.231-232). Philadelphia: John Benjamins B.V.

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