A functional-contextual appraisal of professional interpreting: entextualisation in multi-phased institutional procedures

Description: This project examines interpreting practices in marriage fraud investigations conducted by Belgian authorities, in which a complex chain of interviews and reports results in the decision whether a transnational couple's marriage application is genuine or fake. Both professional and non-professional interpreters are relied on to interpret the statements and answers given by the applicants not proficient enough in Dutch or French during an interview with a municipal officer and later on with a police officer. During the interpreter-mediated interaction, a written statement and interview report is noted down by the interviewer. The project focuses on the role of the interpreter in the entextualised codification of spoken evidence. The project's final, applied objective is to increase awareness of the significant role and complexities involved in interpreter selection and entextualisation in marriage fraud investigations by Belgian authorities.
Promoter(s): Mieke Vandenbroucke , Bart Defrancq
Researcher(s): Sari Goukens
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Period of time: 2023 - 2026