Community Interpreting Research without Direct Empirical Access: A Methodological Proposal

Abstract

This contribution offers a methodological proposal for empirical research on Community Interpreting without direct access to the object of study, i.e. the interpreter-mediated encounters. The design of the proposal draws on the experience gained by the conduction of a diachronic non-professional Community Interpreting research project on the communicative situation of the migrant workers from Galicia (Spain) in Hanover (Germany) in the 1960s and 1970s and their need for Community Interpreting. The model aims, however, to be applicable for studies on Interpreting with no direct empirical access to the object itself of any kind. The proposed model is divided into four main methodological stages, 1) background research, 2) corpus creation, 3) corpus analysis and 4) presentation of the results. Each of the stages is divided different methodological steps. In addition to the thorough description of the methodological stages and steps of the model, the paper also offers information on the software and the theoretical frameworks specifically used in the referred research project.