Welcome to the Blog
Interpreting: often misunderstood, occasionally glamorised, and almost never as simple as it looks. This blog dives headfirst into the beautifully tangled world of real-time language work—where meaning is rebuilt on the fly, rules are bent for good reason, and calm exteriors hide frantic brilliance.
Whether you’re a seasoned interpreter or just interpreter-curious, these posts explore what really goes on beneath the polished delivery. Spoiler: it’s less about words, more about judgement, timing, and the occasional leap of linguistic faith.
l a t e s t
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Between Languages: What Interpreting Really Involves
The Role of Culture and Context In the first reflection, we politely but firmly escorted out the idea that languages map neatly onto one another like identical semis on a suburban estate. They don’t. There is no tidy “this equals that” in interpreting. Once that comforting illusion is dismantled, something rather more interesting appears. Interpreting… Read more
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Between Languages: What Interpreting Really Involves
Between Language, Not Across Them explores the nuanced experience of engaging with more than one linguistic world simultaneously — not merely moving across languages as separate systems, but existing between them in a lived, hybrid space. The post argues that language is not a neutral container for ideas but shapes thought, identity, and creative expression… Read more
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Barriers Are Not Accidental
A Deaf-Led View from the Interpreting Front Lines Let’s get one thing straight: as a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, I operate in that magical sweet spot where Deaf and hearing worlds are meant to shake hands politely and get on with the business of mutual understanding. That’s the theory, anyway. In practice, it’s more… Read more
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When There Is No Neutral Option: Ethics as a Living Practice
The Bit That Caught Me Off Guard It was a remote job like any other on paper—a prep meeting for Deaf travel agents at a global holiday company. They were preparing for their new roles, discussing how to communicate with customers, how to represent the brand. I was working remotely. I was booked last minute.… Read more
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The Loud Work of Being Quiet
The author, after 35 years in BSL/English interpreting, launches a blog to reflect on the complexities of the profession. Through six core themes—Process, Language, Knowledge, Ethics, CPD, and Dilemmas—this space aims to explore the hidden work of interpreting, invite conversation, and capture ongoing insights from experience. Read more
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The Evolution of ‘On-Demand’ BSL Interpreting
British Sign Language interpreter Anthony Mitchell reflects on the evolution of remote interpreting, the global growth of Convo from SignLive, and why access-on-demand matters for Deaf communities worldwide. Read more
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