Abstract
This essay, which summarizes a recent private talk this author had with Professor Kumiko Torikai of Rikkyo University, Japan, attempts to address some issues of interpreting in Australia and Japan. (1) We discussed the problem of the shortage of police and court interpreters for languages other than English in Japan. (2) We considered the possibility that the theory of interpreting developed in Australia, which gives an absolute priority to impartiality of interpreters and faithfulness of interpretation, may be adopted in Japan in certain areas such as legal interpreting. (3) We found out that both Japanese and Australian interpreters feel that their work is not recognized by society as highly as they wish. (4) We shared a concern that voluntary interpreting, which is practised extensively in Japan, has an adverse effect on the effort to enhance the status of interpreters. (5) In relation to achieving a status for interpreters comparable to other professionals, we agreed that interpreting should be taught for a university degree with further study at postgraduate level in specialized areas like conference, legal and medical interpreting, including research in interpreting. We realized that Japan and Australia, with strengths and weaknesses in different areas of interpreting, can learn a lot from each other.
