2012, Vol.2, No.

T&I REVIEW 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.52

pISSN : 2233-9221 / eISSN : 2713-8720
https://journal.kci.go.kr/erits

It is widely accepted that ‘quality of interpreting is closely linked to the conditions under which interpreters are expected to work’ (Hale 2011). This article examines and compares working conditions provided by domestic and international courts to enable interpreters’ professional operations. Interpreting requirements include courtroom design that enables satisfactory acoustics and visibility, the provision of a dedicated preparation and work place, as well as conditions that include fatigue prevention and other aspects necessary for competent performance. The article shows that satisfactory terms of employment and working conditions in international courts (ICTY, ICC etc.) are in stark contrast to those in domestic courts (mainly in the common law English-speaking countries, and some civil law countries), and that very few domestic courts provide adequate working conditions for interpreters.

The role of translation and interpreting in public diplomacy has received little attention in the Interpreting and Translation Studies communities. In a discussion of research methodologies in public diplomacy and Interpreting Studies (IS), this article explores the relationships between these two fields and generates starting points for inquiries into the use of interpreting and translation in real world public diplomacy settings. Methodological overlap is considered to gauge the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration, and IS research questions are developed to address strategies and the effectiveness of interlingual mediation practices in public diplomacy in the United States.

After its theoretical analysis of the newly developed ecological approach to translation studies, this paper investigates the conditions, layers, goals, modalities and results (values) of interdisciplinary transplantation1 from ecology as the donor theory to translatology as the receptor in light of more general rules for interdisciplinary transplantation, with a view to discovering possible ways in which the ecological approach can further facilitate the advancement of translation studies. And then, by a brief analysis of the gains and losses of memetic studies in terms of interdisciplinarity, it goes on to discuss the theoretical isomorphism between natural science and social science. The importance of this discussion lies not just in its promise of further development of the ecological approach to translation studies but in its elicitation of the central issue of this paper: the relationship between interdisciplinary approaches and disciplinary integration of translatology