Bridging worlds: Unveiling challenges in community interpreting in Israel

Abstract

This study examines the challenges involved in community interpreting in multicultural social services in Israel. Based on 20 semi-structured interviews with interpreters and social workers working with Ethiopian and French immigrants, the findings reveal three types of challenges: translation of sensitive content, ethical issues, and interpreter employment policy. Consequently, the study suggests employing the concept of ‘experiential knowledge’ to understand the complexity of the triadic relationship among social workers, interpreters, and service users. In this way, it illustrates the power relations at the intersection of different types of knowledge in professional interventions and makes recommendations for linguistic-sensitive social work.