Translating/ed selves and voices

Abstract

This article addresses issues of multilingualism in domestic violence support services, building on Tipton (2017a) and findings from a small qualitative study involving an organization in the North West of England. The aim is to shed light on how organizations construct multilingual spaces, the role played by language service provisions in the mediation of such spaces, and how interpreters handle the specificities of working with victims given the lack of available specialist training. The concept of communicative repertoire (following Blommaert and Backus 2011) is introduced to support analysis of supported and autonomous forms of communication in relation to the semiotic practices of survival in their broadest sense, casting new light on the organization’s handling of multilingual service delivery and the role of interpreter mediation.