ABSTRACT

The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a training programme targeted at United Nations (UN) staff interpreters who go on field missions. The UN deploys staff interpreters to ensure effective multilingual communication in field missions. Whilst being professional interpreters, however, these interpreters do not have any formal training in interpreting in the field, where they sometimes face situations for which they may not be properly equipped. Against this background, a joint training programme was organised by the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, University of Geneva, and the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) in January 2019. After the course, a mixed-methods study was carried out to evaluate its effectiveness. In this paper, the following aspects will be discussed: the particularities of UN field missions; the functioning and the contents of the programme; and the results of the study. Our findings show that, at the end of the programme, the participants felt better equipped to face the challenges of interpreting in the field. We conclude that training programme design must take into account the specific needs of the participants and the contexts in which they work.

摘要

本研究旨在调查针对执行外地任务的联合国 (UN) 工作人员口译员的培训计划的有效性。联合国部署了工作人员口译员，以确保在外地特派团进行有效的多语言交流。然而，虽然他们是专业口译员，但这些口译员没有接受过任何正式的现场口译培训，他们有时会面临他们可能没有适当装备的情况。在此背景下，日内瓦大学笔译学院与联合国日内瓦办事处（UNOG）于 2019 年 1 月举办了联合培训计划。 课程结束后，进行了混合方法研究以评估其有效性。本文将讨论以下几个方面：联合国外地特派团的特殊性；计划的运作和内容；以及研究结果。我们的研究结果表明，在课程结束时，参与者感觉自己更有能力应对现场口译的挑战。我们得出的结论是，培训计划的设计必须考虑到参与者的具体需求和他们工作的环境。