The interpreter’s footing in Spanish-Italian medical interviews

Abstract

This paper investigates how interpreters’ footing can change in the course of intercultural interactions in health-care settings. We have used a corpus (sample) collected in Barcelona, in a well-known clinic providing fertility treatments, over a period of four months, from April to July 2009. The theoretical framework is based on Goffman (1981: 325-326), Wadensjö (1998: 91-92) and Merlini y Favaron (2007: 116-117). Based on the analysis of real examples taken from the spoken interactions, the paper shows how the Spanish-Italian interpreters working at IVI Barcelona does not only translate what the primary interactants say, but, but they are active translators (Leanza, 2007), assuming different roles ranging from principal to responder to direct and indirect recapitulator, according to the communicative situation and to the interactants’ demands.