The retour question for Maltese interpreters

Abstract

Malta is a bilingual country, having both Maltese and English enshrined in its constitution as its two official languages. While this may make the provision of retour interpreting services seem redundant, this is not actually the case. Being a minority language, Maltese is understood by few people outside Maltese shores, which means that, particularly in the international arena, interpreting services from Maltese to English are highly sought after. This study will look further into the retour question, first and foremost by investigating the issue from two contrasting points of view: that in favour of interpreting into a foreign language out of a mother tongue, and that against. This argument will lead into a discussion of the reasons why an increasing number of interpreting training institutions are choosing to include retour interpreting training in their training courses and pinpoint the stumbling blocks which student interpreters working with different languages are encountering along the way. While quite a few studies have been carried out internationally with the primary focus of studying the retour interpreting technique and its implications, no studies discussing the use of retour by Maltese interpreters have been carried out as yet. For this reason, a questionnaire was disseminated among Maltese interpreting students and interpreters working with a retour in order to get a better understanding of the challenges faced by Maltese interpreters and whether these differ at all from those faced by interpreters working with other language combinations. The main aim of this study is to shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of Maltese retour interpreters and put forward suggestions on how this unique interpreting tool can be sharpened to ensure that the quality of each interpreting performance into English is just as high as interpreting performances delivered in their mother tongue. No interpreting performance can ever be perfect, as there will always be some room for improvement. However, interpreters constantly strive to get as close to perfection as they possibly can. Recognising where they are going wrong and learning about how they can improve is the first step.