The interpreter on the (talk) show

Francesco Straniero Sergio, Professor at the University of Trieste (Italy), analyses dialogue interpreting in TV talk shows.

After examining some basic issues related to broadcast talk, such as the two planes of television speech contexts, the presenter’s function and the communication goal, he explores a specific case study, and tries to see how the interpreter’s role and identity are constructed by participants.

Taking inspiration from Goffman’s (1981) notion of footing and from Brown and Levinson’s (1987) positive and negative faces, Straniero shows that face work, topic management, repairing, interrupting, disagreeing etc. all reflect the interactional identity of interpreters, who are everything but invisible participants in the interaction.

Alluding to the title of an article by Fink (1982), Straniero says that the “being-ignored-can-be-bliss” principle no longer works in media settings, where the visibility of interpreters may on the contrary be crucial to achieve the goals of communication.

Straniero Sergio, F. (1999). “The interpreter on the (talk) show. Interaction and participation frameworks”. The Translator 5: 2, 303-326

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