ABSTRACT
Community interpreting is founded on a simple concept: giving a voice to those who seek access to basic services but do not speak the societal language. As a profession, community interpreting weds issues of language and culture to concepts of
social justice and equity. Most of those who support the profession share the conviction that it has a mandate to facilitate access to community services for individuals who do not speak, read, write or understand the language of service well enough to have meaningful access to that service without interpreters (Zimányi, 2009:19-20). Underlying this assumption is the core understanding that although we may all have a human
right to community services, adequate access to those services is fundamentally impractical or impossible without professional interpreters: that is, trained, qualified interpreters – and not family, friends, a cafeteria worker or someone in the waiting room who happens to speak the language.
