Chapter published in:
Teaching Dialogue Interpreting: Research-based proposals for higher education
Edited by Letizia Cirillo and Natacha Niemants
[Benjamins Translation Library 138] 2017
► pp. 275–292

Chapter 14
Make it different! Teaching interpreting with theatre techniques

Dialogue Interpreting (DI) involves the human being as a whole, with both her/his body and mind as well as social and communicative needs. It is a combination of intellect and feeling, which requires the rational mind to operate in an emotional setting. This concept is illustrated in detail in the present paper using methods taken from theatre pedagogy and applied to interpreter education. The method of performing scenes focuses on the way language, action and awareness influence each other. The goal of this didactic approach is to identify habitual behaviours, analyse and deconstruct societal structures of power, and promote independent interpreting work – trying out new possibilities helps adjust and alter discourses and demonstrates that for every decision there is an alternative.
Keywords: emancipatory pedagogy, theatre pedagogy, theatre techniques, role-play, German/English
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Dialogue interpreting – which teaching methods?
  • 3.The role-play as a didactic tool
    • 3.1The rules of the game
    • 3.2Structuring content in a role-play
  • 4.Augusto Boal’s theatre pedagogy
    • 4.1Less is more
    • 4.2The evaluation
    • 4.3Make it different! Not solutions but alternative forms of action
  • 5.Conclusion
Published online: 19 October 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.138.14kad
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Bendazzoli, Claudio & Jessica Pérez-Luzardo
2022. Theatrical training in interpreter education: a study of trainees’ perception. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 16:1 ► pp. 1 ff. Crossref logo

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