“A beautiful woman sitting in the dark”
Three narratives of interpreter training at the University of Nairobi
This ethnographic study of the Master’s in Conference Interpreting at the University of Nairobi aims to link
interpreter training to the linguistic make-up of Kenyan society and the constraints of public higher education in Africa. It is
the first comprehensive study of interpreter training in Kenya, and shows the limits of replicating pedagogical approaches that
have been tried and tested in Europe in a different environment. Based on the findings, I recommend a widening of the scope of
training to include conference, court and community interpreting. It is argued that this would improve the sustainability and
relevance of interpreter training in Africa.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Case description
- 3.Analytical framework
- 3.1Pedagogical assumptions
- 3.2Institutional environment
- 3.3Linguistic environment and interpreting market
- 4.Method
- 4.1Ethnographic approach
- 4.2Research participants
- 4.3Data collection and analysis
- 5.Results
- 5.1Managers
- 5.2Trainers
- 5.3Students
- 6.Discussion
- 7.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
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Marais, Kobus & Carmen Delgado Luchner
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