Research project Att leda yrkessamtal i samarbete med tolk
Leading a professional encounter with the support of an interpreter is a highly specializedskill, yet training in this competence within professional degree programmes is almost non-existent. This project examines how students in a social work programme practise conducting professional encounters together with students from interpreter training programmes.
Illustration: Getty Image
Every day, thousands of interpreter-mediated professional encounters take place in society, as public-sector employees meet clients, patients, guardians and others with whom they communicate through an interpreter. Leading a professional encounter via a third party is a specialized competence that requires awareness of linguistic and communicative aspects. At the same time, instruction in this skill is largely absent from professional education.
The project investigates an interdisciplinary pedagogical initiative in which students from different interpreter training programmes, together with social work students, practise conducting interpret-mediated professional encounters. The training is based on role-play, with each student group participating in the role corresponding to their future profession, that is, as interpreters and social workers. The study focuses on the students’ exchange of experiences—how it takes place and what they learn from, about and with one another.
The project has undergone ethical review and has been approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reference number 2025-04792-01-844743, decision date 27 June 2025).