Sign language interpreter education in Sweden
Stretching over the northernmost parts of Europe, with Norway, Finland, and Denmark as its closest neighbors, Sweden remains a sparsely populated (10.5 million inhabitants) and linguistically a fairly uniform country. It is the cradle of the world famous social-democratic “welfare state,” which emerged over the course of the 20th century and is characterized by a strong vision of full inclusion for all members of society (Haualand & Holmström, 2018). Over the same period, Sweden also transformed from a monolingual and homogenous society to a much more multilingual and culturally diverse society; of Sweden’s approximately 10.5 million inhabitants, about 20% were born abroad (SCB, 2022). The deaf population consists of about 10,000 individuals (SDR, 2021), and in addition there are approximately 2,000 people who are deafblind (NKCDB, 2021). The Language Act states that the public society shall protect and promote Swedish Sign Language (svenskt teckenspråk [STS]) and that deaf people have the right to learn, develop, and use STS. This means that deaf people have the same legislated rights as other minority groups (Sami, Meänkieli, Finnish, Romani Chib, and Yiddish) or allophone language speakers to have access to interpreting services. Deaf people’s right to interpreters was affirmed in the 1994 Disability Reform (Swedish Government Official Reports [Statens offentliga utredningar;SOU], 2004:64). The right to use interpreters is also codified in several other Swedish laws. For example, the following laws all directly refer to interpreters: the Language Act (Swedish Code of Statutes [Svensk författningssamling; SFS],2009:600); the Health and Medical Services Act (SFS, 2017:30); the Support and Service for Persons With Certain Functional Impairments Act (SFS, 1993:387); the Administrative Procedure Act (SFS, 2017:900); the Code of Juridical Procedure (SFS, 1942:740); and the Administrative Court Procedure Act (SFS, 1971:201). Interpreting services are also codified, though more indirectly, in the Patient Act (SFS, 2014:821). We begin by contextualizing translation and interpreting of both signed and spoken languages in Sweden. We then talk about the status of STS and the professionalization of sign language interpreting (SLI) and discuss the development of interpreter education, with reference to deaf and hearing interpreters alike. We discuss the issue of readiness to work after formal education, as well as continuing professional development. Finally, we reflect on the status of STS/Swedish interpreting in the present day and on the current state of research into SLI and interpreter education.
