Strategies of public service interpreting in educational context: Case study in Chinese-Catalan combination

Public service interpreting (PSI) in the context of education has, until now, been a relatively unexplored topic. Sometimes, there are even no clear boundaries with intercultural mediation as professional practice. This article aims to throw light on the subject, based on a case study of the interpretation provided during a meeting between a tutor in a Catalan state primary school and a mother of Chinese origin. The analysis will focus on studying the linguistic and paralinguistic problems encountered by the interpreter and will offer a detailed analysis of the strategies used in each case. The conclusions will point to some of the characteristics of public service interpreting in this type of interaction and will reflect on the viability of the methodology used in this research from the perspective of studying strategies in PSI. © 2014 inTRAlinea & Mireia Vargas-Urpi & Marta Arumí Ribas.