Navigating between theory and practice. Design and implementation of a continuous training course for interpreters and translators of the administration

Abstract

Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings sets the need to guarantee that citizens are provided with the means necessary to express themselves in their own language. Th e praxis of translation and interpreting in the contexts of police investigations and legal proceedings indicates that a signifi cant number of translators and interpreters (mostly of minority languages), who work in the Spanish administration, have never received translation and interpreting training. In order to remedy this defi ciency, a continuing education course was designed for people interested in furthering their professional knowledge and skills in interlinguistic translation for institutions like the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice. Th e aim of this article is to present the design, implementation and analysis of the results of the fi rst edition of the course, started in 2017.