Do You Need an Interpreter

Guidelines to determine if an Aboriginal Interpreter is required

Are you fluent in the persons main language (i.e. the language they speak at home, with family and friends?)
Do you have an in-depth understanding of the person's culture?

No. Then you need an interpreter to ensure effective communication.

Recommended Assessment Questions
These questions will assist you to see if the non-English speaking person can communicate in English or if an Interpreter is required.

1. Before we talk about __________________ I need to find out if we can talk together in English.
I will ask you some questions to hear how you answer them.
This will help us to work out if we need an interpreter.
I will ask you this question first:
"Do you have problems with speaking or understanding English?"

If the interviewee does not respond or if they answer yes, but can give no clear details then there is no need to proceed further an interpreter is warranted.

2. Now I'm going to ask you a few questions about yourself so that I can check that you are able to give me information in English.
Please listen to my questions and answer them as well as you can.

• Can you tell me where you were born and what is your date of birth?
• What education have you had?
• Do ou know how to read in English?
• Do you know how to write in English?

If the interviewee's responses are inappropriate to the questions OR if the answers are only one or two words long OR if the interviewee cannot come up with a few clear sentences for the last question then there is no need to proceed further as an interpreter is warranted.

3. Now I'm going to ask you a just a few more questions.
This time I might try to make some questions a little bit tricky or ask them in another way to see if you can follow me.

• When you were born, was that this century or last century?
• When you were growing up in Sydney, was the food good?
• Gough Whitlam comes from your community too! That's right isn't it?
• How long did you go to school in Canberra; was it more than one year?

Okay, this is the last question.
Are you satisfied that we can go ahead in English or do you think we need an interpreter?

If the responses do not match the questions - for example, if the interviewee responds to either/or questions with a yes or no, OR fails to recognise and rectify the false insertions about Sydney and Canberra - then an interpreter is required.

Download Guidelines to Determine if an Aboriginal Language Interpreter is Required (pdf 2.2Mb)