I first met Claudia V. Angelelli  a couple of days before the launch of the EIRSS last June. She was very enthusiastic about the research summer school and super-efficient. In the space of 30 minutes, she managed to have a chat and catch up with EIRSS coordinator Raquel de Pedro, help us set up the lecture room before the big day, checked that all her material had reached participants, quizzed me on my own research interests and entertained my toddler while I was sorting out last-minute arrangements.

I must admit I was a bit star-struck. Prof. Angelelli is the guru of Medical Interpreting and her work is probably cited in every single research document in that field. She is an applied linguist with an unusual background combining Translation and Interpreting Studies, Social Sciences and Educational Linguistics. And yet here she was chatting to us with a huge smile on her face about research trends, differences in interpreting pedagogy, PhD training, not to mention language acquisition (because of my toddler’s age).  This is definitely not an academic who rests on her laurels.

During the EIRSS, she delivered a marathon 3-hour-long session on Research Design, asking fundamental questions such as “why do we do research?”, exploring dilemmas in research ethics and leading workshops.

Her research interests could not be more relevant. Her work focuses on Medical Interpreting but also on cross-cultural communication with a focus on the role of interpreters as language mediators. She has published numerous books, of which Medical Interpreting and Cross Cultural Communication constitutes probably the most important reference in the medical interpreting field as well as the first ethnographic work in Interpreting Studies. Revisiting the Interpreter’s Role: A Study of Conference, Court and Medical Interpreters in Canada, Mexico and the United States is equally influential as it is the first valid and reliable measurement of the role of interpreters . You can find a full list of her publications here.

That’s not all. Prof. Angelelli also developed the first empirically-driven language proficiency and interpreter readiness test for healthcare interpreting for The California Endowment and Hablamos Juntos.  She is the President of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association, Director of the Coalition of Distinguished Language Proficiency Centers, and Advisor for the National Council of Interpreters in Healthcare and for Hablamos Juntos. She served as Director for the American Translators Association for six years and she is currently the World Project leader for the ISO Standards on Community Interpreting.

And the best part? As of June 2013, Prof. Claudia V.Angelelli is transitioning from SDSU, California to Heriot-Watt University joining the vibrant community of scholars at LINCS.

Welcome to LINCS, Claudia Angelelli.

(Still a bit star-struck…)

Author: Katerina Strani