Configuring public service interpreting in Finland as a sentient professional practice and affirmative social service work: emotion in the work of public service interpreters

Abstract

In this article, we build on an understanding of multilingual social service work as an existing and permanent, yet under-researched, professional landscape and an everyday reality in the contemporary Finnish context. We explore this landscape by focusing on the critical case of public service interpreting and adopt a critical stance towards the idea of public service interpreters as neutral and invisible by examining the role of emotions in public service interpreting in social services. Drawing from reflective diaries produced by 16 public service interpreters during spring 2022, we analyse the presence and significance of emotions in interpreter-mediated service encounters. The results challenge the idea of the role of public service interpreters as mechanical and invisible and instead present public service interpreting as a sentient professional practice and affirmative social service work.