Ghana, a West-African country with English as its official language, shares land borders with only francophone countries. This creates a unique environment for its citizens to develop English-French bilingualism by engaging in exchange programmes or migrating to a neighbouring country. Francophones from neighbouring countries also resettle in Ghana due to its political stability, educational prowess or more favourable economic conditions and in so doing, develop bilingual skills along the way. These linguistic skills have served the country’s language professional industry by providing language teachers, bilingual administrative staff, translators and interpreters. Various institutions in Ghana have been providing training for these language professions, except interpreters, for at least half a century. The formal training of interpreters in Ghana has only existed for about fifteen years. Prior to the establishment of a degree programme for the training of conference interpreters in Ghana, people interested in getting formal training had to pursue degrees outside the country which led to very few people getting formal training. As a result, an informal market emerged, with bilinguals training themselves on the job. As the pool of formally trained interpreters grew smaller, the need for a more accessible degree programme became apparent and this led to the establishment of a master’s degree programme in conference interpreting. This chapter seeks to describe the conditions leading to the establishment of the degree programme, the initial stages of the programme, achievements, challenges, and the future of interpreter training in Ghana.

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Homegrown Conference Interpreters: From Self-Training to a Formalised Degree Programme

  • Pamela Amoah,
  • Koffi Abotchi

摘要

Ghana, a West-African country with English as its official language, shares land borders with only francophone countries. This creates a unique environment for its citizens to develop English-French bilingualism by engaging in exchange programmes or migrating to a neighbouring country. Francophones from neighbouring countries also resettle in Ghana due to its political stability, educational prowess or more favourable economic conditions and in so doing, develop bilingual skills along the way. These linguistic skills have served the country’s language professional industry by providing language teachers, bilingual administrative staff, translators and interpreters. Various institutions in Ghana have been providing training for these language professions, except interpreters, for at least half a century. The formal training of interpreters in Ghana has only existed for about fifteen years. Prior to the establishment of a degree programme for the training of conference interpreters in Ghana, people interested in getting formal training had to pursue degrees outside the country which led to very few people getting formal training. As a result, an informal market emerged, with bilinguals training themselves on the job. As the pool of formally trained interpreters grew smaller, the need for a more accessible degree programme became apparent and this led to the establishment of a master’s degree programme in conference interpreting. This chapter seeks to describe the conditions leading to the establishment of the degree programme, the initial stages of the programme, achievements, challenges, and the future of interpreter training in Ghana.