Emerging narratives of conference interpreters’ training: a case study of ad hoc training in Babels and the Social Forum

Adopting a narrative perspective, this paper explores the ways in which conference interpreting practice and training have been conceptualised in the discipline and the profession, as well as by different activist communities of translators and interpreters like ECOS and Babels. It argues that these different conceptualisations should not be seen as merely oppositional but that their potential overlap is key in disclosing the possibility of a more politically aware and socially critical practice of conference interpreting in a world of widening inequalities and increased commodification of all aspects of life. The paper examines a case study of interpreters’ ad hoc training in the Social Forum, particularly the London European Social Forum, and how collaborative work across educational institutions, local and global civil society has allowed for transformative practices towards more socio-critical and ethically aware training methodology.