2.2.3 On-site interpreting
Objective
- Provide interpreters for face-to-face interpreting assignments.
Description
The Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) arranges for interpreters to attend at specific locations and times where a client requires a face-to-face interpreting assignment.
Performance
The number of on-site interpreting requests continued to decrease in 2006-07 with 42 504 on-site interpreting assignments completed compared with 43 473 in 2005-06.
The continuing decline in demand for on-site interpreting results from:
- clients continuing to move to the less expensive telephone interpreting, including the Automated Telephone Interpreting Service (ATIS)
- lower demand for on-site services associated with the processing of applications for protection by asylum seekers.
The decline in usage of NAATI-accredited/recognised interpreters in recent years (86 per cent in 2005-06 and 84 per cent in 2006-07) reflects the make up of on-site work, where a greater proportion of assignments are in new and emerging community languages. During 2006-07, NAATI offered accreditation in 59 of the 136 languages and dialects offered by TIS National.
The high-demand languages for on-site services during 2006-07 were: Vietnamese, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Persian, Serbian, Turkish, Spanish, Dinka, Dari, Bosnian and Croatian.