PrintOutput 2.2 Translating and interpreting services
Overview
This output is delivered through the national Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) located in Melbourne and has three components:
TIS National provides:
- a quality, responsive and professional service
- the means of communication essential to a culturally and linguistically diverse society through a business-oriented national translating and interpreting service.
Highlights
The free translation service managed by TIS National, which was outsourced in 2002, was reopened for tender in March 2008. As at 30 June 2008, TIS National was in the process of finalising the selection of the successful tenderer.
Demand for telephone interpreting services continued to demonstrate strong growth. During 2007–08, 615 477 services were provided, an annual increase of 11 per cent for the second consecutive year. This has been achieved despite annual increases in service charges linked to the consumer price index, which enable TIS National to provide a commensurate increase in remuneration to its interpreters.
A new Deed of Standing Offer for the interpreting panel was introduced at the start of the financial year, replacing the previous contractual arrangements and more clearly defining the legal relationship between TIS National and its interpreters.
TIS National significantly expanded the scope of its interpreting panel in new and emerging languages, recruiting 159 new interpreters over the course of the year. These interpreters speak 85 different languages and dialects, raising the total language coverage of TIS National to over 150 languages and dialects.
An annual Client Satisfaction Survey is undertaken as a quality assurance measure to ascertain the satisfaction levels of a random sample of TIS National’s clients. In 2008, three client groups were surveyed:
- English speaking clients using on-site interpreting services
- English speaking clients using telephone interpreting services
- non-English speaking clients.
The overwhelming majority of respondents indicated a high degree of satisfaction both with the quality of the interpreting, and with the reliability and professionalism of the TIS interpreters. While a minority of respondents were aware that TIS National had feedback procedures in place, virtually all respondents indicated that they were comfortable about contacting TIS National directly to make complaints or provide positive feedback about the standard or conduct of interpreters.
