Output group 2.2 Translating and interpreting services
Demand continues to grow for interpreting services in Australia
Overview
This group is delivered through the national Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National), located in Melbourne, and has three outputs.
Highlights
Demand for telephone interpreting services continued to grow throughout 2008–09, with the number of telephone interpreting services provided rising by 19.4 per cent to 735 185 services. This is the highest increase since 2003–04, when telephone interpreting grew by almost 19 per cent.
Onsite interpreting also increased slightly during 2008–09, reversing the downward trend of recent years.
A total of 44 477 onsite interpreting services were provided, representing a 6 per cent increase on 2007–08.
To match growth in demand, TIS National recruited an additional 164 interpreters, speaking 67 different languages. The number of languages and dialects covered by TIS National has now risen to 168.
TIS National undertakes an annual client satisfaction survey as a quality assurance measure to assess the satisfaction levels of a random sample of clients.
An overwhelming majority of respondents to the survey in both client groups indicated a high degree of satisfaction with the quality of the interpreting undertaken and with the reliability and professionalism of TIS National’s interpreters.
