Telephone Interpreting (TI) is a long established professional practice, however there is a
paucity of observational studies aimed at eliciting challenges and limitations as experienced
by telephone interpreters, which could contribute to the development of effective
interpreter education. There is a popular belief that training in dialogue interpreting can
be applied to TI. The focus of this study is to gain an understanding of the specific features
and situations that make TI trouble-free or challenging. We have elicited the various ways
in which they have learned to grapple with difficult interactions over the years: from novices
to advanced practitioners to seasoned interpreters. Responses from telephone interpreters
from two different countries (Spain and Sweden) were also used to identify challenges
that are culture-specific from the ones that seem to be universal. Our findings point
to challenges that go far beyond the ones described in the TI literature, such as the lack of
visual cues or complex and lengthy exchanges. Rather, navigating the client’s emotions,
providers’ lack of awareness of interpreting needs and technical issues seem to be more
central to an effective practice. The differences linked to levels of expertise and cultural
backgrounds are analyzed and implications for training are extracted.
