Empathy can be a tricky situation for interpreters. How do we show empathy and respect for individuals while maintaining our roles as impartial and unbiased communication facilitators? And how do we keep our own emotions balanced?

Tianyi Zhang presents a few tips and insights in this article on empathy.

A woman sobs inconsolably into the phone. She hurls incoherent accusations between long breaths of drawled out weeping, and on the other end of the phone a healthcare worker bombards me impatiently:”Madame Interpreter, what is she saying? Madame Interpreter, tell her to calm down please. What is she saying, you’ve got to tell her to calm down.” I stare out of my window and adjust my headphones. I interpret the woman’s accusations to the best of my ability, and I ask the health care worker to please hold on while I ask the woman to speak slower in Mandarin. The woman ignores me and continues to cry, the healthcare worker falls into a silence along with me.

I often felt overwhelmed while working as an over-the-phone interpreter for a company that handled phone calls spanning social services, health care, and customer service sectors. As my day stretched on, I was swathed with waves of human emotions. I heard the cries of newborn babies and the bereaved alike, and I was often left struggling in a sea of feelings after a call was disconnected.

The work of a community and health care interpreter is unique in its context: we often have the privilege of seeing people at their most vulnerable. Our ethics training guide us as we seek a right course of action, and we navigate between our roles as conduits, clarifiers, cultural brokers, and advocates. Decisions are made swiftly, and adjustments are made based on moment-to-moment dynamics. An ethical and efficient community and health care interpreter is impartial yet empathetic, which presents an obvious contradiction at face value: being impartial implies distance, whereas empathy denotes a connection — how do you establish a connection without crossing certain boundaries?

Here’s the thing, people are unreasonable when they are confronted with difficult situations. I often have to remind myself of a quote by Victor Frankl:”An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour” while working, and realize that people often act the way they do with good reason. Empathy is not walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, empathy is walking a mile in someone else’s shoes as that person. Construing the situation in this manner usually helps me establish an empathetic connection with the limited English speaker, yet this is not the difficult part.

It isn’t hard at all to suffer alongside someone going through great distress: how do you not feel sad when someone is weeping so hard they can barely speak? It’s more difficult to distance oneself from that suffering and act within one’s professional boundary. I had been tempted to share my private contact information on various occasions, despite such action being an outright offense against both company regulations and work ethics. As a professional interpreter, it is crucial to remember where our roles end, and to not overextend beyond boundaries. Yet this is easier said than done, especially when facing someone with a weak support system, and it is obvious they could use a friend, or any local expertise someone could offer in their native tongue. At times like these an interpreter best keep in mind that their value is in their role and not in extending friendship.

Retaining distance is also an important part of an interpreter’s self-care. A stronger-than-necessary attachment has many detrimental psychological consequences. Carrying someone else’s emotional weight home with you after a session has its tolls. If the organization you work with does not provide you with the proper support and counseling needed, you might find yourself speaking to a friend or colleague. Keep in mind the ethical treatment of privileged information: We must caution ourselves against sharing the content of sessions. I have gotten into the habit of writing out my thoughts on a piece of paper, and shredding it immediately. This has proved to be immensely helpful, and may be worth a try if you find your mind engaged in strife with the remnants of your work. As the industry moves forward, perhaps language workers will be provided with access to better solutions. For now, we must use our own discretions and be wary of issues related to the empathetic aspects of our job.