ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims at providing a set of analytical tools, food for thought and fuel for discussions. It is about interpreter-mediated conversation as a mode of communication, about interpreters and their responsibilities, about what they do, what they think they should do and what others expect them to do in face-to-face, institutional encounters. The book concerns what goes on between the participants of this kind of encounter, rather than what goes on between the ears of the interpreters. The assistance of interpreters is a usual way to overcome language barriers in the everyday routines of many public institutions. Interpreters are thought of, and think of themselves as conveyers of others' words and utterances. The main method is detailed analysis of discourse, documented in authentic encounters between people not able or willing to communicate in a common language.
