ABSTRACT
Within Translation and Interpreting Studies (TS) there has also been a significant development during the second half of the twentieth century in a field greatly connected with intercultural communication known as Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT) or Community Interpreting (and Translation). This chapter explores this new emergent field of PSIT within TS. PSIT was one of the first forms of intercultural communication to take place historically. The growing number of publications and empirical research on the analysis of interpreter discourses or translated texts for a specific community show that defining the scope of PSIT is a complex and difficult task. Doctoral research in PSIT has also expanded since the publication of the doctoral theses by Ortega Herráez and Abril Martí. Regarding research methods, variety is again a characteristic of the interdisciplinary nature of research in PSIT. The tendency towards more specific approaches to PSIT in sub-areas such as health or legal settings will likely take place.
