ABSTRACT
This chapter delves into the findings of a study conducted with community interpreters from New Zealand and Australia, exploring their unique experiences of working during the COVID-19 lockdowns over 2020 to 2022. The focus was on understanding how these interpreters coped with the demands placed upon them by the new circumstances. In this chapter, the authors focus on both technological challenges associated with the transition to remote interpreting, as well as self-care strategies reported by female and male practitioners. Since the very nature of interpreting requires interpreters to be emotionally engaged in potentially traumatic content and render it in the first person, self-care is a necessity. With the shift from in-person to online interpreting during the pandemic, new challenges arose, as the isolation of working remotely made it challenging for interpreters to process such emotionally demanding experiences and prioritize their own well-being. Although technological advancements offered opportunities for working remotely to safeguard practitioners’ health and safety, both the use of unfamiliar technology and remote interpreting were mentioned in that respondents felt more removed from those they were interpreting for.
