The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2017 - 25

that respected, or were you considered an
enemy soldier, regardless?

a living, and help others as well. It felt
great. It was the only job I've ever had
where I couldn't wait to show up the next
day. When they called for me, I ran to
work even though it was dangerous.

My status was that I was a member of
the KFOR unit, even though I was a
civilian. That was respected most of the
time, but there were instances when
I was considered an enemy soldier or
interpreter. It depended on the situation
and on whether people were being
accused or if we were there to help them.

Were you in a pool of interpreters who were
called on randomly, or were you attached to
a particular group of British army personnel
with whom you worked on a regular basis?
It depended. Anyone from army personnel
could call on us as needed, but most of the
time we were assigned to a group of soldiers
when they went on patrol or went to defuse
landmines and bombs. After a year in the
field I ended up interpreting for officers,
generals, and peacemakers at meetings.

Tell us about a "normal" day in the life of
an interpreter in that war zone. What sort
of missions were you sent on? Were you in
danger at any time?
On a normal day, I would go to work
and joke around with the soldiers while
waiting for my orders. We went out on
patrol on foot or in cars. I was mostly
assigned to places where landmines had
been detected, and my job was to tell
civilians to clear the area until the bomb
or landmine had been defused and warn
them to stay away from those areas at
all times. I was also supposed to try to
find out more information from civilians
and interpret between them and the
bomb squad specialists, who were called
Gurkhas. I was working close to them.
Yes, we were in constant danger.

Was it a "day job" in the sense that you
went somewhere during the day, then
returned to your base at night? Or were you
sometimes gone for days at a time?
It was mainly a day job. We would go
somewhere for a few hours, come back to
have lunch, and then go out again. There
were also times when we went to other
cities for two or three days and then came
back to base.

What sort of situations required your
interpreting services? Were you interpreting
for civilians who had got caught up in the
fighting? Were they adults, children, or both?
Did you interpret for enemy soldiers during
debriefing or interrogation? Or at meetings of
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Were you ever captured by enemy forces?
No, I was never captured, and I never heard
about any other interpreters being captured
at that time. We were pretty safe in that
sense because we were with soldiers.

Of all the different scenarios in
which interpreters have to work,
surely the war zone must be
among the most challenging.
some kind? What sort of conversations were
you required to interpret?
I interpreted for all sorts of situations,
mostly for adults. I was interpreting for
civilians who got caught up in ethnic
fights, protests, robberies, and other
threatening situations. This kind of
interpreting was done in the open and
was not confidential. But I also had
to interpret for enemy soldiers during
debriefing and interrogation, mostly for
the war crimes tribunals. I was also called
to interpret at meetings between generals,
officers, soldiers, and community
members of different ethnicities. These
meetings were very confidential.

Which of your languages did you
use most frequently?
I used Albanian, Serbian, and English
most of the time.

What was your status in the eyes of the
enemy forces? If you were a civilian, was

Given the ethnic diversity of the Balkans,
what sort of resources did you have at
your disposal when faced with unfamiliar
terminology? For example, were you able
to consult with fellow interpreters or do
research online? Was there a "library" of
some kind at your base camp?
Yes, we could consult with fellow
interpreters if we got stuck. We used to
ask each other about words that were new
to us. Different interpreters were good in
different areas, and we learned from each
other every day. You could say that we had
a class after our shifts, when we would
stay late and talk to each other about
that sort of thing. There were no libraries
or online research options, but we had
dictionaries with us at all times that we
could use if needed.

ATA's Code of Ethics expects translators and
interpreters "to convey meaning between
people and cultures faithfully, accurately,
and impartially." The commentary on the
code explains that, "impartial translation
and interpreting requires the translator or
interpreter to adopt a mantle of neutrality."
In the heat of battle, on the front lines of
a war zone, what sort of situations did you
encounter that challenged your commitment
to that mantle of neutrality?
There were times when I felt angry about
certain situations, but when it came to
interpreting and doing my job, I did the
best I could to interpret faithfully and
accurately and tried my best to be neutral.
I was there during the war in the 1990s.
I remembered our neighbors shooting at
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