CILISAT - Community Interpreter Language and Interpreting Skills Assessment Tools Interpreter's Role and Boundaries Questions and Answers

Question 1

During a parent-teacher conference, the teacher mentions the student is struggling and suggests the parent, for whom you are interpreting, should read to the child in English for 20 minutes daily.
The parent appears distressed and confides to you in their language, "I can't read English.
I feel so ashamed.
Please don't tell the teacher." What is the interpreter's most appropriate action?

Accepted Answer

Interpret the parent's statement, including the request for secrecy, to the teacher accurately and completely.

Answer

Advise the parent on local literacy programs and suggest they explain their difficulty to the teacher.

Answer

Reassure the parent and simply omit their comment to avoid causing them embarrassment.

Answer

Summarize the parent's concern to the teacher without revealing the specific inability to read English.

Question 2

An interpreter is assigned to a financial aid meeting at a college. The client is a newcomer to Canada and is confused by the paperwork. After the meeting, the client asks the interpreter, "You seem to know a lot about this. Can you help me fill out these forms? It would be much faster." Which of the following principles most directly governs the interpreter's refusal to help?

Accepted Answer

Scope of Practice

Answer

Confidentiality

Answer

Professional Development

Answer

Accuracy

Question 3

Which of the following actions falls squarely within the accepted role of a community interpreter?

Accepted Answer

Interrupting a session to ask for clarification on a technical term they do not understand.

Answer

Speaking privately with one party to build rapport before the session begins.

Answer

Using a simplified, third-person summary to make complex information easier to understand.

Answer

Recommending a specific legal aid lawyer to a client after a difficult housing tribunal session.

Question 4

You are interpreting at a clinic. The doctor, in a hurry, leaves the room and asks you to stay with the patient and "go over the after-care instructions" on a brochure. The patient then begins asking you questions about their medication side effects. What is the most professional response?

Accepted Answer

Explain that you cannot provide medical advice and must wait for the doctor to return to answer their questions.

Answer

Read the brochure to the patient and answer their questions based on your own understanding.

Answer

Sight translate the brochure for the patient but decline to answer any follow-up questions.

Answer

Call the doctor back into the room immediately to address the patient's questions directly.

Question 5

After several sessions interpreting for a family at a children's aid society, the mother brings you a small, wrapped gift. She says, "Thank you so much for your kindness and for being our voice." What is the CILISAT-aligned protocol for this situation?

Accepted Answer

Politely decline the gift, explaining that your professional code of conduct does not permit accepting gifts.

Answer

Accept the gift graciously to avoid offending the client's cultural custom.

Answer

Suggest they give the gift to the social worker or the agency instead.

Answer

Accept the gift but report it to your interpreting agency afterward.

Question 6

The concept of 'impartiality' requires an interpreter to refrain from bias. In which of the following scenarios is the interpreter most clearly upholding this principle?

Accepted Answer

Conveying a child's hesitant and disjointed testimony in a family court session exactly as it is spoken.

Answer

Softening the tone of a landlord's angry words to avoid escalating a tenancy dispute.

Answer

Encouraging a shy patient to ask the doctor more questions about their diagnosis.

Answer

Using their own words to summarize a service provider's lengthy explanation to save time.