Between Empathy and Professionalism

This contribution intends to shed light on how interpreters and other stakeholders perceived the humanitarian crisis in 2015/2016 when large numbers of refugees passed through North Macedonia via the so-called Western Balkans route on their way to safety and more humane living conditions in Western and Northern European countries. Based on the experiences of different stakeholders in North Macedonia during this period and their implications for the years ahead, the role of so-called cultural mediators, as opposed to that of public service interpreters, will be discussed. This contribution presents data collected in the ReTrans project (Working with Interpreters in Refugee Transit Zones: Capacity Building and Awareness-raising for Higher Education Contexts) to discuss how interpreters and cultural mediators coped with interpreting in different situations where they had to struggle because they felt the need to show empathy while still remaining professional.