People who speak little English need interpreters in order to use health, legal, social welfare and education services. This book calls for training in the basics of interpreting to be made available more widely to members of minority ethnic communities who regularly act as interpreters for family members and friends.

People who speak little English need interpreters in order to use health, legal, social welfare and education services. Most evaluations of interpreting provision have been conducted from a service provider perspective. Based on an in-depth study which examined the experiences and understandings of people who spoke little or no English from Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Kurdish and Polish minority groups who need interpreters, this report calls for training in the basics of interpreting to be made available more widely to members of minority ethnic communities who regularly act as interpreters for family members or friends. Also, it suggests that professional interpreting services should be refocused to allow for a 'case load' approach, where feasible. This would help to build the ongoing, trusting relationship between service user and interpreter that people want.