Una lezione sulla resa traduttiva di turni "difficili"

This paper analyses two sociology lectures on dialogue interpreting I gave to a university class of students graduating in foreign languages and cultures. The lectures were video-recorded as part of a university programme aimed at facilitating students’ access to academic resources. During the lectures, the students, in groups, analysed transcriptions of interpreted interactions audio-recorded in Italian healthcare services and involving Arabic patients, Italian healthcare providers and Arabic mediators. These transcriptions were used to reflect on ways to render turns by healthcare providers, which might be difficult to understand for patients, in that they were either too short (implicating a number of details) or very long and technical. The lectures aimed to show how modified renditions of these turns may facilitate patients’ understanding and participation. The students were firstly invited to propose possible renditions of providers’ turns, then to analyse the mediators’ ones. The students then had to report their proposals and comments in a class discussion. Observation of the video-recorded discussion suggests ways to improve: a. the actual renditions of inexplicit or technical turns, b. the teacher’s coordination of the students’ discussion to guide them to appreciate the types of problems characterising the rendition process