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The Wandsworth Interpreting Service provides help to residents who live in Wandsworth who have difficulty communicating effectively with the council or other public bodies in English. Our aim is to help overcome the language barriers, which often prevent residents with little or no English from having full access to services. Language barriers can mean that residents are not fully aware of the services that are available or are unsure of their entitlement to the services. Sometimes they can fail to get services because they are unable to explain their personal circumstances to the officers of the public body. In some cases residents may not have good enough English to understand or complete official forms. We can help you in a number of ways. We can provide you with an interpreter who will attend a meeting with you to ensure that you understand what is being said and that the officer of the public body understands what you have to say. This will make sure that there are no misunderstanding and no barriers to you getting the services that you are entitled to. To avoid any misunderstanding about the help that an interpreter can give, you need to understand what the role of an interpreter is. Their role is to interpret what you say into English and what the officer of the public body says into your language. They are impartial - they do not take sides. They do not help you or the officer argue your case. They simply tell each of you what the other has said. In order to make the arrangements for you to have an interpreter we ask that you give us as much notice as possible. We will aim to limit the time you will wait for an interpreter to a maximum of three working days but this will depend on the availability of an appropriate interpreter. For British Sign Language, please give us at least two weeks' notice. If, however, you need to communicate with the council or other public organisation, you should ask them to make the arrangements for an interpreter to be in attendance. They know the easiest way to do this and it will save you having to get involved in making the detailed arrangements. Other public organisations will have their own interpreters or they may ask the Wandsworth Interpreting Service for assistance. During the last year we provided help to residents of Wandsworth in 67 different languages. Whatever the language we will always do our utmost to find an interpreter to help someone in need of language assistance. We have a drop-in service available in Bedford House, 215 Balham High Road. At Bedford House we have a team of in-house interpreters who can deal with Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil and Somali. If an interpreter is available in one of these languages we will see you within 20 minutes of your arrival. If you want to be sure that you will be seen when you arrive then it is advisable for you to telephone in advance and make an appointment. A more comprehensive guide setting out the standards of service delivery that we are committed to provide and the performance we achieve is available from the address given below. You can also download the annual quality and performance review for WIS for 2006/07 in Adobe's pdf format.
If you need further information please contact: The Wandsworth Interpreting Service at:- Please note that the interpreting service does not offer a general enquiry service in the seven languages listed above. You will find direct telephone numbers for council services in our A-Z of services. How to become a professional interpreter/translator
If you want to join our register of freelance interpreters / translators, please email your full CV to wis@wandsworth.gov.uk Information about English classes
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