‘The language is (not) to blame’: Ukraine-born immigrant-interpreters in Israel redefine their native and working languages

This paper examines how interpreters perceive and navigate their native and working languages in the context of war. Drawing on translation and interpreting studies, we focus on long-term immigrant-interpreters in Israel amid the Russian war in Ukraine, their country of origin. Based on in-depth interviews conducted in late 2022 and followed up in mid-2024 with both professional and non-professional immigrant-interpreters, we show how they redefine Russian and Ukrainian, placing greater emphasis on the latter as its symbolic and pragmatic value increases within and beyond interpreting practice. In doing so, they enact broader language ideologies. Perceived proficiency in Ukrainian, which varies among interpreters, has also changed during wartime. We argue that these processes grant Ukrainian-born interpreters a more advantageous position and influence interpreting itself. This research broadens our understanding of the impact of war on language and, specifically, the experience of interpreters in wartime. By adding the migration dimension and studying immigrant-interpreters whose native and working languages are politicised and associated with the countries at war, our study sheds new light on the intersection of multilingualism and migration, particularly in war.