15 ARTICLES
2021, Vol. 18 (1), 15-35(222)
revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope
https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.1.15-35
UDC: 81'253
Tamara Mikolič Južnič,  
Nike K. Pokorn
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
In Search of the Essential Competences for 
Overcoming Language Barriers in Public Services
ABSTRACT
It is argued in the article that despite the relatively strong presence of English in Slovenia, 
the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) alone does not guarantee access to quality public 
services. To supplement the use of ELF interpreting support is needed, in particular in 
high-risk situations. A step in this direction was the certification of a national vocational 
qualification for community interpreters for Albanian in 2020. Since at the same time a 
new vocational profile for intercultural mediators was created, which also aims to assist the 
inclusion of migrants in the Slovene society, we investigated the differences between these two 
profiles by comparing the competences defined in both. The results show that despite some 
overlaps Slovene vocational standards for both professions differ significantly: while transfer 
and linguistic competences are central to community interpreter’s profile, conflict resolution 
and mediation competence figure more prominently in the intercultural mediator’s profile.
Keywords: linguistic inclusion, national vocational qualification, community interpreting, 
intercultural mediation, competences
Iskanje ključnih kompetenc za premagovanje  
jezikovnih ovir v javnih službah
IZVLEČEK
Članek prikazuje, kako kljub razmeroma močni prisotnosti angleščine v Sloveniji raba 
angleščine kot lingue france sama po sebi ne omogoča jezikovne vključenosti in ne zagotavlja 
dostopa do kakovostnih javnih storitev. Ob angleščini kot lingui franci je potrebna še tolmaška 
podpora, zlasti v visokorizičnih situacijah. Korak v to smer predstavlja nacionalna poklicna 
kvalifikacija za skupnostne tolmače za albanski jezik, sprejeta leta 2020. Ker je hkrati nastala 
tudi nacionalna poklicna kvalifikacija za medkulturne mediatorje, ki je prav tako namenjena 
podpori vključevanja migrantov v slovensko družbo, v članku s primerjavo poklicnih kompe -
tenc raziščeva razlike med tema dvema profiloma. Rezultati nakazujejo, da se, kljub nekaterim 
podobnostim, slovenska poklicna standarda izrazito razlikujeta: medtem ko sta prevodna in 
jezikovna kompetenca osrednji v profilu skupnostnega tolmača, osrednje mesto v profilu med -
kulturnega mediatorja zavzemata kompetenci razreševanja konfliktov in mediacije.
Ključne besede: jezikovno vključevanje, nacionalna poklicna kvalifikacija, skupnostno 
tolmačenje, medkulturna mediacija, kompetence

16 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
1 Introduction
The English language is the most widespread and only true global lingua franca in the 
contemporary world (see e.g., Mauranen 2014). Moreover, the attitude towards English, 
at least in the EU, seems to be overwhelmingly positive (see Henry 2016): according to 
European Commission’s survey of 26.751 respondents in 2012, two thirds of Europeans 
(67%) considered English as one of the two most useful languages in the EU. Although 
Slovenia was one of the eight EU member states where English was not the first foreign 
language of the population (Croatian was reported as the foreign language most commonly 
spoken in Slovenia (61%)), a very high percentage of surveyed Slovenes (59%) stated that 
English is a language that they know well enough in order to be able to have a conversation 
(European Commission 2012, 21). 
Despite these results, it will be argued in this article that in Slovenia the use of English as a 
lingua franca (ELF) does not enable linguistic inclusion, in particular to the most vulnerable 
groups of migrants, and that it does not guarantee access to quality public services. The use of 
English as a lingua franca needs to be supplemented by community interpreting, in particular 
in high-risk situations. However, in order to provide support that leads to quality services, 
the profession of community interpreting needs to be defined and the individuals practicing 
it need to undergo a certification process. 
This article presents the new vocational certifications for community interpreters and 
intercultural mediators in Slovenia, and compares the list of competences indicated in three 
documents defining the profession of community interpreter to three documents defining 
the profile of intercultural mediator, and highlights the main differences. 
The article starts with an overview of the existing research reporting on cases and situations in 
Slovenia in which ELF did not enable the establishment of successful communication. Next 
the introduction of community interpreting is proposed as a more suitable communication 
strategy in high-risk situations, such as healthcare settings, allowing equal access to public 
services to users who do not speak or understand Slovene. Subsequently, the ongoing 
discussion on the difference between community interpreters and intercultural mediators 
is addressed. This is followed by a description of the Slovene vocational qualification for 
community interpreters for Albanian, which also envisages a certification exam for the 
candidates. Then an analysis of selected documents comparing community interpreters and 
intercultural mediators in terms of competences is presented, and the implications of the 
results are discussed.
2 When the Use of English is Not the Solution – Review of 
the Literature
Although the results of the European Commission’s survey show that in Europe the attitude 
towards the use of English was overwhelmingly positive in 2012, the status of English in 
Europe is changing and some researchers argue that it is no longer seen only as the language 
that enhances opportunities to take part in the global market, but is sometimes also viewed as 
a threat to the national languages in Europe (Linn, Bermel, and Ferguson 2015). In addition 
T. Mikolič Južnič, N. K. 
Pokorn
In Search of the Essential 
Competences for Overcoming 
Language Barriers ...

17 ARTICLES
to that, Michele Gazzola and Francois Grin in their article “Is ELF more effective and fair 
than translation? An evaluation of the EU’s multilingual regime” (2013) argue that “the use 
of translation and interpreting, though not free, remains more effective (and at a reasonable 
cost) than a monolingual regime based on English alone; it also more fair than a monolingual 
regime which unavoidably privileges native speakers” (2013, 93). 
Taking Slovenia as the case in point, we argue here that not only are translation and 
interpretation fairer than the imposition of the use of English, particularly considering that 
interpreting is also envisaged by the Slovene Administrative Procedure Act (ZUP; PISG 
Legal Information System 2013),
1
 but that very often the complexity of interlingual and 
intercultural encounters in the contemporary western world and the varieties of different 
linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the speakers attempting to establish linguistic contact 
make translation and interpretation the only means of enabling successful communication. 
In 2016 a survey of linguistic profiles of migrants in Slovenia applying for international 
protection was made, in an attempt to define the preferred mediation strategy of this group 
of migrants (Pokorn and Čibej 2018a). They were asked if they prefer to use interpreters 
or machine translation tools, practice intercomprehension, use a lingua franca or learn the 
dominant language of the receiving culture. With the help of a questionnaire, data were gathered 
on linguistic profiles of 127 residents of asylum seeker centres in Slovenia, and interviews were 
conducted with a representative group of 38 asylum seekers speaking ten different mother 
tongues (Arabic, Farsi, Dari, Russian, Kurdish, Albanian, Bosnian, French, Ibo and English). 
In the questionnaire the asylum seekers were asked to indicate the level of proficiency in 
any foreign languages they believed they had knowledge of (shown in Figure 1). The results 
indicated that English was by far as the most widespread foreign language among this 
population. 
and cultural backgrounds of the speakers attempting to establish linguistic contact make translation and 
interpretation the only means of enabling successful communication.  
In 2016 a survey of linguistic profiles of migrants in Slovenia applying for international protection was made, in an 
attempt to define the preferred mediation strategy of this group of migrants (Pokorn and Čibej 2018a). They were 
asked if they prefer to use interpreters or machine translation tools, practice intercomprehension, use a lingua franca 
or learn the dominant language of the receiving culture. With the help of a questionnaire, data were gathered on 
linguistic profiles of 127 residents of asylum seeker centres in Slovenia, and interviews were conducted with a 
representative group of 38 asylum seekers speaking ten different mother tongues (Arabic, Farsi, Dari, Russian, 
Kurdish, Albanian, Bosnian, French, Ibo and English).  
In the questionnaire the asylum seekers were asked to indicate the level of proficiency in any foreign languages they 
believed they had knowledge of (shown in Figure 1). The results indicated that English was by far as the most 
widespread foreign language among this population.  
 
 
FIGURE 1. Foreign languages indicated by the residents of the Slovene asylum seeker centres in October 2016 
(Pokorn and Čibej 2018a). 
Further results showed that English is also used in a variety of settings in Slovenia: in the representative group of 38 
interviewees, 25 migrants indicated that they spoke English, and that they use this language always (n=24) or often 
(n=1) in their everyday contacts with other people in Slovenia. We asked them to rate their proficiency in listening, 
reading, speaking and writing on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), and the results are shown in Figure 2. 
 
 
FIGURE 2. Interviewees’ self-reported proficiency in English. 
94
29
17
11 11
6 7
55
3322222
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
3.2
3.3
L i s t e n i n g S p e a k i n g R e a d i n g W r i t i n g
Figure 1. Foreign languages indicated by the residents of the Slovene asylum seeker centres in 
October 2016 (Pokorn and Čibej 2018a).
1
 ZUP provides legal grounds for the provision of interpreting services. In article 62 (7), inter alia, it stipulates the 
following: “Parties and other participants to the procedure who do not speak the language in which the procedure is 
conducted, or who are unable to use it because of disability, shall have the right to follow the course of the procedure 
through an interpreter. The authority shall be obliged to instruct such persons of such possibility.” (ZUP , 36). 

18 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
Further results showed that English is also used in a variety of settings in Slovenia: in the 
representative group of 38 interviewees, 25 migrants indicated that they spoke English, and 
that they use this language always (n=24) or often (n=1) in their everyday contacts with other 
people in Slovenia. We asked them to rate their proficiency in listening, reading, speaking and 
writing on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), and the results are shown in Figure 2.
and cultural backgrounds of the speakers attempting to establish linguistic contact make translation and 
interpretation the only means of enabling successful communication.  
In 2016 a survey of linguistic profiles of migrants in Slovenia applying for international protection was made, in an 
attempt to define the preferred mediation strategy of this group of migrants (Pokorn and Čibej 2018a). They were 
asked if they prefer to use interpreters or machine translation tools, practice intercomprehension, use a lingua franca 
or learn the dominant language of the receiving culture. With the help of a questionnaire, data were gathered on 
linguistic profiles of 127 residents of asylum seeker centres in Slovenia, and interviews were conducted with a 
representative group of 38 asylum seekers speaking ten different mother tongues (Arabic, Farsi, Dari, Russian, 
Kurdish, Albanian, Bosnian, French, Ibo and English).  
In the questionnaire the asylum seekers were asked to indicate the level of proficiency in any foreign languages they 
believed they had knowledge of (shown in Figure 1). The results indicated that English was by far as the most 
widespread foreign language among this population.  
 
 
FIGURE 1. Foreign languages indicated by the residents of the Slovene asylum seeker centres in October 2016 
(Pokorn and Čibej 2018a). 
Further results showed that English is also used in a variety of settings in Slovenia: in the representative group of 38 
interviewees, 25 migrants indicated that they spoke English, and that they use this language always (n=24) or often 
(n=1) in their everyday contacts with other people in Slovenia. We asked them to rate their proficiency in listening, 
reading, speaking and writing on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), and the results are shown in Figure 2. 
 
 
FIGURE 2. Interviewees’ self-reported proficiency in English. 
94
29
17
11 11
6 7
55
3322222
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
3.2
3.3
L i s t e n i n g S p e a k i n g R e a d i n g W r i t i n g
Figure 2. Interviewees’ self-reported proficiency in English.
T wo thirds of the interviewees thus stated that they use English for communication in Slovenia 
and indicated that their knowledge of the language in all four skills is good (average grade was 
3). However, in the interviews they also pointed out that English was not useful in all settings 
and environments: for example, the refugees and asylum seekers noticed that in Slovenia the 
older generations do not speak English, and that English is also rarely spoken in rural areas. 
Similar results were obtained by Fiedler and Wohlfarth (2018), who interviewed twenty 
migrants in Germany with English in their language repertoires. The migrants reported 
a major discrepancy in English-language proficiency between young and old people, and 
between different urban centres. Similarly to the migrants in Slovenia, migrants interviewed 
by Fiedler and Wohlfarth did not see English as a reliable or viable option for communication 
in Germany.
Another study (Pokorn and Čibej 2018b) examined the mediation strategies of foreign 
teachers at two international schools working in Slovenia. The results showed that although 
the interviewees found English to be the most useful foreign language in Slovenia, the use 
of English failed in healthcare settings, where they would often encounter providers, in 
particular nurses, who did not speak English. This observation was corroborated by another 
nation-wide survey among healthcare workers in Slovenia in 2016, which gathered responses 
of 564 healthcare providers (Milavec Kapun and Pokorn 2019). The survey responses of 331 
nurses showed that, regardless of the level of education attained, nurses rated their foreign-
language competence considerably lower than doctors or dentists,
2
 and in fact as many as 101 
nurses (36%) indicated that their knowledge of English was elementary.
Thus, in the Slovene healthcare system the use of English as a lingua franca does not guarantee 
successful communication, due to the lack of knowledge of this language among healthcare 
providers. Moreover, it has been observed that some patients reject the use of ELF in high-
risk healthcare situations. Pokorn, Matičič and Pokorn (2009) describe such a case: in 2008, 
2
 Only 3% of doctors and 16% of dentists indicated an elementary knowledge of English (see Milavec Kapun and 
Pokorn 2019, 51).

19 ARTICLES
a 15-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, whose parents were killed in Afghanistan, was 
admitted to the Department of Infectious Diseases, University Clinical Centre Ljubljana. He 
had a knowledge of some basic English and was accompanied by a female Slovene guardian, 
assigned to him by the detention centre, who spoke English with him. He was diagnosed 
with a life-threatening disease, but the patient refused all medical procedures and did not 
want to communicate with healthcare providers who tried to speak to him in English. The 
treating physician was convinced that the patient would need someone to explain the risks to 
him but was unable to communicate with him effectively. Because no support was provided 
to medical doctors in such cases, the physician contacted an Afghan interpreter working for 
the Slovene mission at the NATO base in Afghanistan. The interpreter had a long telephone 
conversation with the patient in his native language – and was eventually able to change his 
mind. The patient started to take the prescribed medications, and in the following days his 
mood picked up and his medical condition improved significantly. There is no doubt that the 
treatment of the patient was successful largely because communication in his native language 
was enabled. 
Research thus shows that in high-risk situations, in particular in healthcare settings, the 
support of interpreters is sometimes vital. Since in Slovenia there is no training for community 
interpreters for the languages of newly arrived migrants, interpreting in different public-
service settings is sometimes provided by relatives or friends of patients (i.e., the so-called ad 
hoc interpreters), or by individuals who support themselves by interpreting but who have no 
training for the profession of interpreters. Some of them, with the help of intensive self-study, 
practice interpreting according to the international standards for community interpreters, 
others do not. In order to raise the level of service, the national vocational certification for 
community interpreters was formed.
3 Competing Profiles
The need for bridging linguistic and cultural differences has become ever more pressing in 
Europe in recent years, which have been marked by an increase in migration. Countries whose 
populations have been more prone to emigration until recently (such as Italy or Greece; see 
Schuster 2005, Apostolou 2012) or that have only faced immigration from certain countries 
in the neighbourhood (such as Slovenia in relation to the former Yugoslav republics and 
territories, see Gorjanc and Pokorn 2013), suddenly encountered in their midst a multitude 
of immigrants, coming from different cultures and speaking different languages, which 
became quite a challenge, especially in official or high-risk situations such as healthcare. This 
often called for ad hoc solutions that resulted in a rather confusing state of affairs in the EU 
countries in terms of legislation and definitions of the names and roles of the professionals 
(and non-professionals) who were employed to overcome emerging language barriers. As a 
result, two profiles started to compete in the same field, i.e., the community interpreter and 
the intercultural mediator.
The apparent confusion regards both the name of the profession and the nature of the work 
performed: on the one hand, the terms community interpreter and intercultural mediator 

20 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
(and their various more or less synonymous forms
3
) are used in different ways by different 
people; on the other hand, their work and competences are also understood differently. An 
in-depth discussion of the problem is outside the scope of this article: here we refer to just a 
few selected articles made by some scholars who attempted to distinguish the two profiles, 
and pay a particular attention to two intrinsically divergent points of view. Proponents of 
both sides recognize the need in the market and society for professionals whose job would be 
to help migrants access services which are offered in the languages of the host country and in 
which they are not proficient. But while proponents of intercultural mediators (Theodosiou 
and Aspioti 2015, Verrept 2019) largely reject community interpreters – claiming that they 
only transpose linguistic elements from one language into another, separating language from 
the cultural content of the communication, which, according to them, is the domain of 
the intercultural mediator – others, such as Pöchhacker (2008), Martín and Phelan (2010) 
and Pokorn and Mikolič Južnič (2020), for instance, reject such oversimplifications of the 
competences of community interpreters, but nevertheless acknowledge the need for both 
profiles. They argue that interpreting services should be offered by trained professionals (i.e., 
community interpreters), while other tasks, such as informing and assisting the migrants in 
accessing services and integrating in the host society, which involve mainly dyadic, not triadic 
(i.e., interpreted) communication, should be carried out by intercultural mediators. 
Furthermore, Pöchhacker (2008) and Martín and Phelan (2010) argue that terminological 
indeterminacy reflects negatively on the professionalization of the two profiles. We believe 
that the difference between intercultural mediators and community interpreters should also 
not be boiled down just to a question of ethical positioning (Pokorn and Mikolič Južnič 
2020). 
As a consequence of this indeterminacy, as Martín and Phelan (2010) observe, in France, 
Italy, parts of Belgium and Germany, the two terms are often used interchangeably, without 
a real distinction of their roles. In Italy, the situation is particularly complex, as the term 
intercultural mediator is used as the name of at least three very different profiles, i.e., the 
term is used as a synonym of community interpreters; it may define specialists in conflict 
prevention and resolution, or it may be used for community integration facilitators and 
non-professional interpreters (see Pokorn and Mikolič Južnič 2020: 86–88). In Belgium, 
according to Cox (2015), both profiles coexist and intercultural mediators and community 
interpreters often work in the same hospitals, though abiding by different codes of ethics, 
especially in terms of advocacy. 
Additionally, it should be specified that community interpreting is a certified profession in a 
number of countries and defined within the international standard “Interpreting – Guidelines 
for community interpreting” (ISO 13611:2014) as “oral and signed communication that 
enables access to services for people who have limited proficiency in the language of such 
services”. 
3
 Community interpreters are also called public service interpreters, interpreters in institutional discourse, dialogue 
interpreters, or liaison interpreters. Intercultural mediators have been named also linguistic mediators, linkworkers, 
ethnic minority health counsellors, bridgepersons, intercultural interpreters, and so on (see Pokorn and Mikolič 
Južnič (2020) for further details).

21 ARTICLES
3.1 Situation in Slovenia
In Slovenia, the need for a profile of an interpreter who would be able to respond to the 
challenges of a new linguistic landscape in the country was recognized in the mid 2000s (see 
Pokorn and Mikolič Južnič 2021). Already at that time, the translation studies community 
defined a community interpreter (“skupnostni tolmač”) as a trained or an untrained individual 
who performs oral or signed translational activity from and into the societal language, and thus 
assists individuals who are not proficient in the societal language to access the services provided 
by public institutions (see also Pokorn, Viezzi, and Radanović Feldberg 2020, 10). Efforts for the 
professionalization of community interpreting began as early as in 2007, when the University 
of Ljubljana joined an EU-funded project with the aim of creating a curriculum for medical 
interpreting, which culminated in the preparation of a one-year community interpreter training 
programme (Gorjanc 2013). Unfortunately, lack of funding and qualified teachers prevented 
the programme from being launched (Gorjanc and Pokorn 2013). 
In an effort to overcome such deficiencies, a short specialization course for sworn interpreters 
was introduced in 2018/19 by the University of Ljubljana (Maček and Schlamberger Brezar 
2019). Furthermore, another project was undertaken in 2019 by four universities from 
Italy, Norway, Greece and Slovenia, in order to train teachers for community interpreting, 
especially for languages that are traditionally not taught in Slovene universities: in Slovenia, the 
TRAMIG project ( T raining newly arrived migrants for community interpreting and intercultural 
mediation, see Pokorn, Viezzi, and Radanović Feldberg 2020) trained community interpreter 
teachers for Albanian, Arabic and Persian to work in tandems with local interpreting teachers 
with the purpose of harnessing both the expertise of the interpreter trainers of the University 
of Ljubljana, and the language expertise in Albanian, Arabic and Persian of the volunteers 
with a migration background. 
Intercultural mediators appeared in Slovenia in the last decade in connection with several 
projects mainly carried out by non-academic institutions and organizations (see Lipovec 
Čebron and Škraban 2020), which resulted in the absence of systematic training. With the 
exception of a few short courses organized by the International Organization for Migration 
in Slovenia and the National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia, no plans to establish 
training of intercultural mediators seem to be currently under way. At present in Slovenia 
there seem to be two understandings of the profile of intercultural mediator. One is defined 
in the National Vocational Qualification (described below), and the other in some of the 
publications of National Institute of Public Health. The publications of the National Institute 
of Public Health, such as Bofulin et al. (2016), promote intercultural mediators at the expense 
of interpreters, claiming that “interpreting transfers the language, while mediation transfers 
the cultural meaning” (Bofulin et al. 2016, 233
4
), despite the fact the research leaves no 
doubt that language and culture are inseparable and that linguistic and cultural mediation are 
intrinsic to interpreting (see, e.g., Falbo 2013).
4
 All translations are our own unless otherwise indicated. It should be noted that next to the quoted part, the authors 
refer to Bowen (2001, 8), misinterpreting her words: Bowen does not speak of intercultural mediators, but rather 
discusses how the roles and tasks of interpreters can be understood and expanded in different contexts by different 
users of their service. 

22 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
The understanding of the profile of an intercultural mediator found in Bofulin et al. (2016) 
is modelled after the definition of the tasks of intercultural mediators as presented recently 
by Verrept (2019), which is translated into Slovene in Huber and Lipovec Čebron (2020). 
Verrept reduces “linguistic interpreting (‘interpreting’ in the strict sense)” to a ‘translation 
machine model’, and places it to the bottom step of his “ladder model” in which higher 
functions of intercultural mediation include resolving misunderstandings, cultural brokerage, 
helping provider/patient take up their roles and advocacy. Similarly, Lipovec Čebron and 
Škraban (2020, 38) argue that the aim of intercultural mediators is “to assure equity and 
reduce language and cultural barriers in access to public services for people who do not master 
societal language”, supporting the notion that the characteristic that distinguishes them from 
community interpreters is their ethical positioning, in which advocacy has a central position. 
As discussed in Pokorn and Mikolič Južnič (2020), however, the reasons for the emergence 
of this kind of understanding of a new profile of intercultural mediators seem to be much 
more complex, including the lack of trained interpreters for the languages of newly arrived 
migrants, the fight for dominance in the training of migrants’ languages specialists and the 
sometimes unreasonable expectations of healthcare providers. However, there exists also an 
alternative understanding of the role and profile of intercultural mediators, where intercultural 
mediators are defined as integration facilitators, i.e., individuals who assist migrants when 
they lack cultural awareness and understanding of the system and, consequently, cannot 
access and benefit from quality basic social services, education, primary health care, fair trial 
and political participation in the host country (Martín and Phelan 2010; Pokorn, Viezzi, and 
Radanović Feldberg 2020, 11).
4 The Certification
Apart from training, an important milestone was achieved in 2020 with the development of 
two occupational standards: the National V ocational Qualification for Intercultural Mediator 
and the National Vocational Qualification for Community Interpreter for Albanian.
Within the European Qualification Framework and the Slovene Qualification Framework, 
the National Vocational qualification (NVQ) “is a formally recognised work-related, 
competence-based qualification, which reflects the skills and knowledge needed to do a job 
effectively” (RIC – National Examination Centre). If they pass the exam, the certificate a 
candidate gets “shows that a candidate is competent in an area of work or individual segments 
of work, within an area at a certain level of achievement” (RIC – National Examination 
Centre). NVQs are based on national occupational standards, documents that serve as the 
basis for designing different pathways to achieve professional qualifications. Occupational 
standards determine the content of NVQs by defining the knowledge, skills and professional 
competence necessary to practice a profession. Catalogues of professional knowledge (CPKS), 
which are always prepared parallel to the NVQs, further define the procedures, requirements, 
and examinations, as well as repeating the competences listed in the relative NVQs (Pokorn, 
Viezzi, and Radanović Feldberg 2020, 52–57). One of the most important advantages of 
NVQs is that they give individuals a possibility to validate their skills and knowledge obtained 
through the pursuit of their occupation, volunteer work, leisure activities, participation 
in non-formal training programs, self-learning etc., i.e., they do not normally entail any 

23 ARTICLES
obligatory formal education. The standards and the catalogues are formulated by a group 
of invited experts led by a senior officer of National Institute for Vocational Education and 
Training, usually taking into account similar qualifications abroad. For example, the NVQ 
for community interpreters includes in its reference list, among others, the international 
standard ISO 13611: 2014 Guidelines for Community interpreting (2014), the document 
developed by the European Network for Public Service Interpreters and Translators Public 
Service Interpreting: minimally required competence in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes ,  
California Standards for Healthcare Interpreters (2002), the US National Standards of Practice for 
Interpreters in Healthcare (2005), and the Canadian National Standard Guide for Community 
Interpreting Services (HIN 2007). The NVQ for intercultural mediators, however, does not 
refer to any international standards or international literature (with the notable exception 
of Ethnicity and Globalization (Castles 2000) and Guide for intercultural mediation in health 
care (Verrept and Coune 2016)) and includes in its reference list either works by members 
of the expert committee responsible for the formation of NVQ for intercultural mediators 
(for example, the monograph Integracija kot človekova pravica [Integration as a human right] 
(Vrečer 2007)) or verified educational programs for learning Slovene or the integration of 
migrants, applicants for international protection and refugees into Slovene society.  
In the next section we highlight the differences in competences between the two profiles as 
defined in the Slovene CPKSs, and the main characteristics of the two profiles are summarized. 
The text used for the analysis is the English translation of CPKSs by Nataša Hirci, published 
in Pokorn, Viezzi, and Radanović Feldberg (2020).
4.1 Slovene National Vocational Qualification ‘Community Interpreter for 
Albanian’
The Slovene NVQ ‘Community Interpreter for Albanian’ is included in the KLASIUS
5
 
classification system within the wider category of Language Acquisition (other, foreign, sign 
language, translation studies). In the Standards for Professional Knowledge and Skills and 
in the Catalogue of Professional Knowledge and Skills, we find a list of the key tasks and 
knowledge and skills necessary to obtain the certification, presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Knowledge and skills of the NVQ ‘Community interpreter for Albanian’.
Key tasks Knowledge and skills
Consecutive 
interpreting, 
chuchotage and 
sight translation plus 
translation of short 
texts relevant for 
interpreting
• interpret and translate texts connected to the interpreting task 
from Albanian to Slovene and vice versa
• interpret and translate texts connected to the interpreting task 
(e.g., medical examination report, instructions for follow-up 
treatment) as accurately as possible with no unnecessary addition 
or omission 
• listen carefully, use various memory techniques 
5
 KLASIUS (https://www.stat.si/Klasius/Default.aspx?id=1) is the obligatory standard used in Slovenia for classifying 
activities in education and training (including the field of national vocational qualifications). 

24 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
• adhere to basic features of interpreting, i.e., initial introduction 
of all participants, positioning, turn-taking
• select and provide interpreting suitable in the given 
circumstances: consecutive interpreting for a dialogue or a lengthy 
exchange supported by note-taking, chuchotage
(for lectures) or sight interpreting
• use different techniques of note-taking 
• recognize situations when a primary-speaker position has to 
be assumed and communication interrupted (e.g., asking for 
clarification, pointing out cultural misunderstanding)
• respect different roles of participants (distinguish between the 
role of an interpreter and that of a healthcare provider, etc.) 
• invest into additional (self)training and their own professional 
development
Interpreting and 
translation of 
discourse in different 
registers and from 
different fields
• use Albanian for different language users and adapt it to their 
age, gender, regional background as well as socio-economic status
• understand different language varieties of Albanian (e.g., 
different dialects, idiomatic expressions, etc.) and different 
registers (e.g., less formal spoken discourse, formal standard 
language, etc.)
• use register appropriate for the given situation and the type of 
discourse 
• use terminology typical of the interpreted field, i.e., terminology 
used in healthcare or educational settings, administrative 
procedures or police proceedings
• know the field they interpret (e.g., know the basics of 
healthcare, asylum procedures, educational system in Slovenia, 
administrative and police proceedings, etc.)
• respect cultural differences and respond properly
• understand specific behaviour, gestures, tone of verbal and non-
verbal communication
• show awareness of different culture-specific roles of professionals 
and identities in different cultures
Use suitable tools 
and technologies 
for translation and 
interpreting
• use technical equipment for remote interpreting (telephone, 
web applications)
• understand the prospects and limitations of machine translation 
and interpreting
• work with word processing software
• efficiently use different computer-assisted programmes for 
documents, word processing and terminology management

25 ARTICLES
Acquire additional 
information for the 
field they interpret
• recognize their own information and documentation needs 
• seek reliable information required for interpreting 
• obtain additional information for the interpreted field
• seek additional information on language use and specific 
terminology for the interpreted field
• make efficient use of document and terminology sources (e.g., 
terminology databases, language corpora, etc.)
• properly assess reliable documents and sources available online 
and in other media
• create their own terminology databases needed for the 
interpreted field
Communicate and 
establish contacts 
with colleagues, 
professionals and 
end-users
• are polite, respectful and tactful
• recognize their own cultural, political, religious and 
other prejudices and refrain from them in interpreting and 
communication with their clients
• work efficiently with people from different cultures, respect 
other cultures and recognize cultural differences
• respect the rules of collaboration with other participants of 
interpreting (e.g., in healthcare settings)
• know how to obtain information on the nature of the meeting/
conversation to be interpreted, and know how to agree with other 
participants on the behaviour protocol 
and positioning of all the participants
4.2 National Vocational Qualification ‘Intercultural Mediator’
Unlike the above NVQ, the NVQ ‘Intercultural Mediator’ belongs to the wider category 
of Social work and counselling in KLASIUS, which is reflected in the catalogue of standards 
on professional knowledge and skills for the NVQ ‘Intercultural mediator’ (translated into 
English in Pokorn, Viezzi, and Radanović Feldberg 2020, 61-75) and in the specific key tasks 
and skills, given in Table 2.
Table 2. Knowledge and skills of the NVQ ‘Intercultural Mediator’.
Key tasks Knowledge and skills
Establish and 
facilitate intercultural 
communication 
within and outside 
of institutions related 
to the integration of 
migrants
• provide intercultural and language mediation in Slovene and 
the language of migrants in education and vocational training, 
employment, healthcare and social security, housing, public 
administration, etc.
• use different modes of language mediation 
• understand most common barriers to the integration of 
migrants in Slovenia 
• use and adapt terminology on intercultural mediation

26 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
• show awareness of social, cultural and economic characteristics 
(including linguistic, religious, political and other) of at least one 
foreign country/territory and constantly strive to improve their 
knowledge through lifelong learning
• understand how public services work 
• understand different beliefs and practices of the migrants in 
need of intercultural mediation, and understand culture-specific 
beliefs and practices present within and outside of institutions in 
Slovenia
Provide information 
to
target groups/
migrants on
their rights and 
duties in
Slovenia
• understand the structure and activities of state and public 
administration and other organizations in Slovenia, and the 
migrants’ territories/countries of origin for whom intercultural 
mediation is provided
• know categories or statuses of migrants and understand the 
rights and duties of migrants in Slovenia 
• assist migrants to get acquainted with the structure and activities 
of state and public administration and other organizations in 
Slovenia
• assist migrants to exercise their rights and duties in Slovenia 
related to education, employment, healthcare, administrative 
procedures, social security, etc.
• understand social, cultural and economic characteristics 
(including linguistic, religious, political and other) of at least one 
foreign country/territory of origin of the migrants and improve 
their knowledge in the process of lifelong learning
Promote 
intercultural 
dialogue between 
migrants and other 
members of the 
Slovene society
• understand the importance of integration as a two-way process 
and show an ability to convey this to the target group and other 
residents of Slovenia in the process of intercultural mediation 
• promote social networking 
• understand the importance of intercultural dialogue in various 
fields: cultural, social, economic, etc.
• respect and promote gender equality 
• understand migration processes and the importance of migrant 
integration
• make workers in various organizations and other citizens aware 
of the cultures of migrants and facilitate them in developing an 
appropriate attitude towards the cultural habits, practices and 
beliefs of the migrants
5 The Study
The aim of the empirical part of this study was first to identify which competences in the 
above-presented NVQs are considered more central for each of the two profiles, and second, if 
the core competences of each profile can be found in the documents defining the two profiles 

27 ARTICLES
in other countries. We first hypothesize that while the core competences for both profiles 
are similar, the importance of each competence for one or the other profile differs. Second, 
we argue that while the competences of community interpreters as defined in the Slovene 
NVQ are in line with those listed in international standards for community interpreting, the 
competences of intercultural mediators defined in the Slovene NVQ differ from those found 
in the lists of competences in documents on intercultural mediators understood as culturally 
enhanced interpreters/advocates, and are more aligned with the profiles of intercultural 
mediators understood as integration advisors for the migrants. 
5.1 Corpus
To gain insight into the differences between the two profiles, i.e., the profile of community 
interpreters and that of intercultural mediators, we have compared the two Slovene 
Catalogues of Professional Knowledge and Skills (CPKS) with each other as well as 
with two sets of documents concentrating on the two profiles issued by public bodies or 
professional associations. The English translations of the CPKS for community interpreters 
and intercultural mediators are available in Pokorn, Viezzi, and Radanović Feldberg (2020, 
Appendix 6). For comparison we have selected four international documents: two competence 
profile documents for community interpreters, and two competence profile documents for 
intercultural mediators, all of which were issued recently in the EU. We are aware of the 
existence of competence documents for community interpreters, such as the Canadian 
National Standard Guide for Community Interpreting Services or of the US competence models 
for healthcare interpreters, one of the largest subgroups of community interpreters, such as, 
for example, Core competencies for health care interpreters (Refki, Avery and Dalton 2008). Our 
focus on the EU is intentional, as the situation in the USA and other countries like Canada 
and Australia with a long history of receiving migrants with no knowledge of the dominant 
or official language of the state and assisting them to access public services differs from that 
in the EU, where some of the Member States are encountering problems associated with 
mass migration for the first time. In addition to this, in order to minimize the subjectivity 
bias we did not select the competence documents that were the reflection of the views of an 
individual or a pair of scholars (e.g., Martín and Phelan 2010 or Verrept and Coune 2016), 
but focused only on those documents that were an expression of an association, NGO or 
international project.
The documents in the corpus are thus the following:
a) two catalogues of standards on professional knowledge and skills:
 – A Catalogue of Professional Knowledge and Skills for Community Interpreters for 
Albanian (henceforth CPKS CI) ;
 – A Catalogue of Professional Knowledge and Skills for Intercultural Mediators 
(henceforth CPKS IM);
b) two competence profile documents for community interpreters: 
 – Public Service Interpreting: minimally required competence in terms of knowledge, 
skills and attitudes by the European Network for Public Service Interpreting & 
T ranslation (henceforth ENPSIT); 

28 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
 – ISO Standard 13611/2014: Interpreting – Guidelines for community interpreting 
(henceforth ISO 13611/2014); 
c) two competence profile documents for intercultural mediators: 
 – Intercultural Mediator Profile and Related Learning Outcomes, Erasmus+ project 
TIME (T rain Intercultural Mediators for a Multicultural Europe, 2015) (henceforth 
TIME); 
 – Criteria for Approving Programs to Qualify Mediators for IMI Inter-Cultural 
Certification by the International Mediation Institute (henceforth IMI ICC). 
5.2 Method
The selected texts were analysed in terms of competences with the computer-assisted 
qualitative data analysis software NVivo. Five competences identified as the most relevant in 
previous research (Pokorn and Mikolič Južnič 2020) were used as nodes. Items (sentences, 
phrases) were analysed so that each coded instance represents a specific type of knowledge or 
skill associated with a competence, while taking into account the amount of detail and the 
length of description. If a type of knowledge and/or skill is associated with different types of 
competences, such items were coded with multiple nodes. The analysed competences are the 
following:
• T ransfer competence
• Linguistic competence
• Thematic competence
• Cultural competence
• Conflict resolution and mediation competence
Finally, the aggregated qualitative data for each competence was analysed to determine its 
relative importance.
6 Comparison of Competences 
The qualitative analysis of the texts yielded the results summarized in Table 3, which 
shows a comparison of the number of coded items for each category in every text for each 
of the analysed competences. Below we concentrate on a detailed comparison of the way 
competences are represented in the analysed texts.
In Table 3 we notice that overall there are considerable differences in the number of 
coded instances for each competence in each document. Cultural, thematic and linguistic 
competence are present in all documents, while transfer competence is not mentioned in 
IMI ICC, and conflict resolution and mediation competence is not present in ENPSIT. 
The most frequently coded competence by far is the cultural competence (with a sum of 90 
instances), followed by the transfer competence, which refers to interpreting, translation, etc. 
(N=59), and the thematic competence (i.e., factual knowledge about the institutions and 
fields in which community interpreters/intercultural mediators work; N=57) . Similarly to 
thematic competence, linguistic competence, is also present in all documents (N=50), albeit 

29 ARTICLES
with varying frequency and consequent weight. The least present is conflict resolution and 
mediation competence (N=48), which is not present in ENPSIT and barely present in CPKS 
CI. In fact, it is only given relevance in the documents devoted to intercultural mediators. 
6.1 Comparing the T wo Slovene CPKSs
Firstly, focusing on the two Slovene CPKSs, there is a noticeable difference between them in 
terms of the number of instances coded for each of the analysed competences. While all the 
competences are present in both texts with at least one mention, it is evident in Figure 3 that 
in CPKS CI, for Community Interpreters, the core competence is the transfer competence, 
which includes different kinds of interpreting as well as translation skills. This is followed 
by the linguistic competence, i.e., excellent knowledge of at least two languages (in this 
case Slovene and Albanian), and cultural competence. Thematic competence seems only 
slightly less present, although it is insisted in the CPKS that it is important for community 
interpreters to have enough knowledge of the topics they are asked to interpret. The conflict 
resolution and mediation competence is mentioned only once. 
 
FIGURE 3. Comparison of NVQ IM and NVQ CI. 
In CPKS IM, the two most prominently featured are cultural and thematic competences, followed by the conflict 
resolution and mediation competence, which is far more present in NVQ IM (N=13) compared to NVQ CI (N=1). 
Linguistic and transfer competences are the least present, with the latter being mentioned rather marginally. Such an 
attitude towards these two competences, which, in contrast, are considered crucial for community interpreters, 
seems to reflect the notion that in the Slovene standard intercultural mediators are primarily facilitators of 
integration and are expected to share factual knowledge about the host country with public service users. The results 
of the comparison thus show that there indeed is a considerable difference between the two profiles and the different 
tasks and activities toward which the two are oriented. 
6.2 Comparing the Slovene NVQs with the Other Sets of Texts 
Secondly, comparing the two CPKSs with the two sets of international documents, pronounced similarities are 
revealed between CPKS CI and the set of competence profile documents for community interpreters (ENPSIT and 
ISO 13611/2014): both devote considerable attention to the transfer and linguistic competences, while the conflict 
resolution and mediation competence is virtually absent in these documents (mentioned only as connected to 
advocacy, which, according to ENPSIT and ISO 13611/2014, should be avoided). Unlike the two international 
documents, however, in CPKS CI cultural competence is mentioned as much as linguistic competence. 
 
13
23
22
8
4
1
11
8
11
21
0
5
10
15
20
25
Conflict
resolution and
mediation
competence
Cultural
competence
Thematic
competence
Linguistic
competence
Transfer
competence
NVQ IM NVQ CI
0
5
10
15
20
25
CPKS CI ENPSIT ISO 13611/2014
Conflict resolution and mediation competence Cultural competence
Thematic competence Linguistic competence
Transfer competence
Figure 3. Comparison of CPKS IM and CPKS CI.
In CPKS IM, the two most prominently featured are cultural and thematic competences, 
followed by the conflict resolution and mediation competence, which is far more present 
Table 3. Comparison of the coded competences in the analysed documents.
 
Conflict resolu-
tion and media-
tion competence
Cultural 
compe-
tence
Thematic 
compe-
tence
Linguistic 
compe-
tence
Transfer 
compe-
tence
CPKS CI 1 11 8 11 21
ENPSIT 0 5 2 9 11
ISO 13611/2014 3 10 2 9 9
IMI ICC 13 28 4 2 0
TIME 14 13 19 11 14
CPKS IM 13 23 22 8 4
CPKS IM CPKS CI

30 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
in CPKS IM (N=13) compared to CPKS CI (N=1). Linguistic and transfer competences 
are the least present, with the latter being mentioned rather marginally. Such an attitude 
towards these two competences, which, in contrast, are considered crucial for community 
interpreters, seems to reflect the notion that in the Slovene standard intercultural mediators 
are primarily facilitators of integration and are expected to share factual knowledge about 
the host country with public service users. The results of the comparison thus show that 
there indeed is a considerable difference between the two profiles and the different tasks and 
activities toward which the two are oriented.
6.2 Comparing the Slovene CPKSs with the Other Sets of Texts
Secondly , comparing the two CPKSs with the two sets of international documents, pronounced 
similarities are revealed between CPKS CI and the set of competence profile documents 
for community interpreters (ENPSIT and ISO 13611/2014): both devote considerable 
attention to the transfer and linguistic competences, while the conflict resolution and 
mediation competence is virtually absent in these documents (mentioned only as connected 
to advocacy, which, according to ENPSIT and ISO 13611/2014, should be avoided). Unlike 
the two international documents, however, in CPKS CI cultural competence is mentioned as 
much as linguistic competence.
 
FIGURE 3. Comparison of NVQ IM and NVQ CI. 
In CPKS IM, the two most prominently featured are cultural and thematic competences, followed by the conflict 
resolution and mediation competence, which is far more present in NVQ IM (N=13) compared to NVQ CI (N=1). 
Linguistic and transfer competences are the least present, with the latter being mentioned rather marginally. Such an 
attitude towards these two competences, which, in contrast, are considered crucial for community interpreters, 
seems to reflect the notion that in the Slovene standard intercultural mediators are primarily facilitators of 
integration and are expected to share factual knowledge about the host country with public service users. The results 
of the comparison thus show that there indeed is a considerable difference between the two profiles and the different 
tasks and activities toward which the two are oriented. 
6.2 Comparing the Slovene NVQs with the Other Sets of Texts 
Secondly, comparing the two CPKSs with the two sets of international documents, pronounced similarities are 
revealed between CPKS CI and the set of competence profile documents for community interpreters (ENPSIT and 
ISO 13611/2014): both devote considerable attention to the transfer and linguistic competences, while the conflict 
resolution and mediation competence is virtually absent in these documents (mentioned only as connected to 
advocacy, which, according to ENPSIT and ISO 13611/2014, should be avoided). Unlike the two international 
documents, however, in CPKS CI cultural competence is mentioned as much as linguistic competence. 
 
13
23
22
8
4
1
11
8
11
21
0
5
10
15
20
25
Conflict
resolution and
mediation
competence
Cultural
competence
Thematic
competence
Linguistic
competence
Transfer
competence
NVQ IM NVQ CI
0
5
10
15
20
25
CPKS CI ENPSIT ISO 13611/2014
Conflict resolution and mediation competence Cultural competence
Thematic competence Linguistic competence
Transfer competence
Figure 4. Comparison of CPKS CI with the set of profile competence documents for community 
interpreters.
In contrast, CPKS IM is more similar to the two documents on intercultural mediators 
(TIME and IMI ICC; Figure 5), especially in terms of the conflict resolution and mediation 
competence, which is given a prominent position in all three documents, and cultural 
competence, which is the most frequently mentioned competence in CPKS IM and IMI 
ICC. But leaving aside thematic competence, which is given the least prominence in IMI 
ICC, the competences in the Slovene CPKS IM seem to be much more similar to IMI ICC 
than to TIME. Considering that IMI ICC is a document defining intercultural mediators 
as professionals who perform mediation understood as “negotiation facilitated by a trusted 
neutral person” (International Mediation Institute 2021), while TIME defines intercultural 
mediation as “the facilitation of the integration process through the removal of both linguistic 
and cultural barriers”, it is not surprising that in the former transfer competence is completely 

31 ARTICLES
absent and linguistic competence is barely mentioned (N=2), while in the latter the two 
competences are much more present (N=14 for transfer competence and N=11 for linguistic 
competence). Unlike in TIME and similarly to IMI ICC, in CPKS IM transfer competence 
is rarely mentioned (N=4), while linguistic competence is slightly more present (N=8); both 
are, however, much less prominent than the other competences. 
FIGURE 4. Comparison of CPKS CI with the set of profile competence documents for community interpreters. 
In contrast, CPKS IM is more similar to the two documents on intercultural mediators (TIME and IMI ICC; 
Figure 5), especially in terms of the conflict resolution and mediation competence, which is given a prominent 
position in all three documents, and cultural competence, which is the most frequently mentioned competence in 
CPKS IM and IMI ICC. But leaving aside thematic competence, which is given the least prominence in IMI ICC, 
the competences in the Slovene CPKS IM seem to be much more similar to IMI ICC than to TIME. Considering 
that IMI ICC is a document defining intercultural mediators as professionals who perform mediation understood as 
“negotiation facilitated by a trusted neutral person” (International Mediation Institute 2021), while TIME defines 
intercultural mediation as “the facilitation of the integration process through the removal of both linguistic and 
cultural barriers”, it is not surprising that in the former transfer competence is completely absent and linguistic 
competence is barely mentioned (N=2), while in the latter the two competences are much more present (N=14 for 
transfer competence and N=11 for linguistic competence). Unlike in TIME and similarly to IMI ICC, in CPKS IM 
transfer competence is rarely mentioned (N=4), while linguistic competence is slightly more present (N=8); both are, 
however, much less prominent than the other competences.  
 
FIGURE 5. Comparison of CPKS IM with the set of profile competence documents for intercultural mediators. 
6.3 Discussion 
Today we see in several European countries a competition between two professions, both aiming to assist migrants 
and facilitate integration into the receiving society: the profession of a community interpreter and that of an 
intercultural mediator. In different European countries the profiles of these professions are defined differently, and 
in some environments the boundaries between the two professions are blurred. The comparison of the two Slovene 
and four international definitions of the profiles show that the differences in competences between the two Slovene 
CPKSs reflect their different positioning in the Slovene KLASIUS framework. While the main tasks of community 
interpreters – to enable communication between people with different languages in order to ensure proper 
administration/use of public services – require primarily excellent linguistic and transfer competences, for 
intercultural mediators it is essential to acquire a well-developed thematic competence and a cultural competence, so 
as to inform the public service providers and users of the particularities of the host country and/or the country of 
origin.  
The comparisons of the Slovene definitions of the two profiles and the four international documents, defining the 
competences of both professions, provided an additional insight into the positioning of the Slovene standards. While 
the Slovene definition of a community interpreter demonstrates the essential adherence to the international 
standards, the comparison of Slovene standards with the two documents defining the competences of intercultural 
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
IMI ICC TIME CPKS IM
Conflict resolution and mediation competence Cultural competence
Thematic competence Linguistic competence
Transfer competence
Figure 5. Comparison of CPKS IM with the set of profile competence documents for intercultural 
mediators.
6.3 Discussion
Today we see in several European countries a competition between two professions, both 
aiming to assist migrants and facilitate integration into the receiving society: the profession 
of a community interpreter and that of an intercultural mediator. In different European 
countries the profiles of these professions are defined differently, and in some environments 
the boundaries between the two professions are blurred. The comparison of the two Slovene 
and four international definitions of the profiles show that the differences in competences 
between the two Slovene CPKSs reflect their different positioning in the Slovene KLASIUS 
framework. While the main tasks of community interpreters – to enable communication 
between people with different languages in order to ensure proper administration/use of public 
services – require primarily excellent linguistic and transfer competences, for intercultural 
mediators it is essential to acquire a well-developed thematic competence and a cultural 
competence, so as to inform the public service providers and users of the particularities of the 
host country and/or the country of origin. 
The comparisons of the Slovene definitions of the two profiles and the four international 
documents, defining the competences of both professions, provided an additional insight 
into the positioning of the Slovene standards. While the Slovene definition of a community 
interpreter demonstrates the essential adherence to the international standards, the 
comparison of Slovene standards with the two documents defining the competences of 
intercultural mediators proved less straightforward. The international documents defining the 
competences of an intercultural mediator reflect the current confusion about this profession 
in the labour market: IMI ICC thus defines an intercultural mediator primarily as a person 
who mediates and uses an interpreter when needed, while TIME merges the profession of 

32 T . Mikolič Južnič, N. K. Pokorn In Search of the Essential Competences for Overcoming Language Barriers ...
an interpreter with that of a mediator. The comparison of the Slovene CPKS IM with the 
two international documents defining the profile of intercultural mediator shows that the 
Slovene standards do contain transfer competence, but to a lesser degree than the TIME 
competence document. In fact, the Slovene standards give the most prominent role to the 
cultural competence, similarly to IMI ICC competence document. 
7 Conclusion
Despite the fact that Slovenia is a country with an exceptionally high percentage of inhabitants 
who can use English as a lingua franca, and the fact that numerous migrants who come 
to Slovenia, including those who apply for international protection, claim that they can 
communicate in English, various research has shown that ELF cannot be effectively used 
in high risk situations, such as healthcare. In such cases, high-quality language support is 
essential. As a response to this need, two national vocational qualifications were registered in 
Slovenia in 2020: that of a community interpreter for Albanian, and that of an intercultural 
mediator. Moreover, two additional NVQs – Community Interpreter for Arabic and Persian 
– are currently in preparation. 
In this article, apart from examining the limitations of English as a lingua franca in public 
services, we have focused on the competences expressed in the two CPKSs, with the aim to 
establish the relative importance of the competences for each profile. We have confirmed the 
hypothesis that the competences are similar: in fact, the same competences are mentioned in 
both documents. The weight given to each competence, however, differs considerably. The 
greatest dissimilarities were found in the mentions of transfer and linguistic competence, 
which are very important for community interpreters, and conflict resolution and mediation 
competence, which is much more prominent with intercultural mediators. The comparison 
further revealed that the professional qualification for community interpreters closely followed 
the definitions of the profile by European associations and by the international ISO standard. 
The comparison of the Slovene standards for an intercultural mediator, however, showed 
that the Slovene vocational qualification did not follow the models where the profession 
of an interpreter is merged with that of a mediator, but opted for a description that defines 
the intercultural mediator as primarily an integration facilitator. This is also reflected in the 
testing procedure envisaged in both profiles: while the candidates for the national certificate 
of community interpreters will be tested in interpreting from and into Slovene, the candidates 
for the national certificate of intercultural mediators will be tested only in Slovene on their 
knowledge of the Slovene public institutions. 
Since the CPKSs came into being in 2020 and no certification exams have taken place as of 
the beginning of 2021, a limitation of this study is that currently the descriptors have not 
been tested in practice. This will be carried out as soon as examinations start.
Finally, we hope that the establishment of the two National Vocational Qualifications is a 
step towards greater clarity and more clear-cut definitions of the two profiles on the labour 
market, which will have potential benefits both for the public service providers and users, 
who will be able to choose, for each task, the most appropriate professional, and will know 
what to expect from each of them. 

33 ARTICLES
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