The war in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine and the need for more interpreters
The war in Ukraine has led to an extraordinary need for good interpreters between Ukrainian and Norwegian who can ensure that Ukrainians who are new to Norway are well received and taken care of. In a report from November 2022, UDI states that they are planning for 80,000 Ukrainian refugees during 2022 and 2023*. Before the war, there were few qualified interpreters in the National Register of Interpreters in Ukrainian, and although this number has increased after targeted efforts, there is still a gap between the number of interpreters and the need for interpreters.
Since the war started, we at Salita have had an increase of 18450% in assignments in Ukrainian, and although we have brought in a number of good, new interpreters to handle the increased amount of assignments, we still have a strong need for more, to cover the need newly arrived Ukrainians have for good help in their own language.
Temporary changes to the legislation
The government presented a proposal to the Storting for temporary changes to the legislation to ensure that we can best take care of those who come from Ukraine. In proposition 107L, the government writes about the great need for more interpreters compared to the new Interpreters Act which came on 1 January 2022. In the new Interpreters Act there will be a requirement to use qualified interpreters who are registered in the National Register of Interpreters, in addition to stricter rules on exhaustive police certification in certain assignment types and strict control of incapacity.
The Interpreters Act states that in the event of very high refugee arrivals from a language group, such as in the case of Ukraine, there may be exceptions to the legislation. In addition, you have the option of deviating from the law until 31.12.26, as there are currently not enough qualified interpreters to follow up on the law. This means that they see that the need for interpreters in Ukrainian is significantly greater than the number of qualified interpreters, even after extraordinary measures to train more Ukrainian interpreters.
Together we can help
For us at Salita, this means that we are now looking for new interpreters in Ukrainian who are not registered in the National Register of Interpreters to cover the great need. If you are bilingual in Norwegian/Ukrainian and want to help, we would very much like to get in touch with you. Send us another emailhr@salita.noand tell us briefly about your language skills and experience (work, studies, volunteering). Together we can meet the great need for interpreters and ensure that the refugees from Ukraine are met with professionalism, friendliness and a well-prepared support system.
