The Quandary of Church Interpreters in Ghana: Conduit or Interventionist?

Grace Sintim Adasi ORCID iD & Mercy Akrofi Ansah ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.6  No.6 Article 7 pp. 740-751
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025667 | Published online 7th May, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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This study examines the varied roles of church interpreters in Ghanaian multilingual congregations, focusing on how they balance their primary function as conduits with necessary interventionist approaches. This study relied on Hanna Niska’s role pyramid as an appropriate theoretical model to unravel the complex role of the church interpreter. Through qualitative research involving 12 interpreters from six churches in the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly area, transcripts of recorded sermons, interpreted texts from these churches, and participants’ observations at church services, the study revealed that while interpreters view their role as divinely mandated, they often must adapt beyond mere translation to serve their congregations effectively. Interpreters often take on additional roles as conduits, interventionists, and culture brokers. They help listeners better understand or explain how an idea in the sermon applies to Ghanaian life. Sometimes they even become advocates. This differs from court or hospital interpreters, who typically have separate roles for each assignment. Because interpreters feel called by God and valued by their community, they move between tasks fluidly. However, the study also pointed out that some of these interpreters are not well-educated, sometimes leading to misinformation and misinterpretations.  The study recommends developing specialised training programmes for church interpreters and establishing guidelines for appropriate interventionist practices.  Fora for interpreter-preacher collaboration should be created, and finally, it is crucial for further research to be conducted in different denominational settings. This paper serves as relevant literature for translation and interpretation studies, communication studies, mother-tongue translations, religious and theological studies, and African cultural studies.

Keywords: Interpreter, Church, Conduit, Interventionist, Culture Broker

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Rev Dr. Mrs. Grace Sintim Adasi is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and currently the Principal of Agogo Presbyterian Women’s College of Education. Dr. Adasi is a member of the Governing Council of the University for Development Studies (UDS). She is also the research coordinator for the Ghana chapter of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (CIRCLE) and a Yale-Edinburgh Group on World Christianity and the History of Mission member. She holds a PhD in the Study of Religions and a Master’s in African Studies (MPhil), Educational Innovation and Leadership (MPhil), and Educational Leadership and Management (MA). She is an active member of several professional and scholarly associations, including the African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR), the American Academy of Religion (AAR), the African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA), the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), the American Society of Missiology (ASM), the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR), the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), and the Religious Research Association (RRA). Her research areas focus on Gender and Christianity, Culture and Spirituality, Indigenous African Religions and Education, and Women’s Empowerment. She has also published several articles and is the author of the book Gender and Change: Roles and Challenges of Ordained Women Ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

Prof. Mercy Akrofi Ansah had her Ph.d degree (Linguistics) from the University of Manchester, UK. She teaches and researches at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. Her area of interests include Grammar of less-studied languages; language use in multilingual contexts; Biographical studies. She has published extensively in local and international journals. She is a member of the following bodies: Linguistics Association of Ghana; West African Linguistics Society; Association of Contemporary African linguistics. She is a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, 2011.

Adasi, Grace Sintim and Mercy Akrofi Ansah. “The Quandary of Church Interpreters in Ghana: Conduit or Interventionist?,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no.6 (2025): 740-751. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025667

© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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