Rate My Professor Sophia Ra

Dr. Sophia Ra serves as Associate Lecturer (Teaching and Leadership) in the Translation and Interpreting Program and Academic Casual in the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University. She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New South Wales on 23 June 2022, focusing on interpreting studies with the thesis "Communication challenges for healthcare interpreters within a multicultural society: intercultural or ethical?" Prior degrees include a Master's of Translation and Interpreting from Macquarie University (21 April 2011) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Linguistics Research from the same institution (2012). Professionally, she is a translator, interpreter, and subtitler working between Korean and English, providing both onsite and remote simultaneous interpreting services.

Sophia Ra's research interests encompass healthcare interpreting, intercultural communication, and interpreter training. Selected publications include the chapter "Australian healthcare interpreters' perceptions of the challenges in intercultural communication" in The Routledge Handbook of Korean Interpreting (2024), the book chapter "Intercultural communication challenge: the interpreter’s role in health care interpreting" in Redefining Translation and Interpretation in Cultural Evolution (2018), "Interpreting in political and diplomatic settings" in AUSIT InTouch magazine (2021), and "Intercultural communication: challenges in interpreter-mediated medical consultations" in AUSIT InTouch magazine (2017). She received the Chitra Fernando Fellowship award from the Macquarie University Department of Linguistics for a project on Korean migrants' interpreting needs. Sophia serves as Associate Investigator on the project "Translator and Interpreter Training for a changing world" (2025-2026) and Primary Chief Investigator on "Communication access for people with communication support needs" (2024-ongoing). She has presented on topics including healthcare interpreters’ challenges, intercultural competence in interpreting, and professional judgment at academic conferences and events.