​The purpose of this paper is to investigate how fictional interpreters are represented in Slovak-Swiss novelist Irena Brežná’s The Thankless Foreigner (2012) and Algerian-Italian novelist Amara Lakhous’s Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (2008). Although Brežná’s narrator and Lakhous’s Amedeo work as interpreters, they take different positions with regard to key issues such as adopting a new language, changing one’s name and self-presentation. These differences may be understood within divergent spatio-temporal contexts and ethno-racial forces that lie behind, and effectually shape, immigration and settlement experiences. Both protagonists represent refugees and migrants at courthouses, hospitals, psychiatric clinics and police stations, and hence, their daily experiences are greatly influenced by the narratives they interpret. The structure of each novel reflects this intricate relationship. The two novels are set during two different periods of time, and they depict the experiences of refugees and migrants of different ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds.