Medical interpreting and cultural awareness in the South of Spain (original) (raw)
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This thesis set out to investigate the field of public service interpreting in southern Spain, with a particular emphasis on the position of volunteer interpreters working at two different healthcare institutions. It looks at the power relationships that develop between agents that hold different degrees of control and autonomy, especially in a context where individuals hold different forms and volume of capital in each encounter. Drawing on Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, the study offers an in-depth examination of a group of volunteer interpreters as legitimate agents of the wider field of public service interpreting and the sub-field of healthcare interpreting, while looking at their impact on the structures and ethics of the larger field. This is the first project to employ Bourdieu’s theory in a sustained case study of a healthcare context where volunteer interpreters operate as legitimised institutional agents. One of the peculiarities of the two settings under examination is that volunteer interpreters seem to have acquired a high degree of institutionalisation, which provides them with a large volume of symbolic capital and allows them to take part in the field as legitimate members of the healthcare team, often occupying similar positions to those adopted by doctors at the top end of the field hierarchy. The study adopts an ethnographic approach based on a triangulation of data: participant observation of volunteer interpreters, audio-recorded interpreter-mediated interaction and focus-group interviews with volunteer interpreters. The primary data that informs the thesis consists of four focus groups carried out with volunteer interpreters in two different Spanish hospitals. The additional use of participant observations and audio-recordings make it possible to examine not only interpreters’ perceptions but also actual behaviour in authentic encounters, and to compare interpreters’ perception of their positioning with the actual positions they often occupy in the field.
interpreting in health care settings (Case Study of Spain and Russia
INTED2018 (12th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference), 2018
This paper aims at investigating provisions of interpreting and translation services in the health care settings for people with limited official language command. Special emphasis is laid on possible cultural and language barriers in interpreter-mediated communication this domain. The research aims at identifying interpreter's competencies relevant for enhancing the effectiveness of in-hospital or out-hospital doctor-patient communication via thorough study of the existing practices to ensure access to health care services for people with no or very little command of the host country's official language. The research methodology applies both qualitative and quantitative methods. The authors also have used methods of empirical experiment and some statistics. The experiment involved Master degree program students doing "Interpreter and Translator for Public Services and Institutions". To make the statistics and collected data more reliable, in the course of the experiment students were directly involved into interpreting practice for people with limited official language proficiency. The research findings make the authors believe that linguistic and interpreting competences alone are not sufficient enough to guarantee effective interpreter assisted communication. This brings the authors to a consideration that knowledge of field terminology needs to be used along with the given fact, that medical interpreter has to act as lingua cultural mediator, to master communication skills, be able to integrate and work in a team, remaining at the same time within the boundaries of the professional role. Some drawbacks were also revealed: part of the Masters did not show much interest in the profession. This was explained either by low prestige or doctors' treating the interpreters as the inferior. The authors assume the present article may have both theoretical and practical value as its findings can be used in determining the content and structure of Master's degree courses in health care settings.
2015
The linguistic barriers that healthcare professionals encounter when communicating with foreign language-speaking patients diminish the quality of medical care, as has been demonstrated in several studies. Nevertheless, in Spanish health services, these communicative difficulties are frequently underestimated and, in order to overcome them, ad hoc interpreters are used. The main objective of this article consists in showing that the use of untrained interpreters partly derives from healthcare professionals’ 1. This article is the English version of “La influencia de los profesionales sanitarios en el reconocimiento y el desarrollo de la interpretacion medica” by Almudena Nevado Llopis. It was not published on the print version of MonTI for reasons of space. The online version of MonTI does not suffer from these limitations, and this is our way of promoting plurilingualism. primera
Abstract: This article discusses the process of institutionalization of a migrant-oriented NGO where volunteers work as non-professional interpreters and where this had led to the integration of volunteer interpreting services in two hospitals in the Costa del Sol region in southern Spain. It explores the processes of socialization of volunteers and institutionalization of interpreters, leading to the development of an official NGO, drawing on the personal narratives of volunteers collected through focus groups and participant observation. The article begins by looking at the early stages of socialization of volunteers, through which they internalize the field structures and a series of dispositions shaped by empathy and compassion, resulting in volunteers adopting different positions available to them such as interpreters, caretakers and patient advocates. After the initial process of socialization, a process of institutionalization was requested by the regional government for the official establishment of the NGO. Drawing up the constitution of the now official NGO entailed the bureaucratization of the volunteers’ position as interpreters, which provided them with a series of assets and the legitimization of their activity as institutional agents. This study demonstrates how in this particular case volunteer non-professional interpreting became essential for the institutions in which the services are provided. The volunteer interpreters of this NGO are now legitimate institutional agents with a strong degree of professional autonomy that allows them to adopt a series of positions that belong to the domain of intercultural mediators and cultural brokers.
Trans. Revista de Traductología, 25, 2021
La investigación en torno al papel del intérprete sanitario siempre ha sido un tema recurrente en la bibliografía especializada, con especial énfasis en el marco de consultas médicas. Consecuentemente, se ha prestado una menor atención a su papel en otras actividades en las que también participan (p. ej. acompañamiento a pacientes). Este trabajo pretende contribuir a mejorar la comprensión sobre el papel del intérprete en dichas áreas. Median-te observación participante, se examinaron los papeles adoptados por cinco intérpretes sanitarios en actividades distintas a consultas interpretadas entre médico y paciente, que tuvieron lugar en un hospital madrileño a lo largo de cinco meses. El análisis temático permitió identificar cinco papeles emergentes: mediador, defensor del paciente, navegador institucional, embajador de la salud y compañero conversacional. Un resultado importante es que la mayor parte de las actividades con participación de intérpretes sanitarios de la muestra tienen lugar fuera de las salas de consulta, por lo que es esencial indagar en los papeles que desempeñan en estos espacios alternativos. Examinar el papel de los intérpretes en distintas actividades en el marco de la asistencia sanitaria es crucial para obtener una visión precisa de lo que verdaderamente significa ser solo un intérprete. // Research on role in healthcare interpreting has always been a recurrent theme in the literature, with a particular focus on the very act of the medical consultation. Consequently, the role that interpreters enact in other activities in which they also participate (e.g. accompanying patients) has comparatively received scant attention. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the interpreter’s role in these areas. Drawing on participant observation, we examined the roles enacted by five healthcare interpreters in activities different to provider-patient consultations involving an interpreter that occurred over a period of five months in a Madrilenian hospital (Spain). Thematic analysis allowed for the identification of five emerging roles: mediator, patient advocate, institutional navigator, healthcare ambassador and conversation partner. A key finding is that most events in which interpreters of the sample participate take place outside consultations rooms, which makes it essential to shift the attention to the roles they play in these alternative events. Examining the role of interpreters in different activities within the realm of healthcare provision is essential to construct an accurate vision of what being just an interpreter really means.
Investigating the Effects of a (Non-) Professional Interpreting Service in Healthcare
International Journal of Language and Linguistics Vol. 7, No. 4, , 2020
Much of our societal interaction is sustained and enriched by communication across linguistic borders between fellow citizens, which is not necessarily due to the influx of people from less affluent countries. In contrast to the often figurative gesture of an interpreting service, interpreting does in fact take place at the coalface of everyday activities where a linguistic impasse occurs. Even though we subscribe to the notion of parity and esteem of our languages, the reality is, however, that our daily life is saturated by inconsistent power inequality and redress. Interpreting in such instances cannot be "a neutral and symmetrical exchange between two equal cultural forces" (Mezei et al., 2014:13). Interpreters-whether trained, poorly trained or untrained-have crucial and often unrecognised and unforeseen effects. Consequently, this article surpasses official multilingualism, the movement between the languages concerned and the analysis of linguistic transfer. Instead, the focus is on the social effects of interpreting. The practical aspects of interpreting and the examination of the societal context of interpreting are the central points in this article. A language barrier between patients and healthcare service providers is a major stumbling block for the provision of quality care to a culturally diverse society. Such an obstacle correlates negatively with patient satisfaction and studies have showed that patients experiencing language difficulties are less likely to return for follow-up consultations and also less likely to comply with prescriptions (Schlemmer, 2005:4). Against this backdrop, this article will take as its methodology revisiting instances of healthcare interpreting services. These instances will be contextualised and framed in terms of the society in which they occur. This will be done with reference to the event and effect (see Chesterman, 1998). The ultimate goal is to determine and deliberate on the event and effect in terms of the practical aspects of interpreting and the examination of the societal context of interpreting.
Ethics in theory and practice in Spanish healthcare community interpreting
MonTi: Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación, 2018
Community interpreters carry out their daily work within different contextual situations and follow specific codes of ethics, whilst at the same time they are confronted with communicative conflicts in which ethical responsibilities may overlap with their professional duties. The aim of this article is to understand the significance of ethical issues in Spanish healthcare interpreting and to determine to what extent 'unethical' interpreting (according to codes of ethics) can become a barrier or a bridge to effective communication. The article explores the challenges, conflicts and dilemmas encountered by public service interpreters in healthcare in Madrid, and examines the beliefs held by these professionals regarding their knowledge of codes of ethics, as well as their implementation. The findings show that the participants' perceptions of their beliefs and knowledge of codes of ethics were not as impartial as they thought, as they assumed functions which codes of ethics do not consider appropriate.
Revisiting the interpreting service in the healthcare sector: a descriptive overview
Over the past decade many studies have shown that ad hoc interpreting services are still the norm for the healthcare sector in the South African context. The healthcare sector in the Western Cape is characterised by primarily Afrikaans and English-speaking doctors, or medical practitioners in general, who do not understand Xhosa-speaking patients. In order to bridge this language gap, ad hoc interpreting services are employed, which are rendered by family members of a patient, nurses, or at times even by porters or cleaners. As a result of the fact that these ad hoc interpreters lack training in interpreting theory and practice, they tend to distort communication, which impacts negatively on the quality of the healthcare that the patient receives. This consequent lack of quality in healthcare therefore can be directly related to the quality of the interpreted product that the interpreter renders. The goal of this article is to investigate interpreting practices within three tertiary hospitals, and to reflect on the quality of the service rendered by the interpreters at these hospitals, whether ad hoc or fully-employed interpreters. Keywords: interpreting; cultural diversity; healthcare
TRANS. Revista de Traductología, 2021
Researchers have long been preoccupied with the issue of role in healthcare interpreting. However, most studies approach this construct in the course of medical consultations, leaving somewhat unattended other spaces and activities in which interpreters also participate. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the healthcare interpreters’ role in these areas. Drawing on participant observation, I examined the roles played by five interpreters at a hospital in Madrid for five months in activities different to provider-patient interactions (e.g. waiting with patients). Seven key roles were identified outside medical consultations: intercultural and moral mediator, patient advocate, institutional navigator, healthcare ambassador, information miner and companion/conversation partner. A key finding is that most events in which interpreters participate occur outside medical consultations, which makes it essential to shift the attention to the roles played in these alter...