Tolken in de zorg: hoe wordt er met anderstalige patiënten gecommuniceerd?

This article analyzes structures within which interpreters are deployed in the healthcare sector in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. It pays particular attention to the status, conditions, and guidelines that guarantee the provision of interpreting services. The first part also explains some important concepts that are closely related to healthcare interpreting, including language brokering and natural interpreting. Despite the fact that funding for interpreting services was stopped by the government (2012), it is a developed field in the Netherlands. As a reaction to the abolition, there was a wave of protests; many parties believe that this has compromised one of the human rights (the right to access to care). In the Czech Republic, a new law was introduced (2011), the Health Services and Conditions of Provision Act, which guarantees patients the right to communication that is understandable to the patient. Since then, certain facilities were introduced that should make communication with non-native speaking patients effective. Nevertheless, more experience and knowledge should be brought in to be able to speak of a good organizational structure and quality.

Recipiency and peripheral participation in language brokering

In a multilingual situation where some participants do not speak or understand one of the used languages, the participants need to balance between the language choice and the restrictions it creates for opportunities to participate. In this conversation analytic study, I examine how participants manage differentiated possibilities of participation in asymmetrically multilingual interactions in instances of language brokering and to what extent does brokering draw the recipient into the conversation. The paper concludes, first, that participants’ embodied displays of recipiency toward a main speaker, whose talk they cannot (fully) understand, as well as embodied displays of disengagement from the conversation, can serve to “recruit” linguistic assistance from others. Second, the broker’s orientations to the recipient’s participation status are reflected in the content of the brokering turns. The study thereby demonstrates how participants multimodally negotiate forms of peripheral participation and their accountability. The study argues that, although language brokering is done only occasionally and includes great variation in terms of how prior talk is translated, these practices are not random but result from a systematic interactional organization of action and participation.

Spanish-speaking family members and non-Spanish speakers’ supportive and unsupportive communication for Latina/o/x language brokers

Past research with Latina/o/x adolescent samples has found that language brokering can be a positive experience, but at times, stressful. Although many factors can contribute to these different brokering experiences, the ways in which Spanish-speaking family members and non-Spanish speakers support (or do not support) Latina/o/x adolescent children during their brokering exchanges can be a contributing factor. To better understand how Spanish-speaking family members and non-Spanish speakers can support young brokers, we interviewed 31 Latina/o/x early adolescent brokers. Our thematic analysis revealed that when brokers reported on family, the most prevalent type of supportive communication received was informational supportive communication. Brokers also reported that their family engaged in unsupportive emotional communication, but when family provided supportive communication, brokers felt efficacious and proud for helping their family. In addition, most brokers reported receiving informational supportive communication from non-Spanish speakers. Nevertheless, some brokers also reported that non-Spanish speakers provided limited informational supportive communication (i.e., absence of supportive communication). Our findings reveal what supportive and unsupportive communication might look like for brokers and how supportive communication can contribute to positive experiences for brokers.

How language brokering relates to empathy and psychological well-being

Language brokering often brings children in close, intimate interactions with parents, which, over time, may help them understand their parents and others in the form of empathy. Specifically, frequency and feelings about language brokering may relate to greater empathy. In addition, language brokering may have an indirect effect on psychological well-being via empathy. For this study, 459 language brokers ( M age = 21.36, Female = 80%) completed an online questionnaire about frequency and feelings about language brokering, empathy, and psychological well-being. There were direct effects of language brokering burden, language brokering role reversal, and language brokering efficacy, but not frequency of language brokering, on empathy. We found an indirect association of language brokering burden and language brokering efficacy, to depressive symptoms through empathy. Findings indicate that empathy may play a role in how language brokering relates to psychological well-being.