La interpretació i la intermediació lingüística a les institucions públiques sueques: l'ús de nenes i nens per a la comunicació multilingüe

AutorKristina Gustafsson - Eva Norström - Petra Höglund
CargoAssociate Professor and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Work, Linnaeus University - Independent Researcher, Höganäs, Sweden - Department of Social Work, Linnaeus University
Páginas13-26
LANGUAGE INTERPRETING AND BROKERING IN SWEDISH PUBLIC SERVICE
INSTITUTIONS: THE USE OF CHILDREN FOR MULTILINGUAL COMMUNICATION
Kristina Gustafsson*, Eva Norström**, Petra Höglund***
Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse experiences of using children as language brokers in Swedish public services, and
the consequences of doing so. We begin by discussing and comparing the two concepts of brokering and interpreting.
We then go on to analyse and discuss data obtained by quantitative and qualitative methods, including two online
surveys whose respondents worked in health care and social services, and seven group interviews which included
persons with experience of language brokering as children. A main result is the existence of discrepancies between how
public service staff described their experiences of using children as interpreters, and how child interpreters perceived
their situation. The former assert that children are rarely used as interpreters, only in critical situations or for simple
assignments, and never on a regular basis. By contrast, interviewees with experiences of language brokering as children
declare that they were regularly called on to interpret, every day, and in all kinds of situations. They testify that they
were not asked for their consent, nor was their presence ever questioned. Although contradictory, both perspectives are
relevant and describe the reality of those who participated in the surveys and group interviews. The discrepancy can
be explained by the fact that the parents and relatives of the brokering children may have had encounters with different
public service institutions several times a week. If all these institutions legitimised the use of children on isolated
occasions and in simple and acute situations, this can seem like full-time work from the perspective of the child. Finally,
we focus on the consequences for patients and service users in terms of legal certainty and discrimination.
Keywords: public service interpreting; social work; health care; non-professional interpreting; language brokering;
children; migration; Sweden; group interviews; online surveys.
LA INTERPRETACIÓ I LA INTERMEDIACIÓ LINGÜÍSTICA A LES INSTITUCIONS
PÚBLIQUES SUEQUES: L’ÚS DE NENES I NENS PER A LA COMUNICACIÓ
MULTILINGÜE
Resum
L’objectiu d’aquest article és analitzar les experiències amb nenes i nens com a intermediadors lingüístics als serveis públics suecs,
i les seves conseqüències. Comencem comentant i comparant els conceptes d’intermediació i d’interpretació. Tot seguit analitzem
i comentem les dades obtingudes per mètodes quantitatius i qualitatius, en concret, dues enquestes en línia fetes a treballadores de
l’àmbit de l’atenció sanitària i els serveis socials, i set entrevistes en grup que incloïen persones amb experiència en intermediació
lingüística quan eren infants. Un dels resultats principals és que hi ha discrepàncies en la manera com el personal del servei públic
descrivia les seves experiències a l’hora de fer servir nenes i nens com a intèrprets, i la manera com els joves intèrprets percebien
la seva situació. Els primers armen que gairebé mai es fan servir nenes i nens com a intèrprets, només en situacions crítiques o
per a tasques senzilles, però mai amb regularitat. Per contra, els entrevistats amb experiència en intermediació lingüística quan
eren infants declaren que recorrien a ells amb freqüència per interpretar, cada dia, en tota mena de situacions. Manifesten que
no se’ls demanava el seu consentiment, i que tampoc no es qüestionava mai la seva presència. Tot i que són contradictòries, les
dues perspectives són rellevants i descriuen la realitat de les persones que van participar en les enquestes i les entrevistes en grup.
Aquesta discrepància es pot explicar pel fet que els pares i els familiars de les nenes i nens que fan d’intermediadors poden haver
tingut contacte amb diferents institucions públiques diverses vegades a la setmana. Si totes aquestes institucions legitimessin l’ús
de nenes i nens en ocasions aïllades i en situacions senzilles i crítiques, això pot semblar una feina a jornada completa des del punt
de vista d’un infant. Per acabar, ens centrem en les conseqüències per als pacients i per als usuaris del servei pel que fa a seguretat
jurídica i discriminació.
Paraules clau: interpretació als serveis públics; treball social; atenció sanitària; interpretació no professional; mediació lingüística;
infants; migració; Suècia; entrevistes en grup; enquestes en línia.
* Kristina Gustafsson, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Work, Linnaeus University. kristina.gustafsson@lnu.se
** Eva Norström, Ph. D. Independent Researcher, Höganäs, Sweden. eva@evanorstrom.se
***Petra Höglund, Research Assistant, Department of Social Work, Linnaeus University. petra.hoglund@lnu.se
Article received: 28.12.2018. Blind reviews: 10.02.2019 and 10.03.2019. Final version accepted: 01.04.2019.
Recommended citation: Gustafsson, Kristina, Norström, Eva, & Höglund, Petra. (2019). Language interpreting and brokering in Swedish
public service institutions: the use of children for multilingual communication. Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, 71,
13-26. https://doi.org/10.2436/rld.i71.2019.3260
Kristina Gustafsson, Eva Norström, Petra Höglund
Language interpreting and brokering in Swedish public service institutions: the use of children...
Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, núm. 71, 2019 14
Summary
Introduction and background
1 Previous research, concepts and theory
2 Methods
2.1 Online surveys
2.2 Group interviews
3 Results
3.1 Results from the online surveys
3.2 Results from the group interviews with public service staff
3.3 Results from the group interviews with children
4 Analysis and discussion
Reference list
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Introduction and background
“For my part, it became an anger towards society because my family was not treated properly. I could
see how my mom was ghting and I could see how the social workers were posing demands that were
disproportionate. It made me think society was shit. (…) The fact that I had to be involved in interpreting
created that anger. Today I have turned it into a driving force that I use daily. If there is anyone who can create
change, it is us, the second generation (…) As soon as I meet someone at my job that says, ‘but my son can
interpret for me’ I say ‘never ever’. I just know what it’s like to sit there on the other side of the table (Man,
25 years old)”.
The above quotation is taken from a group interview with three young men with personal experience as child
interpreters. The man expresses feelings of anger and loss of faith in Swedish society as a result of many
years of brokering for his parents in different public service settings. Today he works in a public service
agency where he is often confronted with the use of children as interpreters, and this evokes a range of bad
memories and feelings.
The interview is one of seven group interviews conducted between 2017 and 2018 as part of a study on the use
of children as interpreters in health care and social work. The study is based on two surveys distributed among
staff working in private and public health care and social services in the areas of functional impairment and
nancial assistance in Sweden. The study was commissioned by the National Board of Health and Welfare,
which wanted to investigate the situation of children used as interpreters in public service settings. No data
or statistics on the occurrence of this kind of non-professional interpreting in Sweden have been compiled
before. Questioning public service staff about their use of children as interpreters is a delicate task, since
the 1986 legislation states that public services should use interpreters for both sign and spoken languages
(Swedish Statute Book, SSB, 1986: 223). The law was updated in 2017:
When an authority makes contact with a person who does not have an adequate command of the Swedish
language, the authority will use an interpreter and ensure that documents are translated in order that the
person in question may fully exercise his or her rights. (SSB, 2017: 900 § 13).
Other Swedish laws, e.g. the Social Service Act (SSB, 2001: 453) and the Health Care Act (SSB, 1982:
763) state that patients and service users should take an active role in their own cases, and that, as far as is
possible, care and treatment will be designed and conducted in consultation with the patient or service user
with respect for the equal value of all human beings and the dignity of the individual. This indirectly creates
an obligation to call for an interpreter when non-Swedish speakers are involved. Swedish legislation also
emphasises the duty of the public authority to overcome the language barrier. In addition, it is the public
service staff member, working on the front line in encounters with service users, who is given the right to
an interpreter as a tool for making legally secure investigations, diagnoses and decisions about treatments or
economical support. The legal rights of patients and service users are the legislators’ concern (Gustafsson,
Norström, & Fioretos, 2013).
A cohesive training programme for community interpreters in spoken languages has been governed and
nanced by the state since 2007, while translators and interpreters have been able to obtain ofcial, licensed
status since the mid-1970s. Furthermore, all Swedish public service institutions procure interpreting services.
Their requests for tenders specify certain standards, e.g. that the service providers tendering for a contract
must supply trained interpreters who adhere to specic ethical principles. Interpreting services in Sweden
have many aws, but they do provide public service staff with the support of interpreters with relevant
linguistic knowledge, proven interpreting skills and adherence to specic ethical principles (Gustafsson,
Norström & Fioretos 2012; Norström, Fioretos & Gustafsson 2012).
The aim of this article is to investigate experiences of using children as brokers instead of professional
interpreters in public service settings, and the consequences of doing so. The concept experience refers
to “already elapsed experience that is the object of analytical and abstract knowledge” (Frykman & Gilje,
2003: 15). In the article, we describe and analyse these experiences, and their consequences for the people
involved, from two main perspectives: that of public service staff and that of adults used as brokers during
their childhood. We also investigate the use of children as interpreters from a wider societal perspective,
looking at the consequences for legal and human rights as well as different forms of discrimination. The
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analysis is based on quantitative data from two surveys and qualitative data from group interviews. We use
the concepts of brokering and interpreting to analyse the differences between using children and professional
interpreters (c.f. Hale, 2007; Ozolins, 2014; Orellana, 2017; Weisskirch, 2017).
1 Previous research, concepts and theory
To provide a background for this article, we have selected research from the elds of social work and health
care relating to both professional interpreting and other forms of translation and mediation in multilingual
encounters between social workers, health care staff, and service users or patients (Cohen, Moran-Ellis, &
Smaje, 1999; Chand, 2005; Gerrish, Chau, Sobowale, & Birks, 2004; Kale & Syed, 2010; Kriz & Skivenes,
2010; Lucas, 2015; Guntzviller, Jensen, & Carreno, 2017; Westlake & Jones, 2017). These studies identify
and analyse a wide range of challenges in both social services and health care sectors. Staff view the use of
professional interpreters as an obligation which they regularly disregard, due to an unsatisfactory availability
of interpreters. Staff frequently nd that interpreters have insufcient skills, and that access to professionally
trained interpreters is difcult (Gerrish et al., 2004; Kriz & Skivenes, 2010; Westlake & Jones, 2017). Both
social workers and health care staff also worry about using children to interpret, however. They argue that
these situations place the children in a position of responsibility which exposes them to inappropriate mental
stress (Chand, 2005). According to previous research, staff also believe that using children as interpreters
undermines the possibility of an ideal childhood: children may become parentied, and the balance of power
within the family may shift if children inhabit positions of power superior to those of their parents (c.f. Becker
& Leu, 2014; Lucas, 2015). Both social workers and health care staff frequently notice that the presence of
children during a consultation inhibits talk about sensitive subjects (Chand, 2005; Lucas, 2015). They also
point out that they can neither rely on nor impose demands on children’s skills (ibid.). There is agreement
that children should not be used as interpreters when it comes to complicated or sensitive cases (c.f. Cohen
et al., 1999). Yet despite these considerations, both social workers and health care staff defend the use of
children. Lucas (2015) concludes that the social workers in her study construct arguments that legitimise
this use in simple cases such as setting up dates for meetings and collecting preliminary information on rst
contact with the family.
A review of the literature on child language brokering (c.f. Orellana, 2003; Orellana, 2009, 2017; Orellana,
Dorner, & Pulido, 2003; Weisskirch, 2017) reveals that the use of children as brokers is understood to be a
normal phenomenon for migrant families. A main topic of discussion is the risk of overestimating children’s
abilities and underestimating their contribution to society (Angelelli, 2017; Antonini, 2017; Orellana, 2003;
2009; 2017; Orellana, Dorner, & Pulido, 2003; Weisskirch, 2017). There is also shared recognition that
this kind of non-professional interpreting has until recently been overlooked in the eld of interpreting and
translation studies (Harris, 2017).
A reading of the previous research in the areas of social work and health care reveals the lack of a uniform
terminology that frames the differences between professional interpreting, non-professional interpreting and
language brokering (c.f. Antonini et al., 2017). To analyse the experiences of using children and relatives as
interpreters in public service settings, and the consequences of doing so, it is useful to distinguish between
the activities of professional interpreting and (informal) brokering. Adequate denitions of professional
interpreting and brokering have been formulated based on current debates and discussions in the eld
of interpreting and translation studies. Hale (2007) proposes a denition of professional interpreting
applicable in all institutions and situations where community interpreting takes place. Key characteristics
are professional training, a code of ethics and payment. Hale’s denition correlates with the denition of
professional interpreting in the Swedish context, where the activity is clearly dened in the public service
sector (Gustafsson et al., 2013).
The concept of language brokering, however, despite appearing frequently in research on multilingualism
and children translating for their families, is less well dened among public service staff (Weisskirch, 2017).
Kam, Guntzviller and Stahl (2017: 26) dene language brokers as “individuals with little to no formal
training who act as linguistic and cultural intermediaries for two or more parties, both from different cultural
backgrounds”.
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Based on the previous research presented above, and for the purposes of this article, we dene interpreting
as what professional interpreters do when they interpret in a public service institution where requirements
exist to safeguard legal and fair treatment for service users and public service staff. This establishes a clear
distinction with language brokering. Another important difference between interpreting and brokering is the
professional interpreter’s exposure to and knowledge of professional ethics. The professional interpreter
interprets for all parties in a meeting. Interpreters are assumed to master the relevant technical language as
part of their profession. According to the literature on child language brokering, the same demands cannot be
made of the informal broker (c.f. Antonini, 2017; Weisskirch, 2017). The language broker has no obligation
to respect a code of ethics, and is also partial and loyal to his or her family.
2 Methods
As stated in the abstract, this article is based on a project concerning the use of children instead of professional
interpreters in social services and health centres. Both areas are bound by the legislation for all public services
to use interpreters when service users or patients have limited knowledge of the Swedish language (SSB,
2017: 900 § 13). Social services fall under municipal law while health centres are subject to regional law, and
different concepts are used within the respective areas (e.g. service user – patient).1 The study was conducted
using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods which included two online surveys and seven
group interviews.
2.1 Online surveys
The purpose of the surveys was to gather data on how public service staff solve problems of communication
with non-Swedish-speaking service users. We used a Norwegian study on interpretation in the social welfare
sector as a model (Integrerings – och mangfoldsdirektoratet, 2011). A pilot of the survey was sent to ten
persons working within the targeted elds. The nal surveys consisted of 14 questions each, and were divided
into three sections:
1. Background information regarding the respondent’s eld of work and degree of contact with service users;
2. How the respondent acts in order to communicate in planned and unplanned meetings with non-Swedish-
speaking service users, and why they choose to act in that specic way (using children or other relatives were
two of the alternatives);
3. The respondent’s knowledge of using professional interpreters, their degree of experience and further
training, and how a request for an interpreter is initiated in the workplace.
A random selection of 29 municipalities was made from three geographically dispersed Swedish regions,
representing 50 per cent of the municipalities in those regions.2 All 29 municipalities have social services, 23
have public health services and 12 have private health services. To obtain the email addresses of staff within
the targeted services, we contacted their managers for assistance. We were not able to reach them all, and
some declined to participate (see next paragraph).
The rst online survey was directed to social workers in the areas of nancial assistance and Support and
Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (hereafter “functional impairments”).3 It was sent
to a total of 317 social workers in nancial assistance (in 24 municipalities) and functional impairments (in
25 municipalities). A total of 171 social workers took part in the survey (response rate: 54%), including 115
from nancial assistance and 56 from functional impairments. The second online survey was directed to
health care staff working in primary care health centres, both public and private. It was sent to a total of 337
health care staff. A total of 140 health care staff members took part in the survey (response rate: 42%), with
105 from public centres in 12 municipalities and 35 from private centres in six municipalities. When viewing
1 Hereafter patient will be included in the concept service user.
2 Sweden has 290 municipalities and 20 regions. The three selected regions are from northern, central and southern Sweden.
3 Social workers in nancial assistance mainly handle applications for nancial aid, whereas social workers in functional impairments
handle applications for different kinds of support for persons with long-term functional disabilities. Both are regulated by Swedish law.
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the survey results in this article, it is important to take into account the dropout of participants, both among
participating municipalities as well as among respondents to the surveys.
The survey results presented in this article were analysed using cross tabulations in SPSS. Chi-square, Phi
and Cramer’s V tests were used to estimate statistical signicance and correlation. Because of the quite
substantial non-response rate in this part of the study, it is important to bear in mind that the results should not
be used to generalise to a larger population. Notwithstanding, the results, from a total of 311 respondents, are
an indication of the extent to which children and other relatives are used instead of professional interpreters
in social services and health centres in Sweden.
2.2 Group interviews
To obtain a deeper understanding and increase the reliability of the survey results, the quantitative material
was supplemented with qualitative material from seven group interviews. Three of these were conducted
with staff in the targeted social services areas and two in health care. Each group included three to six
participants. Besides these ve interviews were two group interviews conducted with persons with their
own experience of brokering, both when they were children and as adults. The rst group consisted of ve
persons who migrated to Sweden during the 1970s and the second of three persons migrating in the late
1990s and 2010s. Notes taken during the interviews were subsequently collated. In the ve group interviews
with staff from social services and healthcare, participants were invited to share their experiences of using
children as brokers. This was followed by discussion about why they had done so, and what they thought
about it. The two group interviews with persons who had acted as brokers during their childhood followed
the same procedure.
The participants of all the groups discussed the questions freely, and accepted, rejected or supplemented each
other’s narratives during ongoing discussion. We used an argumentation analysis to organise the material
collected (Bergström & Boréus, 2012). Arguments for and against using children instead of interpreters were
coded manually into two themes: “for” and “against”. Hence, we have clustered rather than quantied the
answers. Group members were not split between “for” or “against”, but tended to agree on their co-existence.
The arguments discussed should not be viewed as legitimate reasons for using children, but as examples of
how staff members justify their need to sometimes allow children to act as interpreters. The group interviews
with the individuals with personal experience of language brokering were analysed in a similar way, with a
focus on positive and negative experiences. Comments on the practice of using children for interpreting were
added by the participants in these groups and considered during the process of analysis.
3 Results
3.1 Results from the online surveys
In this section, we present the results of the online surveys regarding how the respondents address
communication with non-Swedish speaking service users, and why they sometimes use children or other
relatives instead of professional interpreters. The results show that all of the respondents come into contact
with non-Swedish speaking service users, which means they must solve the communication issue in the
course of their work. Two questions in the surveys addressed how respondents communicated with non-
Swedish speaking service users, distinguishing between planned and unplanned meetings. A meeting is
planned when an appointment has been booked in advance. An unplanned meeting occurs when the service
user seeks out the service provider without a prior appointment. The questions were constructed so that
respondents could choose multiple answers. The list of possible answers is shown below:
(a) used a professional interpreter;
(b) allowed a relative to interpret;
(c) allowed a child to interpret;
(d) asked a colleague to interpret;
(e) used your own language skills;
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(f) tried to make the best of the situation without anyone interpreting;
(g) booked a new meeting with a professional interpreter;
(h) other.
Figures 1 and 2 show the percentages of respondents choosing the rst three answers for each respondent
group. These options are relevant to highlight how common it is, on the one hand, to use a professional
interpreter and, on the other hand, to let a relative or a child interpret during unplanned and planned meetings.
Since it was possible to choose more than one answer, the total percentage for each respondent group is more
than 100 per cent.
For planned meetings, the most frequent answer overall was to use a professional interpreter (78-90%).
However, allowing a relative to interpret was still a common occurrence (21-44%). Allowing a child to
interpret during a planned meeting seemed to be less common (2-20%). However, when the meeting was
unplanned, a relative (29-80%) or a child (8-48%) was frequently allowed to interpret. The option of
using a professional interpreter for unplanned meetings was chosen by 33-55 per cent of the respondents.
Overall, adult relatives were used as interpreters more frequently than children (p=0.001). The “functional
impairments” area stands out among the results in that the percentages are almost identical for both planned
and unplanned meetings. This is presumed to be because 57 per cent of the respondents in the group stated
that they do not have unplanned meetings.
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The respondents were also asked under what circumstances they would sometimes allow children or other
relatives to interpret. Figures 3 and 4 below present the percentages for the four most frequent answers from
each group of respondents. Since it was possible to choose more than one option, the total percentage for
each respondent group is more than 100 per cent. The most frequent answer overall is that they allowed
the relative (50-87%) or child (59-76%) to interpret because the service user requested it. The other most
common answers were “lack of information regarding need for interpreter”, “the relative has interpreted on
previous occasions”, and “inability to obtain a professional interpreter”.
As already stated, all respondents meet non-Swedish-speaking service users in their work, which means
they have no choice but to overcome the language barrier. This is mostly achieved by using a professional
interpreter. When no professional interpreter is available, for whatever reason, the respondents present other
means of communication. One solution, generally used during unplanned meetings, is to allow a child or
a relative to try to interpret. However, the most frequent reason (50-87%) for allowing children or other
relatives to interpret is that the respondents perceived this to be the service user’s wish. Another reason is that
the child or relative has acted as an interpreter on previous occasions (see gures 3 and 4), which indicates
that this is something that occurs with some regularity, not just occasionally. It is also commonplace to
allow adult relatives to act as interpreters, even during planned meetings (21-44%). Overall, in all the target
groups, adult relatives were used more frequently than children to solve communication problems during
both planned and unplanned meetings (p=0.001).
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3.2 Results from the group interviews with public service staff
This section will illustrate the results of the group interviews with public service staff, beginning by explaining
why children are used as brokers and continuing with an account of why public service staff consider it
inappropriate to use children and relatives as interpreters.
As the interviews show, public service staff related the difculties of obtaining a professional interpreter
within a reasonable time for unplanned meetings and emergency situations. Instead of waiting for an
interpreter to arrive, they sometimes allowed an accompanying child or relative to interpret in immediate
and simple situations, e.g. when booking an appointment or to submit or read forms. Public service staff
sometimes found it disrespectful to call for a professional interpreter when the service user had brought
someone with them to interpret, and also expressed unease at calling for a professional interpreter when
service users claim not to trust interpreters and say they feel safer when a relative interprets. This is in line
with the general opinion among staff that existing interpreter services are insufcient:
It is my experience that information is incorrectly interpreted, even when an interpreter is involved.
Complicated technical language is generally used and must be explained. (…) It is often very unclear whether
the information has been received. (Medical doctor, 60 years old)
As for arguments against allowing a child or relative to interpret, the interviewed staff sense that this is
not always appropriate. Especially when it comes to children, they nd it inappropriate to impose such
responsibilities on a child and that allowing them to act as interpreters places them in an unnatural position
of power in their families likely to compromise the parent-child relationship and the family hierarchy. The
presence of a child or a relative can also inhibit the conversation, as the service user may not wish to reveal
specic sensitive information in front of them. Staff believe there are some things a child should not have to
know about, such as their parents’ private lives, health issues or nancial situation. Finally, there is also the
question of language skills. Children do not have the same knowledge of language or specic terminology as
a professional interpreter and therefore lack the skills for the task.
As with the results of the online surveys, the common understanding among the interviewed staff seemed to
be that children mainly act as brokers during unplanned meetings and emergency situations, and that these
situations are occasional occurrences. Adult relatives are used to interpret more frequently than children.
One reason for this is that service users sometimes ask another adult to interpret for them. Another reason
is that the interviewees considered it inappropriate to impose such responsibilities on children, yet were not
reluctant to do so with adults. Children were sometimes used instead of professional interpreters, however.
3.3 Results from the group interviews with children
I had a tough task interpreting and reading, even marketing mail. Sometimes I got angry. I came home from
school to nd lots of marketing mail, and I had to read every word. When you don’t know Swedish, it’s hard
to sort out what’s important (man, 20 years old).
Interviewees with personal experience of language brokering describe how they, mainly as children, had to
act as brokers, both speaking and in writing, in a wide variety of contexts that far exceeded emergency or
unplanned meetings with public institutions. The language brokering was in fact executed in three areas:
everyday interpreting, form translation (including all written material) and interpreting in public service
settings.
The interviewees describe how brokering improved their language development and ability to communicate
with authorities. As a result, their social capital and knowledge about society increased. It also facilitated
their entry into the labour market. They described how their power as brokers made them feel that they were
able to inuence important decisions, sometimes by translating in favour of what they believed to be the
best outcome. As brokers they also gained praise and respect from adults, and this was a driving force when
accepting an assignment. In retrospect, they believed they matured with the responsibility and were proud to
perform as language brokers.
On the negative side, the interviewees said that, as brokers, they were sometimes coerced into taking
responsibility in excessively serious and intimate situations concerning, for example. mental health, private
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economy, criminal acts, childbirth, etc. This meant being obliged to bear the trust of others and instinctively
take on condentiality, without getting support to handle difcult experiences. Their limited language skills,
both in Swedish and in their native languages, often caused them to feel anxious and guilty for eventual
translation errors. Furthermore, taking on the role of broker obliges a child to enter the adult world, from
which there is no return to the world of a child, and leads to hierarchy reversal in the family. The interviewees
regretted how their parents’ roles were affected by their brokering and how they became aware of their
parents’ human inadequacies far too early. The question that remains unanswered is why no public service
ofcer questioned the children’s role as brokers, in clear disregard of the children’s rights and their parents’
legal right to equal and safe treatment. In retrospect, the interviewees reected that accepting the brokering
role may have inhibited other family members, especially parents, from developing their own language skills
and fully integrating into the majority society. They also reected on how the role has become a lifelong
ongoing commitment. At the same time, they realised they have rendered an invaluable service to their
families.
In contrast to the staff’s description, the interviewees with personal experience of language brokering testied
that their brokering was never restricted to emergency and unplanned situations, but that they were called on
to broker in a variety of different situations. They describe how the broker role became a full-time job that
deeply affected their childhood.
4 Analysis and discussion
A signicant result of the survey and group interviews is that there are discrepancies between public service
staff’s description of their use of children for interpreting and how adults with experience of language
brokering as children describe that experience. From the perspective of the staff, using children is dened as a
necessary evil, something that occurs only in simple cases, emergency situations and unscheduled meetings,
or when the service user prefers a relative as broker or no interpreters are available. It is also perceived as an
act of respect to take the wish of the parents seriously if they prefer to have their children interpret for them.
Staff claimed that children were rarely allowed to language broker at sensitive or complicated consultations
and reported that children only acted as brokers on sporadic occasions. These results are in line with previous
studies conducted within the area of interpreting in social work and health care (Cohen et al., 1999; Chand,
2005; Gerrish et al., 2004; Kale & Syed, 2010; Kriz & Skivenes, 2010; Lucas, 2015; Guntzviller et al., 2017;
Westlake & Jones, 2017).
From the perspective of adults with experiences of language brokering as children, the reality is dened
somewhat differently. In both group interviews, the broker role was described as a continual part of their
childhood, and even as a full-time job. Brokering took place in everyday situations as well as at very difcult
consultations, in conversations about family nances, social conditions and much more. As children, they
came home after school to piles of ofcial and non-ofcial mail that they had to read and translate. At
school, they worried about how their parents managed encounters with authorities and everyday situations.
As brokers, they worried about making mistakes. Although they interpreted regularly, on a daily basis, no
one ever questioned their presence or asked for their consent or about their experiences. This, too, is in line
with previous research (Orellana, 2003; Orellana et al., 2003; Orellana, 2009; Weisskirch, 2017). Although
contradictory, both staff and children’s perspectives are relevant and describe the reality of those who
participated in the surveys and group interviews as they perceived it. The discrepancy can be explained by
the fact that parents and relatives of the brokering children often have encounters with different public service
institutions several times a week. When staff in their practice legitimise the use of children by claiming that it
only occurs in simple, emergency or isolated cases, they might not realise that it can be a full-time job from
the perspective of the child.
A further discrepancy is found between staff’s understanding of the obligation to use professional interpreters
and what they allowed in practice. In both surveys and group interviews, staff indicated that they should
use professional interpreters as a guiding principle. They presume professional interpreters to be trained,
have special language skills and follow a code of ethics.4 At the same time, they express distrust towards
4 The authorities procure interpreting services and require these services to supply trained interpreters.
Kristina Gustafsson, Eva Norström, Petra Höglund
Language interpreting and brokering in Swedish public service institutions: the use of children...
Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, núm. 71, 2019 23
interpreting services, claiming that they often nd the interpreting conducted by children and relatives to be
more reliable and competent than that of professional interpreters. Respondents did not make any connection
with the value of the professional interpreter’s code of ethics and principles of accuracy, impartiality, etc.,
in the survey. When asked about this in the group interviews, staff responded in two different ways: either
that they hadn’t thought about it, or that they preferred a trusted person, even if uneducated, to an unskilled
interpreter. From a broader perspective, both these discrepancies could lead to discrimination and violation
of legal security and human rights.
As described above, we use a denition of interpreting that assumes an ethical code and access to professional
training in order to ensure that staff have the tools they need to act according to their responsibilities and
ensure the rights of the service user (c.f. Hale, 2007). When dening language broker, we refer to the role
adopted by some family members and persons in a family or group to support communication in multilingual
settings (Antonini, 2017; Orellana, 2017; Weisskirch, 2017). A language broker cannot be expected to have
any of the qualications of a professional interpreter. This means that public service staff cannot be sure of
what is being communicated. They therefore cannot be sure if the outcome of the consultation is correct, and
certainly cannot conrm adherence to any code of ethics. A language broker is, in most cases, rather a kind
of advocate for the family, as was very clear from the group interviews. From the rights perspective, when
a broker is allowed to interpret, control, as well as legal and medical security, is lost, potentially resulting in
an increased risk of misdiagnosis and incorrect decision-making.
This in turn affects both public service staff, and the children and their families. In meetings with
public services, if parents become dependent on their children, the situation can be dened as structural
discrimination, since they do not have the opportunity to express themselves fully and equally, and they are
regularly exposed to unnecessary risks (c.f. Gerrish et al., 2004). Kriz and Skivenes (2010) found similar
problems in child care social work in the UK and Norway. They show that it is difcult for migrant families
who do not speak the majority language to obtain the support and help they are entitled to. One reason is
that the language barrier makes social workers uncomfortable and keeps communication at a minimum. The
normally important trust-building process, seen by social workers as a signicant element of their work, is
neglected in their work with immigrant families.
Negative experiences lead social workers to express distrust in interpreting services. Kriz and Skivenes (2010)
dene such situations for migrant families as unintended discrimination. Since they are repeated on a regular
basis, they could also be labelled a form of structural discrimination. The risk of discrimination is also studied
by Chand (2005), whose critical review of previous research about the problem of language barriers in the UK
revealed that prejudice and racist stereotypes were not uncommon among public service staff, and that feelings
of discrimination were strengthened when service users were met with prejudice due to their lack of English
prociency.
Allowing child brokering may also be analysed as child discrimination. Numerous brokering assignments
mean that children are often obliged to miss school and take on age-inappropriate responsibilities instead.
Although there are also positive feelings and memories, the negative sides of child brokering far outweigh
the positive. The interviewees stated that acting as language brokers caused them to lose their childhood and
their innocence. They also indicated that their trust in society was adversely affected.
Another approach to the issue of child brokering is to assume that it is normal in migrant families for all
members of the family to help (Orellana 2017; Weisskirch, 2017). In our own research, we have identied
a clear risk of parents being blamed in connection with brokering (c.f. Lee & Corella, 2017). Parents are
considered to be failing their children because they require something from them which the surrounding
community perceives as wrong. As Weisskirch (2017) and Orellana (2017) suggest, a more nuanced approach
to language mediation could be benecial. Weisskirch (2017: 303) argues:
Given that immigration is a non-normative and generally unplanned experience for most families, it may
make sense for the family to redistribute roles to adapt to the new environment. Language brokering may
then be a key process for adaption, which, when acknowledged within the family, may have more positive
outcomes. When families engage in language brokering, it may be how an immigrant family maintains a
Kristina Gustafsson, Eva Norström, Petra Höglund
Language interpreting and brokering in Swedish public service institutions: the use of children...
Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, núm. 71, 2019 24
sense of coherence and hope, which is necessary for family resilience.
The concepts of interpreting and brokering reveal the difference between professional and amateur interpreting,
or brokering for one’s family. An interpreter is trained to mediate and convey messages accurately, while
a broker advocates for his or her family. We see professional interpreters as tools for legal and medical
security. A professional interpreter makes it possible for the parties to conduct a conversation in which
they can express themselves fully. In addition to increasing safety, the risk of discrimination and blaming is
minimised.
Using the two concepts makes it clearer that brokering is a normal part of the migration process and must
be understood as one of the integrating family’s strategies in the new society. However, brokering does not
belong in public service institutions. Current legislation in Sweden makes it clear that the service provider
is obliged to call for a professional interpreter when the service user does not have command of the Swedish
language. This is to ensure that service users and patients receive equal treatment and that their legal and
medical rights are met, as well as to protect the rights of the public service ofcer.
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