Nicole Marinaro
The proposed presentation would outline some preliminary findings of a study focusing on the extent to which language policy in selected European states are effective in reducing language barriers in the public healthcare sector. I do this in the wider framework of an interdisciplinary study aimed at evaluating the management of communication towards autochthonous and allochthonous minority language speakers.
A rich body of literature deals with the problems that can arise due to ineffective communication in healthcare, which, as Mamadouh and el Ayadi (2018, p.92) point out, “can threaten the individuals’ life or basic human rights”. Therefore, the need “to ensure equality of treatment by providing access to the service through the user’s language” seems particularly compelling (Dunbar and McKelvey, 2018, p.95).
The main ways to overcome language barriers in the short term are the provision of interpretation services and translation of documents, and/or reliance on bilingual medical staff, the benefits of these measures having widely been shown (cfr., among others, Flores, 2005 and Karliner et al., 2007). Nonetheless, “the absence of a statutory framework or comprehensive binding policy creates the conditions for inconsistency in provision” (Dunbar and McKelvey, 2018, p.95; see Dunbar, 2006; Phelan, 2012); existing initiatives often “represent ad hoc responses to linguistic realities” relying on the action of single providers.
The methodology employed in the study would draw on the framework of policy evaluation (see, for instance, Grin and Gazzola, 2013). The evaluation of the effectiveness of language policy in reducing language barriers builds on the concept of “linguistic unease” (Iannàccaro et al., 2018), which has the potential to connect linguistic justice to the sociolinguistic context in which the speaker lives, and allows to shift the focus to the consequences for the actors affected by the policies examined rather than to the formal compliance with abstract rights.
References
Dunbar, R. (2006) Is there a duty to legislate for linguistic minorities? Journal of Law and Society, 33(1), 181–198. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2006.00354.
Dunbar, R. and McKelvey, R. (2018) Must states provide services to migrants in their own languages?. In: Grin et al., ed. The MIME Vademecum: Mobility and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe, Geneva: MIME Project, 94–95.
Flores, G. (2005) The impact of medical interpreter services on the quality of health care: a systematic review. Medical Care Research and Review, 62(3), 255–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077558705275416.
Grin, F., Conceição, M.C., Kraus, P.A., Marácz, L., Ozolina, Ž, Pokorn, N.K. and Pym, A. (eds.) (2018) The MIME vademecum: Mobility and inclusion in multilingual Europe, Geneva: MIME Project.
Grin, F. and Gazzola, M. (2013) Assessing efficiency and fairness in multilingual communication: theory and application through indicator. In: Berthoud, A.-C., Grin, F. and Lüdi F., eds. Exploring the dynamics of multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 365-386.
Iannàccaro, G., Dell’Aquila, V. and Gobbo, F. (2018), The assessment of sociolinguistic justice: parameters and models of analysis. In: Gazzola M., Wickström, B.-A. and Templin, T., eds. Language Policy and Linguistic Justice: Economic, Philosophical and Sociolinguistic Approaches. Berlin / New York: Springer, 363-391.
Karliner, L. S., Jacobs, E. A., Chen, A. H., and Mutha, S. (2007) Do Professional Interpreters Improve Clinical Care for Patients with Limited English Proficiency? A Systematic Review of the Literature. Health Services Research, 42(2), 727–754. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00629
Mamadouh, V. and el Ayadi, N. (2018) Is English sufficient to reach out to newcomers before they learn the local language(s)?. In: Grin et al., eds. The MIME Vademecum: Mobility and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe, Geneva: MIME Project, 92-93.
Phelan, M. (2012) Medical Interpreting and the Law in the European Union. European Journal of Health Law, 19(4), 333–353. https://doi.org/10.1163/157180912X650681
Keywords: language policy, linguistic justice, healthcare, minorities, translation and interpreting, public sector.