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by monzo

Providing information to refugees through digital technologies: opportunities and challenges 

July De Wilde

Digital technologies in general, and mobile phones in particular, have become essential tools for accessing information and resources during transit journeys and processes of refugee (re)settlement. Parallelly, organisations working with refugees in host societies increasingly use digital tools to provide effective and efficient information.

The wider study of this presentation evaluates the use and effectiveness of fedasilinfo.be. The website, managed by the Belgian reception authorities, aims to provide seekers of international protection (IP) and service providers involved in their reception, with relevant and reliable information on 8 central themes in 14 different languages. For the evaluation of the website, we used a mixed-methods approach and collected three different datasets: (1) an online survey amongst 174 collaborators, (2) interviews with 31 refugees and (3) screen capture recordings (N=26) users while searching for information about their asylum procedure.

This presentation focuses on the varying challenges that exist for persons who do not have (full) access to the provided information and are therefore potentially more vulnerable. Members of small(er) language groups are excluded from the information because their language is not available, others are being erroneously assimilated to speakers of regional variants and therefore lack information. For some languages, only written text is available, while other seekers of IP can access information through both text and audio. Likewise, low levels of digital literacy hinder the abilities of some seekers of IP to manage the provided information efficiently.

Our discussion shows that the development of a multilingual website, praiseworthy as the initiative may be, also urges a range of questions about (i) digital literacy practices, (ii) the different values ascribed to language (variants), (iii) the practical challenges that are involved in providing information in ways that aim for rationality of decision, fairness, or equality and (iv) language rights.

Keywords: digital communication, refugees, access, multilingual website.

by monzo

Translating Refugees. Empirical Findings and Theoretical Considerations

Dilek Dizdar & Tomasz Rozmyslowicz

The paper presents results from a new research project on the role of translation and interpreting in the context of forced migration. In this project, field research is conducted in a German reception facility for refugees. The research interest focuses on an often neglected but central aspect of forced migration: the role of translation and interpretation in the communications between refugees and  authorities. Contrary to the widespread view in everyday life and also in academia, these mediation processes are not neutral and harmless acts of transferring meaning. Rather, they are complex and consequential practices of constructing and processing difference that require in-depth investigation.

The presentation will show how translating and interpreting do not simply cross existing language boundaries, but first and foremost draw them, sorting people by language and assigning them to language communities (Sakai 2018; Dizdar 2021). Under what institutional conditions do such assignments take place? And what consequences do they entail? What does it mean, for example, when refugees from Africa are classified as «French-speaking» and therefore have to speak the language of a former colonial power? What does it mean to be subsumed under a category like «Arabic» when it encompasses a multitude of different and not necessarily mutually intelligible ways of speaking (Dizdar 2021)?

By answering such questions, the presentation aims to reconsider the relation between language and translating/interpreting practices on a theortical level.

Dizdar, Dilek (2021): «Translation als Katalysator von Humandifferenzierung», in: Dizdar, Dilek/Hirschauer, Stefan/Paulmann, Johannes/Schabacher, Gabriele (Hg.) (2021): Humandifferenzierung. Disziplinäre Perspektiven und empirische Sondierungen. Weilerswist: Velbrück, 135-159.

Sakai, Naoki (2018): „The modern regime of translation and its politics”, in: D’hulst, L./Gambier, Y. (Hg.): A History of Modern Translation Knowledge: Sources, concepts, effects. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins (Benjamins Translation Library 146), 61-74.

Keywords: refugees, translation/interpreting, language, field research, asylum centre.

by monzo

Action research into developing language solutions to improve multilingual communication during the registration of persons seeking international protection in Belgium

Kerremans, Koen; Cox, Antoon; De Wilde, July; El Hahaoui, Karima; Guaus, Aline; Maryns, Katrijn

When persons seeking international protection arrive in Belgium, they need to register their application at the Arrival Centre of  Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers in Brussels. The registration process involves, amongst others, a medical screening and social intake. This registration is a challenge in a context where multilingualism, intercultural diversity, and time pressure are the rule rather than the exception. For instance, applicants sometimes receive a vaccine without being properly informed and have to undress (for the chest scan) without knowing what is going to happen. This is a violation of the Belgian patient rights.

This paper discusses the results and experiences of the AMICA project on multilingual needs and practices in the context of the Belgian reception of applicants. Particular attention is paid to the linguistic and communicative needs of people with vulnerable linguistic profiles (i.e. low literate people as well as people only speaking languages for which it is difficult to find language support in the Belgian context, such as Somali or Pashto).

In the scope of this paper, our focus will be on the setting of the Arrival Centre. We present a research-action framework aimed at developing language solutions to better inform applicants during the intake flow. These solutions involve a series of multilingual information videos pertaining to different steps in the intake flow as well as a web application, featuring audio-recorded questions and answers in several languages, to assist service providers during social intakes. Both types of language solutions (available in more than 10 languages) have been developed based on ethnographic observations and interviews with stakeholders.

The project allows us to study how applicants and service providers experience the intake flow. It also allows us to involve the (busy) staff of the centre, who saw the language solutions as relevant to their work.

Keywords: language solutions, linguistic rights, language app, multilingual information videos, Belgian asylum reception.