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Communication in the public sector and linguistic justice: overcoming language barriers in healthcare

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.

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Unfolding occupational boundary work: public service interpreting for structurally vulnerable migrants in Finland

Hanna Kara & Camilla Nordberg

This paper sets out to explore occupational boundaries in the context of public service interpreting with structurally vulnerable migrants. The paper is situated within the wider context of cultural and institutional transformations taking place in the Nordic welfare state which raise questions related to what kind of knowledge becomes valued and what kind of intersectional hierarchies are produced and maintained within a linguistically diversifying social service landscape. Drawing on conceptualisations of power and occupational (mis)recognition, we present the preliminary analysis of our ongoing research project. The data consist of written and oral diaries produced by interpreters in spring 2022. The research participants are of diverse professional and ethnic backgrounds and based in different urban and rural regions of Finland.

Keywords: public service interpreting, structural vulnerability, migrant service users, social work, Nordic welfare state.

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Digital Marginalisation of Migrants in Spain through the Implementation of Translation Policy: How to Use a Remedy to Create a Problem 

Elena Ruiz-Cortés

Digitally mediated communication in the public sector has changed how citizens and authorities communicate. Within this digital context, it has been identified that language problems may be an underlying cause of social exclusion for migrant groups (see Khorshed & Imran 2015: 347), which seems to indicate that the lack of language proficiency in the host country’s language may give rise to new forms of digital divides in migratory contexts. Here we contend that, for migrants with language barriers, access to key digital services within the public sector can be fostered by translation provision, which may be used as a tool to digitally empower them. Thus, in this paper the digital empowerment (Mäkinen 2006) of migrant communities is explored, assessing to what extent the implementation of translation policy empowers migrants’ digital communication with the host country’ authorities within the public services (our goal). We will focus on a case study, the translation policy implemented in the digital communication between the Spanish ministry for Migration and migrants in the case of two immigration procedures (EU migrants/ investors).

This is an exploratory analysis  framed  within  Descriptive  Translation  Studies  (Toury 2012),  in which  the collection of our data will be organised via the methodological  concept  of “domain” (González 2016). Our initial findings suggest that the translation policy implemented by this Spanish Ministry results in diametrically opposed levels of migrants’ digital empowerment in our case study. Specifically, they show that the implementation of translation policy within the digital context not only impacts how citizens’ exercise their right to reside in another country, but it also seems to disguise elaborate forms of digital marginalisation (Mäkinen 2006: 383) based on linguistic grounds. This is so since, ultimately, when the inability to communicate in the dominant language prevents citizens from accessing digital (and non-digital) services that others readily access, exclusion takes place. Thus, arguably, even if translation policy should be used as a tool to digitally empower all migrants within the public services, here it seems to be used as a tool to empower only some of them; the most powerful migrant communities.

Keywords: translation policy, digital empowerment, E-government, immigration procedures, Spain.

Elena Ruiz-Cortés holds a Translation and Interpreting BA degree, an MA in Immigration Law and an MA in Professional Translation specialising in Legal Translation. In July 2020 she was awarded a PhD in Translation at the University of Granada (Spain), which focuses on Public Service Translation. Elena is Fellow of the Advanced HE of the UK, she is a researcher of the AVANTI Research Group and she is an official sworn translator and interpreter of English-Spanish. She has taught several undergraduate programs at Ulster University (UK), at the University of Malaga (Spain) and at the University of Granada, where she currently teaches. Her main research interests lie in the fields of Public Service Translation, Legal Translation, Migration and Translator Training. Elena has published several international papers on the fields above.
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Assessing the effect of sentence length and the passive voice in the clarity of Spanish legal texts

Heather Adams y Víctor González Ruiz

In connection with the conference’s topics of linguistic injustice and language usage, this presentation explores the effects some complex traits of legal discourse may have on how lay citizens find legal texts easier or more difficult to understand. Our study is underpinned by two relevant factors: first, the law affects people’s lives in a wide range of ways and, second, any interaction with legal professionals or officials usually involves some degree of power asymmetry. In combination, both factors would mean that the use of abstruse, and sometimes unintelligible, language in the context of the law (as described by CMLJ 2011 or Montolío 2012 for Spanish, and by Mellinkoff 1963 or Wydick 2005 for English) could be considered an act of verbal aggression against the reader or listener. This supposition would also apply to many exchanges between governmental agencies and citizens.

In particular, in this presentation we will focus on two of the linguistic properties which have usually been linked to intricate discourse in legal Spanish: long, convoluted sentences and passive-voice verbs (as found by CMLJ 2011). In order to find out how each of these characteristics, respectively, affects the way in or the extent to which a person understands a legal text, we will carry out an experiment involving a usability testing method (e.g. Schriver 1989,  Dumas & Redish 1999, Jarrett & Redish 2020). In it, a sample of adults with no legal training will assess (by way of a comprehension test) two rewrites of an excerpt from a real Spanish legal text featuring long, elaborate sentences and passive-voice structures. Each of the rewrites will give prominence to only one of the two traits mentioned while neutralising the other one. The findings will allow us to advance hypotheses about which linguistic habits should be avoided to achieve a more effective and less imbalanced communication in the legal field.

REFERENCES

– CMLJ (Comisión de Modernización del Lenguaje Jurídico). 2011. Informe de la Comisión de Modernización del Lenguaje Jurídico. Madrid: Ministerio de Justicia.

– Dumas, Joseph; Redish, Janice. 1999. A practical guide to usability testing. Exeter: Intellect.

– Jarrett, Caroline; Redish, Janice. 2020. “How to test the usability of documents.” <https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2020/05/how-to-test-the-usability-of-documents.php>.

– Mellinkoff, David. 1963. The language of the law. Boston/toronto: Little, Brown and Company.

– Montolío, Estrella. 2012. “La situación del discurso jurídico escrito español. Estado de la cuestión y algunas propuestas de mejora.” Hacia la modernización del discurso jurídico: contribuciones a la I Jornada sobre la modernización del discurso jurídico español, edited by Estrella Montolío. Barcelona: Publicacions i Edicions Universitat de Barcelona. 65-91.

– Schriver, Karen. 1989. “Evaluating text quality: the continuum from text-focused to reader-focused methods.” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 32(4). 238-255.

– Wydick, Richard C. 2005. Plain English for lawyers. 5th. ed. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press.

Keywords: legal language, legal Spanish, clarity, usability testing, legal communication.