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Chapter 6. More than mere translators

The identities of lay interpreters in medical consultations

Abstract

Lay interpreters participating in medical consultations engage in several activities that go beyond the mere translation of talk. This study aims to identify some of such activities and the participants’ associated identity categories as they emerge and are made relevant in these social encounters. The analysis of a large corpus of video-recorded medical consultations in a rural clinic in Yucatan (Mexico), where both Spanish and Yucatec Maya are spoken, shows that lay interpreters engage not only in oral translation, which is the expected activity, but also in other activities. In so doing, they display further social identities, such as that of a “social peer” or an “expert,” with which their co-participants might align or misalign. This study thus sheds lights on how lay interpreters navigate through the medical consultation and on how they adjust to local needs and their co-participants’ expectations as to their role in a given situation during an encounter.

Abstract

Lay interpreters participating in medical consultations engage in several activities that go beyond the mere translation of talk. This study aims to identify some of such activities and the participants’ associated identity categories as they emerge and are made relevant in these social encounters. The analysis of a large corpus of video-recorded medical consultations in a rural clinic in Yucatan (Mexico), where both Spanish and Yucatec Maya are spoken, shows that lay interpreters engage not only in oral translation, which is the expected activity, but also in other activities. In so doing, they display further social identities, such as that of a “social peer” or an “expert,” with which their co-participants might align or misalign. This study thus sheds lights on how lay interpreters navigate through the medical consultation and on how they adjust to local needs and their co-participants’ expectations as to their role in a given situation during an encounter.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introducing NPIT studies 1
  4. Part 1. State of the art of research on NPIT and general issues
  5. Chapter 2. Unprofessional translation 29
  6. Chapter 3. We are all translators 45
  7. Chapter 4. Dialoguing across differences 65
  8. Part 2. NPIT in healthcare, community and public services
  9. Chapter 5. Intercultural mediation and “(non)professional” interpreting in Italian healthcare institutions 83
  10. Chapter 6. More than mere translators 107
  11. Chapter 7. Issues of terminology in public service interpreting 131
  12. Chapter 8. From confinement to community service 157
  13. Chapter 9. The role and self-regulation of non-professional interpreters in religious settings 177
  14. Chapter 10. Simultaneous interpreting and religious experience 195
  15. Chapter 11. Beyond the professional scope? 213
  16. Chapter 12. Language-related disaster relief in Haiti 231
  17. Part 3. NPIT performed by children
  18. Chapter 13. Bilingual youngsters’ perceptions of their role as family interpreters 259
  19. Chapter 14. Child language brokers’ representations of parent–child relationships 281
  20. Chapter 15. Child language brokering in private and public settings 295
  21. Chapter 16. Through the children’s voice 315
  22. Chapter 17. Seeing brokering in bright colours 337
  23. Chapter 18. Language brokering 359
  24. Chapter 19. Not just child’s play 381
  25. Index 411
Non-professional Interpreting and Translation
This chapter is in the book Non-professional Interpreting and Translation
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.06tic

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introducing NPIT studies 1
  4. Part 1. State of the art of research on NPIT and general issues
  5. Chapter 2. Unprofessional translation 29
  6. Chapter 3. We are all translators 45
  7. Chapter 4. Dialoguing across differences 65
  8. Part 2. NPIT in healthcare, community and public services
  9. Chapter 5. Intercultural mediation and “(non)professional” interpreting in Italian healthcare institutions 83
  10. Chapter 6. More than mere translators 107
  11. Chapter 7. Issues of terminology in public service interpreting 131
  12. Chapter 8. From confinement to community service 157
  13. Chapter 9. The role and self-regulation of non-professional interpreters in religious settings 177
  14. Chapter 10. Simultaneous interpreting and religious experience 195
  15. Chapter 11. Beyond the professional scope? 213
  16. Chapter 12. Language-related disaster relief in Haiti 231
  17. Part 3. NPIT performed by children
  18. Chapter 13. Bilingual youngsters’ perceptions of their role as family interpreters 259
  19. Chapter 14. Child language brokers’ representations of parent–child relationships 281
  20. Chapter 15. Child language brokering in private and public settings 295
  21. Chapter 16. Through the children’s voice 315
  22. Chapter 17. Seeing brokering in bright colours 337
  23. Chapter 18. Language brokering 359
  24. Chapter 19. Not just child’s play 381
  25. Index 411
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