Chapter published in:
Non-professional Interpreting and Translation: State of the art and future of an emerging field of research
Edited by Rachele Antonini, Letizia Cirillo, Linda Rossato and Ira Torresi
[Benjamins Translation Library 129] 2017
► pp. 83–106

Intercultural mediation and “(non)professional” interpreting in Italian healthcare institutions

| University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
| University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
This paper analyses interpreting activities performed by intercultural mediators in Italian healthcare services. It proposes a reflection on the type of professionalism that seems to be required in healthcare institutions where the issue of dealing with cultural differences between the patients and the operators is considered of fundamental importance. Our analysis shows that mediators address cultural differences along the lines of one of two orientations. The first treats cultural differences as a plurality of options, thus enhancing patients’ active participation and choice. The second is based on cultural essentialism and treats differences in terms of dos and don’ts, preventing interlocutors’ active participation. We suggest that in order to accomplish the task of dealing with cultural differences “professionally” in healthcare interaction, mediators and interpreters alike may be made aware of the advantages and risks involved in taking each of these two orientations.
Keywords: conversation analysis, intercultural mediation, healthcare institutions, recontextualisation
Published online: 19 June 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.05bar
References

References

Angelelli, Claudia
2004 Medical Interpreting and Cross-cultural Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2012 “Challenges in Interpreters’ Coordination of the Construction of Pain”. Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting ed. by Claudio Baraldi & Laura Gavioli, eds. 2012, 251–268. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Mona
2006 “Contextualization in Translator- and Interpreter-mediated Events”. Journal of Pragmatics 38. 321–337. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio, Viola Barbieri & Guido Giarelli
eds. 2008 Immigrazione, mediazione culturale e salute. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio & Laura Gavioli
2007 “Dialogue Interpreting as Intercultural mediation. An Analysis In Healthcare Multicultural Settings”. Dialogue and Cultures ed. by Marion Grein & Edda Weigand, 155–175. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2008 “Cultural Presuppositions and Re-contextualisation of Medical Systems in Interpreter-mediated Interactions”. Curare. Journal of Medical Anthropology 31:2+3. 193–203.Google Scholar
2010 “Interpreter-mediated Interaction as a Way to Promote Multilingualism”. Multilingualism at Work ed. by Berndt Meyer & Birgit Apfelbaum, 141–162. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
eds. 2012 Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Baraldi Claudio & Laura Gavioli
> 2014 “Are Closed Renditions the Golden Standard? Some Thought on Translating Accurately in Healthcare Interpreter-mediated Interaction”. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 8:3. 336–353. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bolden, Galina
2000 “Toward Understanding Practices of Medical Interpreting: Interpreters’ Involvement in History Taking”. Discourse Studies 2:4. 387–419. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Böser, Ursula
2013 “So Tell Me What Happened!: Interpreting the Free Recall Segment of the Investigative Interview”. Translation and Interpreting Studies 8:1. 112–136. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Castiglioni, Marta
1996 La mediazione linguistico-culturale. Principi, strategie, esperienze. Milan: FrancoAngeli.Google Scholar
Ceccatelli Gurrieri, Giovanna
2003 Mediare culture. Rome: Carocci.Google Scholar
Cheng Zhan
2012 “Mediation through Personal Pronouns Shifts in Dialogue Interpreting of Political Meetings”. Interpreting 14:2. 192–216. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chiarenza, Antonio
2008 “Towards the Development of Health Systems Sensitive to Social and Cultural Diversity”. Health and Migration in the EU: Conference Proceedings, 167–176. Lisboa: Ministry of Health of the Republic of Portugal.Google Scholar
Corsellis, Ann
2008 Public Service Interpreting. The First Steps. Houndmills: Palgrave. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, Brad
2000 “The Interpreter as Institutional Gatekeeper: The Social-linguistic Role of Interpreters in Spanish-English Medical Discourse”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 4:3. 379–405. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gavioli, Laura
2012 “Minimal Responses in Interpreter-mediated Medical talk”. Baraldi & Gavioli, eds. 2012, 201–228. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2015 “On the Distribution of Responsibilities in Treating Critical Issues in Interpreter-mediated Medical Consultations: The Case of ‘le spieghi(amo)’’’. Journal of Pragmatics 76. 169–180. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gavioli, Laura & Claudio Baraldi
2011 “Interpreter-mediated Interaction in Healthcare and Legal Settings. Talk Organizaton, Context and the Achievement of Intercultural Communication”. Interpreting 13:2. 205–233. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goode, Tawara D. & Robert C. Like
2012 “Advancing and Sustaining Cultural and Linguistic Competence in the American Health System: Challenges, Strategies, and Lessons Learned”. Inequalities in Health Care for Migrants and Ethnic Minorities ed. by David Ingleby, Antonio Chiarenza, Walter Devillé & Ioanna Kotsioni, 49–65. Antwerp: Garant.Google Scholar
Gumperz, John
1992 “Contextualization and Understanding”. Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon ed. by Alessandro Duranti & Charles Goodwin, 229–253. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gumperz, John & Jenny Cook-Gumperz
2009 “Discourse, Cultural Diversity and Communication: A Linguistic Anthropological Perspective.” Handbook of Intercultural Communication ed. by Helen Kotthoff & Helen Spencer-Oatey, 13–29. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hale, Sandra
2007 Community Interpreting. Houndsmills: Palgrave. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, Adrian
2011 Intercultural Communication and Ideology. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Luatti, Lorenzo
2011 Mediatori atleti dell’incontro. Brescia: Vannini.Google Scholar
Mason, Ian
2006 “On Mutual Accessibility of Contextual Assumptions in Dialogue Interpreting”. Journal of Pragmatics 38. 359–273. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2012 “Gaze, Positioning and Identity in Interpreter-mediated Dialogues”. Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting ed. by Claudio Baraldi & Laura Gavioli, 177–199. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Meeuwesen Ludwien, Johannes A. M. Harmsen, Roos M. D. Bernsen & Marc A. Brujinzeels
2006 “Do Dutch Doctors Communicate Differently with Immigrant Patients than with Dutch Patients?”. Social Science & Medicine 63. 2407–2417. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Merlini, Rafaela
2009 “Seeking Asylum and Seeking Identity in a Mediated Encounter: The Projection of Selves through Discursive Practices”. Interpreting 11:1. 57–92. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Metzger, Melanie
1999 Sign Language Interpreting: Deconstructing the Myth of Neutrality. Washington: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Penn, Claire & Jennifer Watermeyer
2012 “Cultural Brokerage and Overcoming Communication Barriers: A Case Study for Aphasia.” Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting ed. by Claudio Baraldi & Laura Gavioli, 269–296. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schouten, Barbara C., Ludwien Meeuwesen, Fred Tromp & Johannes A. M. Harmsen
2007 “Cultural Diversity in Patient Participation: The Influence of Patients’ Characteristics and Doctors’ Communicative Behaviour”. Patient Education and Counseling 67. 214–223. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tebble, Helen
2012 “Interpreting or Interfering?”. Coordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting ed. by Claudio Baraldi & Laura Gavioli, 23–44. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ting-Toomey, Stella
1999 Communication across Cultures. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Van de Mieroop, Doriern, Giovanni Bevilacqua & Lotte van Have
2012 “Negotiating Discursive Notes: Differences across Levels of Expertise.” Interpreting 14:1. 23–54Google Scholar
Wadensjö, Cecilia
1998 Interpreting as Interaction. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 6 other publications

Baraldi, Claudio & Laura Gavioli
2020.  In Multilingual Healthcare [FOM-Edition, ], ► pp. 39 ff. Crossref logo
Bigi, Sarah & Maria Grazia Rossi
2020.  In Multilingual Healthcare [FOM-Edition, ], ► pp. 11 ff. Crossref logo
Gavioli, Laura & Cecilia Wadensjö
2021. Reflections on Doctor Question – Patient Answer Sequences and on Lay Perceptions of Close Translation. Health Communication 36:9 ► pp. 1080 ff. Crossref logo
Lee, Jieun
2021. Supporting the social integration of migrant women in South Korea through language services: Roles of marriage migrant interpreters in multicultural family support centre counselling services. The Translator ► pp. 1 ff. Crossref logo
Monzó-Nebot, Esther & Melissa Wallace
2020. New societies, new values, new demands. Translation and Interpreting Studies 15:1 ► pp. 1 ff. Crossref logo
Watermeyer, Jennifer, Zamokuhle Thwala & Johanna Beukes
2021. Medical Terminology in Intercultural Health Interactions. Health Communication 36:9 ► pp. 1115 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 september 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.