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Interpreters work with clients from many professions and in different contexts and settings. A facilitator of interpreters’ ability to provide an optimal interlingual transfer of another’s speech or signing is possessing knowledge of other professionals’ perspectives and goals. Interprofessional education is a teaching or learning method that includes learning activities in which trainees from two or more disciplines interact with each other in real or simulated settings. This article reports on the participation of interpreting students in interprofessional education with medical and social work students over a three-year period. Responses were obtained from 109 interpreting students across four medicine–interpreting and three social work–interpreting sessions relating to their perception of the roles of the other student groups pre- and post-intervention and how best to work with each group. Thematic analysis of the data revealed that pre-intervention knowledge of the doctors’ work was significant while knowledge about social work was varied; there were high levels of agreement that knowledge of the other group had increased post-intervention; future intentions were related to greater awareness of a briefing, applying knowledge of the relevant genre of spoken interaction, the need for the allophone interlocutors to establish rapport with each other, and awareness of source speakers’ tone and intent in addition to form and content.

Despite technical and scientific texts constituting a considerable proportion of translated materials worldwide, the translation of such texts, particularly academic texts in medical science, remains understudied. Some translators may be unfamiliar with specialist medical and pharmaceutical terminology or lack knowledge about translation conventions. This article examines the bi-directional translation of pharmaceutical research articles between English and Chinese, providing insights to translators experiencing these problems. We analyse the genre’s features in both languages and locate similarities and differences via recourse to parallel texts. The findings and our approach can be generalised to the translation of texts of this kind, addressing certain translation problems in an evidence-based way.

There are groups in our community who may be more vulnerable to contracting, transmitting, or experiencing negative health impacts of COVID-19 than the general community. They may also have greater difficulty accessing, accepting, and acting upon COVID-19 public health information. Our aim was to understand if vulnerable communities and those who express "COVID-risk" behavioural intentions seek and respond differently to COVID-19 public health information.This observational, cross-sectional study recruited adults aged over 18 years from the Australian general community and six community groups (people with disabilities and their caregivers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, aged care workers, street-based sex workers, refugees and asylum seekers, and the deaf and hard of hearing). We investigated attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 public health messages. We identified factors associated with the respondent's perception of the ease of finding information and understanding it, and its relevance to them. We also examined latent classes that were developed based on attitudes to public health measures and vulnerable group categories, along with demographic variables.We received 1444 responses (n = 1121 general community; n ≥50 for each vulnerable group). The vulnerable groups examined found COVID-19 public health messages as easy, if not easier, to find and understand than the general community. Four latent classes were identified: COVID-safe mask wearers (10% of sample), COVID-safe test takers (56%), COVID-risk isolators (19%) and COVID-risk visitors (15%). The COVID-risk classes (34% of sample) were less likely to consider COVID-19 information easy to find, understandable, and relevant.Additional public health messaging strategies may be needed for targeting people with "COVID-risk" beliefs and attitudes who appear across the community (general and vulnerable groups) rather than just targeting specific cultural or other groupings that we think may be vulnerable. COVID-risk classes identified through this study were not defined by demographic characteristics or cultural groupings, but were spread across vulnerable communities and the general community. Different approaches for tailoring and delivery of specific public health information for these groups are needed.

This paper reports on interprofessional education (IPE), a teaching and learning strategy that is widely used in healthcare training. IPE is structured and usually situation-based training that inv...

Linguistic and ethnic diversity is a feature of patient profiles at almost all public healthcare facilities in urban areas in Australia. Patients with limited proficiency in the socially dominant language - in this case Limited English proficiency (LEP) patients - commonly form a significant patient group in public healthcare settings. Communication barriers that exist between patients and healthcare professionals necessitate the provision of translation and interpreting (T&I) services. This study presents longitudinal data from Melbourne, Australia, on the provision of (T&I) services together with patient length of stay (LOS) and patient readmission rates over a 10-year period at a large, public healthcare provider. Patient LOS and patient readmission rates are key metrics for effective diagnosis and treatment of patients and commonly used to measure the performance of various aspects of healthcare provision. The augmentation of T&I services within a general policy of patient-centred care is shown to accompany decreased LOS and lower readmission rates for LEP patients.

Residents of Residential Age Care Facilities (RACFs) have particularly high rates of Emergency Department (ED) visits, with up to 55% being potentially avoidable (e.g. not resulting in a hospital admission). This is concerning as ED visits by RACF residents are associated with negative outcomes including longer hospital stays, iatrogenic illness, complications and mortality. Limited English proficiency (LEP) has significant negative impacts on the healthcare quality and outcomes for older people but has not been studied as a factor in ED visits from RACFs. This study aimed to examine if RACF residents with LEP have a lower rate of hospital admission via the ED compared to non-LEP controls and identify any associated factors. We hypothesised that LEP-related communication difficulties would reduce the ability to manage minor health issues in the RACF, leading to a lower proportion of LEP ED transfers being admitted. We used a parallel mixed-methods design, comprising a quantitative matched cohort study of ED visit data from two Local Hospital Networks (LHNs) in South-East Melbourne, Australia and secondary thematic analysis of 25 interviews with LEP residents, family carers and staff from two RACFs in the same region. We found no differences in the proportion of hospital ED transfers that led to admission (LHN1, 87.1% LEP, 85.6% non-LEP controls, p = 0.57; LHN2, 76.0% LEP, 76.9% non-LEP controls, p = 0.41) and no direct qualitative evidence suggesting that resident LEP affected decisions to transfer residents to ED, despite communication difficulties being reported during the transfer process. These results may be due to the high level of family carer involvement in residents' care identified in the qualitative study. However, additional research using different measures of LEP is recommended to further explore a broader range of cultural and linguistic factors in both rates of ED presentations and the decision-making processes underpinning resident transfers to ED.

Interpreters and social workers frequently work together. They share some common goals and there is some similarity between the ethical guidelines that both professions follow. Despite this, interpreter-mediated social work encounters are rarely described, especially from the perspective of interpreting studies. Even more infrequent are studies that focus on trainee interpreters’ and social workers’ engagement in interprofessional education (IPE). Details of the design and delivery of IPE training sessions for interpreting and social work students, at Monash University from May 2017 to May 2019, are provided. The sessions featured two role-plays that simulated typical interactions in which interpreters and social workers work together. To assess the effectiveness of the IPE training in meeting both general and specific learning outcomes, three research questions were posed and the responses are reported in this article. The questions relate to the reported usefulness of role-plays in enabling the acquisition of desirable skills and knowledge; an increase in the level of knowledge of the other professional group, one’s own group and the perceived benefits for service-users; and the usefulness of pre- and post-interactional activities, such as briefing and debriefing. Responses to questionnaires were received from 218 of the 442 participating students. On a Likert scale with five gradings the average levels of agreement regarding the usefulness of role-plays are high, as are the levels of agreement about increases in knowledge of the other professional group and those of the students’ own professional group. The student informants reported that the skills they gained are likely to be beneficial to clients and patients with limited English proficiency. The trainees’ responses to their pre- and post-interactional interactions show that both groups registered a high level of agreement that briefings and debriefings are useful.

Translation can be an overt feature of public policy, typically in situations where there are status planning regulations that prescribe the use of two or more languages that then enable the development of translation infrastructure. In New World countries, one language, usually that of a former colonial power, is thede jureorde factoofficial language and seldom does translation feature as a national policy in its own right. Accounts for the provision of translation in a country such as Australia are to be found elsewhere. This article adopts a “looking sideways” approach to account for the provision of translation in a range of settings – healthcare, welfare, court/police, etc. In these areas, and since the introduction ofmulticulturalismin the mid-1970s, linguistic diversity of the Australian populace has been a component of policy formulation and the provision of translation has become a means for policy to be implemented. A national policy on languages that expressly includes translation does exist in Australia. However, it is the cross-portfolio convention of addressing language barriers in the provision of government services and beyond that accounts for translation. It is here conceptualized not so much as a cultural-linguistic value, but as a means for service delivery.

This paper has policy as its starting point, relating both to society in general and to healthcare in particular. In Australia, both social and health policy coincide in their advocacy for language (interpreting) services, with the optimisation of healthcare outcomes for patients a desirable outcome of both. This paper relates these macro-level directives to the development of a hospital-wide Cultural Responsiveness Plan that represents policy guidelines at a lower level, and the way that this plan was applied and operationalised at a major public health facility, Northern Health in Melbourne, servicing up to 1 million people. Through the re-establishment of language services, a policy of transcultural training for all new and existing staff, and hospital-wide dissemination of information relating to communicating with limited English proficiency (LEP) patients, a 317% increase is recorded in the requests for interpreters at patient occasions of service (OOS) over an 8-year period. This increase is largely met by the further employment of in-house interpreters, whose cost per OOS drops in proportion to the greater efficiencies that are derived from in-house staff. The augmentation of interpreting services correlates with a 28% decrease in average LEP patient length of stay in hospital, with a decrease in the difference of re-admission rates amongst this group compared to those speaking English. This paper uses demographic data to quantify the likely percentage of LEP patients at Northern Health and matches these against the augmented level of service to show how far this is from a comprehensive or universal level of service which is usually one of the stated aims of macro- and local-level policy. Statistical data gathered longitudinally are presented alongside excerpts taken from interviews with three groups of informants: in-house interpreters, hospital managers outside language services, external language services stakeholders.

This paper presents extracts of three interactions that feature mediators with different roles: broker; dual-role mediator; professional interpreter. A discourse analysis examination employscategories of interpreter footing toshow how alignment to others indexes mediators’ role-relationships. At the micro-level, analysis shows the mediators’ sense of responsibility to the interaction as a social situation and to the positions and intentions of other participants. Mediators attempt to align to others in a way reflecting this, with varying consequences. The broker’s agency to assume a role of indirect recapitulator of another’s talk is not positively received and he re-assumes the role of responder in an intra-family dyad. The threat of breakdown in the communicative interaction compels the dual-role mediator to shift her role from reporter to non-interpreter principal. The professional interpreter provides collaborational re-presenting of talk to others retaining the role of reporter, sometimes swi...

Artikkel kasitleb 103 makedoonia paritolu austraallase kakskeelset konet ja keskendub koodivahetusele leksikaalses mottes (sisestus, vaheldus,viitamine teistest keeltest ulekantud leksikaalsele materjalile olenemata teise keele loikude pikkusest). Kahe- voi mitme elemendilisi konstruktsioone vaadeldakse kui koodivahetusega seotud nahtust, erilise tahelepanu all on nn kergverbi konstruktsioonid. Uuritakse leksikaalgrammatilist ja -semantilist moju, mis tekib tolkelaenude kaudu, selleks et teada saada, kas imporditud leksikaalsed elemendid esinevad samal ajal struktuuriliste uuendustega ja soodustavad nende tekkimist.

The EU is considered by most to have exemplary language and interpreting/translating (I/T) policies: EU parliamentarians may use their own language when speaking in parliament and the 20 official languages of all 25 member states have equal status in regard to I/T services. This paper traces official EU and Croatian policies in regard to language choice and examines some of the translation practices employed by both the EU and Croatia. So far, bi-directional translation practices have involved a language variety that is unmistakeably Croatian and one of the EU's 'working languages', usually English. But interpreting practices have not always followed the same pattern and EU-employed interpreters do not always interpret into Croatian. There is some evidence to suggest that the form and name of the language in EU-Croatia contacts may not always remain uniquely Croatian. If Croatian continues to be employed, this may be a consequence not only of principles applied by EU (or Croatian) bureaucrats. Rather, it may in some part be due to the absence of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro as co-applicants for EU membership. Thus, amongst the rhetoric of respecting member states' language designations and most Croats' adherence to the term 'Croatian' as their native language it is the absence of Bosnian/Bosniak and Serbian (and possibly Montenegrin) as closely related codes which may co-determine the EU's I/T practices just as much as its official language policies.

This paper investigates the phenomenon of "unconscious" or "unintended" switching between languages - triggering - on the basis of accessing items - trigger words - whose language-specific membership may be ambiguous. Triggering as a phenomenon in some examples of bilingual speech was first noticed and explored by Michael Clyne in the first of his many books, Transference and Triggering (1967), and has been subsequently problematised by many researchers m the field of language contact. A linguistic corpus based on taped interviews with 100 second-generation Croatian-English bilinguals provides the bilingual speech sample in which triggered switching is examined. While the relative number of instances of triggered switching is small, two categories of triggering are distinguished - consequential and anticipational, while two productive categories of trigger words are identified - proper nouns and English-origin lexical transfers (almost always nouns). The data suggest that items whose semantic-referential values are similar cross-linguistically are more likely to offer potential "cross-over points" leading to "unconscious" and "unimpeded" switching.

Building on the concept of 'multicultural middle class', this paper explores social inclusion of professionally educated and employed non-Anglophone immigrants in Australia. We focus specifically on the perceptions and implications of 'foreign accent' in the interaction between two groups of middle-class Australians: non-Anglophone immigrants and Anglo-Australians. 'Non-Anglophone immigrants' are defined as those who arrived in Australia as adults, grew up speaking a language other than English, and therefore usually speak English with a 'foreign accent'. 'Anglo-Australians' are defined as people born in Australia who grew up in families/households where only English was spoken, therefore speaking with a 'native Australian' accent. Through a survey of a targeted sample of respondents, the two groups were asked about their intergroup communication, wider interaction (e.g., intermarriage, friendships and working together) and mutual perceptions. Our findings indicate high levels of agreement between the two groups that Anglophone/non-Anglophone communication is minimally hindered by comprehension problems due to foreign-accented speech and cultural differences. Although the positive picture that emerges may reflect specific experiences and attitudes of middle-class professionals and may not be generalisable, increased contact of the 'multicultural middle class' with its Anglo-Australian counterpart is likely to be a factor in dissociating foreign accent and negative stereotyping.

This article examines aspects of linguistic behaviour, attitudes and professional practices amongst a group of 47 “expert users” who are translators or interpreters for one, two or three of the following languages: Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. The official terms for these languages in the respective successor states of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and elsewhere reflect not only historic but also popular designations. Incumbent on translators and interpreters are the professional regulatory norms that require practitioners to follow these designations. An overview of the re-codification of the three languages is provided, followed by a discussion of models that account for how speakers and text-producers negotiate verbal and written interactions with speakers or text of different language varieties. Data are elicited on the following: informants’ reported behaviour in professional and non-professional situations; unanticipated differences in the language for which an assignment was accepted and its actual form; attitudes on assignments with unofficial or unclear language designations; others’ assumptions of informants’ native speaker competency and ethnicity; and attitudes towards the distinctness of the three languages. Accommodation to clients’ language varieties is reported by half of all informants, and those with multiple accreditations report converging to others’ language varieties more so than those with accreditation in one language only. Metalinguistic talk, with or without accommodation, is also a common practice in the initial stages of interpreted interactions or the negotiation of translation assignments. The reported behaviour and practices of translators and interpreters are likely to be indicative of “lay speakers’” and marketplace requirements, and therefore reflective of actual language use amongst users of these three languages when interacting with one another.

Interpreters may see affinities between their own or working language(s) and others in the same family as an opening to a broader range of professional opportunities. This paper presents data from an online survey, completed by 23 mainly Australian-based interpreters for the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages. Main points include: number of accreditations (one, two or three languages); willingness to work in languages other than one’s ‘own’; and views on adapting language to the variety spoken by interlocutors (in both everyday usage and interpreted speech). Other questions examine negotiation of mismatches between ethnicity and the language variety expected by the client, as well as personal views regarding the distinctness of the three languages. Informants form three main groups: some work in one language only, with no accommodation to others; some consider the languages as separate but might accommodate to other varieties, extemporaneously or by prior arrangement; others consider that their native-speaker status in two or three languages makes accommodation superfluous. Two smaller groups (totalling four interpreters) consider substantial accommodation unnecessary: in one case they see the languages as separate but mutually understandable, in the other they see them as one single language. Quantitative data are complemented by informants’ comments.

This paper focuses on public service interpreting in Australia, gives a brief overview of socio-historical features, which, like many predominantly Anglophone countries, had policies and practices that openly discouraged bi- and multi-lingualism and that marginalised translation and interpreting. A change to this occurred in the mid-1970s when social policy caught up with post-WWII reality and multiculturalism became a cornerstone of public policy at all levels. Virtually overnight, national policy required the establishment of a national body that registered suitably attributed interpreters and translators to service the needs of non-English-speaking residents. This has led to the development of T&I infrastructure that is responsive to larger and smaller, older and newer linguistic groups, but which encounters attendant difficulties in the harmonisation of standards of practice amongst interpreters across different languages. The relationship of testing to training is examined and this paper concludes with data on those currently entering the sector: statistics are provided from a sample of 50 trainees, attending an introductory, 40-hour course entitled ‘Entry-level Interpreting’ on their motivational and career-aspirational features, and on their views and experiences of interpreting practice., Este artículo se enfoca en los servicios públicos de interpretación en Australia, y provee información general sobre elementos sociales e históricos de Australia. Australia, como muchos otros países angloparlantes, tenía políticas y procedimientos diseñados para desalentar el bilingüismo y poliglotismo, lo cual consecuentemente marginalizó la traducción e interpretación. Esto comenzó a cambiar a mediados de los años setenta, cuando la política social se puso al corriente de las realidades de la posguerra y el multiculturalismo se volvió una pieza clave de la política pública a todos niveles. Prácticamente de un día a otro, la política nacional requirió el establecimiento de una entidad que registrara intérpretes y traductores adecuadamente acreditados para satisfacer los servicios requeridos por aquellos residentes que no hablaban inglés. Esto llevo al desarrollo de una infraestructura de intérpretes y traductores capaz de responder a las necesidades de grupos lingüísticos grandes y pequeños, nuevos y viejos, pero que a la vez se encuentra con la constante dificultad de asegurar que sus intérpretes en diferentes idiomas mantengan los mismos estándares profesionales. Este artículo examina la relación entre capacitación y examinación, y concluye con información sobre estudiantes que se encuentran a punto de unirse a la industria. Las estadísticas provistas son de una muestra de cincuenta estudiantes, los cuales estudiaron un curso de introducción de cuarenta horas llamado “Curso de interpretación de nivel básico”. Así mismo, este artículo provee información sobre la motivación de los estudiantes, sus ambiciones profesionales, y sus opiniones y experiencias sobre la práctica de interpretación.

This study examines attitudes, reported actions and professional practices in regard to language from an occupational group that consists of 'language experts’ − interpreters. It focuses on the topic of linguistic variation, perceptions of ‘native-speakerness’, accommodation to other languages, and nominated accounts for perceived difficulties in working with others – due to linguistic, extra-linguistic or other situational factors. The first part contextualises the sometimes separate and sometimes shared paths that characterise the standardisation of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian and how these languages are classified formally by interpreter directories and universities in Germany and Austria. Empirical data from practising interpreters are then presented that contain responses to different features relevant to the discourse and interactional management of interpreter assignments, such as nominated first language(s) and ethnicity, perceptions of others’ designations and conceptualisations of the languages, language variant employed with ‘same-language’ vs. ‘congruent-language’ interlocutors, discourse features of German-speaking judicial officials and of allophone clients, the ‘mediator role’ of the interpreter etc.

Despite reading being recognized as a core academic skill, surprisingly little research has been undertaken into university lecture reading requirements. This article reports on the trial and evaluation of a minimalist reading model developed for students in arts and education subjects. Comprising annotated extracts from full texts ‘linked’ wherever possible via hypertext mark-up language to glossaries, e-dictionaries and online translation services, the minimalist model was intended to rethink pre-lecture reading requirements and conventional approaches to designing reading lists at the tertiary level. Findings indicate that while students are generally receptive to the redesign of conventional approaches to pre-lecture reading in the disciplines sampled, several participants expressed reservations about the model. The research provides insights into the study mores of the contemporary university student and re-emphasizes the need to ensure the diversity and complexity of the student cohort is catered for by educators and university managers as far as practicable.

Hesitation and monitoring phenomena (hereafter HMP) are forms that occur in speech such as filled or unfilled pauses, paralinguistic markers such as (nervous) laughter or coughing, or signals which pre-empt or justify other forms in utterances. The functions of these forms have commonly been associated with planning or accessing difficulties. However, HMP can also have a function of signalling clause boundaries, changes of mood or topic, aiding intelligibility for listeners. This paper draws on a large sample of bilingual speech and examines the overall incidence of HMP from two contributing languages, Croatian and English, and their incidence in speech containing code-switching. Analysis of results seeks to establish whether there is disproportionately high frequency of HMP surrounding code-switches, and whether such HMP are indicative of accessing/production difficulties concomitant to the appearance of code-switches, or appear to perform a function that facilitates the intelligibility of code-switches. HMP co-occur disproportionately with code-switches. However, analysis of code-switching examples shows that different types of code-switches attract higher or lower frequencies of HMP, depending on their phonological and/or morphological form. Although not identical to discourse markers, HMP perform a congruent function, that of integrating or facilitating the incorporation of ‘other language’ text.

PurposeThe primary purpose of this paper is to compare time availability and its allocation amongst Arts students. In addition it aims to match time availability and use with informants' resource preferences and the variables of language background and residential status.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 109 students completed quantitatively‐based electronic and paper‐copy surveys. Empirical data from primary informants form the basis of analysis.FindingsThe paper finds that over 90 per cent of informants have non‐study commitments and over half have commitments of six or more hours per week. The largest single group (35 per cent) has obligations of six to 14 hours per week. There is only a weak correlation between a higher number of commitments a lower amount of “out‐of‐class” time to engage with study obligations. Conversely, fewer extra‐curricular obligations does not automatically lead to a higher number of hours devoted to study. Differences in resource use are small: paper copy resources are universally popular, regardless of time commitments and allocations. Non‐English‐speaking background and international students tend to have fewer non‐study commitments and devote more time to study in general than English‐speaking background and local informants.Research limitations/implicationsResearch covers one of full‐time student informants' four units and does not elicit responses from all units studied by informants.Originality/valueWhile employment has been examined as a factor affecting student performance and time availability, few studies have matched time availability and declared time allocations to study. Further, time availability as a key feature of academic study is matched against variables highly relevant to today's student populations: resource mode use; language background; and residential status.

Shifting from one language of interpretation to another (i.e. from language a and language x to language a and language y) is not an unknown phenomenon in mediated interactions between bi- or multi-lingual clients and multilingual interpreters. Typically, this occurs when clients wish to shift to their dominant language and interpreters also have proficiency (and accreditation) in this language. Twenty Australian-based interpreters (out of a sample of sixty) reported engaging in shifting in the course of interpreting. Language combinations and circumstances motivating clients to shift are presented and systematised to show that the two largest groups of potential shifters are clients who wish to revert to their (chronologically) first acquired language and those who shift from a ‘national’ or ‘majority-group’ language to a ‘minority’ or ‘regional’ one spoken in their country of origin. Responses to hypothetical shifts in the language of interpretation are discussed in which interpreter informants provide acceptability judgements of courses of action and justifications for accepting — or refusing to accept — a shift in the language of interpretation.