Lecture
Healthcare interpreting today and tomorrow
- Esther de Boe (University of Antwerp)
- Date
- Wednesday 4 December 2024
- Time
- Series
- Leiden Translation Talks
- Location
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 2.02
Abstract
As societies diversify due to various migration patterns, healthcare providers are increasingly challenged by linguistic and cultural barriers. Finding ways to bridge such boundaries is essential in healthcare, since success or failure of the communication may become a matter of life or death (Ng & Crezee, 2020).
A solid way of securing this is by means of healthcare interpreting (HI), which refers to communication occurring between a patient speaking a non-societal language, a healthcare provider speaking the societal language and a professional interpreter (Angelelli, 2014). HI is a prevalent field of professional interpreting practice and research. However, the domain faces serious challenges due to several societal developments, such as loss of public funding and a lack of regulations. This has led healthcare providers to resort to informal language mediators such as family members or acquaintances, the use of which may entail several issues, in particular with regard to accuracy.
In addition, technological innovations such as distance interpreting by telephone and video link and technology-supported translation tools also impact both interpreters’ working conditions and doctor-patient relationships. Next to that, non-professional and technology-based interpreting solutions raise issues concerning ethics at the level of neutrality and data security.
This workshop discusses the current state of HI, as well as its most important challenges, today and in the near future. It starts with a general introduction on prevailing topics in HI, and then moves on to discuss more specific themes related to technology-mediation in HI, supported by illustrative examples.
References
Angelelli, C. V. (2014). Interpreting in the healthcare setting: Access in cross-linguistic communication. In H. Hamilton & S. Chou, S. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Health Communication (pp. 573–585). London: Routledge.
Ng, E. N. S., & Crezee, I. (2020). Interpreting in legal and healthcare settings: Perspectives on research and training. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.151
About the speaker
Esther de Boe holds a PhD in Translation Studies and is a tenure-track professor at the Department of Applied Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting Studies. She teaches consecutive and simultaneous interpreting (French-Dutch), interpreting studies, and interpreting techniques.
She has a keen interest in the application of technology in interpreting and has published and edited several works investigating remote interpreting. Her recent co-edited volume, Interactional Dynamics in Remote Interpreting: Micro-analytical Approaches (Routledge, 2024), examines how remote interpreting impacts on communication dynamics.
Esther de Boe is also member of the TricS research group at the University of Antwerp, and board member and secretary of the European Network of Public Service Interpreting and Translation. Before starting her academic career, Esther de Boe worked as a sworn interpreter in the Netherlands.