The Routledge Handbook of Translation, Interpreting and Crisis (Routledge Handbooks in Translation and Interpreting Studies) 1032075422, 9781032075426

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In the contributors’ chapters, the readers are handed the most precious gift for any researcher: many unanswered questions and urgent topics to investigate. In fact, established and expert, as well as new and original researchers who contribute to this Handbook encourage readers to consider a gamut of equally cogent and relevant topics, from conceptualizations of crises in multicultural and multilingual contexts, to practical yet often unsurmountable issues surrounding legal frameworks of local and international crises, via considerations about the everyday constraints faced by practitioners operating in the international humanitarian and crisis-response sector. The editors elegantly managed to collate chapters that give voice to many often-marginalised regions and communities. This is a feat as decolonising and differentiating the field is among the key challenges in this area of Translation and Interpreting Studies: readers will find that this Handbook is a significant step in that direction. Federico M. Federici, University College London, United Kingdom

THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF TRANSLATION, INTERPRETING AND CRISIS

This handbook offers a broad-​ranging overview of the study of translating and interpreting in conflict and crisis settings and takes the field in new directions. Covering a wide selection of multimodal contexts that build on the fundamentals of translation, interpreting, and their in-​between hybrid forms of mediation, the handbook is divided into four parts. The opening part covers perspectives on policy and practices, whether contemporary or historical, and cases truly span the globe, from Peru and Brazil, over Belgium and Sierra Leone, to Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong. International developments require profound considerations about the professionalisation of access to language in times of crises, not least in contexts of humanitarian negotiation or conflict zone interpreting—these form the second part. The subsequent part deals with spheres of community in which language needs are positioned within frames of agency, positionality, and trust, and the challenges that these face. The contributions build on cases where interpreters act as catalysts for translation needs in settings of humanitarian aid and beyond. The final part considers language strategies and solutions in crises. This handbook is the essential guide to translation and interpreting in conflict and crisis settings for advanced students and researchers of translation and interpreting studies and will be of wide interest in peace studies, political science, and beyond. Christophe Declercq, PhD, is a Lecturer in Translation at Utrecht University, Netherlands, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London, UK. He has published several articles and chapters on translation and language technology, and for a decade has been an evaluator for the European Commission on multilingual ICT projects. He has published as author and co-​editor in the domain of cross-​cultural communication at times of conflict, either in a historic or contemporary setting. Koen Kerremans is an Associate Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. His research interests pertain to terminology, translation technologies, and multilingual communication. He is a member of the Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS) at VUB.

ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOKS IN TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING STUDIES

Routledge Handbooks in Translation and Interpreting Studies provide comprehensive overviews of the key topics in translation and interpreting studies. All entries for the handbooks are specially commissioned and written by leading scholars in the field. Clear, accessible and carefully edited, Routledge Handbooks in Translation and Interpreting Studies are the ideal resource for both advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students. THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF SIGN LANGUAGE TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING Edited by Christopher Stone, Robert Adam, Ronice Quadros de Müller, and Christian Rathmann THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF TRANSLATION AND RELIGION Edited by Hephzibah Israel THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF TRANSLATION, INTERPRETING, AND BILINGUALISM Edited by Aline Ferreira and John W. Schwieter THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF LATIN AMERICAN LITERARY TRANSLATION Edited by Delfina Cabrera and Denise Kripper THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF TRANSLATION THEORY AND CONCEPTS Edited by Reine Meylaerts and Kobus Marais THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF KOREAN INTERPRETING Edited by Riccardo Moratto and Hyang-​Ok Lim THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF TRANSLATION, INTERPRETING AND CRISIS Edited by Christophe Declercq and Koen Kerremans For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routle​dge.com/​Routle​dge-​Handbo​oks-​in-​Tran​slat​ion-​andInter​pret​ing-​Stud​ies/​book-​ser​ies/​RHTI

THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF TRANSLATION, INTERPRETING AND CRISIS

Edited by Christophe Declercq and Koen Kerremans

Designed cover image: © Getty Images First published 2024 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Christophe Declercq and Koen Kerremans; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Christophe Declercq and Koen Kerremans to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-​in-​Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-​in-​Publication Data Names: Declercq, Christophe, 1971– editor. | Kerremans, Koen, editor. Title: The Routledge handbook of translation, interpreting and crisis / edited by Christophe Declercq and Koen Kerremans. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2024. | Series: Routledge handbooks in translating and interpreting studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2023033494 (print) | LCCN 2023033495 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032075426 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032075006 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003207580 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Translating and interpreting–Social aspects. | Translating and interpreting–Political aspects. | Communication in crisis management. | Intercultural communication. | LCGFT: Essays. Classification: LCC P306.97.S63 R69 2024 (print) | LCC P306.97.S63 (ebook) | DDC 418/.02–dc23/eng/20230728 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023033494 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023033495 ISBN: 9781032075426 (hbk) ISBN: 9781032075006 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003207580 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/​9781003207580 Typeset in Times New Roman by Newgen Publishing UK

CONTENTS

List of illustrations List of contributors Abbreviations and acronyms

xi xiii xxi

Introduction Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

1

PART I

Policy and practices

15

1 Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness in crisis communication policy: 21 years of white papers in Japan Patrick Cadwell

17

2 Redefining information accessibility in crisis translation: communicating COVID-​19 resources to culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia Lintao Qi and Rita Wilson 3 Accessible government crisis communication: recommendations based on the case of COVID-​19 in Belgium Mieke Vandenbroucke, Nina Reviers, Gert Vercauteren, Anna Jankowska, Bonnie Geerinck, Heleen Van Opstal, Isabelle Aujoulat, Karin Hannes, Khetam Al Sharou, Lien Vermeire, Maria-​Cornelia Wermuth, Sarah Talboom, and Wessel van de Veerdonk

vii

31

45

Contents

4 Communicating COVID-​19: language access and linguistic rights in contemporary Peru Raquel de Pedro Ricoy 5 Translation and interpreting as a guarantee for language access and linguistic rights for migrants in Brazil in the context of crisis intensified by the pandemic Sabine Gorovitz and Teresa Dias Carneiro 6 Multilingual crisis communication, language access, and linguistic rights in Sierra Leone Shaun Pickering, Chloe Franklin, Jonas Knauerhase, Pious Mannah, and Federico M. Federici 7 The languages of Hong Kong’s international crisis relief response Marija Todorova 8 How did translators and interpreters in crisis communications get ignored? Overview of international effort in protecting our colleagues working in crisis settings and the rights of speakers of non-​dominant languages Henry Liu, Debra Russell, and Colin Allen PART II

59

72

84

99

112

Professionalisation

129

9 Interpreting in humanitarian negotiation Lucía Ruiz Rosendo

131

10 The ideal conflict zone interpreter: military perspectives and perceptions of interpreters’ skills and attitudes Eleonora Bernardi 11 Reinventing themselves–​conflict zone interpreters from Afghanistan as interpreters for asylum seekers in Spain: a case study on impartiality, empathy and role María Gómez-Amich 12 Widening the scope of interpreting in conflict settings: a description of the provision of interpreting during the 2021 Afghan evacuation to Spain Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez and Gabriel Cabrera Méndez

viii

144

156

172

Contents

13 Interpreting ethics in crisis in the conflict zones: a focus on the Afghanistan War Ping Yang

187

14 The crisis of the translator: an overview of the occupational situation of Syrian translation professionals during the war Madiha Kassawat

200

PART III

Community

215

15 Interpreter and translator training: from crisis response to sustainable livelihoods Barbara Moser-​Mercer, Somia Qudah, Mona Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga, and Mohammed Al-​Batineh 16 Interpreting as a form of humanitarian aid provision at an Italian NGO: challenges and outlooks Maura Radicioni 17 Interpreters and language assistance in Galician NGDOs: situation, demand, and training needs Maribel Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, David Casado-Neira, Silvia Pérez Freire, and Luzia Oca González 18 Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises: creating a sense of community and belonging in migrant reception Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña 19 Agents and collaboration in humanitarian interpreting/​translation Carmen Valero-​Garcés

217

233

249

264 278

20 Interpreting and positionality in conflict-​affected societies of Rakhine State, Myanmar Abellia Anggi Wardani and Tengku Shahpur

290

21 Vaccination narratives in a multilingual society: on intercultural communication and trust Tanya Escudero and Jekaterina Maadla

304

ix

Contents PART IV

Language strategies and solutions

319

22 Exploring the accuracy and appropriateness of the translation of important government information for Samoan-​speaking communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia during the COVID-​19 crisis Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee

321

23 Localised terminology for COVID-​19 communication: use of vaccine-​related terminology in Arabic-​speaking countries Sonia Halimi, Razieh Azari, and Mariem Harbaoui

344

24 Omission and addition during crisis interpreting: a study on the Rohingya displacement Mohammad Harun Or Rashid

360

25 Women’s crises and gender-​aware ethical practices in simultaneous conference interpreting Gabriela Yañez

377

26 Challenging the shortcomings of traditional translation in migration contexts: a translinguistic proposal for professionals in the humanitarian sector Renato Tomei and Max Pardeilhan 27 Risk communication: experimenting with automatic speech recognition as the first step of a combined speech-​to-​text and machine translation tool for risk reduction during pilot–​controller communications Bettina Bajaj Index

389

403

418

x

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures 3.1 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2 10.1 11.1 12.1 12.2 12.3 15.1 15.2 21.1 21.2 21.3 23.1 23.2 23.3

Methodological design of the ICC project The friend-​mother-​grandmother model The system architecture behind the UNDRR Terminology Languages primarily used at work Ways of communication with beneficiaries Breakdown of military officers interviewed Emotions felt by the interviewed interpreters The number of calls in Dari language for telephone interpreting The number of minutes of conversations mediated by telephone interpreters in Dari language The number of calls in the Dari language from different clients one year after the arrival of the evacuees from Afghanistan Humanitarian cluster system and programming cycle Skill-​level descriptions at Yarmouk University, adapted from the ILR scale Number of posts in Russian and Estonian on Terviseamet Facebook page Number of comments and reactions to parallel posts in April and May Number of comments and reactions to parallel posts in August Percentage of terminological content found on the selected countries’ websites and social media in relation to the WHO’s concepts of vaccination production, administration, distribution and safety Overlap between the COVID-​19 vaccination-​related terms in Arabic produced by the WHO and the official websites in the countries under study Overlap of the COVID-​19 vaccination-​related terms across all media of the selected countries

xi

50 88 93 105 106 147 162 182 182 183 220 223 308 310 313 350 352 354

List of illustrations

Tables 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 6.1 6.2 8.1 12.1 12.2 14.1 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 17.7 17.8 17.9 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 19.1 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 23.1 25.1 25.2 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4

Description of the corpus compiled on Sketch Engine Lexical items related to translation and interpreting in a corpus of 4,236,413 tokens Lexical items related to language in a corpus of 4,236,413 tokens Lexical items related to foreignness in a corpus of 4,236,413 tokens Suggested translation workflow Technological infrastructure of the mobile application Overview of subsections Summary of different classifications of interpreters in war settings Topics of the interpreting assignments The main characteristics of the participants Educational qualifications of participants surveyed Recent specific training–​in the past twelve months Working languages Number of NGDOs worked for throughout the career so far Frequency of interpretation work Years of interpreting experience Years of experience with NGDOs Frequency of interpretation modality Degree of importance for training Communicative distance management in dialogue interpreting Parameters used to modulate the interpreter’s degree of mediation Migrants’ responses to Likert-​scale-​like questions on the interpreter’s role Workers’ responses to Likert-​scale-​like questions on the interpreter’s role Commercial logistics versus humanitarian logistics Several instances of ambiguous and culturally inappropriate translation choices Examples of ambiguities in the Samoan translation Examples of inaccuracies and ambiguities in the Samoan translations Examples of inaccuracies in the Samoan translations Inaccuracies in the Samoan translations Examples of failure to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the Samoan translation Examples of term categorisation according to theme specificity Three samples of source speech and its respective interpretation Two samples showing how an intersectional approach to interpreting must necessarily underpin gender-​sensitive practices Excerpt 1 Excerpt 2 Excerpt 3 Excerpt 4 WER results Analysis examples Error distribution Safety-​critical transmissions in Experiment 7

xii

20 22 23 25 89 92 114 176 181 205 253 254 255 256 256 257 257 258 259 267 268 272 274 281 328 331 333 335 337 337 349 382 384 395 396 397 398 409 410 411 412

CONTRIBUTORS

Abellia Anggi Wardani is a lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, and Executive Director of Knowledge Hub Myanmar. She received her PhD from Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Anna Jankowska is a research professor at the Department of Translators and Interpreters of the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her research interests include accessibility studies and audiovisual translation. Her recent research projects include studies on the audio description process and technology for accessibility. Barbara Moser-​Mercer is Professor Emerita and founder of InZone (University of Geneva, Switzerland), visiting professor at University of Nairobi, and Visiting Fellow at Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK. She is engaged in strengthening African solutions that advance Higher Education in Emergencies (HEiE) and has been coordinating the launch phase of the African Higher Education in Emergencies Network (AHEEN). Bettina Bajaj is a lecturer at University College London, UK, having formerly worked at the University of Surrey and Imperial College London. She holds an MA in Translation and a PhD in Terminology Science and her research activities include automatic speech recognition and neural machine translation technologies for pilot–​controller communications, and associated human factors in flight. Bonnie Geerinck holds a Master’s degree in translation studies from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. She has worked as a researcher for the Department of Applied Linguistics and the Department of Linguistics at the University of Antwerp from 2019–​2022. Carmen Valero-​Garcés is a Full Professor of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Alcalá, Spain. She is the coordinator of the Research Group FITISPos® (Research and Training in Public Service Interpreting and Translation) as well as the founder and co-​editor of the FITISPos International Journal, and of AFIPTISP (Association of Trainers, Researchers and Professionals

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List of contributors

in PSIT). She is also Co-​Director of MA in Conference Interpreting Business Oriented (MICONE) and co-​director of the EMT MA in Community Interpreting and PSIT. Coordinator and team member of national and international projects and organiser of numerous events and activities. She is the author and editor of several books and numerous articles. Chloe Franklin is a freelance proofreader and translator specialising in medical, scientific, and crisis translation. She holds an MSc in Specialised Translation (Medical, Scientific and Technical). Christophe Declercq, PhD, is a lecturer in translation at Utrecht University, Netherlands, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London, UK. He has published several articles and chapters on translation and language technology, and for decades has been an evaluator for the European Commission on multilingual ICT projects. He has published as author and co-​editor in the domain of cross-​cultural communication at times of conflict, either in a historic or contemporary setting. Colin Allen has advanced the human rights of deaf people and persons with disabilities for over 40 years through political, professional, and social involvement. Colin served as the President of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) from 2011 to 2019. Additionally, he occupied the role of Chair of the International Disability Alliance (IDA). In these positions, he guided and represented the WFD and IDA in their engagement with the United Nations System and with other international human rights agencies and international development organisations. Colin is currently a Faculty Lecturer at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) within the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA. David Casado-Neira, sociologist, is an associate professor at the University of Vigo, Spain. He has been involved lately with several research projects concerning victimology and vulnerability, especially related to violence against women, and interpreting rights in vulnerability contexts. Debra Russell, PhD, is a Canadian certified interpreter, educator, and researcher. As the previous David Peikoff Chair of Deaf Studies, at the University of Alberta, Canada, her research interests include mediated education with interpreters, interpreting in legal settings and with legal discourse, and Deaf–​hearing interpreter teams. Her interpreting practice spans over 30 years, and continues to focus on medical, legal, mental health, and employment settings. She is the past president of the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI), and a former commissioner for the Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education (CCIE). Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo, PhD, is Director of the MA in Conference Interpreting program at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Multilingual Communication, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Spain. Her research areas of interest are (meta)cognition in interpreter training and the role of interpreters in the interplay between power and discourse. Eleonora Bernardi is a conference interpreter working as a freelancer for the European Institutions and a former medical interpreter with Italian, English, French, and Croatian as working languages. After having worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Bologna and Macerata, she enrolled in a programme PhD at Bologna’s Department of Interpreting and Translation in 2019. xiv

List of contributors

Federico M. Federici is Professor of Intercultural Crisis Communication at the Centre for Translation Studies, University College London, UK. His research focuses on multilingual communication in cascading crises; he is interested in equal access to information. Gabriel Cabrera Méndez is a professional translator and interpreter, holds a degree in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Granada, Spain, teaches interpretation for the Master in Conference Interpreting for Business at the University of Alcalá, Spain, and is responsible for the Interpreting Quality Department at Dualia Teletraducciones. Gabriela Yañez is translator and interpreter, and works as Associate Professor of Interpreting at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. She is a member of the research project “Traducción, subjetividad y género” (UNLP, H/​967, 2022–​2025) and BIFEGA. Her current PhD research project focuses on subjectivity in interpreted discourse. Gert Vercauteren (UAntwerp) holds a PhD in Translation Studies and his research focuses on narrative approaches and cognitive load in audio description. He is a member of the TricS research group and the OPEN Expertise Centre for accessible media and culture. Heleen Van Opstal (Atlas integratie en inburgering, Brussels, Belgium) worked as manager of a social interpreting and translation service (2015–​2021). She is an expert in social interpreting & translation, easy language, and low literacy. Within the ICC project, she coordinated the communication product development. Henry Liu is a consultant interpreter in English, Chinese, and French with extensive experience in humanitarian interpreting particularly with UNHCR in the 1990s following events in Beijing. Along with Maya Hess (Red T), Linda Fitchett (AIIC), and Christl Schraut (ICC), Henry is one of the founders of #ProtectLinguists Coalition. Former FIT President (2014–​2017), now one of its ten Honorary Advisors, Henry was instrumental in gaining United Nations recognition of 30 September as International Translation Day (UNGA A/​Res/​71/​288) and in establishing a formal relationship between WASLI and FIT. Henry was one of the five members of the INTERACT External Advisory Board. Hoy Neng Wong Soon is of Chinese and Samoan descent, and was born and raised on Savai‘i, Samoa. She is a Samoan interpreter, translator, and research project manager and teaches health interpreting and translation studies at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Ineke Crezee is New Zealand’s first Full Professor of Translation and Interpreting. In the 2020 New Year Honours, she was appointed an Officer in the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to translator and interpreter education since 1991. Isabelle Aujoulat is Professor of Public Health at UCLouvain, Belgium, specialising in health promotion. She conducts participatory and transdisciplinary research which looks at vulnerable people’s health experiences and trajectories in relation to the health care system and society. Jayne Mutiga is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Communication Skills at the University of Nairobi where she is also the Director of Research at the University’s Centre for Translation & Interpretation. She holds a PhD in linguistics from the University of Nairobi. Her current research xv

List of contributors

interests are in socio-​linguistics and language practice, language endangerment, second-​language acquisition, intercultural communication, and research methodologies. Jekaterina Maadla is a PhD candidate and teacher at Tallinn University, Estonia. Her research focuses on public service interpreting in Estonia in crisis settings. She has been working as an interpreter for Estonian public and private institutions for more than ten years. Jonas Knauerhase is an honorary research associate, University College London, and Security Risk and Crisis Manager at GIZ, Germany. He formerly worked as a Disaster Risk and Security Advisor at Brot für die Welt/​YMCA in Sierra Leone. Karin Hannes is a professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at KU Leuven, Belgium, and founder of the European Network Qualitative Inquiry. She specialises in meta-​synthesis and innovative research methodology, including arts-​based, multisensory, place-​based research practice and systematic reviews. Khetam Al Sharou is a researcher at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and an honorary research associate at Imperial College London, UK. Her research focuses on improving machine translation quality and multilingual communication in emergency situations, working alongside developers and users. Koen Kerremans is an associate professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. His research interests pertain to terminology, translation technologies, and multilingual communication. He is a member of the Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS) at VUB. Laura Paíno Peña holds a BA in international relations and translation and interpreting from Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Spain. Currently working at consulting, she worked as translator/​interpreter at the Embassy of Indonesia in Madrid and at UNICEF Spain. She is interested in Public Service Interpreting, especially related to migration. Lien Vermeire (NCCN) worked as a communication officer at the National Crisis Center from 2016 to 2022. During the COVID-​19 crisis, she supervised the translations, interpreters, and other inclusive communication actions. She is currently working as Project Manager of diversity & inclusion at the Belgian Federal Public Service Policy and Support. Lintao Qi is Lecturer of Translation Studies at Monash University, Australia. His research focuses on the role of translation in literary migration, cultural encounters, and sociopolitical interactions, including translation in the service of cultural diplomacy, and translation in the context of censorship. Lucía Ruiz Rosendo is an associate professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She carries out research on the role of the interpreter in crisis situations. She is the coordinator of the AXS project, whose objective is to generate evidence-​based data with the aim of informing training programmes for interpreters working at different stages along the evolution of conflicts.

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Luzia Oca González is Assistant Professor in Anthropology at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and her main research focuses on gender and migration, gender and tourism, and equality policies. She has ample experience through different social intervention projects that apply participatory methods with a feminist perspective. Madiha Kassawat holds a PhD in translation studies from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University–​ ESIT, France. Her research has focused on intercultural communication, website localisation, linguistic and cultural adaptations, and transcreation. She is a member of the editorial team of the journal Critic: Pour une traductologie africaine. Maria-​Cornelia Wermuth is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts of KU Leuven (Antwerp Campus), Belgium, and Head of the Research Group Translation and Technology. Her research areas are applied cognitive linguistics, terminology, (specialised) translation (including software tools), and (cloud-​based) collaborative translation approaches. María Gómez-​Amich holds a PhD in translation and interpreting studies from the University of Granada, Spain. She has taught Spanish, translation, literature, and culture in the USA, South Africa, and the UAE, where she currently resides devoting her research to interpreting in conflict zones, role and quality (self-​) perception, life story research, conflict narratives, and concept mapping analysis. Maribel Del-​Pozo-​Triviño is Associate Professor in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Vigo, Spain. Her main areas of research focus especially on public service interpreting with vulnerable populations. She has coordinated several projects related to training interpreters and service providers to work with victims of gender-​based violence. Mariem Harbaoui is a PhD student of translation studies at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (FTI), University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her research is on modes of translation in healthcare settings. She holds an MA degree in Translation from the Faculty of Translation, with a special focus on Translating patient information leaflets in Arabic. Marija Todorova is a research assistant professor at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research is on the intersection of translation and peacebuilding studies. Todorova serves on the Executive Council of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS). Maura Radicioni is a PhD candidate at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, with a research project on humanitarian interpreting. She graduated in Conference Interpreting at the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1997, and has, since then, worked as a conference interpreter and interpreter trainer. Max Pardeilhan (MA) is an honorary fellow in English language at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, Italy. His academic history revolves around the study and teaching of languages, linguistics and translation, with a recent turn towards the field of translanguaging and applied sociolinguistics.

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List of contributors

Mieke Vandenbroucke is a tenure-track Research Professor at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Antwerp, Belgium. She holds a PhD in linguistics and was a Fulbright scholar at UC Berkeley, USA. She acts as the Adjunct Secretary General of the International Pragmatics Association and co-​editor of the Handbook of Pragmatics. Mohammad Harun Or Rashid, MA and MPhil, teaches language and communication at Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh. His research interests span a wide spectrum ranging from translation studies to computational text analysis, and his articles have appeared in different national and international journals. Besides scholarly work, Mr. Rashid is also devoted to literary translation. Currently, he is pursuing his third Master’s degree at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA. Mohammed Al-Batineh is Associate Professor of Translation Studies at the United Arab Emirates University, UAE, and Yarmouk University, Jordan. He has extensive experience in translator and interpreter training, and has served as a content expert for online translation courses for several institutions in the USA, Europe, and the Arab World. His research interests include translator training, translation technologies, and localisation. Mona Malkawi is an assistant professor at the Department of Translation, Yarmouk University, Jordan. She received her PhD in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies with concentration in Literary Translation from the University of Arkansas, USA. Studying literature of different cultures and translation has mediated her place as a translator and increased her sensitivity to language and communication needs in humanitarian contexts. Her research interests are in Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Literary Translation, and Interpreting. Nina Reviers is a tenure-​track Professor in Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility at the Department of Applied Linguistics, Translators and Interpreters (University of Antwerp, Belgium). She holds a PhD in Translation Studies (University of Antwerp, 2018) in the field of Audio Description. Patrick Cadwell is Assistant Professor of Translation Studies at the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies in Dublin City University, Ireland. He is also a member of The Centre for Translation and Textual Studies there. He researches translation in crisis settings, translation communities of practice, and non-​professional translation. Subjects he teaches include Japanese specialised translation, terminology, and translation theory. Ping Yang received a PhD from Macquarie University, Australia. Dr. Yang is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Western Sydney University. His research includes intercultural communication, intercultural nonverbal communication, TESOL teacher education, and translation studies. Dr. Yang publishes extensively and supervises PhD candidates in these areas. Pious Mannah is a seasoned development worker with years of experience in youth development, advocacy, conflict management, project management, and disaster risk and security issues. He holds a Master’s degree in development management from the University of Sierra Leone. Raquel de Pedro Ricoy is the Chair of Translation and Interpreting, University of Stirling, UK. Her research focuses on Translation and Interpreting as enablers of access to human rights. She xviii

List of contributors

received AHRC and GCRF funding to explore the legislated mediation of indigenous rights and the role of untrained interpreters in Peru. De Pedro Ricoy was an associate researcher in the MELINCO project on interlingual mediation for development cooperation. Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez is an associate professor in the Department of Modern Philology at the University of Alcalá, Spain. She has been a member of the FITISPos-​UAH Research Group since 2001 and is the current Vice-​President of the European Association ENPSIT. Razieh Azari is a PhD student in translation studies at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting and MSc student in global health at the Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her research is on lay-​friendliness of health-​related information, health communication, crowdsourcing translation, and culture. Renato Tomei, PhD, is Associate Professor of English Language and Translation at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, Italy. He has conducted extensive research in the field of Afro-​Caribbean and postcolonial studies, and world Englishes. His recent focus is on translanguaging in youth-​ speak and migration-​related contexts. Rita Wilson is Professor of Translation Studies at Monash University, Australia, and Founding Director of the Monash Intercultural Lab. Her current research focuses on the complexities of intercultural contact and the relationship between language, culture, and social inclusion in multilingual societies. Sabine Gorovitz is a professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Translation at the University of Brasília, Brazil, since 1996. Sabine graduated in Foreign Languages Applied to Economics and International Relations from Université Paul-​Valéry–​Montpellier III, France. She holds a Master’s degree in Communication from the University of Brasília and PhD in Sociolinguistics from Université Paris Descartes–​Sorbonne. Sarah Talboom has a background in communication sciences. She is currently working as a researcher at the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, USA, within the domain of strategic health communication. Shaun Pickering is a multilingual language specialist and educator. His expertise is accessible communication. Through language, he strives to positively impact lives by enhancing accessibility, inclusion, and empowerment across boundaries. Silvia Pérez Freire is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of Vigo, Spain. Her main lines of research focus on gender-​based violence and sex trafficking. She has 20 years of professional experience as a sociologist and has been participating in social intervention from a feminist perspective. Somia Qudah is an assistant professor at the translation department, Yarmouk University, Jordan. She received her PhD in translation studies from the University of Leeds, UK. Her recent projects focused on translator training and translation quality assessment in humanitarian and non-​humanitarian contexts. xix

List of contributors

Sonia Halimi is Professor and Head of the Arabic Unit at the Faculty of Translation and interpreting at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her research fields and publications encompass legal translation, multicultural health translation, medical communication, natural language processing with Arabic and teaching translation. Tanya Escudero is a research fellow at Tallinn University, Estonia. Her focus is on exploring how translation practices can foster the integration of migrant communities in their host country. She has led several projects on migration narratives in the media and crisis translation. Tengku Shahpur is a researcher at Knowledge Hub Myanmar. He holds an MA in Conflict Transformation and BA in Business Law. Teresa Dias Carneiro is a professor at the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-​Rio). Graduated in Economics from Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ), Teaching degree in Portuguese Language and Related Literatures (PUC-​Rio), Master’s degree in Comparative Literature from UFRJ, and PhD in Language Studies (majoring in Translation Studies) from PUC-​Rio. Wessel van de Veerdonk, PhD, is an epidemiologist and currently working as a researcher and coordinator at the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, USA. His focus is on research methodology and prevention. Wessel leads a team that is working on several health-​related projects with vulnerable groups as a focal point.

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AA AAAQ AD AGPTI AHEEN AHMPPI AHRC/​GCRF AI AIDESEP AIDS AIIC ANOLIR ANR APTIJ ARSA ASPFOR ASR ATA ATAGI ATC AUSIT BBC BEA BRI CA CAA

Arakan Army Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality Audio Description Galician Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters [Spain] African Network for Higher Education in Emergencies Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza Arts and Humanities Research Council /​Global Challenges Research Fund Artificial Intelligence Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest Auto-​Immune Deficiency Syndrome International Association of Conference Interpreters Association Nationale des Officiers et sous-​officiers Linguistes de Réserve [“National Association of Reserve Linguistic Officers”] Active Noise Reduction Professional Association of Court and Sworn Interpreters and Translators [Spain] Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army Afghanistan Spanish Force Automatic Speech Recognition American Translator Association Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation Air Traffic Control Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators British Broadcasting Corporation Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile [“Civil Aviation Safety Investigation and Analysis Bureau”, France] Belt and Road Initiative [Chinese government] Conversational Analysis Civil Aviation Authority

xxi

Abbreviations and acronyms

CAIs CALD CAS CBL CBPR CCHN CDA CEAR CEDAR fund CenTraS CERC CETI CHIRP CIT CLI CM CoP Copei COVAX COVID CPAs CRRF CV CV DG LINC DHAC DIA DLI DNN DPU DRF EASO ECMM EEA ENPSIT EP ERC EU FGD Fiocruz

Civilian Afghan interpreters Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria [“Extraordinary Reception Centers”, Italy] Case-​Based Learning Community-​Based Participatory Research Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation Critical Discourse Analysis Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado [“Spanish Commission for Refugees”, Spain] [Independent Christian relief and development organization. Hong Kong] Centre for Translation Studies (UCL) Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes [“Migrant Temporary Stay Centres”, Spain] Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme for Aviation Central de Interpretación y Traducción en Lenguas Indígenas u Originarias [“Centre for Interpretation and Translation in Indigenous or Native Languages”, Peru] Critical Link International Cultural Mediator Community of Practice Committee on Research, Innovation, and Extension to Fight Against COVID-​ 19 [Brazil] COVID-​19 Vaccines Global Access Corona Virus Disease First Reception Centres Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework Castel Volturno [Italy] Curriculum Vitae Directorate-​General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences Department of Health and Aged Care [Australia] Department of Internal Affairs [Australia] Dirección de Lenguas Indígenas [“Directorate of Indigenous Languages”, Peru] Deep Neural Networks Public Defender’s Office [Brazil] Disaster Relief Fund [Hong Kong] European Asylum Support Office European Community Monitoring Mission European Environment Agency European Network for Public Service Interpreting and Translation European Parliament Emergency Risk Communication European Union Focus Group Discussion Oswaldo Cruz Foundation [Brazil]

xxii

Abbreviations and acronyms

FIT GA GBA GBV HD HF HK$ HKRC HTML HURIER

International Federation of Translators General Aviation Greater Bay Area [Honk Kong–​Macau] Gender-​Based Violence Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue Human Factors Hong Kong dollar Hong Kong Red Cross HyperText Markup Language Hearing, Understanding, Remembering, Interpreting, Evaluating, and Responding IAPTI International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters IASC Inter-​Agency Standing Committee IBSA India-​Brazil-​South Africa ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization ICC Inclusive COVID-​19 Crisis Communication ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ICT Information and Communication Technology ID Identity IEL Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem [“Language Studies Institute”, Brazil] IFOR Implementation Force IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies IHL International Humanitarian Law IHR International Health Regulations In Zone The Centre for Interpreting in Conflict Zones of the University of Geneva INEI Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática [“National Institute of Statistics and Informatics”, Peru] INSARAG International Search and Rescue Advisory Group INTERACT International Network on Crisis Translation IPA International Phonetic Alphabet IPOL Instituto de Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Política Linguística [“Institute for Research and Development in Language Policy”, Brazil] IPV Intimate Partner Violence ISA Instituto Socioambiental [“Environmental and Social Institute”, Brazil] ISAF International Security Assistance Force IT Information Technology KWIC KeyWord-​In-​Context LGBTI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersexual LLD Languages of Lesser Diffusion LOTE Language Other Than English LSPs Language Service Providers LSTM Long Short-​Term Memory MA Media Accessibility MAEC Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation [Spain] MDM Médecins du Monde [“Doctors of the World”] MELINCO Mediación lingüística para la cooperación al desarrollo [“Linguistic Mediation for Development Cooperation”, Spain] xxiii

Abbreviations and acronyms

MHPSS MINCUL MINSA MOH MSF MT MYSQL NAATI NATO NCCN NCHRAC NDMA NGDOs NGO NLLB NRC NSAGs NSW NUPEL NZ OAR OCHA OEC OECD ONG ONS PAR PBMIH PC PDF PE PHEIC PNIC PoC PSI Q&A ReNITLI RITAP Rmajor Rminor RNAs RNN RRRC

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Ministry of Culture [Peru] Ministry of Health [Peru] Ministry of Health [Australia] Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) Machine Translation MY Structured Query Language National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters North-​Atlantic Treaty Organisation National Crisis Centre National COVID-​19 Health and Research Advisory Committee [Australia] National Disaster Management Agency [Sierra Leone] Non-​Governmental Development Cooperation Organisations [Spain] Non-​Governmental Organisation No Language Left Behind Norwegian Refugee Council Non-​State Armed Groups New South Wales [Australia] Núcleo de Pesquisa e Extensão em Letras [“Center for Research and Extension in Languages”, Brazil] New Zealand Oficina de Asilo y Refugio [“Asylum and Refugee Office”, Spain] United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Office of Ethnic Communities [now the Ministry of Ethnic Communities, Australia] Organisation for Economic Co-​operation and Development Organizzazione non governativa (non-​governmental organisation [in Italian]) Office of National Security [Sierra Leone] Participatory Action Research Brazilian Portuguese for Humanitarian Migration Personal computer Portable Document Format Post-​Editing Public Health Emergency of International Concern National Infrastructure Plan [Peru] Persons of Concern Public Service Interpreting Question and Answer Registro Nacional de Intérpretes y Traductores de Lenguas Indígenas [“National Registry of Interpreters and Translators of Indigenous Languages”, Peru] Network of Interpreters and Translators for the Public Administration [Spain] Majority background Minority background Rapid Needs Assessments Recurrent Neural Networks Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner xxiv

Abbreviations and acronyms

RT Radiotelephony RTF Real-​Time Factor SAR Special Administrative Region [Hong Kong] SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SBS Special Broadcasting Service [Australia] SDGs Sustainable Development Goals SDH Subtitling for the Deaf and hard of Hearing SDO Sustainable Development Objectives SER Asociación Servicios Educativos Rurales [“Association of Rural Educational Services”, Peru] SERCADE Capuchin Service for Development [Spain] SERVINDI Servicios en comunicación Intercultural para un mundo más humano y diverso [“Intercultural Communication Services for a more humane and diverse world”, Peru] SFOR Stabilisation Force SiNEACE Sistema Nacional de Evaluación, Acreditación y Certificación de la Calidad Educativa [“National System for Evaluation, Accreditation, and Certification of Educational Quality”, Peru] SLI Sign Language Interpreting SMASDH Municipal Department of Social Assistance, Persons with Disabilities, and Human Rights [Brazil] SOFAs [UN] Status of Forces Agreements SOPs Standard Operating Procedures SOS-​VICS Speak Out for Support SQUIN Single Question to Induce Narrative ST Source text STIC International Criminal Court STRIVE Sustainable Translations to Reduce Inequalities and Vaccination Hesitancy STT Speech-​To-​Text T&I Translation and Interpreting TCCs Troop Contributing Countries TIS Translation and Interpreting Studies TM Text Message Tr&In Translators and Interpreters TS Translation Studies TT Target Text TV Television TWB Translators Without Borders TXT Text (file) UAE United Arab Emirates UCL University College London UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations UERJ Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro [“Rio de Janeiro State University”, Brazil] UFBA Universidade Federal da Bahia [“Federal University of Bahia”, Brazil] UFPel Universidade Federal de Pelotas [“Federal University of Pelotas”, Brazil] UFPR Universidade Federal do Paraná [“Federal University of Paraná”, Brazil] xxv

newgenprepdf

Abbreviations and acronyms

UFSCar UK UN UnB UN-​CPRD UNCRPD UNDP UNDRR UNHCR UNICEF UNMOP UNMOs UNPROFOR UNSC USA USAR UTOG VIMS VM WASH WASLI WER WFD WFP WHO WPITI YMCA ZDF

Universidade Federal de São Carlos [“Federal University of São Carlos”, Brazil] United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United Nations Universidade de Brasília [“University of Brasília”, Brazil] UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities United Nations Development Programme United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Children’s Fund United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka United Nations Military Observers United Nations Protection Force United Nations Security Council United States of America Urban Search and Rescue Ukrainian Society of the Deaf Violent Incidents Monitoring System Voice Message Water, Sanitation and Hygiene World Association of Sign Language Interpreters Word Error Rate World Federation of the Deaf World Food Programme World Health Organization White Paper on Institutional Translation and Interpreting [Spain] Young Men’s Christian Association Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen [Germany’s national public television broadcaster]

xxvi

INTRODUCTION Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

The role of interpreters and translators in crisis situations is complex, dynamic, and multi-​faceted (Inghilleri and Harding 2010); there is often a duality to the nature of their contribution and participation. The characteristic shared by both professional occupations and roles is that they act as intercultural mediators, in spite of the fact that they focus on spoken or written language. Scholars within and outside Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) are increasingly engaging with various aspects of the role and positioning of translators and interpreters in crises of different kinds and varying scopes. While the title of this handbook only mentions “crisis,” the primary emphasis of communication across language and cultural barriers in times of crisis is on risk reduction strategies and policies that aim to overcome potentially aggravating circumstances prior to the event(s), on humanitarian relief during, and on the immediate aftermath of “a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-​being of a community or large group of people” (McKee and Krentel 2022, 284), and b) on the long-​term management of consequences of the said event(s). Most crisis situations are caused by a trigger such as a calamity, conflict, disaster, emergency, or hazard. These are rather immediate or can last for a longer period of time. In the case of the latter, the attribute “cascading” is often used (Federici and O’Brien 2019), conveying the complexity of crises not only in time or space, but also across the many layers of society affected over time. Given the protracted periods or extended geographical areas in which crises happen, they can also intersect with effects of other crises. The earthquakes of February 2023 in Turkey and Syria are a case in point, a disaster intersected by the consequences of the Syrian civil war because of the presence of many Syrian refugees in the Turkish region struck by the earthquake but also because of warring parties in Syria hindering humanitarian relief.1 There has been a noticeable increase in humanitarian needs worldwide in recent years, driven by factors such as poverty, marginalisation, armed violence, insecurity, political instability, natural hazards, and lack of development. According to the latest figures published on OCHA’s website,2 the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has been rising steadily over the last three years, with estimates reaching 255.1 million people in need in 2021 and projected to increase to 349.2 million in 2023, covering more than 40 locations globally, with Afghanistan, the

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-1

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Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen currently ranking among the top ten countries with the highest numbers of people currently in need of humanitarian assistance. Except for Ukraine, all these countries are non-​Western and are typically categorised under the Global South (which through its hardly implied polarising capacity is a misnomer). This handbook includes chapters with clearer links between the Western sphere and the non-​Western, providing a platform for contributions that build on cases and situations from around the world. Areas covered in the first part alone include Belgium, Brazil, Hong Kong, Japan, Peru, and Sierra Leone. The introduction to this handbook has no pretentions to grand statements about the nature of crises and does not aim to provide a definition of the different types, nor is it orientated towards existing literature for the sole purpose of carving out a niche. Its prime focus concerns an analysis of existing situations in which translation and interpreting have a role to play, namely in combating the effects of a crisis, analysing that further insight, and proves how crucial translation and interpreting in situations of crisis can be, and should be. The significance of translation and interpreting in crisis response is self-​evident. During the last fifteen years, literature on translation and interpreting in contexts of conflict, disaster, emergency, or any other form of crisis has grown into a seemingly significant domain. The list of recommended reading is very exhaustive but other than frequently occurring references throughout the handbook there is as well suggested reading offered at the end of each chapter. The noted work by esteemed scholars and practitioners includes work by those who had already taken part in our comparative analysis of the field of research on translation, interpreting and crises, those who have published acclaimed and/​or much referenced work since, and those who appear most frequently in the reference lists across the handbook. In relation to two of the scholars very frequently mentioned throughout the handbook, seminal as they are to the domain, and who could not contribute much as they were preparing a similar volume more or less concurrently, the editors of this handbook would like to thank both Federico M. Federici and Sharon O’Brien in being instrumental for the initiation of this volume. Thank you Louisa Semlyen and team as well for guiding us through the whole process. We believe the current handbook represents a significant contribution to the existing body of literature on translation, interpreting, and crisis. Therefore, The Routledge Handbook of Translation, Interpreting and Crisis covers different perspectives of Translation and Interpreting Studies in crisis settings but also intersects–​to a varying degree–​with domains covered in handbooks for subjects other than translation and interpreting. In the upcoming sections, we will provide information on how the handbook was developed, its structure, and the topics covered.

The organisation of the handbook Although the handbook did envisage contributions from specific authors and teams of authors, it was decided to expand the existing pool of usual contributors and open the field up to committed scholars worldwide through an open call for chapters. No topics were allocated to authors beforehand and parts were organised as abstracts, with draft chapters materialising. The broad and all-​ encompassing nature of the call for chapters enabled authors to explore a diverse range of thematic elements related to translation and interpreting in the context of crises. The call did not emphasise any specific context, resulting in a wide variety of contributions that we then carefully arranged thematically in the following four parts:

2

Introduction

1. 2. 3. 4.

Policy and practices Professionalisation Community Language strategies and solutions

There were many different ways in which we could have divided the chapters. As the study of translation and interpreting in crises is multidisciplinary by default, the way the chapters have been organised in the handbook is only one approach, one defined collection of dimensions, but positioning chapters in a particular part does not exclude them from these other dimensions. Nonetheless, the current arrangement seems to capture the different topics covered effectively. The authors accepted for the handbook were requested to adhere to a given format of introduction, research context, methodology, results/​discussion, and conclusion as far as possible. In what follows, we will elaborate on each section.

Part I–​Policy and practices The following eight chapters in the first part contribute to a body of research on policy and practice approaches to language rights and illustrate how these unfold in a crisis: 1. Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness in crisis communication policy: 21 years of white papers in Japan (Patrick Cadwell) 2. Redefining information accessibility in crisis translation: communicating COVID-​19 resources to culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia (Lintao Qi and Rita Wilson) 3. Accessible government crisis communication: recommendations based on the case of COVID-​ 19 in Belgium (Mieke Vandenbroucke, Nina Reviers, Gert Vercauteren, Anna Jankowska, Bonnie Geerinck, Heleen Van Opstal, Isabelle Aujoulat, Karin Hannes, Khetam Al Sharou, Lien Vermeire, Maria-​Cornelia Wermuth, Sarah Talboom, and Wessel van de Veerdonk) 4. Communicating COVID-​19: language access and linguistic rights in contemporary Peru (Raquel de Pedro Ricoy) 5. Translation and interpreting as a guarantee for language access and linguistic rights for migrants in Brazil in the context of crisis intensified by the pandemic (Sabine Gorovitz and Teresa Dias Carneiro) 6. Multilingual crisis communication, language access, and linguistic rights in Sierra Leone (Shaun Pickering, Chloe Franklin, Jonas Knauerhase, Pious Mannah, and Federico M. Federici) 7. The languages of Hong Kong’s international crisis relief response (Marija Todorova) 8. How did translators and interpreters in crisis communications get ignored? Overview of international effort in protecting our colleagues working in crisis settings and the rights of speakers of non-​dominant languages (Henry Liu, Debra Russell, and Colin Allen) The different contributions continuously navigate a triangle between common practices, best practices, and assessments of absent/​ present contemporary settings. Apart from illustrating different methods for studying policies and practices, the chapters highlight, amongst other things, the importance of language accessibility in crisis communication, of translation as a risk reduction tool to enhance multilingual and intercultural crisis communication, and of developing effective crisis translation policies and practices–​either top-​down or through grassroots initiatives–​that

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Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

cater to the needs of all affected communities, regardless of their location (locally embedded vs. dispersed across different regions or countries) or size (i.e. dominant vs. minority communities). This differentiation is based on features such as language, culture, religion, or ethnicity. This is why several chapters also propose alternative “bridging” solutions (beyond translation and interpreting), including technological and non-​technological options, to facilitate communication in the most effective and inclusive manner possible. The chapter by Patrick Cadwell presents a study on the extent to which translation and interpreting have contributed to Japan’s ability to cope with its hazardscape. The study utilises a sociological corpus framework and lexical analysis from the annual White Papers on Disaster Management produced by the Japanese authorities between 2001 and 2021. The findings suggest that crisis translation and interpreting have become established budget line items in important policy documents. This shift indicates that they are no longer being ignored and are being acknowledged in the country’s policy-​making process. The chapter by Lintao Qi and Rita Wilson provides an insight into the challenges and potential solutions in crisis communication in Australia. It highlights the importance of evaluating the impact of translation on the intended audience and evaluates how information accessibility as a fundamental human right has been implemented in Australia’s management of the COVID-​19 pandemic for its culturally and linguistically diverse communities. It also examines the factors affecting (social, cultural, and technical) accessibility and argues that crisis translation is a dynamic process that does not have to be carried out solely by professional translators, nor that written translation is the only solution. The authors argue that evaluating the effectiveness of crisis translation should be based on demonstrable access to the information by, and effect on, the target audience. The chapter by Mieke Vandenbroucke, Nina Reviers, Gert Vercauteren, Anna Jankowska, Bonnie Geerinck, Heleen Van Opstal, Isabelle Aujoulat, Karin Hannes, Khetam Al Sharou, Lien Vermeire, Maria-​Cornelia Wermuth, Sarah Talboom, and Wessel van de Veerdonk reports on the findings of the Inclusive COVID-​19 Crisis Communication (ICC) project, which was conducted by a large transdisciplinary consortium and funded by the Belgian Federal Health Institute in 2020–​2021. It gives recommendations for crisis translation and accessible communication beyond translation, including message form and dissemination practices. The project’s results indicate that accessible communication is important for vulnerable groups, but that society can also benefit as a whole. It also identifies various effective crisis translation and accessibility measures, such as Easy Language, translations, subtitles, audio and visual features, and sign language interpreting. Recommendations are formulated for specific channels through which to distribute the information. The study also highlights the role of intermediaries in providing and disseminating accessible communication, and the need for a central unit to develop and distribute high-​quality, accessible crisis translation products. The chapter ends by emphasising the importance of efforts for a more inclusive communication strategy in which crisis translations play a key role. The chapter by Raquel de Pedro Ricoy analyses the language support measures adopted by the Peruvian government during the COVID-​19 pandemic for its indigenous communities, who speak 48 native languages. To this end, the author draws on the first-​hand knowledge and experience of the state-​sponsored training and registration of indigenous translators and interpreters, the perceptions of end-​users of their services, and the role of ad hoc interpreters. The study finds that the notions of “cultural appropriateness” and “trust” determine the outcomes of the interaction between public servants and indigenous communities. It also highlights the fact that contemporary challenges related to the country’s diverse demographic and linguistic landscape must be 4

Introduction

contextualised in the historical marginalisation of indigenous languages and cultures. This should be taken into consideration when developing policies and initiatives to address language and information needs in crisis settings. The importance of historical contextualisation is also covered in the chapter by Sabine Gorovitz and Teresa Dias Carneiro. It discusses the linguistic, translation, and interpreting needs of varied communities and groups that speak other languages in Brazil during the COVID-​19 pandemic. Despite having only one official language, Portuguese, and the Brazilian Sign Language as an official means of communication, the chapter highlights the complex context of varied linguistic mediation needs of communities and groups that speak other languages. Initiatives undertaken concerning community interpreting, community translation, and intercultural mediation and the critical role played by universities, professional interpreters, and civil society institutions in the absence of top-​down initiatives and public policies are also highlighted here. The fact that universities can have a significant role in initiatives that aim to improve access to information in crises, tailored to the language and information requirements of local communities, is also illustrated in the chapter by Shaun Pickering, Chloe Franklin, Jonas Knauerhase, Pious Mannah, and Federico M. Federici. Their chapter presents an ongoing collaborative project between YMCA Sierra Leone and the Centre for Translation Studies at University College London (UCL). The project aims to increase resilience to crises by optimising multilingual crisis communication, increasing accessibility, and the recognition of language rights in Sierra Leone. UCL delivered translation training to 50 bilingual volunteer participants in Sierra Leone, who produced translations of the 2016 United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction Terminology into the five most widely spoken local languages in Sierra Leone. The authors believe this project could be replicated in other multilingual contexts, providing an example of utilising translation as a risk reduction tool to enhance multilingual and intercultural crisis communication. The chapter by Marija Todorova investigates the translation practices of Hong Kong-​based humanitarian organisations when providing crisis relief aid to local communities affected by disasters worldwide. The study aims to examine the use of English as an intermediary language in crisis relief distribution. In doing so, it provides insight into the translation practices of Hong Kong-​ based organisations and their communication with local crises-​affected communities through an intermediary partner organisation in the country that is the recipient of the relief. In contrast to the previous chapters in this section, which focus on specific countries, the final chapter in this part by Henry Liu, Debra Russell, and Colin Allen has an international perspective. The current political awareness resulting from the contribution builds on a historical contextualisation of the parties involved. The authors argue that translation and interpreting have always played a critical role in various types and stages of crises, even before the advent of the current globalised and multicultural world. However, despite their importance, translators and interpreters working in crisis communication have often been ignored and subjected to ill-​treatment, including murder. The chapter examines the current position and status of translators and interpreters in the wider crisis ecosystem, and discusses international efforts to support them. The authors provide a historical overview of such efforts and consider whether there might be better ways to manage similar situations in the future. Finally, the contribution explores the possibility of developing instruments or mechanisms to provide a safer and more secure working environment for translators and interpreters in future crises. The chapter by Liu, Russell, and Allen underscores the importance of professionalisation in the field of interpreting in crisis contexts. It highlights the need for continued efforts to support and protect interpreters working in challenging environments. As a result, the chapter also serves as a 5

Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

bridge to the following thematic part of the handbook, which focuses on the professionalisation of interpreting and translation activities in conflict-​induced crisis settings.

Part II–​Professionalisation The six chapters in this second part examine various facets concerning professionalisation. These aspects include, amongst others, occupational standards, training, ethical behaviour, cooperation with humanitarian organisations, or role perceptions. Five of the chapters centre round interpreting, while the final chapter also takes into consideration the professional position of translators in conflict areas: 9. Interpreting in humanitarian negotiation (Lucía Ruiz Rosendo) 10. The ideal conflict zone interpreter: military perspectives and perceptions of interpreters’ skills and attitudes (Eleonora Bernardi) 11. Reinventing themselves–​conflict zone interpreters from Afghanistan as interpreters for asylum seekers in Spain: a case study on impartiality, empathy and role (María Gómez-​Amich) 12. Widening the scope of interpreting in conflict settings: a description of the provision of interpreting during the 2021 Afghan evacuation to Spain (Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez and Gabriel Cabrera Méndez) 13. Interpreting ethics in crisis in the conflict zones: a focus on the Afghanistan War (Ping Yang) 14. The crisis of the translator: an overview of the occupational situation of Syrian translation professionals during the war (Madiha Kassawat) Lucía Ruiz Rosendo’s chapter explores the role of interpreters in the humanitarian frontline negotiations that aim to protect civilians affected by armed conflicts and provide them with aid, as mandated by international humanitarian law, human rights law, and refugee law. The interpreter’s task in this context is to facilitate communication between the negotiator, who works for a humanitarian organisation, and local authorities who may not speak the same language or share the same culture. Using the findings of a participatory community research project, the study aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of interpreting in humanitarian negotiations, including the interpreter’s position and the importance of designing tailored training programmes that address the unique features of these missions. The central objective of the research was to establish a customised training programme that could be implemented in any location to benefit interpreters, negotiators, and organisations. The study was therefore developed along the lines of participatory action research. Eleonora Bernardi’s chapter examines the qualities and abilities that military institutions and peacekeepers look for in an “ideal interpreter” working in conflict zones. The study involves interviewing fifteen officers who collaborated with (civilian) interpreters daily during the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. In addition to linguistic skills, it shows that interpreters in conflict zone settings are expected to provide situational, cultural, and geographic guidance, act as advisors and negotiators, and serve as the first alert mechanism for potentially dangerous situations. Based on these findings, the author argues that it is necessary to establish a clear profile for civilian interpreters in crisis and war zones, outlining the skills and attitudes required to prevent misguided or conflicting expectations among service providers and users. In her chapter, María Gómez-​Amich examines how Afghan interpreters perceive their role when working with asylum seekers in Spain and whether or not they adhere to the UNHCR professional code of conduct. The study is based on interviews with five interpreters who worked 6

Introduction

for the Spanish troops deployed in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2015. The results indicate that post-​traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, and empathy can impact impartiality and objectivity, making them difficult to apply in extreme interpreting encounters. Without professional training or guidelines, interpreters tend to rely on self-​regulation and develop strategies for coping. However, adherence to the code of conduct can lead to different professional expectations and contribute to the need for more professional standardisation in the field. The chapter also suggests the need to reconsider ethical standards and provide better support for interpreters in this context. The chapter by Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez and Gabriel Cabrera Méndez also reports on a study of interpreters who worked for the Spanish government and army during the Afghan conflict. In their chapter, the authors focus on the post-​war scenario and describe a setting which they believe is still unexplored and poorly defined: their study investigates the work of interpreters who served in Afghanistan and who provide telephone interpreting services to aid Afghan evacuees heading for and/​or already in Spain. Based on their findings, the authors suggest that the scope for interpreting in conflict areas should be broadened to encompass interpreting in physical war zones and other parts of the world, such as countries receiving evacuees. Additionally, they acknowledge that interpreting is necessary not only during the central stages of war but also during its initial and final stages, including the immediate aftermath. The chapter that follows, written by Ping Yang, deals with the ethics of conflict zone interpreting in the Afghanistan war. The chapter introduces the concept of non-​normative ethics and scrutinises its application by reflecting on the unethical issues that arise when untrained civilian interpreters were employed in the Afghan War (2001–​2021). Non-​normative ethics, typically deemed unconventional in everyday and professional interpreting scenarios, are acknowledged and practised in conflict zones. The chapter examines whether the role played by civilian Afghan interpreters (CAIs) was well-​defined when working with international forces, whether they were exploited, and whether adequate protection was offered to them and their families. These issues are discussed by drawing upon pertinent reports and publications related to non-​normative behaviour in conflict zones. By examining non-​normative ethics as practised by CAIs in the Afghan War, this theoretical reflection provides a basis for further research into the ethics of civilian interpreters working in conflict zones. Finally, Madiha Kassawat’s chapter in this part focuses on the situation faced by translation and interpreting professionals during the crisis in Syria. The study employs a qualitative interview-​ based approach to provide insight into the challenges, survival strategies, and consequences of the crisis in the translation sector in Syria. The research also aims to shed light on the existing challenges and practices in crisis translation and extend its scope to include the psychological and financial effects on professionals in the translation sector.

Part III–​Community The third part delves into the community perspectives of crisis translation and interpreting. A core theme revolves round interpreter and translator training and the challenges faced and opportunities for interpreting and translating in mainly humanitarian contexts. The chapters provide insights into the intersection of interpreting, translation, and humanitarian aid work, as well as the challenges and opportunities that arise when working with diverse populations in multilingual and affected contexts. 15. Interpreter and translator training: from crisis response to sustainable livelihoods (Barbara Moser-​Mercer, Somia Qudah, Mona Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga, and Mohammed Al-Batineh) 7

Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

16. Interpreting as a form of humanitarian aid provision at an Italian NGO: challenges and outlooks (Maura Radicioni) 17. Interpreters and language assistance in Galician NGDOs: situation, demand, and training needs (Maribel Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, David Casado-Neira, Silvia Pérez Freire, and Luzia Oca González) 18. Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises: creating a sense of community and belonging in migrant reception (Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña) 19. Agents and collaboration in humanitarian interpreting/​translation (Carmen Valero-​Garcés) 20. Interpreting and positionality in conflict-​affected societies of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Abellia Anggi Wardani and Tengku Shahpur) 21. Vaccination narratives in a multilingual society. on intercultural communication and trust (Tanya Escudero and Jekaterina Maadla) Although some of the topics addressed in these chapters overlap with the previous two parts, this part emphasises the collaborative aspect of crisis response and the broader context in which translation and interpreting activities occur. Specifically, some of the chapters in this part adopt a community-​centred perspective by examining the expectations and perceptions of humanitarian organisations (such as NGOs working with refugees) regarding the interpreters’ role in crisis response, leading to reflections on different topics such as agency, ethics, or training. As mentioned earlier, chapters in the handbook typically cover several dimensions at the same time, and therefore possibly belong in several parts. In this part, for instance, one chapter builds on themes discussed in Part I on policies and practices but with a more pronounced emphasis on community perspectives: it explores the concept of trust in the transfer of official communication to minority groups. Ultimately, the third part highlights the interdisciplinary nature of crisis response work, stressing the importance of collaboration between different fields and areas of expertise. Barbara Moser-​Mercer, Somia Qudah, Mona Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga, and Mohammed Al-Batineh authored the first chapter in this part, which offers an overview of legal frameworks at both the national and international levels regulating communication in humanitarian settings. This chapter also examines inclusive, sustainable, and decolonised approaches for training language mediators by providing concrete examples from two distinct humanitarian and development contexts: Jordan and Kenya. These two cases are examples of different stages in the humanitarian programming cycle, from preparedness to recovery and nexus to development. The second chapter in this part argues that interpreting and cultural mediation in humanitarian and crisis settings should ideally line up with the objectives of NGOs and humanitarian organisations as forms of aid provision. The author, Maura Radicioni, advocates that this position should be based on her ongoing ethnographic research into the cultural mediators of an Italian NGO. This organisation provides free healthcare and socio-​cultural guidance in a complex migration setting in Southern Italy. Radicioni’s study analyses the practices carried out by these cultural mediators in order to evaluate their contributions as humanitarian workers in fulfilling the NGO’s mission. She draws on semi-​structured video interviews and ethnographic field observations to highlight the cultural mediator’s crucial role, activities, and training background. A similar setting is presented in the third chapter in this part, written by Maribel Del-​Pozo-​ Triviño, David Casado-Neira, Silvia Pérez Freire, and Luzia Oca Gonzalez. It investigates the training requirements of interpreters who work for Galician Non-​Governmental Development Cooperation Organisations (NGDOs). The research involved a focus group of eight participants and a survey of sixteen experienced interpreters. The authors argue that interpreting for Galician 8

Introduction

NGDOs presents various challenges due to resource limitations, urgent assistance requirements, and a need for more awareness among NGDOs regarding the necessary conditions and requirements for providing high-​quality interpreting. Interpreters highlight the need for training in linguistic competence, such as terminology, emotional management, professional conduct, and understanding of the NGDOs’ scope of action (an issue that aligns with a point also raised in Radicioni’s chapter). Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña’s chapter explores the role of interpreters in migration contexts and the impact that interpreting services, or lack thereof, can have on migrants. The study focuses on the 2018 migrant influx into Spain, where the right to competent interpreting clashed with practice due to difficulties faced by state and non-​state reception centres. The chapter seeks to answer questions such as the role of interpreters in migration settings, the adequacy of interpreting assistance for migrants, and the impact of the absence of interpreters on migrants’ sense of belonging. The research employs the theoretical frameworks of the interpreter’s communicative distance management strategies and the interpreter’s role continuum model in a survey conducted among 36 migrants and 42 workers and volunteers in reception centres in Madrid. The information collected emphasises the crucial role of competent interpreting services in meeting the needs of migrants and promoting their sense of belonging and community, as seen from the perspective of those on the receiving end of the interpreting services. In her chapter, Carmen Valero-​Garcés examines the roles and ethical considerations of translators and interpreters in official bodies (state administration) and civil society organisations (NGOs or (international) aid organisations), assessing whether they align or differ in their approaches. The study uses a critical analysis of ethical issues and argues that official institutions prioritise commercial process management while civil society organisations seem to prioritise humanitarian process management. In other words, the author argues that the prevailing philosophy in many institutional organisations is to maximise profit at all costs. At the same time, NGOs adopt a more humanitarian approach, favouring effective communication in a race to save lives. The author further argues that redefining the roles of translators and interpreters is necessary to creating a more democratic and fairer society based on cosmopolitan ethics, as regulations and declarations alone are insufficient in the face of multilingual humanitarian crises. Abellia Anggi Wardani and Tengku Shahpur’s chapter explores the impact of interpreting and translation on the violent discourse between minority and majority groups in the context of the conflict in the Rakhine State, Myanmar. The study uses a set of four focus group discussion transcripts translated from Rohingya and Rakhine into Burmese and English, which discuss themes of torture and movement restriction for minorities. The translated transcripts are examined using critical discourse analysis to understand the influence of interpreting on cultural negotiation and positionality. Reviewers from both minority and majority groups then analyse the texts separately, revealing differences in interpreting, with the minority group providing detailed explanations of violent incidents related to torture, movement restriction, and arrests. The findings suggest that minorities tend to elaborate more and provide detailed explanations of violent incidents in conditions of established trust and interpersonal relations. The chapter written by Tanya Escudero and Jekaterina Maadla in this part focuses on Estonia’s vaccination campaign during the COVID-​19 pandemic. During this period, the Estonian government’s primary concern was the low vaccination rate, particularly among the Russian-​ speaking population. Although the Russian minority constitutes one-​third of the country’s population, communication and the inclusion of this segment have not always been adequate. The authors aim to comprehend the impact of the government’s intercultural communication tactics on this minority by analysing the reactions and different narratives that arose in response to the posts on the Facebook page of the Republic of Estonia Health Board (Terviseamet). These narratives 9

Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

demonstrate a pre-​existing distrust of the government that has heavily influenced the reception of information during this period, exacerbating the lack of trust in the Estonian authorities and the media. When a segment of the population does not trust the messages coming from the government, disseminating information in several languages seems inadequate. This is particularly true when attention to minority languages is provided only at critical moments when the rest of the population is affected. The authors, therefore, argue that communication strategies need to be reviewed, especially if they are based entirely on top-​down communication. They suggest using new strategies and channels, in which part of society is addressed and reached through other institutions and actors functioning as mediators, to improve communication.

Part IV–​Language strategies and solutions The final part of this handbook encompasses a variety of contributions that highlight the challenges and practical approaches taken to ensure effective communication in crises through language strategies and solutions. 22. Exploring the accuracy and appropriateness of the translation of important government information for Samoan-​speaking communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia during the COVID-​19 crisis (Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee) 23. Localised terminology for COVID-​19 communication: use of vaccine-​related terminology in Arabic-​speaking countries (Sonia Halimi, Razieh Azari, and Mariem Harbaoui) 24. Omission and addition during crisis interpreting: a study on the Rohingya displacement (Mohammad Harun Or Rashid) 25. Women’s crises and gender-​aware ethical practices in simultaneous conference interpreting (Gabriela Yañez) 26. Challenging the shortcomings of traditional translation in migration contexts: a translinguistic proposal for professionals in the humanitarian sector (Renato Tomei and Max Pardeilhan) 27. Risk communication: experimenting with automatic speech recognition as the first step of a combined speech-​to-​text and machine translation tool for risk reduction during pilot-​ controller communications (Bettina Bajaj) Amongst other things, this part examines the translation choices made when conveying messages to minority groups, often requiring creative solutions to translate terms and concepts that lack equivalents in other languages. It also scrutinises the strategies and choices made by interpreters when conveying crisis-​related messages and explores alternative language strategies that can aid communication in crisis settings, as discussed in Part I, such as translanguaging practices. Finally, it also covers language-​based technological solutions that can assist in crisis communication. In particular, the last chapter in this part discusses the potential use of automatic speech technology in crisis contexts, examining its deployment to facilitate communication in high-​pressure situations where accurate translation is essential. The chapter by Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee reports on an analysis of the translation of COVID-​19-​related information into Samoan for the Samoan-​speaking communities in Aotearoa (the Māori language name for New Zealand) and Australia. The study focuses on challenges in translation when communicating health terminology in a language that lacks medical vocabulary. The authors highlight the need for unpacking and simplifying complex health terminology to ensure cultural and linguistic appropriateness and acceptability for the Samoan reader, who may have limited health literacy. The data sample consists of English source texts 10

Introduction

and Samoan target texts of translations published online by authorities from early 2020 to March 2022. The analysis focuses on pragmatic equivalence, cultural appropriateness, ambiguities, and features specific to the Samoan language. The findings show that crisis translation requires a collaborative approach, including working with (health) authorities, expert translators, and members of the target readership, and that translators need to be very health literate. The contribution also highlights the need to seek the most efficient and effective manner of disseminating health information to the Samoan-​speaking communities. In their chapter, Sonia Halimi, Razieh Azari, and Mariem Harbaoui also focus on COVID-​ 19-​related terminology. Their study compares the Arabic terminology used by the World Health Organization (WHO) across its official website with the Arabic terminology used on selected Arab Health Ministry websites and social media accounts in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. This contribution aims to analyse the consistency of the local Arabic terminology with that of the WHO, but it also considers localisation and regional variations. The study’s objective is to determine to what extent the WHO’s COVID-​19 vaccination terminology has been incorporated into the vaccination campaigns of the selected countries. The findings reveal that 53% of the WHO’s Arabic terminology overlapped with country-​level terminology, while 47% involved terminological variations. The variations suggest that attempts at localisation through distinct local strategies also apply to vaccine campaign communication. These include paraphrasing, explanation by word addition, word substitution, and the use of common words, all of which aim to increase the clarity and accessibility of health information in the context of the COVID-​19 crisis. Mohammad Harun Or Rashid’s chapter delves into the interpreting strategies in humanitarian settings concerning the Rohingya displacement crisis. The Rohingya is a Muslim minority group originally from Burma’s Arakan state, currently known as Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Due to persecution, violence, and brutality, the Rohingyas were forced to flee to Bangladesh. The NGOs responded to the crisis by recruiting interpreters from the local host community in Bangladesh in order to aid communication. By conducting semi-​structured interviews with 23 interpreters, including sixteen professionals and seven ad hoc interpreters, the study documents the types of omission and addition during interpreter-​mediated encounters in the Rohingya camps and explores the reasons for, and motivations behind, these strategies. The study finds that the interpreters routinely omitted and added words, phrases, metaphors, and contextually sensitive information during interpreting tasks. Gabriela Yañez’s chapter aims to revisit ethical practices in simultaneous conference interpreting concerning women’s crises. By analysing the use of gender-​aware language in a case study of a session about Ukrainian women and transwomen refugees at the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, this work aims to identify gender-​specific ethical practices in interpreting. The study explores the interpreter’s distinct voice in discourse and considers the ethical considerations that arise in a European gender-​sensitive framework. Using a micro-​textual analysis, it shows that interpreters use various gender-​wise language operations, including additions, compensations, and emphasis, based on institutional linguistic-​ specific guidelines and personal discourses. Interpreters actively construct and recreate source texts in a gender-​wise manner, emphasising the social role and ethical responsibilities involved in interpreting women’s crises in international conference settings. Renato Tomei and Max Pardeilhan examine the language and communication practices between refugees/​asylum seekers and professionals in Italian reception centres and migration-​ related institutions. The authors argue that the normative frameworks based on Translation, which institutions provide for their workers in multilingual environments, have inherent weaknesses 11

Koen Kerremans and Christophe Declercq

that can lead to miscommunication. This miscommunication can harm the relationship between refugees/​asylum seekers and the hosting of the country’s social infrastructure. Within the framework of Translanguaging, they suggest the creation of new literature, educational materials, and shared protocols for humanitarian professionals. They argue that these tools will help mitigate communication failures and tackle communicative challenges effectively, especially during critical moments. They collected interactional data from 115 participants (97 refugees/​asylum seekers and eighteen Italian professionals), mainly from Emergency Reception Centres in Italy (Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria, CAS) and associations supporting the accommodation system. Their study highlights the fact that traditional theoretical tools and approaches based on Translation may sometimes struggle to address the complex reality of communication in circumstances of humanitarian emergency. It underscores the benefits of a translinguistic approach to communication crises. The authors argue that this approach can provide alternative, pragmatic solutions where traditional translation may lead to potentially critical failures. Finally, Bettina Bajaj conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of an on-​device commercial automatic speech recognition (ASR) tool in reducing the risk of miscommunication during pilot-​controller communications in flight operations. The study includes testing the ASR tool in three separate scenarios: two actual flights, four simulator sessions, and two re-​enactments of an accident flight. The Word Error Rate metric was used to evaluate the tool’s performance. Despite its limitations, the author observes near-​instantaneous real-​time transcription capabilities throughout the experiments, suggesting the potential for real-​world applications, including other risk and crisis communication contexts. To facilitate effective communication in different crisis scenarios, the tool’s real-​time transcription capabilities could be leveraged to provide real-​time transcripts on various media platforms, which could then be translated if necessary. The author puts forward the idea that using open-​source ASR toolkits trained on large datasets, incorporating large custom vocabularies, and robust speaker separation capabilities could improve accuracy and reduce risk in aviation and other contexts.

Conclusion The case studies presented in this handbook offer diverse research perspectives on how to approach translation, interpreting, and crisis. Each case study provides a detailed account of a specific crisis and its challenges. By examining these, we can identify general trends or topics concerning translation, interpreting, and crisis. Examples of major themes in the discourse about language barriers during crises include the severe impact on Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities, such as limited access to humanitarian aid, diminished trust and involvement of affected individuals in relief efforts, and susceptibility to misinformation and misunderstanding. Furthermore, crisis communication policies should take into account the importance of assessing policies and practices in relation to catering to the needs of CALD communities as well as establishing accessibility to information. In addition to developing effective policies and initiatives to address language barriers in crises, it is equally important to measure their impact, as shown in different chapters throughout this book. The professionalisation of interpreting and translation in crisis contexts is another crucial topic addressed in this handbook. To achieve this, several aspects are taken into account, including the role perception of interpreters in crisis settings, which, amongst other things, has been measured through interviews or focus group discussions with various stakeholders. The implications of these

12

Introduction

perceptions for training are also addressed, as training can be considered an important aspect of professionalisation. Additionally, the embedding of translation and interpreting in the broader context of humanitarian response is examined in various chapters, where the role that translation and interpreting can play within this context is explored. Language-​related issues are also analysed here, particularly the choices made during translation and interpreting and their implications. It is important to note that the topics are not exhaustive. This is because it was designed as an open invitation to contributions rather than suggesting specific themes to authors, as previously mentioned. As a result, some existing or emerging topics related to translation, interpreting, and crisis may not have been explicitly addressed or have received only limited attention. For instance, one such topic that deserves more attention is the exploration of technological applications for crisis communication. Although there is only one chapter that explicitly focuses on language technology and its potential use in crises (cf. the chapter by Bettina Bajaj), we acknowledge that this area of research is rapidly evolving and will gain more interest in the future. In particular, the recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence applications, such as chatbots and technologies that convert natural language text into speech, images, or videos, will offer new opportunities for effective communication with communities affected by crises. With the personal backgrounds and affiliations of authors adding to the geographical spread of the content comprised in this volume, the handbook covers nearly 40 countries in all five continents. Under a third relates to Europe with the geographical spread shared equally among Asian countries. Africa and South America only have three countries in the collection. Whereas it makes sense for Oceania to be represented by two countries, the same number is not wholly representative for North America. A future, subsequent collection should therefore focus even more on Africa and Central America in terms of geographical representation. However, as mentioned earlier on in the introduction, crises know no borders.

Notes 1 A third aspect is a type of crisis that is hardly covered at all, that is to say, slower, more hidden crises, tangible though they are for those involved; in this case the situation faced by the Kurdish people in the affected area. 2 For more info: https://​hum​anit​aria​nact​ion.info/​overv​iew/​2023

References Federico M. Federici and Sharon O’Brien (Eds.). 2019. Translation in cascading crises. London and New York: Routledge. Inghilleri, Moira and Sue-​Ann Harding (Eds.). 2010. Translation and violent conflict (Special Issue: The Translator: Studies in Intercultural Communication). London and New York: Routledge. McKee, Martin and Alison Krentel. 2022. Issues in public health: Challenges for the 21st century. London and New York: Open University Press.

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PART I

Policy and practices

1 TRANSLATION, INTERPRETING, LANGUAGE, AND FOREIGNNESS IN CRISIS COMMUNICATION POLICY 21 years of white papers in Japan Patrick Cadwell Introduction Japan, a country of some 126 million people, is exposed to many hazards—​including earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, and floods—​and regularly experiences large-​scale crisis events. Japan also possesses resources and experience that allow it to cope well with many of the crises and disasters that can arise in its hazardscape. The aims of this chapter were to investigate the extent to which translation and interpreting of foreign languages have been present in this coping capacity in recent history using a computerised corpus analysis of an influential policy instrument: Japan’s annual White Paper on Disaster Management. The chapter continues in the section on “Research context” with a review of literature on crisis translation and interpreting policy and a discussion of Japan’s main policy problems, instruments, and actors. The third section, “Research methodology”, explains how a computerised, monolingual, lexical analysis of a diachronic corpus of policy texts written and analysed in Japanese was conducted. The fourth section follows with a discussion of what the use of Japanese equivalents related to “translation”, “interpreting”, “language”, and “foreignness” in the corpus suggests about policy-​making developments in Japan in the last two decades. The chapter closes with conclusions that include a test of findings against the 2021 White Paper, limitations, and suggestions for future work.

Research context Crisis translation and interpreting policy Policy-​making involves defining problems and identifying ways to enact their solutions (Béland, Howlett, and Mukherjee 2018). The instruments used to enact such solutions are varied; policy can include formal laws and regulations or informal guidance and normal practice and frequently relates to resource allocation (CDC 2015). Generally, three sets of actors engage with policy: those who discuss the problems, those who define the instruments, and those who advocate for a DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-3

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Patrick Cadwell

particular policy position (Béland, Howlett, and Mukherjee 2018). Research on crisis translation or interpreting so far has typically studied a broad range of problems, instruments, and actors. A consistent finding has been that translation and interpreting are acknowledged only rarely in crisis communication policies at regional, national, or international levels (O’Brien et al. 2018; Federici et al. 2019; Kikuchi 2020; Warsito et al. 2021; Xiang, Gerber, and Zhang 2021; Grey and Severin 2022). Even when language access through translation or interpreting is relatively well-​ recognised in national policy, as is the case in the USA, there is great variation at the local level on how well local governments implement policy based on local capacity and commitment (Xiang, Gerber, and Zhang 2021). There are also suggestions that seemingly comprehensive translation policies, such as those held by the EU, fail to achieve true multilingual access for their societies by favouring national languages over other regional or migrant languages, especially in times of crisis (Leal 2022). One approach to studies of crisis translation and interpreting policy has been to evaluate the degree to which translation or interpreting solutions are present in the policies (e.g. O’Brien et al. 2018). Another approach has been to conduct case studies from the perspective of a policy stakeholder to determine if and how a policy on translation and interpreting has been implemented (e.g. Wang 2019). Still other studies have combined policy instrument and policy implementation evaluation (e.g. works in Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020; O’Brien and Cadwell 2022). Policies on translation and interpreting in crises tend to favour top-​down communication, often using information and communication technology (ICT), and sometimes using language and translation technologies (Cadwell 2016; Leelawat et al. 2017; Abraham et al. 2021; Grey and Severin 2022). Top-​down communication here typically involves the use of websites of involved governmental authorities, social media channels, and mass media broadcasts and appears to favour solutions involving machine translation (Cadwell 2016; Abraham et al. 2021). Multidirectional crisis communication, in which grassroots knowledge is shared from local levels to other levels and in which feedback mechanisms allow those directly affected by a crisis to have their voices heard, is rarely enshrined in crisis translation or interpreting policy (Federici et al. 2019; Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020). Volunteers are key to the successful implementation of policy in this area (Wang 2019; Zhang and Wu 2020). Additionally, more needs to be done in policy-​making to understand the multilingual and multicultural communicative needs of both crisis-​affected communities and the grassroots volunteers that tend to enact translation and interpreting in a crisis (Wang 2019; Fujita et al. 2020; Sakurai and Bismark 2020; Zhang and Wu 2020; O’Brien and Cadwell 2022).

Crisis translation and interpreting policy in Japan The context of the present study is Japan. Its specific policy problems, instruments, and actors will be outlined here.

Problems More than 80 events related to earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, and floods in Japan have been classified as disasters by the Japanese government in the last twenty years alone (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan 2022). At the same time, Japan has the resources, experience, and expertise to cope with the crises and disasters that can arise in its hazardscape. For instance, Japan is ranked at low and stable risk in the 2021 INFORM Index for Risk Management, placing 144 out of 191 countries (Inter-​Agency Standing Committee and the European Commission

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Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness

2021). A number of large-​scale events in Japan have been particularly relevant for crisis translation and interpreting policy. Language policy was largely absent in the 1995 Great Hanshin-​Awaji Earthquake, or Kobe Earthquake, which occurred in central Japan and will be referred to hereafter as the 1995 Earthquake. The fatality rate for foreign nationals was higher than that of Japanese nationals, and this was due to language barriers and a concentration of young foreign factory workers and students in densely populated, high-​fire-​risk housing (Sato, Okamoto, and Miyao 2009). Local-​level practices were notable in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster (northeast Japan, hereafter 2011 Earthquake). In particular, Japanese nationals and longer-​term foreign residents collaborated to support significant multilingual crisis communication (Cadwell 2015). The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake (southern Japan, hereafter 2016 Earthquake) suggested that ICT and social media were increasingly important channels of crisis communication, especially for foreign nationals (Leelawat et al. 2017). However, the 2019 flooding associated with Typhoon Hagibis indicated that the capacity to engage in multilingual crisis communication via ICT varied greatly among Japanese local authorities (Kyodo 2019; Sakurai and Bismark 2020). Overall, Japanese policy on many occasions has focused on a one-​way, top-​down approach that has lacked the speed, individualised content, and appropriate channels of distribution required to respond to foreign nationals’ crisis communicative needs effectively (Kikuchi 2020; Sakurai and Bismark 2020). Top-​down approaches can be beneficial to educate foreign nationals and raise their crisis awareness (Kikuchi 2020). However, expanding local authorities’ consultation services in preparation for future crises and linking with foreign resident networks are preferable multidirectional approaches (ibid.).

Instruments and actors As explained in the earlier sub-​section on “Crisis translation and interpreting policy”, policy can take many forms. This study focuses on one authoritative and influential policy instrument in Japan: the annual White Paper on Disaster Management.1 The 1961 Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act2 requires the Government of Japan to produce an annual white paper to report on hazards, crises, disasters, and countermeasures relevant to that year and recognises local authorities as the unit of government with a great responsibility for countermeasures, being the one closest to residents (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan 2015). This law was formulated as a reaction to the damage that was incurred following the destructive Ise-​wan Typhoon of 1959 (ibid.). The white papers it requires are used to apply lessons learned and revise related acts, policies, and implementation plans accordingly (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan 2017). As such, the white papers allow local authorities in Japan to guide members of the national government and Japan’s bicameral parliament to plan and make decisions. Only Japanese versions of the white papers have been examined in this study.3

Research methodology This study aimed to investigate the presence of crisis translation and interpreting in records of policy-​making in Japan. To do so in a manageable scope, the following research question was posed: How have translation and interpreting of foreign languages featured in Japan’s annual White Paper on Disaster Management from 2001–​2021? Before answering this question, the method to compile and analyse the white paper corpus will be explained. Computerised, monolingual, lexical analysis of a diachronic corpus of texts was the approach taken.

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Theoretical assumptions and analytical framework Analysis conducted within a corpus sociological framework relates linguistic and social changes (Zinn 2018). The basic assumption is that socially relevant events, such as developments in institutional policy-​making and practice in this case, are accompanied by a corresponding lexical development in key discourses. Corpus studies of diachronic social change have been conducted successfully before (e.g. see Laviosa 2004 for a perspective from Translation Studies and Partington 2010 or Zinn 2018 for broader studies of discourse). The focus within a corpus sociological framework is on a description of social change and not a detailed linguistic analysis (Zinn 2018). In addition to considerations of representativeness, diversity, size, language, and balance, an appropriate start and end point must be considered when designing a diachronic corpus (Biber, Conrad, and Reppen 1998). The start and end criteria for inclusion of texts in this corpus were availability. Any White Paper on Disaster Management, in Japanese, made available by the Disaster Management Section of the Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan on its public website was included in the corpus.4 This constitutes an exhaustive sample of relevant white papers in the period 2001–​2021.5 Exhaustive sampling is a reasonable approach to achieving a representative corpus for diachronic studies with a narrow research purpose (Biber, Conrad, and Reppen 1998). Furthermore, the white papers are authentic and naturally occurring crisis policy instruments, issued by the Government of Japan, that allow local authorities, national government, and lawmakers in Japan to report on and learn from disasters and crises and make decisions about other crisis-​related acts, policies, and plans. The corpus query tool Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff et al. 2004) facilitated the examination of the digital corpus. Prior to uploading the documents to Sketch Engine, file names of texts in the corpus were modified to mention the year of publication, and Sketch Engine was configured to display the file name in its interface instead of its ID (generated automatically after compiling the corpus data) to facilitate diachronic analysis. For the years 2001–​2010, the website provides white papers in HTML format across various links. In these cases, data from all relevant links were copied and pasted into TXT files and saved in UTF-​8 format. Some information in appendices that would not have been readable by the corpus query tool (e.g. figures saved as bitmap images) were not able to be saved in the TXT files. As these unreadable appendix elements contained mostly graphical or numerical rather than lexical data, their loss from the corpus was reasonable considering the unit of analysis was lexis (see the following sub-​section). For the years 2011–​2021, white papers are provided as one text or a small number of texts in PDF. Here, the PDFs were uploaded directly to Sketch Engine without further preparation. The 21 white papers on Disaster Management comprised 55 documents using this approach and realised a corpus of more than 4 million tokens and 3 million words in Japanese (see Table 1.1). The word count of each white paper in 2001–​2021

Table 1.1 Description of the corpus compiled on Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff et al. 2004) Counts Tokens Words Sentences Documents

Lexicon sizes 4,236,413 3,046,419 483,313 55

word lemma lemma_​kana tag infl_​type infl_​form

20

143,959 127,801 138,797 52 67 27

Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness

remained relatively constant, with a mean of 145,087 words, a median of 129,045 words, and an average deviation of 40,795 words.

Unit of analysis and query procedure The unit of analysis in this study was lexis. Frequency lists and keyword-​in-​context (KWIC) concordance lines were the functionalities of Sketch Engine chosen for this analysis. As such, lexical items were examined from the perspectives of semantics, grammatical function, and collocation. This approach to lexical analysis using corpus data has proved effective in acquiring knowledge from a specialised subject field (Laviosa et al. 2017) and was therefore chosen as a method to study the role of translation and interpreting in Japan’s annual White Paper on Disaster Management from 2001–​2021. The lexical items analysed in this study all related to the core concepts in the research question: translation, interpreting, foreignness, and language. A Japanese equivalent for translation is 翻訳 (hon’yaku), interpreting is 通訳 (tsūyaku), and foreign language is 外国語 (gaikokugo). Four morphemes from these words were chosen as the initial corpus queries because they were likely to be present in a wide variety of relevant Japanese lexical units. Specifically, 訳 was chosen as a morpheme likely to be present in a variety of lexical items in Japanese related to translation or interpreting. 語 was chosen for its likelihood of returning a variety of lexical items in Japanese related to language, and 外 and 国 were chosen for their likelihood of returning lexical items related to foreignness. Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness can be discussed in Japanese using lexical items in which these morphemes are not present. Nevertheless, it is argued here that using these four morphemes produced a comprehensive, if not exhaustive, representation of lexical use around translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness in the corpus. The query procedure involved creating a concordance for each morpheme, sorting by KWIC, scanning and filtering for relevance to multilingual crisis communication, and generating diachronic distributions of hits for each lexical item, in which frequency was mapped against the position of the lexical items in the corpus. Following this, the extended contexts and original documents of certain concordance lines were examined to understand how relevant lexical items had been used in the corpus. Ethically, textual data collected and distributed in corpus studies must be treated in accordance with applicable copyright laws and permissions (Nelson 2010). The Cabinet Office of Japan allows usage of its data for research purposes once it is attributed as a source of the data and editing of the data has been acknowledged (see “Corpus data attribution” statement at the end of this chapter for this acknowledgement). Findings from the corpus analysis will now be presented and discussed.

Discussion This section uses the corpus sociological framework and lexical analysis explained in the previous section to present evidence that translation and interpreting of foreign languages have been discussed in Japan’s White Papers on Disaster Management between 2001 and 2021. In addition, this section demonstrates that the discussion around the core concepts of translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness in Japanese formal policy-​making has developed and changed over time. It suggests that Japan’s institutional policy on crisis translation and interpreting has become more rigorous and comprehensive as a result of learning from successive crisis events, but that some areas of the policy solutions proposed are a cause for concern. 21

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Policy developments suggested by the use of “translation” and “interpreting” Table 1.2 indicates that lexical items in Japanese relating specifically to “translation” and “interpreting” appeared relatively infrequently in the corpus, and only ten relevant items were found. They constitute only a fraction of one per cent of the more than 4 million tokens in the corpus and appear at a rate of between approximately 0.2 and 3 hits per million tokens. Though few in number, the instances are instructive. The earliest explicit mention of a lexical equivalent of “translation” in the corpus was in the first white paper available for this study in 2001. Here, the Cabinet Office explained how an “English translation” of a book of lessons learned from the 1995 Earthquake was being prepared to disseminate the lessons overseas. Following that, no explicit equivalents of “translation” or “translate” were mentioned until the 2015 white paper, 14 years later. In 2015, Japan hosted the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai (hereafter the Sendai Conference), a city that had been devastated by the 2011 Earthquake (UNISDR 2014). The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–​2030 was adopted there and is used worldwide to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks (United Nations 2015). Following the Sendai Conference, explicit mention of lexical equivalents of “translation” appear at least once in every white paper from 2016 to 2021, suggesting that “translation” had become a specific consideration in Japan’s crisis plans. Further analysis demonstrated that these plans were predominantly considered as a technologically oriented form of “translation”, and lexis relating to various “systems”, “apps”, and “devices” began to be collocated with “translation”. Table 1.2 lists equivalents of “multilingual voice translation system or technology”, “translation app”, or “megaphone-​like translation device” in the corpus. From the 2015 white paper, Japanese stakeholders appeared to see language technologies—​specifically voice-​synthesised machine translation systems via megaphones or automated translation apps on mobile phones—​as solutions to some of the policy problems outlined in the earlier section, “Problems”. These technologies include a variety of software and hardware. One illustrative example is Panasonic Group’s Table 1.2 Lexical items related to translation and interpreting in a corpus of 4,236,413 tokens Lexical item in kanji and alphabet

English gloss

翻訳 (hon’yaku) 翻訳して (hon’yaku shite) 翻訳する (hon’yaku suru)

translation translate translate (alternative verb form) English translation multilingual voice translation system

英訳 (eiyaku) 多言語音声翻訳システム (tagengo onsei hon’yaku shisutemu) 多言語音声翻訳技術 (tagengo onsei hon’yaku gijutsu) 翻訳アプリ (hon’yaku apuri) メガホン型翻訳機 (megahongata hon’yakuki) 翻訳精度 (hon’yaku seido) 通訳 (tsūyaku)

Hits

multilingual voice translation technology translation app megaphone-​like translation device translation accuracy interpreting, interpretation, interpreter

22

Hits/​million tokens

Percentage of whole corpus

2 1 1

0.47 0.24 0.24

0.00004721 0.00002360 0.00002360

10 14

2.36 3.3

0.0002360 0.0003305

2

0.47

0.00004721

7 1

1.65 0.24

0.0001652 0.00002360

4 4

0.94 0.94

0.00009442 0.00009442

Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness

Megahonyaku®—​an amalgamation of “megaphone” (megahon) and “translation” (hon’yaku)—​ which automatically translates Japanese into English, Chinese, and Korean.6 The white papers describe top-​down ministerial efforts to fund and drive the development of a broad language technology platform for crisis response. It is not clear how well these technologies, via megaphones or mobile devices, will accommodate multidirectional communication. However, discussion in recent white papers of efforts to improve the accuracy, speed, and target language coverage of these systems is encouraging. In fact, the only equivalents of “translation accuracy” in the corpus appear in relation to these language technology platforms. There seems to be a lack of human centring in some of this ambitious policy-​making. Human translators or interpreters are not mentioned in conjunction with this newly developing, top-​down, technology-​focused approach. Indeed, “interpreters” are mentioned in only two white papers: in 2006 in relation to a local authority planning to use university students as crisis interpreters; and in 2015 in relation to using sign language interpreters to increase accessibility at a small crisis-​ related conference. Consideration of one-​to-​many crisis translation solutions in white papers from 2015 to 2021 is unsurprising. The 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games were due to be held in hazard-​prone Japan, and plans would have been needed by key Japanese stakeholders to communicate with large numbers of foreign visitors in case of a crisis.

Policy developments suggested by the use of “language” Table 1.3 indicates that lexical items in Japanese relating specifically to “language” appeared infrequently in the corpus, but more frequently than for “translation” or “interpreting”. Seven relevant items were found at a rate of between approximately one and ten hits per million tokens. Equivalents of “language” are mentioned at first only in the white papers of 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2012. This initial sporadic presence in the corpus corresponds to a general lack of consideration of language in crisis plans in Japan and elsewhere until recent years (see “Research context” earlier in this chapter). However, mentions of language-​related lexical items are then found in every white paper from 2015 onward. The Sendai Conference is one likely cause of this change in pattern. For instance, the lexical item 仙台 (Sendai) appeared 152 times in the 2015 white paper alone. Another likely cause is the continued learning of lessons from the 2011 Earthquake. This disaster was of unprecedented scale and complexity. Analysis of its effects took time, and lessons

Table 1.3 Lexical items related to language in a corpus of 4,236,413 tokens Lexical item in kanji and alphabet

English gloss

Hits

言語 (gengo) 日本語 (nihongo) 外国語 (gaikokugo) 英語 (eigo) 中国語 (chūgokugo) 韓国語 (kankokugo) ポルトガル語 (porutogarugo)

language Japanese language foreign language English language Chinese language Korean language Portuguese language

43 8 9 15 7 5 3

23

Hits/​million tokens

Percentage of whole corpus

10.15 1.89 2.12 3.54 1.65 1.18 0.71

0.001015 0.0001888 0.0002124 0.0003541 0.0001652 0.0001180 0.00007081

Patrick Cadwell

continued to be learned in many subsequent years. The official name of the 2011 Earthquake, 東日本大震災 (Great East Japan Earthquake), has appeared in every white paper since 2011. Noticeably, it was mentioned 1,156 times between 2012 and 2016, with 202 of these instances coming in 2015 and 125 instances coming in 2016. This suggests that the 2011 Earthquake was still a major consideration in white papers four or five years after the event. Furthermore, in line with the discussion in the earlier section on “Policy developments suggested by the use of ‘translation’ and ‘interpreting’ ” about a focus on technology, it is interesting to note that many mentions of “language” from 2015 onward appeared in relation to language technologies rather than to other forms of multilingual crisis communication. An equivalent of “Japanese language” is mentioned in the white papers in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2017 mostly to show that “not only” Japanese was provided in certain instances of crisis communication in Japan. An equivalent of “foreign language” began to be considered in the 2016 white paper in relation to foreign language volunteers and foreign language versions of tsunami advice sheets. The year is significant. The 2016 Earthquake made the news around the world, especially in Southeast Asia, because foreign visitors and residents were affected and nearby neighbours were concerned about the possibility of another cascading nuclear event. Many lessons learned from the 2011 Earthquake appeared to be applied in the 2016 white paper, and it contained a range of budgeted measures across various ministries and agencies to communicate with foreign nationals. The specific mention of an equivalent of “foreign language” came in an appendix summarising evacuation and emergency measures in the event of flooding. It listed pictograms, foreign language guides, disaster prevention apps, and foreign language volunteers as ways to communicate reliably with foreign nationals. While only brief and in an appendix, this example represents a significantly greater presence of “foreign language” in policy-​making in Japan by 2016 than in the years prior. The only languages other than Japanese mentioned in the corpus were English, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese. The first mentions are from 2005. English is mentioned relatively frequently and consistently, and Chinese and Korean are mentioned less frequently and more sporadically. The three are sometimes mentioned together, probably because of the US–​Japan Security Alliance, the number of US forces stationed in Japan, the use of English as a lingua franca for communicating with foreign nationals, and the fact that Chinese, Filipino, and Korean nationals constitute the three largest migrant groups in Japan. Portuguese is mentioned in only one white paper in 2009. The relevant passage illustrates the possibilities of lesson learning through the white paper system. It acknowledges increasing foreign migration and travel to Japan, recognises that the fatality rate for foreign nationals was elevated in the 1995 Earthquake, and explains how lessons learned in 1995 about the importance of community radio in foreign languages were applied to produce radio broadcasts for Brazilian communities in English and Portuguese in the 2004 Chūetsu Earthquakes (central Japan).

Policy developments suggested by the use of “foreignness” Table 1.4 indicates that lexical items in Japanese relating specifically to “foreignness” appeared relatively frequently in the corpus. Eleven relevant items were found, and some of these appeared plentifully with hundreds of hits per million tokens. An equivalent of “foreign national” was mentioned in every white paper in the corpus except for the 2003 document. These instances regularly related to discussions of tourism, local authority administration, communication, evacuation, and vulnerability. In many instances, foreign nationals were considered along with the elderly, people with disabilities, infants, and pregnant women as 24

Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness Table 1.4 Lexical items related to foreignness in a corpus of 4,236,413 tokens Lexical item in kanji and alphabet

English gloss

Hits

Hits/​million tokens

Percentage of whole corpus

外国人 (gaikokujin) 在日外国人 (zainichi gaikokujin) 外国人観光客 (gaikokujin kankōkyaku) 外国人旅行者 (gaikokujin ryokōsha) 訪日外国人 (hōnichi gaikokujin) 外国人被災者(gaikokujin hisaisha) 災害時外国人支援情報 コーディネーター (saigaiji gaikokujin shien jōhō kōdinētā) 国際協力 (kokusai kyōryoku) 海外ボランティア (kaigai borantia) 海外展開 (kaigai tenkai) 国際社会 (kokusai shakai)

foreign national foreign resident in Japan foreign tourist

175 1 8

41.31 0.24 1.89

0.004131 0.00002360 0.0001888

foreign traveller

39

9.21

0.0009206

foreign visitor to Japan disaster-​affected foreign national Coordinator of Disaster Information for Foreign Nationals international cooperation overseas volunteer

53 3

12.51 0.71

0.001251 0.00007081

3

0.71

0.00007081

745 52

175.86 12.27

0.01759 0.001227

overseas deployment international community

95 222

22.42 52.4

0.002242 0.005240

“those in need of assistance in times of disaster” (災害時要援護者). Special consideration in the white papers of how to communicate with, support, and assist these groups is encouraging, especially as the diversity of their needs was recognised. An equivalent of “foreign resident” was mentioned only once in the corpus in the 2004 White Paper in a passage about using community radio in foreign languages to support foreign residents. In contrast, equivalents of “foreign tourist”, “foreign traveller”, or “foreign visitor to Japan” were plentiful, starting in 2006. This is probably because Japanese tourists lost their lives in the Indian Ocean tsunami at the end of 2004, and Japanese stakeholders wanted to consider foreign visitors in their crisis policy-​making more explicitly from then. An equivalent of “foreign traveller” appears in every white paper from 2012 (the year after the devastating 2011 Earthquake and in the context of preparations for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games). These passages, along with many mentions of “foreign visitor to Japan”, reinforce how the white paper system can be used for reporting and guidance. For example, the first entry for an equivalent of “foreign traveller” was in 2012 under an explanation of funding for projects to survey and understand travellers’ information needs. The reporting of this budgeted item changes each subsequent year to explain how the project moved on to the translation of manuals, the development of a “Safety Tips” app, evaluation of the app through focus groups, implementation of focus group feedback to improve the app, and the app’s eventual roll-​out, improvement, and expansion. Similar traces from 2014 to 2021 report on a project to research, develop, and improve the multilingual voice translation system discussed in the earlier section, “Policy developments suggested by the use of ‘translation’ and ‘interpreting’ ”. Mention of an equivalent of “disaster-​affected foreign national” was very limited in the corpus. Two of the three instances came from the most recent white paper at the time of writing (2021) and were in relation to another lexical item of interest: the newly emerging role of Coordinator of Disaster Information for Foreign Nationals. The 2021 white paper describes the budget and 25

Patrick Cadwell

planned implementation of training for this coordinator role. The coordinators will be trained to match information and support provided by authorities to the needs of foreign nationals affected by a disaster, such as those in an evacuation centre. The clause about matching needs is promising, as it suggests understanding foreign nationals’ needs through two-​way communication with them, though this is not stated explicitly in the plan. The remaining lexical items related to foreignness—​equivalents of “international cooperation”, “overseas volunteer”, “overseas deployment”, and “international community”—​all relate to Japan’s ties to other countries in terms of crisis preparedness, response, and recovery. “International cooperation” on crisis-​related matters with other countries, especially the USA, Turkey, and Japan’s near neighbours in East and Southeast Asia, has been mentioned in every white paper from 2001 to 2021. Much of the discussion concerned sharing experiences and information. Instances of “overseas volunteer” were present in all white papers from 2002 to 2010 and related to budgetary and other measures to support members of the public and private sector in Japan—​such as firefighters or search and rescue teams—​to go overseas to assist other countries, especially to share expertise and technologies. An equivalent of “overseas deployment” was used in white papers from 2013 to 2021 to discuss the same phenomenon. These lexical items do not appear in 2011 and 2012, probably because these white papers were internally focused on dealing with the effects of the 2011 Earthquake. Mentions of “international community” experienced a large spike in 2015, primarily in relation to Japan’s hosting of the Sendai Conference.

Conclusion This study aimed at investigating how translation and interpreting of foreign languages have featured in Japan’s annual White Paper on Disaster Management from 2001–​2021 under a working hypothesis that there would be little explicit mention of these categories. In fact, a corpus sociological framework and lexical analysis presented evidence that, while mention of translation and interpreting of foreign languages was limited initially, these categories have come to be discussed in some detail in Japanese by local and national governments in Japan, especially since 2015. “Translation”, “interpreting”, “language”, and “foreignness” in Japanese crisis policy-​making have developed over the last two decades from being overlooked and under-​recognised categories to being present in budgeted plans and guidelines. Overall, the annual white paper system seems beneficial. It promotes continual reflection on crisis policy and facilitates lesson learning by stakeholders. It also involves regular dialogue from the local to the national level, meaning that Japanese crisis policy-​making appears to be neither entirely top-​down nor bottom-​up. The adoption of a similar system in other jurisdictions is worth consideration. Examination of the most recent white paper at the time of writing (2021) demonstrates the extent to which consideration of translation and interpreting of foreign languages has become explicit in Japan’s crisis policy. The 2021 paper focused on Japan’s COVID-​19 pandemic countermeasures. The role and funding for training of Coordinators of Disaster Information for Foreign Nationals were explained. Further investment by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in a multilingual voice translation system and a “Safety Tips” app was reported. Efforts at the local level by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to translate tsunami evacuation guidance into foreign languages for foreign vessels were described. A need for foreign language activities in primary and middle school curriculums as an element of crisis preparedness was suggested. Finally, a case study of a local authority’s plan to support foreign tourists using evacuation notice boards was included. As white papers like this one are used by lawmakers and government at all levels 26

Translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness

in Japan to apply lessons learned and revise other related acts, policies, and implementation plans accordingly, such comprehensive treatment of issues relating to crisis translation and interpreting is encouraging. Nevertheless, the 2021 white paper is also a cause for some misgivings. Firstly, interpreting is not mentioned at all, despite its importance in multilingual crisis communication, especially in a response phase (Cadwell 2015). Secondly, a focus on short-​term foreign visitors remains. Foreign residents receive less consideration, and it cannot be assumed that the needs of both groups are the same. Nevertheless, the new Coordinator of Disaster Information for Foreign Nationals role is promising and appears to be designed to support both short-​term visitors and long-​term residents. Thirdly, significant investment is being placed in language technology and ICT solutions. Technology can be a solution to problems in crisis translation and interpreting policy-​making. However, a diverse ecosystem of solutions is to be favoured, involving technology, professional translation and interpreting, volunteers, communities, and more (Federici et al. 2021), especially in cases where power and connectivity may cause technologies to become unavailable (Cadwell 2016). Finally, it has been argued that policy should allow those directly affected by a crisis to have their voices heard and included (Federici et al. 2019; Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020). While the white papers contain evidence of bottom-​up contributions to policy, especially through local authorities, some discussion of translation and interpreting has moved to a predominantly top-​down perspective that may lack the speed, individualised content, and appropriate channels of distribution required to respond to foreign nationals’ crisis communicative needs effectively (Kikuchi 2020; Sakurai and Bismark 2020). These conclusions come with limitations. This study examined policy in a way that was removed somewhat from its implementation; the full extent to which the white papers reflect crisis translation or interpreting practice in Japan is uncertain. Furthermore, the method described in the “Research methodology” section, while comprehensive, was unlikely to have returned all possible discussions of translation, interpreting, language, and foreignness in the corpus, and further patterns in the data may remain uncaptured. Finally, this study presents avenues for future work. Firstly, the corpus could be used to analyse other concepts of relevance to multilingual crisis communication, e.g. community, risk, trust, etc. Secondly, a field study could be designed to confirm how well these policy findings match crisis translation or interpreting practice in Japan. Thirdly, the training offered to Coordinators of Disaster Information for Foreign Nationals could be investigated and evaluated and is likely to be instructive for other jurisdictions.

Notes 1 防災白書 2 災害対策基本法 3 Some reference versions in English—​incomplete translations of the white papers from 2015 to 2021—​are available on the government’s public website at www.bou​sai.go.jp/​en/​docume​ntat​ion/​whit​e_​pa​per/​index. html. No other language versions are at this source. 4 See white papers in Japanese at: www.bou​sai.go.jp/​kaigi​rep/​haku​sho/​index.html 5 平成13年 to 令和3年 in the Japanese era calendar. 6 For more detail on Megahonyaku®, see a blog post from Panasonic Group at https://​news.panaso​nic.com/​ glo​bal/​top​ics/​5186 (published online March 2018).

Further reading Béland, Daniel, Michael Howlett, and Ishani Mukherjee. 2018. ‘Instrument constituencies and public policy-​ making: An introduction’. Policy and Society, 37 (1): 1–​13.

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Patrick Cadwell This article provides a highly accessible entry point to understanding the role of policy in society—​in general, not just in crisis—​and especially the interaction between varied actors about the problems and solutions that policy-​making is supposed to tackle. United Nations. 2015. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–​2030. PDF File. www.preven​ tion​web.net/​files/​43291_​send​aifr​amew​orkf​ordr​ren.pdf. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–​2030 is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand more about the general principles that guide the work of governments, NGOs, international organisations, and many other stakeholders in crisis-​related matters. While language and culture are not the focus, the document provides a blueprint that can help guide crisis translation and interpreting policy-​making and practice. Kikuchi, Akiyoshi. 2020. ‘Bōsai seisaku ni okeru saigaiji tagengo jōhō teikyō no jikkōsei ni kansuru kōsatsu’. Saigai jōhō. 18 (2): 235–​245. For those who read Japanese, this article provides a detailed and locally specific examination of efforts in Japan to support foreign nationals in times of crisis and disaster. This work comes out of a close collaboration between academic and non-​academic partners and has a useful focus on local authorities, one of the most important crisis stakeholders in a Japanese context. O’Brien, Sharon, Federico M. Federici, Patrick Cadwell, Jay Marlowe, and Brian Gerber. 2018. ‘Language translation during disaster: A comparative analysis of five national approaches’. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 31: 627–​636. This article is useful for understanding how crisis translation and interpreting policy can be evaluated and critiqued at a national level using a comprehensive and robust analytical framework.

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Patrick Cadwell Xiang, Tianyi, Brian J. Gerber, and Fengxiu Zhang. 2021. ‘Language access in emergency and disaster preparedness: An assessment of local government “whole community” efforts in the United States’. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 55: 102072. Zhang, Jie, and Yuqin Wu. 2020. ‘Providing multilingual logistics communication in COVID-​19 disaster relief’. Multilingua, 39 (5): 517–​528. Zinn, Jens O. 2018. ‘The proliferation of “at risk” in the times: A corpus approach to historical social change, 1785–​2009’. Historical Social Research, 43 (2): 313–​364.

Corpus data attribution All texts included in the corpus have been processed from white papers on Disaster Management available on the Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan website: www.bou​sai.go.jp/​kaigi​rep/​haku​sho/​index.html 出典：「防災白書」（内閣府）www.bou​sai.go.jp/​kaigi​rep/​haku​sho/​index.html（令和４年３​月２２日​ に利用）を加工し​て作成

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2 REDEFINING INFORMATION ACCESSIBILITY IN CRISIS TRANSLATION Communicating COVID-​19 resources to culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia Lintao Qi and Rita Wilson

Introduction During times of crisis, effective communication is key to reducing risks. In this globalised era, increased mobility of people across geographical borders means that, in many parts of the world, societies have become increasingly multilingual and multicultural. When crises strike, emergency responses and communication of information would thus often involve the use of more than one language. However, relatively little emphasis has been placed on the effectiveness of multilingual resources in responding to real-​life crises, and interest in crisis translation seems largely confined to academia (Federici 2016; Federici and O’Brien 2020). In Translation Studies scholarship, “accessibility” is a frequently recurring term, but its definition and referents can differ from paradigm to paradigm. In audiovisual translation, the term refers to practices that enable democratic access to audiovisual products by all audiences (Diaz-​Cintas and Anderman 2008), while in medical translation, Karwacka (2021, 80) describes accessibility as something that can ensure that “a patient is able to and know how to access healthcare services”. Broadly conceptualising accessibility as access to information for the public at large, this chapter focuses on accessibility in the context of crisis communication by scrutinising Australia’s policy and practice in communicating COVID-​19 related information to its culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. References to accessibility are not uncommon in government documents produced during the pandemic, but accessibility is not an intrinsic property of information and cannot simply be claimed by those who produce and circulate the information. We consider the actual access to the information by its target users as an essential element in the evaluation of accessibility, which implies the need to investigate information accessibility in relation to both the static translation product and the dynamic processes of production (by translators and other crisis responders) and reception (by the target audience). This understanding informs our methodological approach in this chapter and guides our collection, organisation and analysis of data. By taking Australia’s COVID-​19 response

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-4

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as a case study, this chapter aims to recontextualise the concept of accessibility as proposed by UNICEF (see “Research methodology” section) and to serve as an urgent reminder that information accessibility secures the language rights of individuals and, in that sense, can be considered a basic human right.

Research context Effective use of language is crucial for successful communication, particularly during crises, but in reality, crisis communication scholarship does not always consider language as a key focus. For example, “language” as a keyword is rarely mentioned in many monographs and edited collections on crisis communication theory, practice and approaches (e.g., Sellnow and Seeger 2013; Sheehan and Quinn-​Allan 2015; Brataas 2018; Ndlela 2019). When language is discussed, it is often accentuated as a barrier to communication. Moreover, there is a tendency to describe the challenges brought about by language issues without proposing any interlingual solutions. Fearn-​ Banks (2017), for instance, presents a wealth of case studies in crisis communication. Language, as an element in her case studies, is mostly introduced under the heading “cultural crisis”. When discussing the public health crisis in Botswana, “one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic”, Fearn-​Banks (2017, 153) highlights the severity of language issues by pointing out that 90% of Botswana physicians are of foreign origin and not fluent in the primary local language, Setswana. However, no solutions to overcome this issue are proposed. Translation, as one obvious means of tackling language barriers, is largely absent from this and many other publications (e.g., Zaremba 2010; Bloch 2014) in the field of crisis communication. Language-​related issues like this are highly relevant for any multicultural society in which crisis responders and their information receivers may not share the same language. In the case of Australia, 872,206 people reported difficulty speaking English in the 2021 census (idcommunity 2022). While this represents less than 4% of the population of Australia, failure to communicate potentially life-​saving COVID-​19 information to them not only puts their health and life at risk, it also deals a serious blow to the country’s crisis management overall, as non-​compliance will follow if these people have no timely access to the government’s pandemic restrictions and recommendations. In 2021, over 300 languages were spoken in Australian homes, and 22.3% of Australians spoke a language other than English (LOTE) at home (idcommunity 2022). In government documents, the multicultural reality of Australian society is often acknowledged.1 For instance, the Federal Government updated its Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza (AHMPPI) in August 2019, “drawing on the lessons learned in 2009 and developments in the approach to pandemics within the international community” (Commonwealth of Australia 2019, 8). In this 232-​page document, the phrase “culturally and linguistically diverse” and the acronym CALD appeared ten times. This suggests an acknowledgement of the importance of multiculturalism and multilingualism in principle, but as concrete means to address the language needs of these communities were overall missing, this volition did not automatically translate into action plans for any subsequent crisis. The same approach can also be observed in other documents released by Australian Federal and State governments in response to the COVID-​19 outbreak (e.g., Commonwealth of Australia 2019; Parliament of Australia 2020; State of Victoria 2022). There is no shortage of communication strategies in these documents, but policies and procedures are not operationalised through concrete implementation strategies to ensure the same information is effectively communicated to CALD groups.

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Translation seems to be the natural option in such contexts, so natural that people tend to approach it as a process that is unproblematic. Walker (2012, 103) notes that “written communications” for groups with limited English proficiency “should be translated into the language(s)” within the group(s). In a similar vein, AHMPPI contends that “[t]‌ranslated versions of communication materials will ensure wider accessibility and to take into account the cultural diversity of the Australian community” (Commonwealth of Australia 2019, 131, emphasis added). Notwithstanding the reference to translation, Australian government policy documents, and, therefore, also their implementation, fall short of specific discussion about how to produce both quality and accessible translated materials, let alone reach the respective intended audiences. Translation seems to be taken as a spontaneous process that does not need much planning, which can simply be deployed and serve its purpose of “wider accessibility” when it is needed. The many things that can go wrong in the translation process, resulting in possible flaws in the translated information, somehow escape the attention of specialists in crisis response.

Research methodology In analysing how effectively various Australian government agencies make COVID-​ related translated resources2 accessible to their target CALD communities, this chapter draws upon examples of the country’s response to the pandemic from diverse sources such as government documents, official websites of government agencies, national and state-​based news media outlets (e.g., ABC, SBS, The Age, The Herald Sun), online opinion pieces (e.g., The Conversation) and research articles. Examples will be presented and analysed in accordance with a tripartite categorisation of information accessibility, which we develop on the basis of a critical reading of the World Health Organization’s Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality (AAAQ) framework. The AAAQ framework, which was “originally developed for the healthcare sector” and has since been adopted as “a useful tool for assessing other types of services”, considers accessibility as encompassing the following aspects: “physically accessible, affordable, and accessible information” (UNICEF 2019, 1). This was further elaborated by UNICEF in its effort to develop the AAAQ framework into “a tool to identify potential barriers to accessing services in humanitarian settings” (ibid.). UNICEF’s elaboration lists five different types of accessibility, namely, physical, financial, administrative, social and information accessibility (ibid.). UNICEF’s categorisation of accessibility provides a valuable instrument for the evaluation of humanitarian aid and services, but would not be effective for assessing crisis translation. In particular, the categories of financial accessibility (e.g., reasonable fees for service, indirect costs) and bureaucratic accessibility (e.g., registration, restricted facility open times) are about restrictive conditions of services, while crisis information should be made accessible to all unconditionally. Research in Translation Studies has mainly focused on “information accessibility”, i.e., making translated information accessible to all potential target audiences by means of various languages, formats, modalities and dissemination channels (O’Brien et al. 2018; Vázquez and Torres-​del-​ Rey 2020). However, in reality, information accessibility can be compromised or complicated by its interaction with specific sociocultural contexts. Many governments have indeed not been successful in their efforts to reach their CALD communities during the COVID-​19 pandemic. The UK government, for instance, has been criticised for “consistently failing” to make its messaging “effectively reach all communities across the UK” (O’Brien, Cadwell, and Zajdel 2021, 7). In a similar vein, CALD communities in Australia were frustrated by the fact that they were

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unable to either access or locate translated COVID-​19 resources, despite their knowledge of the existence of such translations (Hajek et al. 2022, 36–​37). This points to a gap between design and delivery, or between policy and implementation: the last mile delivery3 of translated resources is no less significant for information accessibility than the translation process and product in crisis contexts. Thus, a purely linguistic examination of accessibility, without taking account of contextual factors (covering production, dissemination and reception of crisis translation), will not be adequate. Inspired by UNICEF’s categorisation of accessibility and noting its limited applicability to crisis translation, we propose a recontextualised framework of accessibility, in which there are three layers of accessibility in relation to the information being translated, disseminated and accessed: social, cultural and technical accessibility. With some possible overlap, due to their organic interdependence, the three layers cover a range of contextual factors for information accessibility. Social accessibility involves personal or group attributes such as age, literacy level and socio-​economic status. These attributes may be widely applicable to different societies and cultures. Cultural accessibility, in contrast, includes attributes that are culture-​specific, such as gender, customs or traditions, and (religious) beliefs. One is inclined to argue that gender is a socially constructed concept; however, its impact on crisis situations such as the COVID-​19 pandemic is highly culture-​dependent. For example, as the Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Program, an NGO in Pakistan, observes, “it is not culturally appropriate for women to interact with unknown men, and it is impossible for men to enter their homes if their male family members are not present” (Khawar 2022). Technical (or digital in the context of this paper) accessibility concerns mainly the forms and channels of information consumption and dissemination arising from the development of digital technology, such as websites (hosting the information) and social media (as an instrument of dissemination).

Discussion The present section focuses on discussing the accessibility of COVID-​19 information to culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia. As mentioned earlier, the study approaches the topic from three distinct vantage points, namely social accessibility, cultural accessibility and technical/​digital accessibility (covered in the following three sub-​sections). Australia’s health system is believed to be “one of the best in the world” (DHAC 2019). In the first twelve months of the pandemic, the country performed exceptionally well in its management of the public health crisis (Chapman 2021). However, its communication of COVID-​related information (e.g., information on lockdowns and vaccines) to its CALD groups was flawed from the outset. Most tellingly, it was found that nearly 60% of COVID-​associated deaths, by March 2022, were among Australians born overseas, which is “almost twice their share of the population” (Nicholas and Ball 2022).

Social accessibility As mentioned earlier, the markers of disadvantage subsumed under social accessibility are attributes shared across cultures and societies. Anyone with such attributes may be disadvantaged during an emergency situation, but people from migrant and refugee backgrounds are more likely to be further marginalised because many would experience “intersectional disadvantage or discrimination” (State of Victoria 2021) based on attributes such as ethnicity, age, gender identity, race or religion. For the elderly, in particular, language and cultural barriers contribute to their increased vulnerability in terms of social accessibility. 34

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By October 2020, it had become clear that management of the country’s aged care sector was a major weakness in Australia’s response to the pandemic (Cousins 2020, 1322). The government had indeed prepared information and services for the elderly, 65 years and over, but, as a consequence of not accurately gauging the implications of the social attributes of the elderly population, reaching their intended audiences was not always successful. Amid lockdowns and with food shortages in local supermarkets, the Australian Department of Health announced on 1 April 2020 a $9.3 million initiative to buy 36,000 emergency food supplies boxes to help senior Australians at home (Hunt 2020). Six weeks later, when the programme was supposed to end, only 38 of the predicted 36,000 food boxes had been delivered. The Department attributed this to the low demand, but the fact that the scheme could only be accessed either by internet or phone call will have been an important contributing factor (Visontay 2020).4 While online access may seem to be an integral part of daily life for many, it is reported that, even in the wealthy OECD countries, only 49.8% of those aged between 65–​74 use the internet (UN 2020, 10). In Australia, many older persons were “forced to adopt new technologies” during the pandemic (Fenech 2022), and despite the increasing necessity to use technology, such as staying connected with loved ones during lockdowns and compulsory check-​in to venues using QR codes, the majority of older Australians “continue to feel overwhelmed by technological change” and “may be largely unmotivated to find out more” (ACMA 2021). Information and services that are accessible only or mainly through the internet may not reach their intended elderly target end-​users. Phone calls may also prove challenging for older adults. In 2018, 49.6% of Australians aged 65 years or over had a disability (ABS 2019). This becomes more complicated by the “diminished hearing and sight” that can arrive with age (Burry 2022), which can be exacerbated by cognitive decline such as dementia (Maharani et al. 2018). In addition, talking to people over the phone for health or emergency services could be a daunting task for older people from CALD backgrounds. According to Australia’s 2016 Census, over 37% of Australians aged 65 and over were born overseas, and 18% of older people spoke a language other than English at home (AIHW 2021). As such, with 95.3% older Australians living in households (ABS 2019), an uptake of 38 out of 36,000 emergency food supplies box, in the context of the lockdown restrictions and supermarket shortages, can hardly be ascribed to the low demand from the target population. When it comes to effectively disseminating much needed information in times of a pandemic affecting an entire population, and to make it genuinely accessible to elderly target audiences, the government appears to have hit a systemic failure. Socio-​economically disadvantaged groups5 were over-​represented in the pandemic, with “more than three times (34% to 10%) as many deaths among the most disadvantaged Australians as the most advantaged”, and it is worth mentioning that in Australia, many CALD communities live predominantly in more disadvantaged areas (Nicholas and Ball 2022). Public housing features some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities in Australia, which are also the most culturally and linguistically diverse (Glenn 2020). On 4 July 2020, nine public housing towers of some 3,000 residents in North Melbourne, Victoria, were put into a hard lockdown, “with no advance notice or explanation” (Ombudsman 2020, 4). During emergency situations, the inaccessibility of information exposes LOTE speakers to increased health risks and safety hazards, making it unnecessarily hard for them to access support and services. In the nine public housing towers under lockdown, 73% of the residents spoke a LOTE at home, and 21% have “self-​reported poor or no English proficiency” (Glenn 2020). However, when they were put into lockdown on 4 July 2020, no copies of the Detention Directions, which set out “the purpose and terms under which people were being detained”, were distributed to the 35

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residents, either in their LOTEs or in English (Ombudsman 2020, 15). Some households did not receive a copy of the English document until the third day, and those needing to access the same document in their community languages had to wait until “the fifth and sixth days” to access a translated version (ibid., 17) – ​the Directions were revoked on the sixth day. The residents were effectively denied the right to access information that was specifically intended for them. Through poor management of information accessibility, government agencies created a crisis of trust amid a health crisis. While recognising the delays in delivering the translated messages, the government did not seem to consider its translation mechanism fundamentally flawed. In response to the Ombudsman’s investigation, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services said that “[i]‌t took some time to translate the relevant materials into the necessary languages and the Department acted as quickly as it could to do this” (Ombudsman 2020, 213). If governments fail to realise that crisis translation needs to be organised in a different way from regular translation services, then they are likely to repeat their failure in making COVID-​19 resources accessible to its disadvantaged populations on time in other emergencies. For crisis translation, time is of the essence, as is having a clear communication plan in place (Bakker, Kerstholt, and Giebels, 2018). The diversity of CALD communities requires that accessibility be considered in relation to a wide range of social attributes, including one that is often linked to socio-​economically disadvantaged groups: literacy. Serry et al. (2022, 2) conducted a project to measure the readability of COVID-​ 19 information on Australian government websites and found that “an education level equivalent to senior secondary school would be required to readily understand the contents.” In Australia, about 44% of the population has literacy levels that are below those required for everyday life (Commonwealth of Australia 2022). A study conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies among migrants reveals that 23% of female participants and 17% of male respondents were illiterate in their own language (Ramsay 2016). These demographic features, together with widespread low health literacy (ECCV 2012, 7), suggest that for the purpose of effective communication during a crisis, the Australian government needs to differentiate between two types of translation. First, an intralingual translation of government messages to “an Australian year 7 level” to make the content “usable for most people” (Commonwealth of Australia 2022). Second, interlingual translations of the same messages into plain LOTEs appropriate to the literacy levels of the respective CALD communities. If government messaging is “too difficult for significant segments of the population” (Piller 2020), either in intralingual or interlingual format, it will eventually fail to keep people informed of what is happening and what they are expected to do.

Cultural accessibility With their own cultural traditions, beliefs and practices, people from different CALD communities may behave, interact and react to government messaging differently. This also affects how messages should be translated and disseminated in order to achieve optimal effect. What is apparently an interlinguistic transfer may require a translation that conveys cultural concepts intrinsic to a specific target audience. For example, the concept of social distancing, which a monolingual speaker in English may take for granted, would turn out to be a translation challenge in some indigenous communities. As Nick Evans (2021), an Australian linguist working on endangered languages, points out, telling people to stay 1.5 metres apart may not be “clear or effective” for aboriginal people. Instead of pursuing linguistic accuracy, the decoded meaning of the source text expression needs to be rebuilt and encoded using certain aspects of the aboriginal culture.

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In this case, the social distancing in English would be effectively translated into some aboriginal languages by referring to keeping “a respectful distance” from someone in an in-​law relationship (Faure-​Brac 2020).6 In non-​crisis contexts, it may not be a problem if translators or commissioners of the translation remain linguistically faithful to the source text in order to educate target text users about the source language and/​or culture. In crisis situations, however, a culturally accessible translation needs to achieve the equivalent effect on its target audience as that of the source text on the readers in the source context. Any translation that may leave its target audience wondering is likely to fail its purpose. Nevertheless, the exploitation of cultural accessibility may go astray in some instances. On 11 January 2022, as part of Western Australia’s campaign for COVID vaccination, the Premier of the state, Mark McGowan, had his message interpreted into Kriol. As an Australian aboriginal language, Kriol shares “much of its grammar and lexicon with English” (Warner 2022). In the video prepared by the Western Australian government, the Premier was shown to have his English message consecutively interpreted into broken, accented aboriginal English.7 The footage was soon widely disseminated, with McGowan and the Western Australian government being criticised as condescending and “infantilising an entire community” (Yemini 2022). Some even deemed it to be racist. Despite its intention to make the message accessible to the wider communities, the government seemed to have failed to understand its target culture on this occasion. While the target aboriginal audience may have their preferred language use, the difference from “standard” English does not constitute a sufficient linguistic or cultural barrier in accessing the Premier’s message. Dissemination of translated resources remains highly culturally dependent. With all its efforts, the government’s COVID campaign actually helped “inspire resistance amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples” (Kerrigan et al. 2021, 204), and by extension amongst many CALD communities, to not easily trust or accept information disseminated by the government. Without effective crisis communication from the government, community leaders and religious leaders stepped in to provide information about the pandemic and government-​ordained restrictions to the respective CALD communities, in which many “only understand their local language” (Tomazin 2020). Viskupič and Wiltse (2022) conducted a survey to determine the most trusted communicators of the importance of COVID vaccination: political, medical or religious leaders. They concluded that religious leaders were the most effective in influencing people’s decisions, while messaging from political and medical leaders had little or no effect on the respondents (ibid.). The government, despite its apparent support for multiculturalism in Australia, had largely missed the opportunity to meaningfully and systematically work with faith leaders and community leaders, particularly in the early stages of the pandemic. In a report produced by the National COVID-​19 Health and Research Advisory Committee (NCHRAC) in May 2020, the Committee was told by CALD communities that they were only involved in the government’s pandemic response on an ad hoc basis or not at all (Young 2020b). The government agencies’ reaction to that report was mixed, further reflecting a lack of “a whole-​of-​government approach” to information accessibility for the country’s CALD groups. On the day the Victorian state government announced that it would “step up coronavirus support to multicultural communities” (Young 2020a), the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt disparaged the NCHRAC report. To some extent, such inconsistent attitudes may reflect the opposing political stances of the (centre-​left) Labor Party-​led Victorian state government and the Federal Government, at the time led by the (centre-​ right) Liberal Party-​dominant coalition. But in practice, this does not help to build trust in government, nor does it facilitate information accessibility because it confuses rather than informs the public. If there were already mixed feelings about the trustworthiness of government prior to the

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pandemic, then the unclear approach and partial failure to reach CALD communities appropriately have extended or even aggravated the partial distrust towards authorities. It has to be emphasised that the traditional concept of professional translation services cannot be routinely applied to crisis translation, as was evident with the case of the communities living in Melbourne public housing blocks. During a crisis, cultural appropriateness is of central importance to the accessibility of translated resources (Gerber et al. 2021). This encompasses both how the information is translated and the channels used to communicate the translated information to its target audience. For CALD communities, the professional translators behind the scenes are invisible and hence unapproachable, and their translations may not be relatable. However, faith leaders or community leaders, who understand the cultural needs and speak the respective community language(s), become the accessible and trusted translators of COVID-​19 information. Under such circumstances, if the government contents itself with an approach without inputs from CALD communities, the gap between the government and the target audience of its translated messages would continue to widen.

Technical or digital accessibility Thanks to technological advancements in the digital age, governments nowadays have more channels than ever to improve the accessibility to their information. The Australian government agencies produced not only text-​based documents and posters with graphs, but also videos in community languages or with in-​language subtitles. These translated resources were disseminated in print and digital formats and on diverse platforms (e.g., government websites and social media such as YouTube and Twitter/X). For example, by September 2022, the Australian Federal Department of Health and Aged Care (DHAC 2022) website had translated resources in 101 languages, with a total number of 9,528 artefacts (997 audio files, 7,776 published documents and 755 videos). The videos were often also shared on social media such as YouTube by government agencies,8 but the translated documents were mainly or solely embedded in the government websites, whose landing pages are, without exception, in English. This potentially turns many LOTE speakers away, because they may not have a sufficient level of functional English to navigate “through a maze of pages” to locate the translated resources in their own language (Young 2020a). The first lockdown in Australia was announced in March 2020, but by the second wave in mid–​late 2020, some frustrated CALD community members were still complaining about not knowing about the existence of in-​ language COVID-​ 19 resources provided by national or regional governments (some others were aware of the translated resources but did not know how to access them). Strikingly, this includes members from the Chinese and Indian communities (Renaldi and Fang 2020; Young 2020a): the languages of the Chinese and Indian communities, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil, were actually among the languages for which translated resources had been made available by the government as early as March 2020 (Parliament of Victoria 2020, 377). While government agencies produced LOTE resources to cater to the needs of CALD community members who have limited or no proficiency in English, the way these translated documents were publicised on their websites effectively reduces their digital accessibility. Despite their intention to facilitate information accessibility, in practice their communication strategy prevented this from happening. Clearly, government agencies need to upgrade their digital literacy and update their conceptualisation of information accessibility: availability of translation does not automatically guarantee its accessibility (Qi 2022, 17), and only providing translations is insufficient to respect CALD 38

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communities’ human right of access to information. There may not be an easy solution to solve the problem of accessing in-​language materials on an English website that can meet the needs of every individual from CALD communities, particularly considering people’s differences in age and literacy levels, among other factors. Nevertheless, it would be entirely possible for digitally literate government agencies to separate the English pages and the translated pages, and to feature a hyperlink to the in-​language materials in a prominent position on their landing page, such as a dropdown menu of all the languages in which translated COVID-​19 materials are available. Alternatively, a search function could be added on the home page to enable CALD members to search translated resources by entering keywords in their own languages. However, instead of acknowledging its neglect of CALD communities, government spokespeople criticised citizens for turning to alternative sources for information. At the early stage of Victoria’s second COVID wave, Professor Brett Sutton, the state’s Chief Health Officer, complained: “It’s not an easy task. There are people who use social media from their country of origin or amongst their work of friends as their primary source of information” (Paynter, Deery, and Argoon 2020). It is true that some CALD group members obtained misinformation through social media where the input came from abroad. Information about COVID vaccination, for example, differed from Australian reality and enhanced hesitancy among certain communities (Fernandez and Huntsdale 2021; Xiao et al. 2021). This, however, was actually a strong reminder that the government had not managed to provide the necessary information appropriately to these communities. As a cause-​ and-​effect situation, when LOTE speakers turned away from government sources to social media in their community languages, we would expect government agencies to examine the causes for the lack of trust in official translated resources. In addition, one way of remedying the situation, in which CALD communities may be misinformed by social media from their country of origin, would have been to embrace international social media platforms, e.g., Kakao (South Korea), Line (Japan), Skyrock (France) and WeChat (China) (Volkmer 2021, 9–​11). Rather than burying their translated COVID resources in government websites, which were left inaccessible and thus under-​utilised by CALD community members, the government could have made much better use of the limited resources during the health crisis by posting the translated materials on the diaspora communities’ preferred social media platforms. To optimise the digital accessibility of crisis information, government agencies have a clear task ahead of them: to improve their digital literacy, not only about the latest technological advancements, but also about what digital forms and platforms are most popular and effective among (different groups within) CALD communities.

Conclusion Effective crisis translation is crucial to governments’ response to emergency situations. It is not only a matter of accessing information as an essential human right, it is also a potential means of saving lives during a pandemic, when lack of information could further marginalise the socio-​ economically disadvantaged groups by exposing them to greater health risks. As such, both the concept of translation and that of accessibility need to be recontextualised in crisis communication to reflect the central importance of information accessibility to CALD communities. Crisis translation does not have to be produced through standard language service channels. In crisis scenarios, there may not be an adequate supply of professional translation services, and crisis responders need to consider the negative impact if arguments in favour of only utilising professional translations result in no information being made available to those who need it. Consideration needs to be given to the role of bilingual and bicultural mediators in carrying out the 39

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necessary linguistic transfer as well as the medium used to convey the source message. The same key message can and should be communicated to LOTE speakers in a socially, culturally and technically appropriate manner. This may involve engaging CALD community leaders and members for timely translation and communication to ensure information accessibility. To remove the language barriers impeding access to information as an essential human right during emergencies, crisis responders need to improve their guidelines for crisis communication to make multilingual resources genuinely accessible. Accessibility is by no means an intrinsic property of translation, and the definition and application of accessibility need to move beyond the availability of a target text to include its dissemination. All too often, translations are not accessed because they are not accessible socially, culturally or technically. In emergencies, accessibility of translations cannot be left to chance. As crisis managers, government agencies need to clearly identify the channels that would be most effective in ensuring the information is received and understood by its target audiences. In the increasingly multicultural and multilingual world we are living in, and with rapid technological advancements which constantly transform the way we communicate information, effective crisis translation needs to be based on a more nuanced understanding of accessibility to account for its social, cultural and technical (or digital) aspects.

Notes 1 Australia claims to be the “most successful multicultural nation anywhere on the Earth” (Morrison 2020). 2 These include both translated information and services relying on such translation. 3 The last mile concept, originally used in telecommunication, was popularised in supply chain management and transportation planning to refer to the last lag of delivery to the final destination, i.e., the customer’s business or home. 4 This points clearly to the digital literacy gap among seniors (Kosick 2022). More detailed discussion of the digital aspect of accessibility will be presented in the “Technical or digital accessibility” sub-​section. 5 Socio-​economic advantage and disadvantage can be defined as people’s access to material and social resources, and their ability to participate in society (ABS 2018). 6 In many indigenous communities, the in-​law relationship (especially between mother-​in-​law and son-​in-​ law) requires a social distance, “such that whole categories of people are not permitted in the same room or car” (Kral 2002). 7 The video can be accessed here: www.yout​ube.com/​watch?v=​Mtmz​zIcg​PKA. 8 Notwithstanding the governments’ commendable efforts to produce multimodal translations of resources, it is worth noting that these official videos, which were mainly posted on government websites and YouTube, were considerably under-​utilised. Most were only viewed several hundred times by their target audiences, with many being viewed less than 100 times. The lack of access to these videos could be attributed to the limited digital literacy of government agencies as evidenced by their selection of the channels of dissemination, which were confined to a few platforms that are not necessarily the most popular among CALD communities.

Further reading Liu, Kanglong, and Andrew K. F. Cheung (Eds.) 2023. Translation and interpreting in the age of COVID-​19. Singapore: Springer. The collected essays in this book focus on the challenges and opportunities facing translation and interpreting research and practice during the COVID-​19 pandemic, including the application of information and communication technologies. O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico M. Federici (Eds.) 2022. Translating crises. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

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Redefining information accessibility in crisis translation This edited volume explores the challenges in translating crises and provides solutions and recommendations, covering a diverse range of situations from around the globe and including not only academic voices but also frontline experience. Piller, Ingrid, Jie Zhang, and Jia Li (Eds.) 2022. ‘Special Issue: Linguistic diversity in a time of crisis: Language challenges of the COVID-​19 pandemic’. Multilingua, 39 (5). This special issue of the journal Multilingua presents a collection of papers exploring the language challenges of COVID-​19. Focusing on multilingual crisis communication in the Chinese world, the articles cover issues and themes that are of much wider interest in the field.

References ABS. 2018. ‘Socio-​economic advantage and disadvantage’. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Website. www. abs.gov.au/​ausst​ats/​[email protected]/​Loo​kup/​by%20Subj​ect/​2071.0~2016~Main%20F​eatu​res~Socio-​Econo​ mic%20Ad​vant​age%20and%20D​isad​vant​age~123. ABS. 2019. ‘Disability, ageing and carers, Australia: Summary of findings’. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Website. www.abs.gov.au/​sta​tist​ics/​hea​lth/​dis​abil​ity/​dis​abil​ity-​age​ing-​and-​car​ers-​austra​lia-​summ​ary-​ findi​ngs/​lat​est-​rele​ase. ACMA. 2021. The digital lives of older Australians. Australian Communications and Media Authority. AIHW. 2021. ‘Culturally and linguistically diverse older people’. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Website. www.aihw.gov.au/​repo​rts/​older-​peo​ple/​older-​austra​lia-​at-​a-​gla​nce/​conte​nts/​demog​raph​ics-​of-​ older-​aust​rali​ans/​cul​tura​lly-​lin​guis​tica​lly-​dive​rse-​peo​ple. Bakker, Marije H., José H. Kerstholt, and Ellen Giebels. 2018. ‘Deciding to help: Effects of risk and crisis communication’. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 26: 113–​126. Bloch, Olga. 2014. Corporate identity and crisis response strategies. Wiesbaden: Springer. Brataas, Kjell. 2018. Crisis communication. New York: Routledge. Burry, Madeleine. 2022. ‘Hearing and vision loss equals “substantial” risk for dementia, studies indicate’. Healthy Hearing. Website. www.hea​lthy​hear​ing.com/​rep​ort/​53361-​Hear​ing-​and-​vis​ion-​loss-​demen​tia-​ cognit​ive-​decl​ine-​stud​ies-​older-​adu​lts-​sens​ory-​imp​airm​ent. Chapman, Alex. 2021. ‘Australia’s COVID response ranked eighth best in the world, behind Rwanda and Iceland’. 7News. Website. https://​7news.com.au/​lifest​yle/​hea​lth-​wellbe​ing/​aus​tral​ias-​covid-​respo​nse-​ran​ ked-​eig​hth-​best-​in-​the-​world-​beh​ind-​rwa​nda-​and-​icel​and-​c-​2044​657. Commonwealth of Australia. 2019. ‘Australian health management plan for pandemic influenza’. Department of Health. PDF File. www.hea​lth.gov.au/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​docume​nts/​2022/​05/​aus​tral​ian-​hea​lth-​man​ agem​ent-​plan-​for-​pande​mic-​influe​nza-​ahm​ppi.pdf. Commonwealth of Australia. 2022. ‘Literacy and access’. Australian Government. Website. www.styl​eman​ ual.gov.au/​acc​essi​ble-​and-​inclus​ive-​cont​ent/​liter​acy-​and-​acc​ess. Cousins, Sophie. 2020. ‘Experts criticise Australia’s aged care failings over COVID-​19’. The Lancet, 396: 1322–​1323. DHAC. 2019. ‘The Australian health system’. Department of Health and Aged Care. Website. www.hea​lth. gov.au/​about-​us/​the-​aus​tral​ian-​hea​lth-​sys​tem. DHAC. 2022. ‘Translated resources: COVID-​19’. Australian Department of Health and Aged Care. Website. www.hea​lth.gov.au/​resour​ces/​tra​nsla​ted?f%5B0%5D=​field​_​rel​ated​_​con​diti​ons_​dise​ase%3A9​669. Diaz-​Cintas, Jorge, and Gunilla Anderman. 2008. Audiovisual translation. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. ECCV. 2012. An investment, not an expense: Enhancing health literacy in culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Victoria: Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria. Evans, Nick. 2021. ‘Bridging the gap in languages and culture will save lives and provide a significant step towards reconciliation’. Australian Academy of the Humanities. Website. https://​hum​anit​ies.org.au/​ power-​of-​the-​hum​anit​ies/​bridg​ing-​the-​gap-​in-​langua​ges-​and-​cult​ure-​will-​save-​lives-​and-​prov​ide-​a-​sign​ ific​ant-​step-​towa​rds-​rec​onci​liat​ion/​. Faure-​Brac, Jane. 2020. ‘Translating COVID messages vital for Indigenous health’. Australian National University. Website. www.anu.edu.au/​news/​all-​news/​tran​slat​ing-​covid-​messa​ges-​vital-​for-​ind​igen​ous-​ hea​lth. Fearn-​Banks, Kathleen. 2017. Crisis communications: A casebook approach. New York: Routledge.

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Lintao Qi and Rita Wilson Federici, Federico. 2016. ‘Introduction.’ In Mediating emergencies and conflicts, edited by Federico M. Federici, 1–​29. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Federici, Federico, and Sharon O’Brien. 2020. Translation in cascading crises. New York: Routledge. Fenech, Stephen. 2022. ‘Older Australians are using more tech but are still struggling to keep up’. Tech Guide. Website. www.techgu​ide.com.au/​news/​comput​ers-​news/​older-​aust​rali​ans-​are-​using-​more-​tech-​but-​are-​ still-​str​uggl​ing-​to-​keep-​up/​. Accessed 21 August 2023. Fernandez, Tim, and Justin Huntsdale. 2021. ‘Mosque offers COVID vaccines but Arabic social media ‘misinformation’ keeps people away.’ ABC News. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2021-​09-​02/​isla​mic-​commun​ ity-​fig​hts-​vacc​ine-​mis​info​rmat​ion/​100428​060. Gerber, Leah, Rita Wilson, Jim Hlavac, and Alex Avella Archila. 2021. ‘Developing multilingual communication strategies for CALD communities during the COVID-​19 vaccination rollout. Monash University’. Lens. Website. https://​lens.mon​ash.edu/​2021/​05/​31/​1383​335/​dev​elop​ing-​multi​ling​ual-​commun​icat​ion-​str​ ateg​ies-​for-​cald-​comm​unit​ies-​dur​ing-​the-​covid-​19-​vacc​inat​ion-​roll​out. Glenn. 2020. ‘The challenges of COVID-​19 in public housing towers’. Id Informed decisions. Website. https://​blog.id.com.au/​2020/​pop​ulat​ion/​demo​grap​hic-​tre​nds/​the-​cha​llen​ges-​of-​covid-​19-​in-​pub​lic-​hous​ ing-​tow​ers/​. Hajek, John, Maria Karidakis, Riccardo Amorati, Yu Hao, Medha Sengupta, Anthony Pym, and Robyn Woodward-​Kron. 2022. Understanding the experiences and communication needs of culturally and linguistically diverse communities during the COVID-​19 pandemic. University of Melbourne. Hunt, Greg. 2020. ‘Meals On Wheels programs reinforced to help senior Australians at home.’ DHAC. Website. www.hea​lth.gov.au/​minist​ers/​the-​hon-​greg-​hunt-​mp/​media/​meals-​on-​whe​els-​progr​ams-​rei​nfor​ ced-​to-​help-​sen​ior-​aust​rali​ans-​at-​home. idcommunity. 2022. ‘Australia: Proficiency in English’. ID informed decisions. Website. https://​prof​ile. id.com.au/​austra​lia/​spe​aks-​engl​ish. Karwacka, Wioleta. 2021. ‘Quality, accessibility and readability in medical translation’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and health, edited by Şebnem Susam-​Saraeva and Eva Spišiaková, 80–​95. London and New York: Taylor & Francis. Kerrigan, Vicki, Anne Marie Lee, Anna P. Ralph, and Paul D. Lawton. 2021. ‘Stay strong: Aboriginal leaders deliver COVID-​19 health messages’. Health Promot J Austr 32 (Suppl 1): 203–​204. Khawar, Huma. 2022. ‘The female bridge: How a new link in the healthcare chain helps vaccines reach kids in under-​immunised Lakki Marwat’. VaccinesWork. Website. www.gavi.org/​vacci​nesw​ork/​fem​ale-​bri​dge-​ how-​new-​link-​hea​lthc​are-​chain-​helps-​vacci​nes-​reach-​kids-​under. Kosick, Lawrence. 2022. ‘Bridging the digital literary gap is essential for equity in aging’. OEDC Forum. Website. www.oecd-​forum.org/​posts/​bridg​ing-​the-​digi​tal-​liter​ary-​gap-​is-​essent​ial-​for-​equ​ ity-​in-​aging. Kral, Inge. 2002. ‘Kinship systems’. Central Land Council. Website. www.clc.org.au/​our-​kins​hip-​syst​ems/​. Maharani, Asri, Piers Dawes, James Nazroo, Gindo Tampubolon, Neil Pendleton, and Sense-​Cog WP1 group. 2018. ‘Visual and hearing impairments are associated with cognitive decline in older people’. Age and Ageing 47 (4): 575–​581. Morrison, Scott. 2020. ‘Multicultural press conference on 7 October 2020.’ Prime Minister of Australia. Website. https://​pmtran​scri​pts.pmc.gov.au/​rele​ase/​tra​nscr​ipt-​43065. Ndlela, Martin N. 2019. Crisis communication. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Nicholas, Josh, and Andy Ball. 2022. ‘Unequal outcome: Covid deaths in Australia’. The Guardian. Website. www.theg​uard​ian.com/​austra​lia-​news/​datab​log/​ng-​inte​ract​ive/​2022/​aug/​01/​covid-​dea​ths-​in-​austra​lia-​ data-​reve​als-​demog​raph​ics-​hit-​hard​est-​since-​pande​mic-​began-​inte​ract​ive. O’Brien, Sharon, Patrick Cadwell, and Alicja Zajdel. 2021. Communicating COVID-​19. Dublin City University. O’Brien, Sharon, Federico Federici, Patrick Cadwell, Jay Marlowe, and Brian Gerber. 2018. ‘Language translation during disaster’. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 31: 627–​636. Ombudsman. 2020. ‘Investigation into the detention and treatment of public housing residents arising from a COVID-​19 “hard lockdown” in July 2020’. Victorian Ombudsman. PDF File. https://​ass​ets.ombuds​man. vic.gov.au/​ass​ets/​Repo​rts/​Parlia​ment​ary-​Repo​rts/​Pub​lic-​hous​ing-​tower-​lockd​own/​Victor​ian-​Ombuds​ man-​rep​ort-​Invest​igat​ion-​into-​the-​detent​ion-​and-​treatm​ent-​of-​pub​lic-​hous​ing-​reside​nts-​aris​ing-​from-​a-​ COVID-​19-​hard-​lockd​own-​in-​July-​2020.pdf.

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Redefining information accessibility in crisis translation Parliament of Australia. 2020. ‘COVID-​19 Australian government roles and responsibilities: An overview’. Parliamentary Library. PDF File. https://​parli​nfo.aph.gov.au/​parlI​nfo/​downl​oad/​libr​ary/​prs​pub/​7346​878/​ upload​_​bin​ary/​7346​878.pdf. Parliament of Victoria. 2020. ‘Inquiry into the Victorian government’s response to the COVID-​19 pandemic’. Victorian Government Printer. Website. https://​new.par​liam​ent.vic.gov.au/​get-​invol​ved/​inquir​ies/​inqu​iry-​ into-​the-​victor​ian-​gove​rnme​nts-​respo​nse-​to-​the-​covid-​19-​pande​mic/​. Paynter, Jack, Shannon Deery, and Ashley Argoon. 2020. ‘Defence Force called in to help Victoria battle worsening coronavirus situation’. Herald Sun. Website. www.herald​sun.com.au/​coro​navi​rus/​the-​subu​rbs-​ most-​at-​risk-​of-​covi​d19-​job-​impa​cts/​news-​story/​d45cb​5d4f​720d​d46d​d2d1​4246​6cb7​eb1. Piller, Ingrid. 2020. ‘Does every Australian have an equal chance to know about Covid-​19 restrictions?’. Language on the Move. Website. www.langua​geon​them​ove.com/​does-​every-​aus​tral​ian-​have-​an-​equal-​ cha​nce-​to-​know-​about-​covid-​19-​restr​icti​ons/​. Qi, Lintao. 2022. ‘Translation as crisis (mis)communication for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. The case of Australia during the COVID-​19 pandemic’. Translation Spaces. Website. www.jbe-​platf​ orm.com/​cont​ent/​journ​als/​10.1075/​ts.21044.qi. Ramsay, Georgina. 2016. ‘Election FactCheck: Are many refugees illiterate and innumerate?’. The Conversation. Website. https://​thec​onve​rsat​ion.com/​elect​ion-​factch​eck-​are-​many-​refug​ees-​ill​iter​ate-​and-​ inn​umer​ate-​59584. Renaldi, Erwin, and Jason Fang. 2020. ‘Victoria’s coronavirus information mistranslated and outdated for migrant communities’. ABC News. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2020-​10-​27/​victo​ria-​migra​nts-​concer​ ned-​covid-​19-​info​rmat​ion/​12815​164. Sellnow, Timothy L., and Matthew W. Seeger. 2013. Theorizing crisis communication. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-​Blackwell. Serry, Tanya, Tonya Stebbins, Andrew Martchenko, Natalie Araujo, and Brigid McCarthy. 2022. ‘Improving access to COVID-​19 information by ensuring the readability of government websites’. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. Website. https://​pub​med.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/​35535​619/​. Sheehan, Mark, and Deirdre Quinn-​Allan. 2015. Crisis communication in a digital world. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. State of Victoria. 2021. ‘Understanding intersectionality’. State Government of Victoria. Website. www.vic. gov.au/​unders​tand​ing-​inters​ecti​onal​ity. State of Victoria. 2022. ‘Managing COVID-​19 exposures and outbreaks: Actions for Residential Aged Care Facilities’. Department of Health. Website. www.hea​lth.gov.au/​top​ics/​aged-​care/​adv​ice-​on-​aged-​care-​dur​ ing-​covid-​19/​manag​ing-​a-​covid-​19-​outbr​eak-​in-​resi​dent​ial-​aged-​care. Tomazin, Farrah. 2020. ‘Ethnic groups move to plug gaps in COVID messaging’. The Age. Website. www. the​age.com.au/​natio​nal/​victo​ria/​eth​nic-​gro​ups-​move-​to-​plug-​gaps-​in-​covid-​messag​ing-​20200​625-​p55​ 691.html. UN. 2020. ‘Policy brief: The impact of COVID-​19 on older persons’. United Nations. PDF File. https://​ unsdg.un.org/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​2020-​05/​Pol​icy-​Brief-​The-​Imp​act-​of-​COVID-​19-​on-​Older-​Pers​ons.pdf. UNICEF. 2019. ‘Availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality framework’. PDF File. https://​gbvgui​deli​ nes.org/​wp/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2019/​11/​AAAQ-​framew​ork-​Nov-​2019-​WEB.pdf. Vázquez, Silvia Rodríguez, and Jesús Torres-​del-​Rey. 2020. ‘Accessibility of multilingual information in cascading crises’. In Translation in cascading crises, edited by Sharon O’Brien and Federico Federici, 91–​111. New York: Routledge. Viskupič, Filip, and David Wiltse. 2022. ‘For some people, religious leaders might be most effective at communicating the importance of COVID-​19 vaccination’. The Conversation. Website. https://​thec​onve​rsat​ ion.com/​for-​some-​peo​ple-​religi​ous-​lead​ers-​might-​be-​most-​effect​ive-​at-​commun​icat​ing-​the-​imp​orta​nce-​ of-​covid-​19-​vacc​inat​ion-​181​393. Visontay, Elias. 2020. ‘Government scheme delivers just 38 of predicted 36,000 Covid food boxes to older Australians’. The Guardian. Website. www.theg​uard​ian.com/​austra​lia-​news/​2020/​jun/​05/​gov​ernm​ent-​sch​ eme-​deliv​ers-​just-​38-​of-​predic​ted-​36000-​covid-​food-​boxes-​to-​older-​aust​rali​ans. Volkmer, Ingrid. 2021. ‘Social media and COVID-​19’. University of Melbourne. PDF File. https://​arts.unim​ elb.edu.au/​_​_​d​ata/​ass​ets/​pdf_​f​ile/​0007/​3958​684/​Volk​mer-​Soc​ial-​Media-​and-​COVID.pdf. Walker, Denise C. 2012. Mass notification and crisis communications. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Warner, Andrew. 2022. ‘Kriol interpreting efforts misunderstood in Western Australia and abroad’. Multilingual. Website. https://​multi​ling​ual.com/​abo​rigi​nal-​kriol-​inte​rpre​ter.

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Lintao Qi and Rita Wilson Xiao, Bang, Tahlea Aualiitia, Natasya Salim, and Samuel Yang. 2021. ‘Misinformation about COVID vaccines is putting Australia’s diverse communities at risk, experts say’. ABC News. Website. www.abc. net.au/​news/​2021-​03-​04/​covid-​19-​vacc​ine-​mis​info​rmat​ion-​cald-​comm​unit​ies/​13186​936. Yemini, Avi. 2022. ‘WA Premier deploys indigenous aide to translate English into English’. Rebel News. Website. www.rebeln​ews.com/​wa_​premier_​deploys_​indigenous_​aide_​to_​tra​nsla​te_​e​ngli​sh_​i​nto_​engl​ish. Young, Evan. 2020a. ‘As coronavirus surges in Victoria, governments are being urged to overhaul multicultural outreach’. SBS News. Website. www.sbs.com.au/​news/​arti​cle/​as-​coro​navi​rus-​sur​ges-​in-​victo​ria-​gove​ rnme​nts-​are-​being-​urged-​to-​overh​aul-​multic​ultu​ral-​outre​ach/​he5nj3​is7. Young, Evan. 2020b. ‘Government rubbishes reports migrant communities weren’t included in coronavirus response’. SBS News. Website. www.sbs.com.au/​news/​gov​ernm​ent-​rubbis​hes-​repo​rts-​migr​ant-​comm​unit​ ies-​weren-​t-​inclu​ded-​in-​coro​navi​rus-​respo​nse. Zaremba, Alan Jay. 2010. Crisis communication theory and practice. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

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3 ACCESSIBLE GOVERNMENT CRISIS COMMUNICATION Recommendations based on the case of COVID-​19 in Belgium Mieke Vandenbroucke, Nina Reviers, Gert Vercauteren, Anna Jankowska, Bonnie Geerinck, Heleen Van Opstal, Isabelle Aujoulat, Karin Hannes, Khetam Al Sharou, Lien Vermeire, Maria-​Cornelia Wermuth, Sarah Talboom, and Wessel van de Veerdonk

Introduction1 The outbreak of the COVID-​19 pandemic has made it undeniably clear that access to information–​ a right (United Nations 2006/​2016; European Accessibility Act 2019)–​constitutes a critical factor in managing crises. Several studies on COVID-​19 crisis communication (Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020; O’Brien, Cadwell, and Zajdel 2021) have highlighted the immense impact that crisis translation and accessible communication can have on the successful management of the crisis outbreak. Therefore, governments’ crisis communication strategies should recognise the reality of today’s highly diverse societies through the use of adapted crisis translation materials, guaranteeing equal access to crucial health information to the population at large. In doing so, they should proactively consider certain groups’ “communication vulnerability”, i.e. people at risk of experiencing information inequality or a lack of access to health information because of (intersecting) socio-​economic, cultural-​linguistic, sensory and/​or literacy barriers (Kuran et al. 2020; Hanssons et al. 2020). In this chapter, we report on results from a project entitled Inclusive COVID-​19 Crisis Communication (ICC). This research was carried out by a transdisciplinary consortium2 and funded by the Belgian Federal Health Institute in 2021–​2022. The project took place in Belgium, a country in North-​western Europe with three official languages: French, Dutch and German. The Belgian population of 11.5 million people is characterised by a high degree of multilingual, multi-​ ethnic and multicultural superdiversity (Vertovec 2007), in the wake of accelerated processes of globalisation and migration during the last decades and influxes of both working-​class and highly skilled expatriate migrants, asylum seekers and others (Maly, Blommaert, and Yakoub 2014). While Belgium has a federalised structure with multiple levels of government (national, regional and local) with their respective responsibilities (for a detailed discussion, see Janssens, Chaltin, and DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-5

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Bodó 2014), the ICC project focused primarily on the national, federal level of government communication as the COVID-​19 outbreak was managed nationally through the National Crisis Centre (NCCN). The project’s main goal was to develop recommendations for an evidence-​based, more effective strategy for crisis communication through the use of accessible media and translations, including interlingual translation from one language and culture into another, intralingual translation within the same language and intersemiotic translation (from one modality, e.g. written words, to another, e.g. spoken language or visuals). After a discussion of the research context and project methodology, we present the project’s main recommendations vis-​à-​vis COVID-​19 crisis translation in Belgium and finish this chapter with a conclusion and further reading suggestions.

Research context Crisis translation can be defined as “the act of transferring meaning and cultural encodings from one language/​cultural system to another, in written, oral or signed modes, before, during or after a crisis”; it is a tool to create and disseminate information for linguistically diverse communities (Hunt et al. 2019, 25). Crisis translation is needed because crises respect no borders, nor cultures nor peoples, whether they be natural or man-​made disasters, or health or humanitarian crises. These situations are often multilingual in nature, either because of their cross-​border settings or because of the international response to the crisis. Through ongoing processes such as globalisation, migration and transnational mobility, multilingual societies and repertoires have become the new norm. The issue of translation in the context of crises has only become more critical. Recently, translation scholars have also drawn attention to the importance of translation services in crisis contexts to overcome not (only) linguistic barriers to communication but also physical barriers and to allow communication across diverse communication modes. This is the specific focus of the field of Media Accessibility (MA). MA studies translation types that aim to overcome barriers to access the message content due to a permanent or temporary visual or auditory impairment, such as blindness, hearing loss or deafness, and intellectual disability. Previous research shows that challenges in accessing accurate information contributes significantly to why persons with disabilities are among the most affected victims of disasters (King et al. 2019; Castro et al. 2020; Fauziyah and Miftahul Jannah 2022). Translation services, including media accessibility, integrated into emergency planning can form a pivotal role in crisis preparedness, allowing the dissemination of information “equally and equitably to linguistically diverse communities” (Federici 2022, v), be it through “oral, signing, written or multimodal channels” (O’Brien and Federici 2019, 130). Indeed, crisis translation includes different types of intra-​or interlingual translation (written translation, interpreting, subtitling), as well as intersemiotic translation such as sign language interpreting (SLI) for sign language users, audio description (AD) for people with sight loss, and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) and for people with hearing loss. More recently the use of plain language or easy-​to-​read language increasingly gains attention as well as application.3 The latter aims to overcome barriers to access the message content due to the complexity and/​or clarity of the text, which can be experienced, for instance, by people with lower literacy skills, language learners or people with dyslexia (Perego 2020). The groups affected by a lack of crisis translation are extremely diverse. Indeed, individuals’ “communication vulnerability” (Hansson et al. 2020; Kuran et al. 2020) can be caused by a range of factors and is in many cases intersectional. Groups affected include people living with disability, clinically vulnerable people, ethnic minorities, language learners, the elderly, people with low socio-​economic status and those living in rural areas (Havârneanu et al. 2022). Another factor that 46

Accessible government crisis communication

has recently been highlighted as crucial in crisis communication and translation is that of digital literacy and access to digital tools and technologies: our society is becoming increasingly digital, as is our crisis communication, even when not everyone disposes of the necessary digital skills or tools to process digital crisis communication; this phenomenon is known as “the digital divide” (Cullen 2001). What is more, crisis translation is also increasingly focusing on digital solutions. As timely access to qualified human translators/​interpreters was, and continues to be, problematic due to cost, accessibility and availability, especially in such time-​constrained and demanding emergency settings, digital language tools have been utilised to achieve immediate and targeted responses to relief efforts, with the use of such innovative communication technology proving to be key to relief efforts during many crises, including the Haiti Earthquake in 2010 and the ongoing global refugee crisis (Marlowe 2020; Hunt et al. 2019; Munro 2013). These digital tools fulfilled the special needs of affected people and included the use of generic and customised machine translation (MT) systems and digital platforms that allowed the use of real-​time crowdsourcing translation provided by volunteers (Marlowe 2020; Cadwell, O’Brien, and DeLuca 2019; Lewis 2010; Meier 2010). Specifically during the COVID-​19 pandemic, social media have proven to play a pivotal role in crisis communication (Hopkyns and van den Hoven 2022; Hu 2022; Zhang and Wu 2020). Nevertheless, such solutions also run the risk of excluding people who experience communication vulnerability due to a lack of digital literacy skills, a lack of access to internet or an absent, faulty or limited ICT infrastructure. With the COVID-​19 pandemic, achieving effective accessible communication has never been more important; not only is it a medical issue, it is fundamentally a communicational one. The COVID-​19 pandemic has created a situation that requires raising public awareness and informing people about complex and changing health-​related topics and government regulations. However, the pandemic has exposed inequalities in access to this type of communication, disproportionately impacting groups vulnerable to communication and information exclusion, including culturally and linguistically diverse communities, minority ethnic communities and low-​income individuals (Jung, Manley, and Shrestha 2021; Singer and Rylko-​ Bauer 2021). One focus of the field of crisis translation in particular has been more on how language and translation can contribute to reducing the risk to information exclusion, with further calls to integrate translation needs into health communication and risk communication strategies to mitigate the effects of a lack of information and to offer everyone equal opportunities to make informed health-​related decisions in a crisis context (Federici 2022). As the public vary in their understanding of health information and their level of access to it, language and translation have a major role to play in accommodating different audiences’ needs and levels of understanding of actual and potential health risks such as those emerging from the COVID-​19 pandemic, as well as government decisions concerning measures, guidelines and stipulations in combating the very risks. Against this background, it is clear that within (crisis) translation studies, much more attention needs to be paid to including not only traditional translation services, but also access services such as subtitling, audio description, sign language and easy forms of language into both crisis planning as well as crisis translation research. Knowledge and recommendations on how to integrate such services efficiently within the very limited timeframe in a crisis context is scarce. Against this background, this chapter reports on insights from the ICC project that was designed to develop evidence-​based and effective strategies and recommendations for more accessible crisis communication in Belgium, with a specific focus on the role translations and accessible media and language forms. The next section outlines the methodological design of the project and research activities. 47

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Research methodology In this section, we cannot but present the methodology applied within the entire project succinctly. For a full and detailed overview of all methodological steps (data collection and data analysis) we refer the reader to the full project report accessible online (see Further reading section). Similar to the outbreak of the COVID-​19 pandemic in other parts of the world, the first COVID-​19 infections and casualties of COVID-​19 were recorded in February and March 2020. During these initial phases of the pandemic outbreak in Belgium, the federal government funded the ICC project to optimise the accessibility of their COVID-​19 crisis communication for all inhabitants of Belgium. The ICC project ran from February 2021 until March 2022 and had as its core objectives: • To gather evidence on how to make COVID-​19-​related information accessible to people of all abilities, especially those who are hard to reach or are more vulnerable because they experience persisting sensory, cultural, textual or linguistic barriers to access information • To develop context-​specific recommendations based on the gathered evidence • To develop prototypes of accessible COVID-​19 crisis communication products and test them with end users. The ICC project also enlisted an extensive advisory board of committed stakeholders – c​ omprising civil society organisations, governmental organisations, user representative organisations and experts-​by-​experience–​to support the research activities and contribute their strategic knowledge and professional experience in the work field (see Appendix for a full list of the advisory board members). They were selected on the basis of their target group, objectives and operational area (as aligned with the prioritised target groups in the project, see the following paragraph). Advisory board members were involved by providing documentation and best practice examples, filling in surveys, participating in roundtable discussions, providing feedback and facilitating the recruitment of focus group discussions. The focus of the project in terms of specific target groups was decided on by the consortium and specifically by the prioritised needs put forward by the NCCN at that time: this included a focus on the communicative needs of foreign-​language speakers, language learners, people with low literacy, people with low socio-​economic status and people with sensory impairments. Geographically, the project covered the three regions of Belgium (i.e. Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia). The project activities also centred on the role of the form, the channel and the dissemination of the message as important adaptable vectors in the wider context of successful crisis translation processes (cf. WHO 2020). The following definitions were decided on by the consortium (reproduced here from Vandenbroucke et al. 2021, 8): • Form refers to the modalities the message content takes, i.e. the message in both its verbal and visual form. Examples of different forms include a written text, a video, an audio file, audio description, audio introduction, infographics, and subtitles. The form of the message as an umbrella term includes not only the original text, but also its translations: it includes the wide array of services that translate a source text into a target text for diverse audiences and spans both interlingual, intralingual and intersemiotic translation. • Channel refers to the medium used to distribute the message (and its translations) and includes both online, digital, print and other non-​digital channels. Examples of different channels are printed folders, posters, television, radio, fixed phones, mobile phones, text messages (SMS), 48

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as well as internet-​based resources such as email, video conferencing, (government) websites, social media and instant messaging apps (such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter/X). • Dissemination refers to the ways in which the message’s form and channel are appropriate for the communicative needs of the target audience and how the message in its specific form can be distributed, possibly through intermediaries, to the target audience. The assumption is that appropriate and varied forms and adequate channels are a precondition to achieve wider access to the information for the intended target groups, which indirectly supports a larger outreach and exposure in the long term. To achieve the project objectives, a mixed methodological design was devised by the consortium in which qualitative as well as quantitative data was gathered from core sources and subsequently compared and synthesised in a set of recommendations to be disseminated to the field. The project’s over-​arching methodological approach is visualised in Figure 3.1. The three sources of evidence (as described by Vandenbroucke et al. 2021, 9) include: (i) Quantitative evidence from effectiveness studies was gathered through a rapid systematic literature review of international studies addressing accessible crisis communication in a pandemic context, mirroring the methods base used in previously conducted reviews by the consortium members (Bekkering et al. 2014). Subsequently, the systematic review findings were used to inform a context-​specific guideline in a participatory process with an expert panel. (ii) Evidence from practice was collected through a process of collaborative product development in which COVID-​ 19 communication products in Belgium were experimentally developed. “Practice” in this sense should thus be understood in a narrow sense as pertaining to the activities of communication product development (as undertaken by the National Crisis Centre during the COVID-​19 outbreak in Belgium). The aim of this set of project activities was both to evaluate the provision of translations and access services in the supply of COVID-​19 communication by the Belgian federal government, as well as to develop accessible COVID-​19 crisis communication products in line with the (intermediary) project insights which could be put to immediate use. (iii) Qualitative evidence was collected in three stages. In the first stage, evidence was gathered by capturing the already existing knowledge and recommendations formulated by advisory board organisations on the accessibility of COVID-​19 crisis communication. This involved a Qualtrics survey distributed amongst advisory board members, the analysis of websites of government and civil society organisations, and synthesis of existing reports issued by advisory board members. In the second stage, the project focused on the evaluation of the state of COVID-​19 crisis communication undertaken by the federal government at the time, by means of roundtable discussions with intermediaries, representatives and experts-​by-​experience recruited from the advisory board (6 online roundtables in total with an average of 10 participants). During the roundtable discussions, participants evaluated and discussed the form and channel of existing and newly developed communication products and formulated recommendations based on their professional experiences. In the third stage, focus group discussions with end users of the different target groups were conducted. In these focus group discussions, a selection of communication products was discussed and evaluated with the participants, who were also encouraged to comment on the form and channels of governmental COVID-​19 communication in Belgium. The final phase of the project was dedicated to the synthesis of all quantitative and qualitative evidence collected. This comparative synthesis of all the gathered information and evidence 49

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Figure 3.1 Methodological design of the ICC project Source: Vandenbroucke et al. (2021).

in each of the project’s activities was carried out systematically using a focused thematic content analytical approach to all reports on the gathered evidence (Anderson 2007; Erlingsson and Brysiewicz 2017).

Results and discussion The outcomes and results of the ICC projects spanned a wide set of specific guidelines and recommendations pertaining to which message forms and channels of dissemination can best be applied to disseminate governmental COVID-​19 information to the communicatively vulnerable groups in Belgian society. In this section, we identify and discuss those insights that are relevant for crisis translation and of interest to governments and academics beyond Belgium. In doing so, we topicalise the specific form of the message, the channels used for dissemination and the relevant factors in COVID-​19 crisis communication that go beyond translation.

The message form4 One of the key insights of the ICC project pertains to the relevance of accessibility measures for crisis communication that were not only relevant for individuals at risk for communication vulnerability, but also for all members of society. The use of Easy Language or related forms of accessible, easy-​to-​read and process language use has come forth as an important and necessary characteristic of COVID-​19 crisis communication, which is not only beneficial to certain target groups, but to the general population as well (see also Luo 2021). Indeed, often, the actual content of crisis information is highly complex in nature, and this has proven to be particularly the case in the outbreak of a health crisis such as the COVID-​19 pandemic where scientific information was widely disseminated (Spoturno 2022). Easy Language can be adopted in all types of message forms, including not only video or messages, but also infographics or posters, and in both source texts and its translations. Attention to the complexity and accessibility of a text also encompasses visual and multimodal design. As presented in Vandenbroucke et al. (2021, 16), the main cornerstones of providing source texts and crisis translations in Easy Language are: • • • •

use short sentences of maximum ten to thirteen words; use every day colloquial language and simple, basic words; avoid jargon, abstract words or English terms; avoid figurative language; 50

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• • • • • • • • • • • •

structure the text in a distinct, consistent and logical manner; indicate what the communication is about by using clear titles and headings; deliver the core message (first); avoid long and elaborate texts; provide context by adding the date and sender to the text; avoid background information and abstract messages; use a clean, airy and simple layout; put important words in bold; avoid cursive, underlined or fully capitalised text; choose a font that is easily readable and compatible to online platforms (e.g. sans-​serif); choose contrasting colours and ensure an even background; opt for a sufficiently large font size (i.e. using letters of at least two centimetres and preferably three centimetres high when the reading distance is one metre) and wide line spacing.

Another key characteristic of COVID-​19 communication strategies that proved to increase the overall accessibility of government information is the diversification of (translated) message forms and channels to disseminate the information. Many types of forms and channels exist to disseminate COVID-​19 communication to the general population and specific target groups or end users will have preferences for one form or channel over the other. Yet, supplying a mix of communication products and translations of the same message that can be distributed through a variegated set of channels, including both digital and non-​digital ones, will allow for more opportunities to reach people of all abilities, especially those who might be at higher risk of information exclusion. This is especially crucial in light of the digital divide that characterises many societies worldwide (Cullen 2001). Of all the communication forms that were considered and examined in the ICC project, video messages were seen as the most effective and versatile product to distribute crisis information as in a video many different modes can be incorporated simultaneously via one single product: written text can be combined with images and spoken text and can be integrated with access services such as audio translations, sign language interpreting, audio description/​introduction, images as well as subtitles in various languages. For crisis communication such as COVID-​19, information also changes rapidly which necessitates frequent updates and quick information dissemination. For COVID-​19 information that was less subjected to (frequent) changes and more durably relevant, a diversification of message forms was considered to be most useful to allow access to all target groups in society. Many studies have highlighted the necessity and efficacy of COVID-​19 crisis translations and multilingual information (Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020; Rudwick, Sijadu, and Turner 2021; O’Brien, Cadwell, and Zajdel 2021; Hyland-​Wood et al. 2021). Building on this body of work, the ICC project’s results also yielded the observation that multilingual crisis communication by the government also holds the potential to convey the gravity of the crisis situation and the importance of communicating the correct information to foreign-​language speakers. Arguably, such governmental strategies can also instil a sense of inclusion and reflect on the government positively as being in touch with and intent on informing all members of its society. Specific access services are also indispensable for people who experience sensory barriers in accessing the government’s COVID-​19 crisis communication materials. As a large portion of these materials are typically highly visual in nature, intersemiotic types of translations are important to guarantee access to people with sight loss. This can include audio versions of written texts, and visual or audio description and audio introductions. For people with hearing impairment who are sign language speakers, providing sign language translations are essential, both for live events

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such as press conferences and for video messages in which a sign language interpreter should be integrated (see Vandenbroucke et al. 2021 for more details).

Dissemination5 Digital tools and technologies became paramount vehicles for crisis communication and the spread of crisis translations during the pandemic era worldwide. While digital communication certainly has its benefits (especially for urgent dissemination)6, non-​digital communication practices are equally important to reach individuals who do not dispose of the necessary digital skills or tools. In this vein, translated information on material carriers such as flyers and posters, as well as more traditional communication channels such as radio and television, should be part and parcel of governmental communication strategies. Personal face-​to-​face communication by intermediaries (such as social workers, community workers, doctors or pharmacists, etc.) was pointed out in the evidence as one of the most effective channels to disseminate COVID-​19 crisis information to end users who were more difficult to reach because of certain sensory, socio-​economic or linguistic barriers they experienced. Throughout the world, many intermediary and civil society organisations had undertaken efforts at the time of the ICC project to meet with vulnerable individuals in person, introduce and re-​explain important COVID-​19 information to them in a more accessible form, and offer the opportunity to ask questions. Important reasons why this intermediary bridging approach is so crucial and successful when it comes to the dissemination of (translated) COVID-​19 information is the fact that individuals at risk communicatively were reported to not tend to proactively seek out information on their own, rather receiving information passively through informal contacts and peer exchange, and at times they were reported to also place less trust in governments and official institutions. Such intermediaries typically also enjoy the trust of their target group, are acutely aware of their communicative needs and therefore best positioned to translate the information into their codes and realities. Relatedly, printable (translated) versions of flyers or posters, which can be distributed by intermediaries or displayed in schools, community spaces or places of worship, were also reported to be effective in informing specific target groups. The acute importance of governmental collaboration with intermediaries as part of an accessible crisis communication strategy was underscored throughout the gathered evidence: several results indicated that one of the main roles that the government best takes on (next to directly disseminating information to end users through official channels of communication) is the facilitation of communication via intermediaries to citizens. Specifically, advisory board governments voiced the necessity that the federal government provides local governments, and in particular third parties, such as civil society organisations and non-​profit organisations, with accessible communication materials (both translated and accessible in various forms) through a central platform. Such a centralised approach to COVID-​19 crisis communication would support intermediaries and frontline workers by providing ready-​made accessible, crisis translations and products and the necessary background information. As such, the federal government’s communication strategy should comprise two lines: it should on the one hand focus on the development of materials both intended directly for end users, while on the other hand also provide communicative products intended to inform intermediaries and support practitioners who reach out to end users in concrete situations. This way, civil society organisations can maximally fulfil their role as intermediaries, as they are close to their target groups. Such a central coordination platform and facilitating strategy would arguably help to reduce experienced barriers, such as scatteredness of the information, excessive amounts of communication materials from different sources and lack of consistency of materials. 52

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Beyond translation Moving beyond crisis translation per se, collaboration with stakeholders, intermediaries and experts, as well as the participation of target groups in the creation process of materials (including both co-​creation and evaluative testing) and the necessity to train communication team members, emerged as important conditions of effective accessible COVID-​19 crisis communication by governments. Such collaboration and participation will ensure the adaption of communication products and translations to the real needs of people who might experience barriers or who are at risk of communication vulnerability. Possible ways that were proposed in the project results to bring such collaborative participation to life included the creation of a network of actors who can be either people who work with specific target groups, experts-​by-​experience or experts in their domain, the active involvement of end users in the creation process of communication materials (at all levels of strategy and development, including deciding on the content, the specific form of the message as well as the channels via which it is best disseminated).7 On a more fundamental level, intermediaries and experts consulted in the ICC project also expressed the need for more training for the people who create the governmental COVID-​19 crisis communication materials. This was deemed equally important as active participation and collaboration, to make these communication professionals in government teams more aware of accessibility issues, access needs and attention points, and provide them with the necessary skills and information for external expertise. At the level of the governmental communication strategy and production process, a major attention point also emerged from the evidence: the necessity to integrate accessibility as early as possible in the development process and to emphasise that access provisions, one of which being crisis translation, should be the norm in government communication. In tackling this point of attention, Universal Design (UD) was singled out as an important approach to take in COVID-​19 governmental communication. In a UD approach, a communicative product is designed for all from the start, i.e. in such a way that as many barriers as possible are eliminated, so that it is accessible to multiple target groups without the need for additional adaptations or translations. (Vandenbroucke et al. 2021, 40) For example, a written text that is constructed in Easy Language from the start will be accessible to a wide audience of end users, eliminating the need for an Easy Language version, and readily available to be used as the source text for Easy Language translations. Similarly, the development of a video can include a voice-​over which explicitly mentions the visualised aspects of the video; thereby making the video accessible to a person with visual impairment and eliminating the need to provide audio description later on. Accessibility of information is not only a matter of access services such as crisis translations and inclusive communication products. Indeed, at numerous times during roundtable and focus group discussions, participants in the ICC project mentioned that the content of the COVID-​ 19 communication materials provided by the government, as well as the measures taken and regulations installed by the government, were not always aligned with the everyday realities of peoples’ lives. Think, for example, of a person with visual impairment who is obliged to remain at 1.5m distance from other people. An accessible communication strategy adopted by any government should take accessibility and inclusion to heart at every step of the management of a crisis such as COVID-​19. 53

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Conclusion In this chapter, we have presented some of the main take-​aways of the ICC project’s results that are most relevant for COVID-​19 crisis translation in Belgium. In doing so, we have built on the larger project report which is listed in the Further reading section (Vandenbroucke et al. 2021). Similar to studies on COVID-​19 crisis communication by O’Brien, Cadwell, and Zajdel (2021) and Piller, Zhang, and Li (2020), translation services–​covering both interlingual, intralingual and intersemiotic translation–​are crucial factors in informing people of all abilities in society in times of crises. While the focus of the ICC project relied on a specified set of target groups, people who were deemed most at risk of communication vulnerability, one of the key insights of the project indicates that accessible crisis communication might even be beneficial for society at large, especially when it comes to a complex health topic such as COVID-​19. As documented partly in this chapter and by Vandenbroucke et al. (2021), a wide variety of effective (crisis) translation and accessibility measures were identified in the ICC project, such as Easy Language, translations and multilingual information, subtitles, audio and visual features, audio description and audio introduction, sign language interpreting, and braille. Several recommendations were also formulated pertaining to the specific channels used to distribute the information, ranging from digital to non-​digital more traditional media, as well as information hotlines with remote interpretation and face-​to-​face communication. In the COVID-​19 crisis, specifically, the role of intermediaries in providing and disseminating the accessible communication to vulnerable end users was highlighted as crucial. Finally, certain practices should also be implemented at the strategy level and throughout the production process of crisis-​related communication by governments to ensure its accessibility and effectiveness. Indeed, the founding of a central unit was deemed necessary. They could best be charged with the task of developing and distributing a wide variety of high-​quality, accessible crisis translation products via one central platform, while closely collaborating with intermediaries in civil society and involving target groups throughout the process to ensure accessibility for all from the start. At a more general level, the ICC project started from the premise of the right to access information and focused on ways in which this access could be guaranteed for different target groups, in part through crisis translation provision. The project results, however, have also underlined the fact that efforts towards a more accessible, and therefore more inclusive, communication strategy in which crisis translations play an important role go hand in hand with efforts for a more inclusive society and (social) environment.

Notes 1 During the writing, editing and production process of this chapter the project this chapter reports on has produced a project report and executive summary–​available online (see Further reading). This chapter presents a summary of the main themes relevant to crisis translation that emerged from all the project results. For more detailed information or recommendations, the reader is advised to read the executive summary in which all research outcomes are described comprehensively. 2 This transdisciplinary consortium comprised six partners, including four academic institutions (UAntwerpen, KULeuven, UCLouvain and Thomas More Hogeschool) as well as two governmental institutions (the National Crisis Centre and Atlas Integratie & Inburgering). 3 Plain language (also called plain writing or plain English) is a style of writing that avoids verbose, convoluted language and jargon. It is easier to read, understand and use. Easy-​to-​read language (also called Easy Read or Easy English) is specifically designed for people with cognitive and learning disabilities but can also benefit migrants, people with severe social problems or the elderly (Matausch, Peböck, and Pühretmair 2012). Controlled language, a related concept, uses simple grammar and vocabulary to limit complexity

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4 5 6 7

and ambiguity. In the Belgian context, the term “Easy Language” (“Klare Taal” in Dutch and “FALC” (“facile à lire et à comprendre”) is used to refer to these simplified and accessible forms of language. For more detailed recommendations pertaining to the form of the message we refer the reader to Vandenbroucke et al. (2021, 13–​24). For more detailed recommendations pertaining to the channel of the message and dissemination strategies we refer the reader to Vandenbroucke et al. (2021, 24–​29). For more detailed recommendations regarding the accessibility of COVID-​19 crisis communication via digital channels, see Vandenbroucke et al. (2021, 25–​27). For more detailed recommendations pertaining to how participation and collaboration can be implemented, we refer the reader to Vandenbroucke et al. (2021, 41–​42).

Further reading Kuran, Christian Henrik Alexander, Claudia Morsut, Bjørn Ivar Kruke, Marco Krüger, Lisa Segnestam, Kati Orru, Tor Olav Nævestad, Merja Airola, Jaana Keränen, Friedrich Gabel, Sten Hansson, and Sten Torpan. 2020. ‘Vulnerability and vulnerable groups from an intersectionality perspective’. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 50: 101826. https://​doi.org/​10.1016/​j.ijdrr.2020.101​826. In this article, the authors argue for the adoption of an intersectional perspective on vulnerable groups and vulnerability. In doing so, they define the notion of communication vulnerability and discuss how intersectionality should be a key principle in risk and crisis management. O’Brien, Sharon, Patrick Cadwell, and Alicja Zajdel. 2021. ‘Communicating COVID-​19: Translation and trust in Ireland’s response to the pandemic’. Project Report. Dublin City University Educational Trust through the DCU COVID-​19 Research and Innovation Hub. https://​doras.dcu.ie/​25345/​. In this report, the authors report on the results of a rapid response research project on the maturity level of translation as risk communication during the early phase of the COVID-​19 outbreak in Ireland. Piller, Ingrid, Jie Zhang, and Jia Li. 2020. ‘Linguistic diversity in a time of crisis: Language challenges of the COVID-​19 pandemic’. Multilingua, 39 (5): 503–​515. https://​doi.org/​10.1515/​multi-​2020-​0136. This article is the editorial of a special issue of the journal Multilingua in which several case studies on multilingual communication and translation on COVID-​19 across the world were grouped. In this editorial article, the authors discuss the challenges multilingual COVID-​19 crisis communication has posed for linguistic minorities. Vandenbroucke, Mieke, Nina Reviers, Gert Vercauteren, Bonnie Geerinck, Anna Jankowska, Lien Vermeire, Anne-​Mieke Vandamme, Karin Hannes, Maria-​Cornelia Wermuth, Pieter Thyssen, Daniëlle Wopereis, Heleen Van Opstal, Tristan Van Hoeck, Isabelle Aujoulat, Dominique Doumont, Hélène Lambert, Océane Le Boulengé, Marijke Lemal, Wessel van de Veerdonk, and Sarah Talboom. 2021. ‘Final report: Towards an inclusive Covid-​19 crisis communication policy in Belgium’. ICC project (Inclusive COVID-​19 Crisis Communication). www.uan​twer​pen.be/​en/​proje​cts/​towa​rds-​an-​inclus​ive-​cri​sis-​commun​icat​ion-​pol​icy/​ proj​ect-​resu​lts/​. This report is the full ICC project report that this chapter provides a brief summary of. The reader is invited to consult this report should they be interested in more information about the project and/​or its results.

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Mieke Vandenbroucke et al. Castro, Helena Carla, Alex Sandro Lins Ramos, Gildete Amorim, and Norman Arthur Ratcliffe. 2020. ‘COVID-​19: Don’t forget deaf people’. Nature, 579 (7798): 343–​344. www.nat​ure.com/​artic​les/​d41​ 586-​020-​00782-​2. Cullen, Rowena. 2001. ‘Addressing the digital divide’. Online Information Review, 25 (5): 311–​320. De Buck, Emmy, Philippe Vandekerckhove, and Karin Hannes. 2018. ‘Evidence-​based guidance to assist volunteers working with at-​risk children in a school context’. International Journal of Evidence-​Based Healthcare, 16(1): 32–​46. Erlingsson, Christen, and Petra Brysiewicz. 2017. ‘A hands-​on guide to doing content analysis’. African Journal of Emergency Medicine, 7 (3): 93–​99. European Accessibility Act. 2019. ‘Directive (EU) 2019/​882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services’. Official Journal of the European Union O J L, 151: 70–​115. Fauziyah, Siti, and Lina Miftahul Jannah. 2022. ‘Access to disclosure of disasters information for deaf people through sign language interpreter’. Indonesian Journal of Disability Studies, 9 (1): 137–​152. Federici, Federico M. (Ed.). 2022. Language as a social determinant of health: Translating and interpreting the COVID-​19 pandemic. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Hansson, Sten, Kati Orru, Andra Siibak, Asta Bäck, Marco Krüger, Friedrich Gabel, and Claudia Morsut. 2020. ‘Communication-​related vulnerability to disasters: A heuristic framework’. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 51: 101931. Havârneanu, Grigore M., Laura Petersen, Andreas Arnold, Danielle Carbon, and Thomas Görgen. 2022. ‘Preparing railway stakeholders against CBRNe threats through better cooperation with security practitioners’. Applied Ergonomics, 102: 103752. Hopkyns, Sarah, and Melanie van den Hoven. 2022. ‘Linguistic diversity and inclusion in Abu Dhabi’s linguistic landscape during the COVID-​19 period’. Multilingua, 41 (2): 201–​232. Hu, Bei. 2022. ‘Translation as an ethical intervention? Building trust in healthcare crisis communication’. In Language as a social determinant of health: Translating and interpreting the COVID-​19 pandemic. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting, edited by Federico M. Federici, 179–​208. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Hunt, Matthew, Sharon O’Brien, Patrick Cadwell, and Dónal P. O’Mathúna. 2019. ‘Ethics at the intersection of crisis translation and humanitarian innovation’. Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, 1 (3): 23–​32. Hyland-​Wood, Bernadette, John Gardner, Julie Leask, and Ullrich K. H. Ecker. 2021. ‘Toward effective government communication strategies in the era of COVID-​ 19’. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8 (30). Janssens, Rudi, Karen Chaltin, and Barna Bodó. 2014. ‘Language and territoriality: The pacification of the Belgian language conflict’. European and Regional Studies, 5: 41–​58. Jung, Juergen, James Manley, and Vinish Shrestha. 2021. ‘Coronavirus infections and deaths by poverty status: The effects of social distancing’. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 182: 311–​330. King, Julie, Nicole Edwards, Hanna Watling, and Sara Hair. 2019. ‘Barriers to disability-​inclusive disaster management in the Solomon Islands: Perspectives of people with disability’. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 34: 459–​466. Kuran, Christian Henrik Alexander, Claudia Morsut, Bjørn Ivar Kruke, Marco Krüger, Lisa Segnestam, Kati Orru, Tor Olav Nævestad, Merja Airola, Jaana Kera ̈nen, Friedrich Gabel, Sten Hansson, and Sten Torpan. 2020. ‘Vulnerability and vulnerable groups from an intersectionality perspective’. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 50: 101826. Lewis, William. 2010. ‘Haitian Creole: How to build and ship an MT engine from scratch in 4 days, 17 hours, & 30 minutes’. In Proceedings of the 14th Annual conference of the European Association for Machine Translation. Saint Raphaël, France May 27–​28, 2010. European Association for Machine Translation. Website. https://​aclan​thol​ogy.org/​2010.eamt-​1.37. Luo, Xuanmin. 2021. ‘Translation in the time of COVID-​19’. Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, 8 (1): 1–​3. Maly, Ico, Jan Blommaert, and Joachim Ben Yakoub. 2014. Superdiversiteit En Democratie. Berchem: Epo. Marlowe, Jay. 2020. ‘Refugee resettlement, social media and the social organization of difference’. Global Networks, 20 (2), 274–​291.

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Accessible government crisis communication Matausch, Kerstin, Birgit Peböck, and Franz Pühretmair. 2012. ‘Accessible content generation: An integral part of accessible web design’. Procedia Computer Science, 14: 274–​282. Meier, Patrick. 2010. ‘The unprecedented role of SMS in disaster response: Learning from Haiti’. SAIS Review of International Affairs, 30 (2): 91–​103. Website. www.muse.jhu.edu/​arti​cle/​403​441. Munro, Robert. 2013. ‘Crowdsourcing and the crisis-​affected community’. Information Retrieval, 16 (2): 210–​266. O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico M. Federici. 2019. ‘Crisis translation: Considering language needs in multilingual disaster settings’. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 29 (2): 129–​143. O’Brien, Sharon, Patrick Cadwell, and Alicja Zajdel. 2021. ‘Communicating COVID-​19: Translation and trust in Ireland’s response to the pandemic’. Project Report. Dublin City University Educational Trust through the DCU Covid-​19 Research and Innovation Hub. Website. https://​doras.dcu.ie/​25345/​. Perego, Elisa. (2020). ‘The practice and the training of text simplification in Italy’. Lingue e Linguaggi, 36: 233–​254. Piller, Ingrid, Jie Zhang, and Jia Li. 2020. ‘Linguistic diversity in a time of crisis: Language challenges of the COVID-​19 pandemic’. Multilingua, 39 (5): 503–​515. Rudwick, Stephanie, Zameka Sijadu, and Irina Turner. 2021. ‘Politics of language in COVID-​19: Multilingual perspectives from South Africa’. Politikon, 48 (2): 242–​259. Singer, Merrill, and Barbara Rylko-​Bauer. 2021. ‘The syndemics and structural violence of the COVID pandemic: Anthropological insights on a crisis’. Open Anthropological Research, 1: 7–​32. Spoturno, María Laura. 2022. ‘Translating the COVID-​19 pandemic across languages and cultures: The case of Argentina’. In Language as a social determinant of health: Translating and interpreting the COVID-​ 19 pandemic. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting, edited by Federico M. Federici, 93–​117. Cham: Springer International Publishing. UN General Assembly 2007. ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: resolution /​adopted by the General Assembly’, 24 January 2007, A/​RES/​61/​106. Website. www.refwo​rld.org/​docid/​45f973​ 632.html. Vandenbroucke, Mieke, Nina Reviers, Gert Vercauteren, Bonnie Geerinck, Anna Jankowska, Lien Vermeire, Anne-​Mieke Vandamme, Karin Hannes, Maria-​Cornelia Wermuth, Pieter Thyssen, Daniëlle Wopereis, Heleen Van Opstal, Tristan Van Hoeck, Isabelle Aujoulat, Dominique Doumont, Hélène Lambert, Océane Le Boulengé, Marijke Lemal, Wessel van de Veerdonk, and Sarah Talboom. 2021. ‘Final report: Towards an inclusive Covid-​19 crisis communication policy in Belgium’. ICC project (Inclusive COVID-​19 Crisis Communication). Website. www.uan​twer​pen.be/​en/​proje​cts/​towa​rds-​an-​inclus​ive-​cri​sis-​commun​icat​ion-​ pol​icy/​proj​ect-​resu​lts/​. Vertovec, Steven. 2007. ‘Super-​diversity and its implications’. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30 (6): 1024–​1054. WHO (World Health Organization). 2020. ‘Risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) action plan guidance COVID-​19 preparedness and response. Interim guidance’. Website. www.who.int/​publi​cati​ ons/​i/​item/​risk-​commun​icat​ion-​and-​commun​ity-​eng​agem​ent-​(rcce)-​act​ion-​plan-​guida​nce. Zhang, Jie, and Yuqin Wu. 2020. ‘Providing multilingual logistics communication in COVID-​19 disaster relief’. Multilingua, 39 (5): 517–​528.

Appendix: Advisory board The organisations included in the advisory board were, alphabetically ordered: Agentschap Binnenlands Bestuur–​Afdeling Gelijke Kansen, Integratie en Inburgering; Agentschap Integratie en Inburgering; AHOSA vzw–​Anders HOren Samen Aanpakken; asbl Aidants Proches; Arendsblik vzw, Association Belge du Syndrome de Marfan (ABSM) asbl; Atlas, integratie & inburgering; AVIQ; Aya asbl; CAB tolkenbureau–​vzw Vlaams Communicatie Assistentie Bureau voor Doven; CAW Groep; City of Antwerp; City of Charleroi–​Espace citoyen de Marchienne Docherie & Porte Ouest (CPAS Charleroi); City of Genk; City of Ghent; City of Hasselt; City of Verviers; Cultures&Santé; vzw Divers Leuven; Doof Vlaanderen; Eleven Ways bv; ella vzw–​Kenniscentrum gender en etniciteit; Entr’aide Marolles; L’Escale asbl; Expert-​by-​experience Nico De Rechter; Expert-​by-​experience Benoît Ramakers; Fédération Francophone des Sourds de Belgique asbl; Fondation I see; Gemeenschappelijke Gemeenschapscommissie (GGC); de Gentse Wijkgezondheidscentra (VWGC); HoorCoach Regina Bijl; IN-​ Gent, Integratie & Inburgering Gent; Inter Expertisecentrum toegankelijkheid; Kortom vzw; Ligo, Centrum voor Basiseducatie Antwerpen; Ligo, Centrum voor Basiseducatie Brugge-​ Oostende-​ Westhoek; Ligo, Centrum voor Basiseducatie Midden–​ en Zuid-​ West-​ Vlaanderen; Ligo, Centrum voor Basiseducatie Limburg Midden-​Noord; La Lumière asbl; National Crisis

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Mieke Vandenbroucke et al. Centre (NCCN); Netwerk Tegen Armoede; Onder Ons vzw, Orbit vzw; dienst ervaringsdeskundigen, POD Maatschappelijke Integratie; Proforal; RAQ for Fédération des Services Sociaux Bicommunautaire et asbl Les Pissenlits; SAAMO Antwerpen vzw; SAAMO Gent vzw; SeTIS Bruxelles; SIMA asbl; Steunpunt Mens en Samenleving (SAM vzw; Steunpunt tot bestrijding van armoede, bestaansonzekerheid en sociale uitsluiting; Strategisch Plan Geletterdheid (Vocvo vzw); Symfoon–​ Vlaams blinden–​ en slechtziendenplatform; vzw TolBO; Unia; VeBeS vzw–​Vereniging voor Blinden en Slechtzienden; Visual Box vzw; Vlaams Instituut Gezond Leven; Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie (VGC); Vlaamse Logo’s; Vrienden der Blinden vzw; VRT; Wablieft/​Vocvo vzw; De Zuidpoort vzw. See also: www.uan​twer​pen.be/​en/​proje​cts/​towa​rds-​an-​inclus​ive-​cri​sis-​commun​icat​ion-​pol​icy/​advis​ory-​board/​.

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4 COMMUNICATING COVID-​1 9 Language access and linguistic rights in contemporary Peru Raquel de Pedro Ricoy

Introduction The COVID-​19 pandemic has led governments worldwide to design and implement unprecedented measures to inform, instruct and support their populations in the fight against the virus. It can be argued that achieving success in this endeavour is both crucial and particularly challenging in countries with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations, especially those that must cater for the needs of citizens whose languages and cultures have been historically marginalised. Peru is one of them. This chapter will focus on the Peruvian government’s implementation of its linguistic policy during the COVID-​19 pandemic. Indigenous rights, including linguistic rights, are enshrined in domestic legislation as well as in international legal instruments. In the early stages of the pandemic, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture (MINCUL) implemented measures related to language support to assist healthcare professionals in their duties, to make official health messaging accessible to indigenous peoples and to provide them with relevant information in the originary (pre-​ conquest) languages of the country. The aim was to mitigate risks to the indigenous communities in the context of the health crisis, but the measures were met with scepticism at best and criticism at worst (AIDESEP 2020; Cherofsky 2020; SERVINDI 2020). According to Quijano (2014), many of the colonial structures are perpetuated in the present under different guises. In contemporary Peru, deeply entrenched (post)colonial asymmetries between the country’s indigenous citizens (historically marginalised) and those who have, at least in part, European ascent remain. Two key concepts that are linked to these asymmetries, namely cultural appropriateness and trust, played a prominent role in risk management during the pandemic. MINCUL recognises that intercultural communication must go beyond language and reflect the lived experience of the indigenous peoples, i.e., be culturally appropriate. However, centuries of discrimination against the indigenous Peruvians on ethnic, cultural and linguistic grounds have taken their toll, and trust relations between indigenous peoples and those who enjoy a higher status, especially those in positions of power, are complex and fractious, as will be illustrated in the discussion. Grassroots initiatives led by indigenous people burgeoned during the pandemic to alleviate the perceived inadequacies of the official response to the COVID-​19 crisis “from the inside”. This emic

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-6

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approach was ipso facto based on the principle of cultural appropriateness and built on the trust that stems from kinship. Examples of this are included in the “Discussion” section of this chapter. This study contributes to Translation and Interpreting Studies by examining the role that language support (including translation and interpreting) plays in enabling access to human rights in a (post)colonial context where the implementation of language policy during a health crisis developed against a background of historical discrimination against originary peoples and current structural and infrastructural deficits. The developments in Peru, a CALD country, can serve as a test case for other initiatives in the Latin American region and beyond.

Research context Drawing on Pescaroli and Alexander’s (2015) concept of “cascading crises”, i.e., natural or man-​ made disasters that trigger a series of deleterious effects beyond those caused by the disaster itself, Federici and O’Brien (2020) highlight the link between risk mitigation in such situations and the need for translation and interpreting services to serve the interests of communities who, linguistically and culturally, are not part of their native country’s mainstream society. Such services, already in existence, became a cornerstone of the Peruvian State’s response to the COVID-​19 pandemic, and they were complemented by other measures that attempted to find efficiencies in interlinguistic and, importantly, intercultural communicative exchanges. Recent scholarly contributions relating to policy on indigenous rights, which include language rights, in Peru (Rousseau and Dargent 2019), and to the imperative of cultural appropriateness (Correa and Yeckting 2020; Burga, Portocarrero, and Panfichi 2020), illustrate the importance of providing a suitably differentiated response to indigenous needs; namely, one that acknowledges the asymmetries between mainstream society and the originary peoples, and also takes into account the diversity that exists across the latter. The assumption is that abidance of rights and cultural appropriateness should foster better partnership work between the authorities and the indigenous citizens underpinned by mutual trust; however, this was not always the case in Peru. Interethnic communicative exchanges between members of the indigenous peoples and representatives of the State or figures of authority (including healthcare professionals) are conducted against a backdrop of historical inequity and prejudice against the former (see, e.g., Quijano 2014 and Zavala and Back 2017). Thus, they are framed by asymmetries that concern cultural and linguistic capital (Bourdieu 1984 [1979]), as well as social relations. Such asymmetries colour interlinguistic, intercultural communication, which hinges on mutual trust to be successful. As Candlin and Crichton (2013, 1) stated: Issues surrounding trust are foundational to people’s lives in contemporary societies, a fact not merely and sharply highlighted by the recent history of interrelational practices associated with the financial markets, international security, marketing and public relations, but even more pervasively and ever-​presently in the formation and maintenance of relationships among partners in the delivery, for example, of health and welfare services and in the public and private arenas of political and religious institutions. Trust (or lack thereof) shapes human relations in the public and private domains. It determines the outcomes of negotiations and exchanges between parties that are often unequally positioned in terms of power and status. Against the background of what has been labelled a post-​monolingual age (Monzó-​Nebot and Jiménez Salcedo 2018), the (co)construction of trust is increasingly mediated through language brokers, translators and interpreters. In Peru, official and public service 60

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translation and interpreting between Spanish and indigenous languages must be conducted by people who have been trained and registered by MINCUL. There is evidence of potential tensions related to trust that arise as a result (see de Pedro Ricoy, Howard, and Andrade Ciudad 2018), as will be covered in the “Discussion” section of this chapter. Like in other countries across the world, the pandemic has caused the population to mistrust the government’s response, and this has been exacerbated among indigenous communities by a combination of concerted campaigns by religious groups, the dissemination of “fake news” about the vaccines, the intervention of public figures and deeply rooted cultural values (La República 2022), which have resulted in low figures of immunisation and high rates of mortality among them. Cultural sensitivity and respect for traditional ways of life, beliefs and customs take precedence over translatorial actions and the right to interpreting services in many relevant third-​ sector narratives. This is unsurprising, given that, as mentioned earlier in this section, interethnic relations in Peru are marred by centuries of discrimination against indigenous peoples, their cultures and their languages (see Zavala and Back 2017). Public messaging produced in Spanish can be translated into the originary languages of the country, but that does not necessarily mean that it is relevant to rural and remote communities in the Andes, the altiplano or the Amazonian jungle. For instance, in many of them, measures such as social distancing and disinfecting hands are not possible and, importantly, are alien to traditional ways of life (García et al. 2020). Beyond prevention, cultural differences regarding health and healing are crucial. Western medicine has led the way towards identifying prophylactic measures, testing, and developing vaccines. However, it must be noted that the associated procedures may clash with indigenous cultural codes. As García et al. (2020, 40) remarked, there are “multiple beliefs and practices related to health, sickness and ideas about the relationship between the human body and the natural world, which health officials may not recognise or understand.” This section aims to address the question of which language policy principles underpinned the initiatives undertaken by the Peruvian State to mitigate the risks posed by the COVID-​19 pandemic to its indigenous population. To do so, a description of the demographic and sociocultural background against which these initiatives were implemented will be provided before outlining the relevant legislative measures.

Background With an estimated population of 34,294,231 in 2021, according to the statistical projections of the INEI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática 2001), and a relatively low density (23 inhabitants per km2), Peru displays a high degree of cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity. It is home to mestizo (people of combined indigenous and European descent), indigenous, white, afro-​Peruvian, Nikkei and Tusán (Sino-​Peruvian) communities. Centuries of coexistence, often fraught with tension and conflict between the European colonisers and the originary peoples of what is now Peru, have resulted in mestizos making up around 60% of the population in the 21st century. The latest (2017) census shows that 25.8% of the country’s demographic self-​identify as indigenous.1 Together, they belong to 55 peoples and speak 48 originary languages, four of which are Andean and 44 are Amazonian. Spanish, which has been and still is the hegemonic language in Peru, has country-​wide official status, while the originary languages are only official in the areas where they predominate. Despite this apparent disparity, the linguistic rights of all Peruvian indigenous peoples have been enshrined in domestic legislation since the enactment of the 1993 Constitution, which also stipulated the right to interpreting provisions between Spanish and the originary languages in public service 61

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settings (art. 2.19). Nevertheless, the application of these principles did not become manifest until 2011, when the Indigenous Languages Act no. 29735 was passed and set in motion the processes that would make the legal right operational, the most prominent of which was the implementation of a training programme for indigenous translators and interpreters (de Pedro Ricoy and Andrade Ciudad 2020). Finally, to contextualise the development and implementation of official measures to support the indigenous population of Peru in the health crisis triggered by the COVID-​19 pandemic, which is the subject of the following section, it is necessary to consider the diverse demographic landscape of the country, outlined earlier, against an equally diverse geography, which encompasses high mountains, arid plains, semi-​desertic areas and the Amazonian Forest. While internal migration flows in recent decades (mostly due to economic imperatives) have meant that there are large groups of indigenous people residing in urban environments,2 the challenges of addressing the needs of communities in rural and remote areas remain, by far, the most complex. As well as potential cultural and linguistic fault lines (which will be analysed in the Further reading section), access for healthcare experts and linguistic and cultural mediators to assist communities in need must be taken into account, as it is hampered by an underdeveloped transport infrastructure3 and the intrinsic hurdles that geographical features pose. In addition, although impressive strides in telecommunication technologies have been made in Peru, internet and mobile signal coverage can be unreliable in remote areas4 and are not readily accessible for those who do not have the required hardware.

Governmental initiatives to support Peruvian indigenous peoples during the COVID-​19 pandemic According to COVID-​19 data from Johns Hopkins University,5 Peru has the highest case-​fatality ratio (c. 6%) and the highest number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants (650,93) in the world. The first case of COVID-​19 in the country was recorded on 6 March 2020. On 10 May in the same year, legislative decree no. 1489 outlining measures “for the protection of indigenous or native peoples in the framework of the health emergency declared because of COVID-​19” was published (El Peruano 2020). Its Article 2 stipulates, among other measures, the compliance with the individual and collective language rights of the indigenous peoples, the fostering of the provision of public services in indigenous languages, the collaboration between public bodies that offer assistance to the indigenous population and the protection of their life, health and integrity, especially for those in voluntary isolation and a stage of initial contact. In addition, it introduces principles related to cultural and gender appropriateness.6 Satisfying the legal requirements entailed a joint effort by the Ministry of Health (MINSA) and MINCUL. The latter is responsible for intercultural matters, and for preserving and promoting originary cultures and languages. It received USD 1.4 million in government funding to implement the measures stipulated under the legislative decree no. 1489 (El Peruano 2020). Beyond compliance with the newly introduced domestic legislation, the allocation of funds to MINCUL ostensibly reflects an awareness that indigenous peoples were likely to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic,7 as was indeed the case (see ECLAC 2021, 50–​51), even though data reporting was not robust and failed to provide an accurate snapshot of the situation for several months: the Ministry of Health National Centre for Epidemiology, Prevention and Disease Control did not begin reporting cases among the indigenous population in its daily reports on the pandemic in the country until July. This, despite the fact that guidelines on the incorporation 62

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of the ethnic variable in the administrative records of government entities, in the framework of the health emergency declared as a result of COVID-​19 […], had been approved as early as May, following persistent demands from indigenous organizations and the Office of the Ombudsman. (ECLAC 2021, 50) MINCUL’s action plan was framed by the principles that underpin the Indigenous Languages Act 2011 and other relevant pieces of legislation. Consequently, translation and interpreting took centre stage in the official planning. The Central de Interpretación y Traducción en Lenguas Indígenas u Originarias (CIT),8 a translation and interpreting in originary languages hub, was launched in Lima on 17 December 2020 and it was tasked with the management, coordination and delivery of language assistance to the indigenous peoples of Peru. This was “a leading experience” in Latin America (Sánchez Tafur and García Chinchay 2022, 210). As a result of the COVID-​19 pandemic, its role focused on providing assistance to public services and social programmes that were prioritised in emergency situations. The services offered by the CIT are in-​person interpreting, remote (over the phone) interpreting and translation. Any government body, whether national, regional or local, can request linguistic assistance in any of these modalities through a dedicated landline. The working languages for which cover is provided are: Ashaninka, Awajún, Aymara, Quechua (in three varieties, namely Áncash, Chanka and Cusco–​Collao), Shipibo-​Konibo and Ticuna. These are the languages of around 98% of the estimated 4.5 million speakers of originary languages in Peru.9 The Guidelines for the implementation and delivery of “interpreting and translation services in indigenous or originary languages in emergency situations” (Lineamientos para la implementación y prestación del “servicio de interpretación y traducción en lenguas indígenas u originarias para situaciones de emergencia; Ministerio de Cultura 2020) outline the responsibilities of the Directorate for Indigenous Languages (Dirección de Lenguas Indígenas, DLI), the MINCUL department under whose remit translation and interpreting in originary languages fall. They also detail the roles of the CIT’s staff, who are allocated to three different areas: management, evaluation and service provision. As well as translators and interpreters, a facilitator is included in the latter. The facilitator helps identify the originary languages for which remote interpreting services are needed in a given area, contacts freelance interpreters if required, handles the forms required to register the services provided and manages any necessary follow-​ups. As of 15 May 2021, 2,039 translation deliverables in 38 indigenous languages for 37 different institutions had been requested from the CIT (García Chinchay and Sánchez Tafur 2021).10 Only eight requests for interpreting in two indigenous languages were made by five institutions, three for Asháninka and five for Quechua (three of which were for the Áncash variant and two for the Cusco-​Collao variant). This number of requests in less than five months ostensibly validates the agile response to the communicative needs of indigenous peoples by the Peruvian institutions during the pandemic. As a complement to the pivotal role that the CIT played in the official response, other initiatives were developed by MINCUL as support mechanisms for communicating key messages to indigenous communities. According to García et al. (2020, 43), MINCUL “coordinated the translation of preventive measures and recommendations about care of the elderly into 21 of the 48 Peruvian indigenous languages, broadcast through posters, micro-​programmes and radio spots to indigenous, rural and frontier communities.” Cultural relevance was at the forefront of this effort, which resulted in the localisation of content and the frequent utilisation of radio, a mass media favoured by indigenous communities, to disseminate information. 63

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In addition, a multilingual glossary of 164 COVID-​related terms (Ministerio de Cultura 2021) in nine languages, including three variants of Quechua, was compiled in collaboration with indigenous translators and reviewers. This type of initiative has also been developed in other countries, and glossaries are a resource often used by multinational organisations (e.g., United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction11) in their response to disasters and crises. Finally, the action plan also included initiatives related to assisting originary peoples in their mother tongues, thus bypassing the need for translation and interpreting. MINCUL oversees the evaluation of “bilingual competencies” among civil servants working in areas where originary languages predominate. If successful, they are certified through the government body responsible for the evaluation, accreditation and certification of education quality (Sistema Nacional de Evaluación, Acreditación y Certificación de la Calidad Educativa, SiNEACE)12. During the pandemic, awareness-​raising activities and vaccination campaigns in prioritised areas were coordinated by MINCUL and conducted by a team that included intercultural managers and the regional decentralised Directorates of Culture in liaison with the regional Directorates of Health, healthcare networks and MINSA (see, e.g., Expreso 2022).

Research methodology First-​hand (pre-​pandemic) knowledge and experience of the State-​sponsored training and registration of indigenous translators and interpreters, the perceptions of end-​users of their services, and the role of ad hoc interpreters (gained throughout two AHRC/​GCRF-​funded projects conducted in Peru between 2014 and 201913) helps inform the discussion on the implementation of measures to cater for the needs of the indigenous peoples of the country during the COVID-​19 pandemic. As the recorded date for the onset of the pandemic in Peru was in March 2020, there are not many peer-​reviewed works that have been published on this public health emergency with specific reference to the country, and even fewer that relate to translation and interpreting as facilitators of interlingual, intercultural communication (Burga, Portocarrero, and Panfichi 2020; García et al. 2020; Sánchez Tafur and García Chinchay 2022). For this reason, existing literature on related issues was used to gather background information. Online academic contributions published in reputable outlets and NGOs’ official documentation that are available online, as well as published research on cognate areas, have also been drawn upon (see Further reading section and list of references). On the other hand, international organisations were very prompt in publishing extensive reports on the impact that the COVID-​19 pandemic has had in Latin America, providing valuable context for this study. Also, the legal instruments published by the Peruvian government in relation to the enactment of the government’s linguistic policy give an insight into the institutional mindset and have guided the description of the measures that were undertaken. The data garnered from these sources has been triangulated with the information reported on reputable online media or as part of personal communications (online conversations and interviews) conducted with relevant Peruvian actors between March 2021 and April 2022. Two public servants provided useful information and links to resources produced by MINCUL. An anthropologist and an NGO worker shared their personal experiences of, and critical insights on, the pandemic: spending the first lockdown in an Amazonian region and visiting Andean communities when it became allowed, respectively. Two academic experts on indigeneity provided advice as to key local debates and guided me through initiatives and responses. This wealth of first-​hand information enabled me to engage meaningfully and critically with official and independent written sources. 64

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It must be noted that between the start of the pandemic and February 2023, eleven different Ministers of Culture have been in post. This is a reflection of the instability which is characteristic of Peruvian political institutions, which have been marred by allegations of corruption for decades. As the Ministry of Culture, through its Vice-​ministry for Interculturality, is responsible for the formulation of language policies and their implementation, the knock-​on effect that the rapid changes in leadership had on various departments made it difficult to obtain first-​hand, up-​ to-​date information. The author was invited to a meeting to discuss the CIT and related initiatives that was cancelled due to the resignation of the head of the General Directorate for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Efforts were made to collect data through email and with the help of relevant contacts in Peru, but regrettably, to no avail.

Discussion In this section, MINCUL’s lines of action in the context of cultural and linguistic asymmetries will be evaluated. This assessment will be related to grassroots responses and the reservations expressed by academics (Andrade Ciudad 2020; Correa and Yeckting 2020), as well as to the criticism levelled at the official measures by NGOs (e.g., Cherofsky 2020). The implementation of measures by MINCUL during the pandemic is closely entwined with those of MINSA, as determined by the governmental guidelines. Cultural appropriateness is at the core of Peruvian language policy planning. Cultural relevance is also the key principle underpinning articles 4 and 6 of the aforementioned legislative decree no. 1489 that outlines measures “for the protection of indigenous or native peoples in the framework of the health emergency declared because of COVID-​19”, which mentions coordination and collaboration with indigenous organisations (El Peruano 2020). The government’s strategy encompasses health response, territorial controls, provision of essential goods, early information and warnings, and protection of indigenous peoples in isolation or at initial contact. However, the effectiveness of policy implementation has been called into question from some quarters. The global NGO Cultural Survival published a report (Cherofsky 2020) on the situation in the Amazonian rainforest region of Ucayali based on interviews with social actors. In it, the author quotes Wendy Pineda Ortiz, from the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), as stating that “Not a single policy was culturally appropriate” and that the government’s responses signified “further endangerment” because of their “incompatibility with the daily lives of Indigenous Peoples.” Cherofsky (2020) also quotes Myriam Yataco, a renowned sociolinguist and international language rights scholar, who claimed that “the government has been totally indifferent” and that “there isn’t, hasn’t been, and doesn’t appear there is any intention of creating an intercultural health policy.” Yataco’s assessment of the situation echoes the views of Ronald Suárez Maynas, the President of the Council of the Shipibo-​Konibo-​Xetebo People, who sent a letter to the UN on 29 May 2020, requesting urgent assistance in the face of what he describes as the government’s corruption and incompetence. Suárez Maynas (2020) stated that the indigenous peoples require specific healthcare with an intercultural approach, and that there is not a holistic health policy with an intercultural focus to assist the indigenous peoples in the pandemic (“Necesitamos atención médica específica para los pueblos indígenas, desde una mirada intercultural. […] Simplemente no hay una política de salud integral y con enfoque intercultural para la atención a los pueblos indígenas frente a esta terrible pandemia”). These criticisms indicate that cultural appropriateness is more prominent than linguistic mediation through translation and interpreting. It must be noted that the purported deficiencies 65

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in healthcare provision, from prevention to treatment, concern processes that are beyond MINCUL’s remit. However, SERVINDI (2020) also questioned the pertinence of the risk reduction initiatives undertaken by MINCUL in a declaration that was signed by several hundred people from all walks of life and published online on 16 April 2020, calling for coordination between MINCUL and indigenous organisations in relation to the communication strategies that were implemented by the former (“consideramos que las estrategias de comunicación que vienen implementando deban ser coordinadas con las organizaciones indígenas para una implementación adecuada”). This is in line with the lack of trust that is implied throughout the report by Cultural Survival (Cherofsky 2020), which Suárez Maynas articulated explicitly as follows: “There are many people who don’t go to the hospital, even if they have symptoms, because there is a lot of distrust…” Arguably, such criticisms may be attributed to an underlying lack of trust in the institutions because, as García et al. (2020) remarked, MINCUL was aware of the need to present pandemic-​ related messaging in a manner to which the indigenous communities could relate (beyond the translation of verbal texts) and, indeed, to disseminate the information in an accessible way: given the gaps in telecommunications infrastructure in remote and rural areas, radio spots and micro-​ programmes in indigenous languages were broadcast to raise awareness. As previously mentioned, the mistrust in the government’s health policy and its implementation was fuelled by groups and individuals that spread misinformation about vaccines and treatments among the indigenous population. In addition, the response to MINCUL’s efforts to mitigate the pandemic risks among indigenous communities through measures revolving around language support has to be considered in the context of previous lived experiences. The historic discrimination against indigenous peoples, their languages and their cultures, although redressed in the current Peruvian legislation, still has an impact on everyday life. As a result, the involvement of translators and interpreters as facilitators of communication regulated by the authorities is not always welcome. There is evidence (see de Pedro Ricoy, Andrade Ciudad, and Howard 2018, 103) that indigenous people may refuse this kind of assistance lest they are perceived as being ignorant or considered inferior. Furthermore, the allegiance of indigenous translators and interpreters who are registered and employed by the government is a contentious issue, despite them being trained within a framework that emphasises the notion of impartiality and is reliant on the conduit metaphor (ibid.). Beyond contextual factors, some aspects of MINCUL’s communication strategy, coordinated by its Directorate for Indigenous Languages, merit attention. There is no doubt that it made impressive strides in a short period of time, mobilising the CIT, managing the translation of written texts into 21 originary languages and variants that were used for posters, organising the production of translations for videos, micro-​programmes and radio spots (see Andrade Ciudad 2020), creating a multilingual glossary and arranging for intercultural experts to accompany health specialists to the communities. However, an analysis of these initiatives reveals challenges that remain unresolved. In relation to the CIT’s activities, there is a surprising imbalance between the translation and the interpreting deliverables (2,039 and eight, respectively) requested for languages that are primarily oral, although it must be noted that 647 of the former were for texts that would be subsequently audio-​recorded. In addition, many of the requests came from institutions (e.g., the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the National Library of Peru, the National Bank of Peru, TV Peru) whose activities were not listed as priorities in the early stages of the health crisis. Interestingly, MINSA made only eight requests for translations, while MINCUL made 143. 66

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The potential pitfalls of translating texts originally written in Spanish into originary languages encompass two main challenges. On the one hand, low literacy levels in the latter, which are primarily oral and, more often than not, lack a long-​established written tradition. On the other hand, how relevant content and messaging that addresses mainstream society is to indigenous peoples, whose traditional ways of life are built around different values and visions of the world (cosmovisiones). The multilingual glossary of COVID terms compiled by MINCUL is no doubt an important reference. Yet, in the case of indigenous communities, it can be argued that useful though the availability of lexicons is, specialised terminology must be contextualised in communicative patterns to which they can relate. As for interpreting, remote delivery (which should have been the preferred option during the pandemic) in originary languages is hindered by (infra) structural conditions and the lack of training in this modality for indigenous interpreters (Andrade Ciudad 2020). An overall issue that concerns all the initiatives outlined previously is the lack of provision for some of the originary languages. To address this matter, MINCUL aims at progressively incorporating freelance translators and interpreters who can work between Spanish and one of the 37 originary languages represented in the national register of interpreters and translators of indigenous languages (Registro Nacional de Intérpretes y Traductores de Lenguas Indígenas; ReNITLI). As for the remaining 11 originary languages of Peru, which are not represented in the register, MINCUL (Ministerio de Cultura 2020, 7) has pledged to “adopt the necessary measures to guarantee an appropriate and timely response to the communicative need according to the existing legal framework.”14 Against this backdrop, it is perhaps unsurprising that the application of measures that bypass or complement the need for translation and interpreting were common in Peru during the pandemic. Some of them were institutionally led, like the involvement of bilingual civil servants in areas where originary languages predominate and of intercultural managers. However, Kvietok Dueñas noted prior to the start of the pandemic that: one of the ongoing challenges has been creating a market and a demand for the interpreters across national and regional governmental spaces (Bariola, personal communication, 2014), a task which is not achieved by the decree of a law alone. […] [MINCUL adopts] a language-​as-​right orientation in addition to a language-​as-​resource orientation […]. The use of Indigenous languages by civil servants is linked to discourses of efficiency in the workplace. The co-​existence of both orientations suggests that the opening of ideological spaces for Indigenous languages is being approached using different orientations with different intended audiences. (2015, 35–​36) Although the development of bilingual competence among civil servants is a laudable initiative and one that has the potential to generate trust, the notion that it would suppress the need for translation and interpreting services (“the ideal horizon”, as described by a former Head of the Directorate for Indigenous Languages) is illusory. Geographical mobility and relocation of indigenous people, whether for work or leisure, means that they do not always require language assistance where their languages predominate. Finally, and notably, other measures were bottom-​up and led by indigenous people (e.g., the creation of links between community elders and young people to counter digital misinformation; the involvement of indigenous leaders as ad hoc interpreters or mediators) and the provision of healthcare that relies on traditional medicine (e.g., Comando Matico) and on the use of communication patterns and vocabulary that the indigenous communities can easily relate to (Reynoso 67

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2022). As Correa and Yeckting (2020, 118) explained, “different indigenous communities have implemented voluntary prevention measures, such as community isolation, lockdown of their lands and the development of health protocols”.15

Conclusion The implementation of language policy by the Peruvian government through its Ministry of Culture as a risk management strategy to address the needs of the country’s indigenous citizens during the COVID-​19 pandemic is underpinned by the principles of cultural appropriateness and equality. Thus, the policy approaches language as a right and not only as a communicative resource. It seems that cultural appropriateness permeates the discourse of indigenous people and academics much more than the need for language support. Unquestionably, though, the latter is crucial for the dissemination of key health messages and the delivery of care. A major stumbling block for the success of the measures that were undertaken is the lack of trust in the institutions, as expressed by indigenous peoples, scholars and NGOs. The formerly mentioned lack of trust has highlighted the reliance of indigenous communities on their own resources and the primacy of their cultural values, beliefs and customs during the health crisis. While the celerity with which MINCUL sought to address the special requirements of the speakers of originary languages is praiseworthy, the response that the measures elicited is mixed, to say the least. This could be attributed to the difficulty in separating the provision of public healthcare (widely perceived as deficient) from the provision of language support in people’s minds. In any case, building trust between the authorities and the indigenous peoples is, arguably, a pending task that needs to be addressed. MINCUL has taken steps towards it, but a history of discrimination and oppression curtails tangible progress. In many countries, remote interpreting became the norm during the pandemic to ensure the safety of patients, healthcare providers and interpreters (Klammer and Pöchhacker 2021, 2875). Not so in Peru, where it faces hurdles related to communication (e.g., training; conveying specialised concepts in indigenous languages), which are compounded by logistic difficulties (e.g., poor internet connection and weak mobile-​phone signal in remote areas). It would be desirable to see the development of a training programme for existing and future indigenous interpreters, followed by the deployment of a remote interpreting platform. The CIT would be ideally positioned to manage a digital switchboard service. A broader perspective is that the role and, indeed, the value of indigenous interpreters need to be more widely socialised among institutions, indigenous communities and society at large. This chapter has provided a snapshot of the first stages of the pandemic in Peru. A line for future research is to study and analyse how language policy impacts the effects of the cascading crisis in the country (e.g., return of indigenous people to their communities, impact on the informal economy, lack of medical supplies, scarcity of essential items in remote and rural areas, food insecurity). Local and grassroots responses that seek to compensate for the perceived lack of effective support for interlingual, intercultural communication (e.g., through ad hoc interpreting) also merit further exploration.

Notes 1 2017 census: https://​censo2​017.inei.gob.pe 2 For example, in the 2017 census, 727,000 people who reside in the capital, Lima, declared that their mother tongue was Quechua. This figure excludes other speakers of Quechua and thus indicates a link between the mother tongue and ethnicity.

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Communicating COVID-19 3 According to the International Trade Administration (2022), “Peru’s most recent National Infrastructure Plan (PNIC), launched in 2019, identified a $110 billion long-​term infrastructure gap over the next 20 years.” The main contributor to this shortfall was transport (44%). 4 According to the 2017 census, only 9.8% of the Amazonian population has internet access. See Ojo Público (2020) for an account of the hurdles that communities in this area face in terms of communication, sanitation and health infrastructures. 5 https://​coro​navi​rus.jhu.edu/​data/​mortal​ity 6 According to the OECD (2020), “The COVID-​19 pandemic is harming health, social and economic well-​ being worldwide, with women at the centre. First and foremost, women are leading the health response […]” 7 See ECLAC (2021) for microdata on different indicators of inequality. 8 The video of the launch was posted online on 17 December 2020 and can be accessed here through the social media channel of Peru’s MINCUL: www.faceb​ook.com/​watch/​?v=​2008​5561​8337​247. By the time the chapter went to the publisher, March 2023, the video had acquired over 5,000 views. 9 The Ministry of Culture produced an ethnolinguistic map of Peru: https://​geopor​tal.cult​ura.gob.pe/​ mapa_​etno​ling​uist​ico/​ 10 Central de Interpretación y Traducción en Lenguas Indígenas u Originarias del Ministerio de Cultura ha brindado casi 3,000 atenciones. Press statement by MINCUL 24 November 2021 (available online: www.gob.pe/​inst​ituc​ion/​cult​ura/​notic​ias/​563​312-​cent​ral-​de-​int​erpr​etac​ion-​y-​tra​ducc​ion-​en-​leng​uas-​ indige​nas-​u-​orig​inar​ias-​del-​min​iste​rio-​de-​cult​ura-​ha-​brind​ado-​casi-​3-​000-​ate​ncio​nes). As the data are not particularly nuanced, there is no clear indication of number of documents, pages or words. 11 www.undrr.org/​term​inol​ogy 12 See de Pedro Ricoy and Andrade Ciudad 2020 for further information and analysis. 13 The first one focused on State-​registered interpreters and was conducted by Rosaleen Howard (Principal Investigator), Luis Andrade Ciudad (International Co-​Investigator) and the author, in conjunction with the Vice-​ministry for Interculturality and Asociación Servicios Educativos Rurales (SER). The second one focused on female ad hoc interpreters (indigenous leaders who interpret routinely without training or remuneration) and was conducted by the author (Principal Investigator), Rosaleen Howard (Co-​ Investigator), Luis Andrade Ciudad (International Co-​Investigator), in conjunction with SER. 14 “Adopta las medidas necesarias para garantizar una respuesta adecuada y oportuna a la necesidad comunicativa, de conformidad con el marco normativo vigente.” 15 “Diversas comunidades indígenas han implementado medidas voluntarias de prevención, como el aislamiento comunitario, el cierre de sus territorios y el desarrollo de protocolos sanitarios.”

Further reading Burga, Manuel, Felipe Portocarrero, and Aldo Panfichi (Eds.). 2020. Por una nueva convivencia. La sociedad peruana en tiempos del COVID-​19. Escenarios, propuestas de política y acción pública. Lima: Fondo Editorial PUCP. PDF File. www.cla​cso.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2020/​05/​Por-​una-​Nueva-​Conv​iven​cia.pdf. This project was coordinated by the Social Sciences Thematic Group of the Peruvian Ministry of Health. Its aim was to identify proposals that can help mitigate the effects of the COVID-​19 pandemic on the most vulnerable groups in Peru (immigrants, gig economy workers, women and girls, the young and the elderly, prisoners and indigenous peoples). The collected essays provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of the health crisis. Cherofsky, Jess. 2020. ‘Abandoned by government, Peru’s indigenous peoples lead powerful COVID-​19 response’. Website. www.cultu​rals​urvi​val.org/​news/​abando​ned-​gov​ernm​ent-​perus-​ind​igen​ous-​peop​les-​ lead-​power​ful-​COVID-​19-​respo​nse. This report, available in Spanish and English, provides a snapshot of the situation in the Amazonian region of Ucayali at the start of the pandemic. It is based on interviews with relevant actors and presents information about the government’s risk-​mitigation measures and also grassroots initiatives. García, Gerardo M., Marleen Haboud, Rosaleen Howard, Antonia Manresa, and Julieta Zurita. 2020. ‘Miscommunication in the COVID-​19 era’. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 39 (1): 39–​46. This article addresses State-​sponsored cross-​cultural communication strategies in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru during the COVID-​19 pandemic. It focuses on the importance of cultural appropriateness, beyond the translation of verbal texts, to ensure adequate reach and to protect vulnerable groups.

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Raquel de Pedro Ricoy de Pedro Ricoy, Raquel, and Luis Andrade Ciudad. 2020. ‘Translation and interpreting in the indigenous languages of Peru’. In The Oxford handbook of translation and social practices, edited by Meng Ji and Sara Laviosa, 129–​148. Oxford: Oxford University Press. This chapter engages with Peru’s language policy and its implementation before the COVID-​19 pandemic, based on observation, interviews and fieldwork. It provides useful background information to understand and contextualise the developments during the health crisis. Zavala, Virginia, and Michele Back (Eds.). 2017. Racismo y lenguaje. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. This collection of essays addresses the links between race (and racism) and language in contemporary Peru. It touches on issues such as linguistic ideologies, linguistic essentialism, indigenous identities, marginalisation and inequality, as well as on the impact that social media have.

References AIDESEP. 2020. Acciones para un plan de emergencia COVID19 en la amazonía indígena. PDF File. http://​ aide​sep.org.pe/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​media/​noti​cia/​Carta%20AIDE​SEP%207.4.20.pdf. Andrade Ciudad, Luis. 2020. ‘Ñuqa wasillaypim qipani’: la traducción indígena durante la pandemia. Lima: Instituto de Democracia y Derechos Humanos, PUCP. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984 [1979]. Distinction. A social critique of the judgment of taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Burga, Manuel, Felipe Portocarrero, and Aldo Panfichi (Eds.). 2020. Por una nueva convivencia. La sociedad peruana en tiempos del COVID-​19. Escenarios, propuestas de política y acción pública. Lima: Fondo Editorial PUCP. PDF File. www.cla​cso.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2020/​05/​Por-​una-​Nueva-​Conv​iven​ cia.pdf. Candlin, Christopher N., and Crichton, Jonathan (Eds.). 2013. Discourses of trust. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Cherofsky, Jess. 2020. Abandoned by government, Peru’s indigenous peoples lead powerful COVID-​19 response. Website. www.cultu​rals​urvi​val.org/​news/​abando​ned-​gov​ernm​ent-​perus-​ind​igen​ous-​peop​les-​ lead-​power​ful-​COVID-​19-​respo​nse. Correa, Norma, and Fabiola Yeckting. 2020. ‘Pueblos indígenas y amazónicos y COVID-​19: La urgencia de una repuesta diferenciada a la emergencia’. In Por una nueva convivencia. La sociedad peruana en tiempos del COVID-​19. Escenarios, propuestas de política y acción pública, edited by Manuel Burga, Felipe Portocarrero, and Aldo Panfichi, 117–​140. Lima: Fondo editorial PUCP. PDF File. www.cla​cso.org/​ wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2020/​05/​Por-​una-​Nueva-​Conv​iven​cia.pdf. de Pedro Ricoy, Raquel, and Luis Andrade Ciudad. 2020. ‘Translation and interpreting in the indigenous languages of Peru’. In The Oxford handbook of translation and social practices, edited by Meng Ji and Sara Laviosa, 129–​148. Oxford: Oxford University Press. de Pedro Ricoy, Raquel, Rosaleen Howard, and Luis Andrade Ciudad. 2018. ‘Walking the tightrope: The role of Peruvian indigenous interpreters in Prior Consultation processes’. Target, 30 (2): 187–​211. de Pedro Ricoy, Raquel, Luis Andrade Ciudad, and Rosaleen Howard. 2018. ‘The role of indigenous interpreters in the Peruvian intercultural, bilingual justice system’. In Translating and interpreting justice in a postmonolingual age, edited by Esther Monzó-​Nebot and Juan Jiménez-​Salcedo, 91–​109. Wilmington, DE: Vernon. ECLAC. 2021. The impact of COVID-​19 on indigenous peoples in Latin America (Abya Yala). Between invisibility and collective resistance. Santiago: United Nations. Website. www.cepal.org/​en/​publi​cati​ons/​ 46698-​imp​act-​COVID-​19-​ind​igen​ous-​peop​les-​latin-​amer​ica-​abya-​yala-​betw​een-​invis​ibil​ity. El Peruano. 2020. Decreto legislativo que establece acciones para la protección de los pueblos indígenas u originarios en el marco de la emergencia sanitaria declarada por el COVID-​19 no. 1489. Website. https://​ busque​das.elperu​ano.pe/​normas​lega​les/​decr​eto-​legi​slat​ivo-​que-​establ​ece-​accio​nes-​para-​la-​protec​cio-​decr​ eto-​legi​slat​ivo-​n-​1489-​1866​212-​1/​. Expreso. 2022. Ministerio de Cultura inicia campaña de vacunación contra la COVID-​19 a pueblos indígenas y afroperuano. Website. www.expr​eso.com.pe/​coro​navi​rus/​min​iste​rio-​de-​cult​ura-​ini​cia-​camp​ana-​de-​vac​ unac​ion-​con​tra-​la-​COVID-​19-​a-​pueb​los-​indige​nas-​y-​afro​peru​ano/​. Federici, Federico, and Sharon O’Brien (Eds.). 2020. Translation in cascading crises. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.

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Communicating COVID-19 García, Gerardo M., Marleen Haboud, Rosaleen Howard, Antonia Manresa, and Julieta Zurita. 2020. ‘Miscommunication in the COVID-​19 era’. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 39 (1): 39–​46. García Chinchay, Gerardo, and Claudia Sánchez Tafur. 2021. ‘The implementation of the Peruvian indigenous languages interpreting and translation centre as a compliance of linguistic rights strategy in the Peruvian healthcare system during the COVID-​19 pandemic’. The Languages of COVID-​19: Implications for Global Healthcare, online conference School of Advanced Studies, London, 21–​22 June 2021. INEI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática). 2001. Peru: Estimaciones y Proyecciones de Población, 1950–​2050. PDF File. www.inei.gob.pe/​media/​MenuRe​curs​ivo/​publ​icac​ione​s_​di​gita​les/​Est/​Lib0​466/​ Libro.pdf. International Trade Administration. 2022. Peru–​Country commercial guide. Website. www.trade.gov/​coun​ try-​com​merc​ial-​gui​des/​peru-​inf​rast​ruct​ure-​deve​lopm​ent. Klammer, Martina, and Franz Pöchhacker. 2021. ‘Video remote interpreting in clinical communication: A multimodal analysis’. Patient Education and Counseling, 104 (12): 2867–​2876. Website. www.scienc​edir​ ect.com/​scie​nce/​arti​cle/​pii/​S07383​9912​1005​70X. Kvietok Dueñas, Frances. 2015. ‘Negotiating ideological and implementational spaces for indigenous Languages in Peru.’ WPEL, 30 (1). Website. https://​rep​osit​ory.upenn.edu/​wpel/​vol30/​iss1/​2. La República. 2022. Comunidades nativas en grave riesgo por antivacunas y grupos religiosos. Website. https://​lare​publ​ica.pe/​socie​dad/​2022/​02/​23/​coro​navi​rus-​en-​peru-​comu​nida​des-​nati​vas-​en-​grave-​rie​sgo-​ por-​anti​vacu​nas-​y-​gru​pos-​rel​igio​sos-​min​iste​rio-​de-​salud/​. Monzó-​ Nebot, Esther, and Juan Jiménez Salcedo (Eds.). 2018. Translating and interpreting in a postmonolingual age. Delaware: Vernon Press. Ministerio de Cultura. 2020. Lineamientos para la implementación y prestación del ‘servicio de interpretación y traducción en lenguas indígenas u originarias para situaciones de emergencia’. PDF File. https://​cdn.www.gob.pe/​uplo​ads/​docum​ent/​file/​1362​325/​RM%20258-​2020-​DM-​MC%20-​ %20AN​EXO.pdf. Ministerio de Cultura. 2021. Glosario de términos relacionados con la COVID-​ 19 de la Central de Interpretación y Traducción en Lenguas Indígenas u Originarias–​CIT. PDF File. https://​centr​oder​ecur​sos. cult​ura.pe/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​rb/​pdf/​Glosa​rio%20VMI.pdf. OECD. 2020. Women at the core of the fight against COVID-​19 crisis. Website. https://​read.oecd-​ilibr​ary.org/​ view/​?ref=​127​_​127​000-​awf​nqj8​0me&title=​Women-​at-​the-​core-​of-​the-​fight-​agai​nst-​COVID-​19-​cri​sis. Ojo Público. 2020. COVID-​19 llega a pueblos indígenas: detectan dos casos en shipibos-​conibos de Ucayali. Website. https://​ojo-​publ​ico.com/​1767/​detec​tan-​dos-​casos-​COVID-​19-​en-​comuni​dad-​ship​ibo-​con​ibo-​de-​ ucay​ali. Pescaroli, Gianluca, and David Alexander. 2015. ‘A definition of cascading disasters and cascading effects: Going beyond the “toppling dominos” metaphor’. GRF Davos Planet@Risk, 3 (1): 58–​67. Quijano, Aníbal. 2014. ‘Colonialidad del poder y clasificación social’. In A. Quijano. Cuestiones y horizontes. De la dependencia histórico-​estructural a la colonialidad /​descolonialidad del poder, 285–​327. Selección de Danilo Assis Clímaco. Buenos Aires: CLACSO. Reynoso, Raquel. 2022. Personal communication, 8 February 2022. Rousseau, Stéphanie, and Eduardo Dargent. 2019. ‘The construction of indigenous language rights in Peru: A language regime approach’. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 11 (2): 161–​180. Sánchez Tafur, Claudia Elizabeth, and Gerardo García Chinchay. 2022. ‘The implementation of the center of interpreting and translation in indigenous languages in Peru during the COVID-​19 pandemic’. FITISPos International Journal, 9 (1): 209–​233. SERVINDI. 2020. Cientos de personas piden acciones urgentes para proteger pueblos amazónicos. Website. www.servi​ndi.org/​16/​04/​2020/​exi​gen-​accio​nes-​urgen​tes-​para-​prote​ger-​pueb​los-​ama​zoni​cos. Suárez Maynas, Ronaldo. 2020. Letter to the UN. PDF File. www.salsa-​tip​iti.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2020/​ 06/​CONS​EJO-​SHIP​IBO-​KON​IBO-​XET​EBO-​CARTA-​ONU-​1.pdf. Zavala, Virginia, and Michele Back (Eds.). 2017. Racismo y lenguaje. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

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5 TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING AS A GUARANTEE FOR LANGUAGE ACCESS AND LINGUISTIC RIGHTS FOR MIGRANTS IN BRAZIL IN THE CONTEXT OF CRISIS INTENSIFIED BY THE PANDEMIC Sabine Gorovitz and Teresa Dias Carneiro

Introduction Community interpreting, as the authors understand it, covers all institutional, educational, and health services interpreting, as well as interpreting in religious settings, communal meetings, and in interactions that migrants1 need to establish in their daily lives in the host country (Gorovitz, Carneiro, and Martins 2023). Besides migrants, Brazilian and foreign deaf people, indigenous people are also served by community interpreters in these same environments and contexts. Unlike the more prestigious interpreting settings, such as conference interpreting and diplomatic interpreting, community interpreting commonly involves minority languages and the explicit presence of the interpreter in interactions. In these situations they often assume a more interventionist role. Their context is unique in that it is rooted in social justice, involving people in vulnerable situations. Community interpreting always involves linguistic and transcultural mediation because the interpreter also plays the role of conflict manager, bringing clarifications about cultural differences that may not be perceived by the others involved in the interpreting processes since they are, in principle, the only ones in this triangular interaction who understand and speak both languages brought into contact (Gorovitz, Carneiro, and Martins 2023). In this chapter, the authors will reflect on the role of the community interpreter2 in facilitating access to rights and on the need for the State to implement language policies capable of rebalancing inequalities caused by the lack of linguistic proficiency. This vulnerability often adds to others, such as gender and race issues, social and economic vulnerabilities, and physical impairments

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DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-7

Language access and linguistic rights for migrants in Brazil

such as deafness. To this end, the authors start this chapter tracing a brief history of immigration languages –​languages brought by immigrants to settle in Brazil from various immigration flows, such as European languages, and Japanese. Afterwards they highlight the lack of public policies aimed at making community translation and interpreting present in the spaces where they take place, and also the current attempts to change this scenario. And then, the authors argue about the role of this professional as a guarantor of linguistic rights. Finally, the authors consider the difficulties encountered during the COVID-​19 pandemic and the emergency initiatives undertaken by universities and civil society to take a leading role where government initiatives, if any, have failed. As a result of academic research, language policies have been advocated but have not yet been embraced.

Research context Brazilian society has been constituted based on human movements of a multiple and multifaceted nature. It is institutionalised, ironically, based on the idea of a Nation-​State, around a fanciful and ideologised image of homogeneity and monolingualism. Antagonistically, Brazil is also perceived as a country of miscegenation and diversity. The National State implemented successive nationalisation policies to assimilate immigrants into Brazilian society based on linguistic repression actions, primarily focusing on Germans, Italians, Poles, and Japanese, forcing them to interact only in Portuguese, especially in public spaces. It is estimated that there are approximately 56 different linguistic communities in Brazil derived from these historical immigrations (Altenhofen 2013). They make up the scenario of what we call Brazilian immigration languages. Even today, Brazil is among the most linguistically diverse countries. It is estimated that about 250 languages are spoken in the country (IPOL 2021), including indigenous, immigration, sign, and Afro-​Brazilian languages. This general characterisation is the background for understanding the reconfiguration of the sociolinguistic landscape in the last two decades. The relations of domination and submission, constructions of a pre-​established value system and norms transmitted by dominant languages and cultures, are based on the tension between tradition and modernity, in which there is no symmetry or equality among speakers and languages. With the migration flows of Venezuelan, Syrian, Congolese, and Haitian asylum seekers, as well as immigrants from 117 countries in total between 2011 and 2021,3 the migrant population and accompanying languages (e.g. Haitian Creole and Venezuelan Sign Language) in the country further diversified. Despite the more than 250 languages spoken in Brazil, there is a complete disregard for the multilingual character of the country. This perception comes from the fact that the communities speaking these minority languages are also stigmatised and marginalised within Brazilian society (Gorovitz, Carneiro, and Martins, 2023). Migrants who choose Brazil as a destination or as a place of passage and who do not speak Brazilian Portuguese (the sole official language in the country, having Brazilian Sign Language recognised as official means of communication), are thus deprived of access to civil rights, often due to the absence of public policies of linguistic support to enable interaction with local public agents. This lack of institutional actions of linguistic policies (to this day, the government has not yet enacted any laws treating community interpreting or linguistic mediation for foreigners in the country, save for interpreting and translation in court settings) leads to a clear usurpation of the linguistic rights of these people –​rights that have been consigned in several treaties and declarations of which, however, Brazil is a signatory. Even in the most obvious environments and in the formal acts of the Judiciary, in hearings or public service establishments, such as Federal Police stations, there is no availability of translators or interpreters by the public authorities to guarantee, 73

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through linguistic mediation, the fundamental rights of individuals. It can be inferred, therefore, that healthcare is poorly provided, a situation particularly aggravated by the pandemic. If the state of social asymmetry, historically forged in Brazil, has worsened with the economic and political crises of recent years,4 the COVID-​19 pandemic has further exposed the country’s social inequalities. When the authors focus on the specific case of those who do not speak Portuguese, particularly newcomers from abroad (migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees), indigenous people, and deaf people, it is observed that a significant part of the population ends up being excluded from healthcare systems (which is public and free for everybody), access to information, and social protection mechanisms that could be available to them. In fact, in order to access public policies, speakers depend not only on understanding these mechanisms and the bureaucratic processes that support them, through the dissemination of information, usually in Portuguese, which is not the first language of these groups, but also on the ability to express their needs to the public agents in charge of providing basic services to the population as a whole. In crisis situations and, in the case of the research mentioned in this chapter, in the specific context of the COVID-​19 pandemic, these gaps are particularly manifested. Thus, faced with the requirements of social isolation in March 2020 by competent health institutions, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and government authorities, informal workers were deprived of labour rights and social security coverage, being put in a situation of financial insecurity. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE 2020) Synthesis of Social Indicators–​An Analysis of the Living Conditions of the Brazilian Population 2019, informal workers make up 41.5 per cent of the employed population, reaching 38.6 million Brazilians. To assist informal workers during the COVID-​19 crisis, the Brazilian government implemented financial assistance amounting to R$600.00 (about US$100.00) for those who meet the eligibility criteria. This situation of health crisis has been amplified by the no less serious political crisis instigated by the ultra-​right government of the then president Jair Bolsonaro, who governed from January 2019 to January 2023. In addition to the social aspects already mentioned, these groups of citizens are characterised by linguistic, cultural, and educational specificities that often contribute to hindering access to the information being circulated about COVID-​19 and to social protection mechanisms (rights and benefits) that might be available to them. Cultural and educational aspects also interfere with this access since, in general, these people have distinct cultures and, almost always, low schooling levels.

Research methodology Starting from this broader context, the goal of this chapter is to describe the pandemic situation in Brazil, focusing on the sociolinguistic vulnerability of people who recently arrived (migrants, asylum seekers, refugees) who do not speak Portuguese. We seek to compile experiences of community interpreting, community translation, linguistic mediation, and dissemination of information to encompass communities of minority languages, especially when they demand communication directed to their profile and characteristics as in times of crisis. This is a record of this period marked by uncertainties but also by many reflections and experiences of translation, mediation, and linguistic inclusion. The research, exploratory by nature, consolidates a literature and documental review. On the one hand, a brief diachronic approach to the migratory and sociolinguistic configuration of Brazil as a historical contextualisation introduced the effects of restrictive policies on the social participation of certain communities in contemporary Brazilian society, as it was mentioned in the research context section earlier. On the other hand, the needs for linguistic assistance in Brazil, especially 74

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in the context of the pandemic, are placed as a scenario to present the situation of unequal access to public health services, with a special focus on the issue of information dissemination. Finally, based on the literature on the role of the community interpreter/​translator (Pöchhacker 2008; Hale 2007), the linguistic assistance service is discussed. The analysis of literature and documentation of the situation prior to the pandemic is the frame needed for the pandemic-​related actions analysis. The pandemic just highlighted a situation that already existed in Brazil of linguistic invisibilisation that characterises the Brazilian sociolinguistic scenario. To illustrate this service and the way it has been occurring in the Brazilian pandemic context, the authors present academic initiatives by researchers who highlight the central role of the higher education as an authority in Brazil, through university extension5 project endeavours, in fostering and promoting human rights where the State is absent (IPOL 2021). The initiatives were grouped in certain categories highlighting some significant projects: actions developed within universities for the dissemination of information and news, and for reaching interpreters through an app; actions developed by a research group and a publishing company; actions developed by civil society and an international cooperation to build an online multilingual glossary. The authors’ goal of compiling translation and linguistic mediation experiences for minority language communities has enabled a more comprehensive reflection on the needs of linguistic minorities in terms of access to public services. These initiatives, thus listed in this chapter, besides illustrating the in vivo policies that are implemented from the very (bottom-​ up) relationships and interactional dynamics, reveal how necessary the (top-​down) support of the Brazilian State is to become institutionalised, especially regarding linguistic assistance in public services. In the previously mentioned scenario, we discuss the theme by addressing, on the one hand, the relationship between practices amid sociolinguistic and cultural diversity, which simultaneously consolidates and threatens social cohesion; on the other hand, we address the structuring issue of language management through the implementation of language policies, with its multiple social ramifications. Thus, the diachronic perspective outlined to characterise the sociolinguistic profile in Brazil is a premise for the synchronic approach specific to this pandemic scenario. On the other hand, they add up to describe the current context of diversity and contact that manifests itself in specific interactional situations in this context of health crisis. But beyond these temporal paradigms, the research establishes distinct scales of approaches with respect to the object it describes and analyses: macro, meso, and micro perspectives add up to determine both structural characteristics of the phenomena (causes, consequences, and systematicity), and situational elements with their sociolinguistic particularities. The macro perspective is the historical context initially presented. The meso perspective is the exploratory surveys carried out from the academic experiences. And the micro perspective manifests itself in the description of each action, according to the specific situation of interaction in which it intervenes. Sources used were websites of public institutions, scientific articles published in thematic volumes, searches by keywords on databases, etc. It was perceived a lack of systematised data by the public agents, which is felt particularly in this context of health crisis for the implementation of specific actions. Thus, documentary and literature review, through state-​of-​the-​art contributions, can unfold into actions fostering the relationship between academia and society, based on activism, training, technology, and innovation.6 A recognised framework of knowledge based on a look at the social context influences the public perception that a given service is important and is a condition for the well-​being of the population as a whole. Thus, this type of analysis, even if preliminary, provides the basis for guiding actions and strategies to confront both emergency situations, as is the case of the current health crisis, and to manage the structuring situation of inequality and social injustice 75

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in Brazil in a scenario marked by the health crisis that brings to debate estimates for the future of humanity.

Discussion By surveying actions and data on sociolinguistic profiles of communities benefited by the actions mentioned on p. 75, subsidies for policy formulation and implementation are extracted. The authors did not seek to evaluate the relevance of these actions, but rather to record the various initiatives that, when added together, show how society in general, through bottom-​up actions, has been able to compensate for the absence of top-​down policies. In this context, the research sought to understand the structuring issue of managing multilingualism through the bottom-​up implementation of language policies, with their broad social ramifications. In a national scenario in which linguistic minorities have been marginalised for their linguistic and cultural specificities, the pandemic affected some groups more than others. The most affected were those who were already vulnerable because they: • occupy precarious housing with a high occupation rate;7 • are users of public transportation that, at no time, offered adequate conditions to maintain physical distance nor the required hygiene conditions; • are already in economically precarious conditions, performing informal activities, without access to social security;8 • suffer from a state of emotional vulnerability due to their own migratory trajectory.9 Faced with these difficulties, academic and civil society institutions10 in dialogue with some authorities,11 who are more sensitive to this state of exclusion, have sought to analyse the impact of the public health emergency caused by COVID-​19 on these groups of people, focusing especially on those who live off informal labour and risk being unassisted during this crisis. It has been clearly observed by intervenient groups mentioned on p. 75 that many are unable to interact or access information and explain their needs in various circumstances where language proficiency in the official language is indispensable for proper care. Therefore, it is more than urgent to implement methodologies to adapt social protection systems that consider the linguistic, cultural, and educational specificities of these groups. In fact, there is a multiplicity of ways to face the unfolding of the pandemic, devastating for its lethality and its harm to health, between confronting the disease and prophylaxis, preventing contagion, and ways of transforming contagion. The authors believe that beyond the disease itself, it is necessary to account for the countless social consequences that place the most vulnerable in a situation of survival. Thus, the pandemic has exponentiated political and social ills on a global scale. However, in structurally unequal countries such as Brazil, the imbalances that the health crisis made visible are finally seen, beyond this epidemiological crisis, as a humanitarian catastrophe. And one of the greatest institutional voids refers to the absence of duly defined and structured language assistance policies.

Hegemonies and counter-​hegemonies in the access to information, services, news, and healthcare Amidst the health insecurity due to the COVID-​19 pandemic, uncertainty about the prevention of the disease, and a lot of misinformation in Brazil, several initiatives involving experiences

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of translation and interpreting, linguistic mediation, and information dissemination took place to embrace not only marginalised language communities, such as the deaf community, the various native peoples and quilombolas,12 asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants, but also groups that, although speaking the hegemonic language, demanded communication adapted to them according to the requirements of their social/​regional profile and characteristics. Among the various linguistic assistance initiatives information the authors have gathered throughout the research, they would like to highlight a few, mostly involving universities. The enumeration does not imply a judgement of importance, just an organisation of information for clarity. The authors would like to point out that the scope of their research did not include monitoring the impact produced by the initiatives and actions collected after their implementation.

Actions developed within universities For disseminating information on health and services In this category, the authors will mention initiatives and actions promoted and developed by professors, researchers, and students, gathered in groups, mostly involving translation and interpreting, in order to disseminate reliable information to the most vulnerable populations. Most of these actions emerged rather from ideas and projects of individuals and were taken later to the university authorities to be somehow validated, and not from the higher hierarchy of the institutions themselves. The first one to be mentioned was carried out at the core of the NUPEL (Núcleo de Pesquisa e Extensão em Letras) [Center for Research and Extension in Languages] of Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). The team developed a Project of Voluntary Translation of Information Materials Related to COVID-​19, in which they experienced voluntary translations of scientific articles, abstracts, and information materials related to COVID-​19 with the purpose of helping in its national and international dissemination.13 This initiative included Brazilian research and health institutes, such as public and private universities, hospitals, and government agencies. Similar actions were taken by the Translators’ and Interpreters’ Base/​IEL-​Unicamp14 project, gathering voluntary translators and interpreters at Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Two actions must be highlighted: 1. Campinas de todos os povos [Campinas of all peoples] project –​translation of information materials about the pandemic into five languages (Arabic, Haitian Creole, Spanish, French, and English),15 by Brazilian, international, and refugee students, in a partnership with SMASDH (Municipal Department of Social Assistance, Persons with Disabilities, and Human Rights) from March 2020; 2. Abrace esta causa, use máscara [Embrace this cause, wear a mask] campaign, in partnership with the Brazilian Labour Prosecution Office and the Deslocamento Criativo [Creative Displacement] group, for the production of masks, in order to enable income generation for migrants, refugees, and vulnerable populations, to raise awareness about the need to wear masks, and to enable migrants and refugees to act as social protagonists within the migrant and Brazilian populations. Involving translation and interpreting between the Libras-​Portuguese linguistic pair, another group developed the experience of the InformaSUS-​ UFSCar network,16 a working network involving different professionals, sectors, and units of Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar) and civil society in order to promote and disseminate scientific and quality information about the COVID-​19 pandemic to the population.17 The University Extension Project called “Brazilian Portuguese for Humanitarian Migration” of Universidade Federal do Paraná (PBMIH-​UFPR) developed activities in its interdisciplinary 77

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team.18 This project developed, throughout 2020, several materials in six languages (Portuguese, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Arabic, and English). In doing so, it aimed to support the exercise of citizenship and facilitate the access of migrant communities and/​or asylum seekers and refugees to information related to health and also to public policies, citizens’ rights, and financial aid. These materials included information about COVID-​19, such as instructions for making homemade masks and care with its use and sanitation. Another initiative developed by the same university, but this time by the Medicine course, was the free availability of the translation of the main scientific articles, published in renowned international journals, about COVID-​19. This action was conducted by students and professors, led by Professor Rafael Lirio Bortoncello, from the Medicine School through an academic volunteering programme. The goal was to make up-​to-​date and reliable information available to health professionals, and the public in general, to disseminate knowledge on the subject and to help face the pandemic.19

For disseminating reliable news on the web One important initiative came from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).20 This was an extension project dedicated to translating the pandemic from news published in the German media (Deutsche Welle, the electronic edition of the Frankfurter Rundschaue newspaper, the website of the ZDF television channel, Max-​Planck Institute website). The translated texts were disseminated on a free and open page hosted on a far-​reaching social network, targeting a general public. The activity was developed by undergraduate German-​Portuguese students within the scope of the university’s Model Translation Office, which offers a degree in Portuguese-​German Languages and Literatures, and has been following the news about the pandemic since the confirmation of the first infection in Germany, in the Bavarian region, in January 2020. Taking place in June and July 2020, the project sought to select texts for translation and dissemination according to two initial criteria: the potential public interest and the degree of difficulty of the text for translation purposes, to contribute concomitantly to the training of translators and dissemination of news on the pandemic from the German perspective.

For reaching interpreters through an app The authors also highlight an initiative from the University of Brasilia (UnB). In mid-​2020, a call for proposals was launched by the Committee on Research, Innovation, and Extension to Fight Against COVID-​19 (Copei). It aimed at planning, systematising, and seeking to enable the implementation of institutional research, innovation, and extension actions in order to address, in the Federal District and in Brazil, the public health emergency of international importance resulting from COVID-​19. The Institute of Arts at the University of Brasilia, aware that many people in Brazil are excluded from social protection programmes and would remain vulnerable during the crisis caused by COVID-​19, focused particularly on newcomers (migrants and refugees), indigenous people, and people with disabilities. Considering the Institute’s long experience with these communities, researchers were brought together around a project entitled “Consequences of the COVID-​19 pandemic for foreigners (immigrants and refugees), indigenous people, and people with disabilities (especially deaf people): How to Make the Social Protection System Responsive to Shocks.” This is the implementation of a linguistically inclusive communication system (an application for smartphones) for use by authorities and service requesters having to assist users who do not speak Portuguese.21 This system aims to bring together several resources: an interpreter 78

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database (with geolocation for rapid mobilisation or remote intervention); multilingual glossaries and institutional information (service locations, addresses, etc.), and legal instruments related to the human rights of (im)migrants in the various languages. The results, still partial so far because it is under testing, reflect central aspects of the methodology of the work, such as the formation of networks of interpreters and people trained to train interpreters, an open technology competition,22 or the development of the application by multidisciplinary teams and the database, which gathers multilingual information and content about public health actions and healthcare.

Actions developed by a research institute and a publishing company One research institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), and a publishing company, Elsevier, made translated scientific papers on COVID-​19 available on their virtual libraries and virtual repositories in order to facilitate the circulation of knowledge and to help the scientific community stay abreast of health information. Those translated scientific papers were disseminated for free, while their source texts sometimes were made available only under subscription.23

Actions developed within civil society But not everything happened within the universities, as is evident from several civil society initiatives,24 such as the Interpret-​Vol project.25 Interpret-​Vol was created on April 4th, 2020, with the goal of interpreting, voluntarily and via WhatsApp, for health professionals and patients (and/​or their families) during the pandemic period. Through international networking, Marisol Mandarino was able to gather 60 professional and experienced interpreters willing to provide pro bono services in several languages.26 The group met virtually to define COVID-​19 glossaries and produced slides in several languages with a QR code for direct contact with volunteers. The intention was to post these slides at the entrances to hospitals and clinics, so that people in need of interpreting would be able to see them from the reception desk and contact the team. In addition to dissemination in social media networks, the project was publicised in some hospitals, embassies, and health departments.27

An international cooperation As an international venture, in 2020, Translators without Borders,28 in order to assist in international emergency response, developed a multilingual glossary29 of COVID-​19-​related terms in more than 30 languages, including Brazilian Portuguese. The validation of the terms in Portuguese had the collaboration of members of the extension project “Translation, Linguistic Mediation and Dissemination of Information to the Community”,30 which was carried out throughout 2020 at Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), but conceived with the support of the Mobilang group,31 led by Professor Sabine Gorovitz (Universidade de Brasília). In the validation of technical terms for the multilingual glossary, the group relied on the support of the UFPel COVID-​19 Committee to solve doubts, highlighting the need to break institutional and disciplinary barriers in order to fight the pandemic and promote language rights. Many other initiatives in Brazil were also disclosed by ISA –​Instituto Socioambiental32 –​and IPOL –​Instituto de Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Política Linguística,33 an institution that, besides compiling and disclosing initiatives, acts strongly in the promotion of language rights in Brazil. Many of these initiatives were focused on interpreting in the hospital setting as a way to 79

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confer not only the humanisation of care, but also its effectiveness, since care and treatment, if well understood by the patient, tend to be more successful.

Conclusion By listing university and civil society initiatives of linguistic assistance to migrant communities during the pandemic, the authors are not only trying to establish a list of actions aimed at vulnerable populations. This juxtaposition, with a brief socio-​historical and sociolinguistic panorama, aims at a more comprehensive reflection on solidarity policies, especially in times of crisis, from a post/​decolonial perspective that presupposes to consider the migrant/​speaker in their demands, but also in their potential for social participation. Thus, it is not a matter of apprehending actions in terms of reception, integration, insertion, or assistance, affiliated to a nationalist perspective, reaffirming the prejudice and exclusion that frame the social scenario (Bizon 2020, 588), which erases the potential and resources of the speakers themselves. The effective possibility of participation in the target society implies public policies capable of taking into account the perspective of these new citizens, and considering the differences that they introduce as resources capable of adding to those local ones. Otherwise, the policies may reaffirm exclusion. The initiatives listed on in this chapter show that social protection systems must be able to be expanded and adapted to accommodate specific needs (such as those that emerge from the context of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism) and make them responsive to crisis situations. The initiatives presented in this chapter provide, through concrete experiences, a broader view of the linguistic needs of migrants in terms of access to public services, based on concepts related to language policies and rights and the role of the community interpreter or the community translator. As such, they support the need for the implementation or consolidation34 of institutional translation and interpreting services that take into consideration the sociolinguistic characteristics of the users and the various contexts in which they are needed. The authors start from the assumption that Brazil has not only been remiss in relation to institutional actions for the promotion and valorisation of linguistic diversity, but also that the State was malicious through repressive actions. As we have seen, it is an institutional policy that historically stems from an ideology based on monolingualism as a condition for citizenship, and that sadly perpetuates itself in the contemporary Brazilian context. Thus supported, and bearing in mind that the right of linguistic communities should have legal solutions to guarantee the enjoyment of rights by linguistically vulnerable people with the same scope as the speakers of languages of greater social prestige, it was shown that translation and/​or interpreting are processes that, although they give rise to strong contradictions among the agents involved, especially in crisis situations, also guarantee rights. In fact, the social participation of linguistic minorities is established by means of laws and political decisions, but it is also built with long-​term actions in synergy among several agents (universities, civil society institutions, communities, community translators, and interpreters) in a process that involves the whole society. Thus, institutional deficiencies regarding migrant communities and other minorities and their linguistic rights have been compensated by solidarity initiatives and discussions restricted to academia and civil society through non-​governmental and religious organisations, although many actions are implemented in dialogue with public institutions. During the pandemic, despite the general helplessness felt by linguistic minority populations and despite the State’s frank omission in the face of their needs, universities, research institutes, private institutions, and civil society worked to fill these gaps and alleviate the consequences of the pandemic. 80

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In light of this analysis, and of the situation of exponentiated vulnerability imposed by the pandemic, it can be concluded that Brazil faces today the challenge of building a linguistic policy in favour of diversity, from a vision of its multiple facets, especially those that compromise the equality of chances among citizens. In this sense, the authors hope that, with the passing of the Bill in the Brazilian Senate, linguistic rights in Brazil will gain visibility and respect.

Notes 1 In this chapter, the authors adopt the definition of migrant given by IOM (International Organization for Migration): a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons. The term includes a number of well-​defined legal categories of people, such as migrant workers; persons whose particular types of movements are legally-​defined, such as smuggled migrants; as well as those whose status or means of movement are not specifically defined under international law, such as international students. (Definition retrieved from www.iom.int/​who-​migr​ant-​0) On the other hand, if the authors refer to “immigrants”, they are referring to the common definition: “a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence” (definition retrieved from the Merriam-​ Webster Dictionary at www.merr​iam-​webs​ter.com/​dic​tion​ary/​immigr​ant). 2 When referring to the community interpreter, the role is seen as encompassing all possible cross-​cultural and interlingual capacities, including characteristics typically allocated to a community translator. 3 See Immigration Portal in Brazil at https://​portal​deim​igra​cao.mj.gov.br/​. 4 For just an example, see news about Brazil’s return to the United Nations’ Hunger Map at https://​globa​ lvoi​ces.org/​2022/​08/​30/​why-​the-​un-​added-​bra​zil-​to-​the-​hun​ger-​map-​once-​again/​. 5 One of the three pillars of university action (undergraduate studies, graduate studies, and extension actions and projects) in Brazil. Ensuring the relationship between university and society and establishing a social impact, the university extension is the form of articulation between university and society through various actions. As the name implies, it is extending the university beyond its walls, interacting with the community, aiming at the exchange of knowledge and applying research to solve social problems. 6 Please see the following when listing the initiatives carried out during the pandemic; there were some projects where technology and innovation were particularly important, such as the prototype of the app developed by Universidade de Brasília for smartphones called LUA –​Linguagem Universal Acessível (Accessible Universal Language) and the Interpret-​Vol project. 7 On this matter, please see www.gov.br/​mdr/​pt-​br/​notic​ias/​dados-​revisa​dos-​do-​defi​cit-​habit​acio​nal-​e-​inad​ equa​cao-​de-​morad​ias-​nortea​rao-​politi​cas-​publi​cas. 8 On this matter, please see www12.sen​ado.leg.br/​notic​ias/​infom​ater​ias/​2021/​03/​rec​ordi​sta-​em-​desig​uald​ ade-​pais-​est​uda-​alter​nati​vas-​para-​aju​dar-​os-​mais-​pob​res. 9 And also for leaving, in dramatic conditions, their countries of origin, generally due to persecution and need for protection or financial hardship, in search of survival. 10 Universities involved include UnB –​Universidade de Brasília, UERJ –​Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, UFSCar –​Universidade Federal de São Carlos, UFPel –​Universidade Federal de Pelotas, and UFPR –​Universidade Federal do Paraná, among others. 11 The most important authorities involved were DPU –​Public Defender’s Office, the Prosecution Office, and TRF3 –​Regional Federal Court in Guarulhos. 12 Quilombolas are the descendants and remainders of communities formed by runaway slaves (the quilombos) between the 16th century and 1888 (when slavery was abolished), in Brazil. 13 The team consisted of Monique Pfau, Lucielen Porfírio, Daniel B. O. Vasconcelos, and Marília Portela. 14 IEL –​Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem [Language Studies Institute]. 15 These are the languages most used by recent migrants, especially asylum seekers and refugees, coming from Venezuela, Angola, Haiti, Cuba, China, Syria, and other countries to Brazil. Please see OBMigra (2020). 16 SUS –​Sistema Único de Saúde [Unified Health System].

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Sabine Gorovitz and Teresa Dias Carneiro 17 The group consisted of Vinícius Nascimento, Gustavo Nunes de Oliveira, Lara Ferreira dos Santos, Joyce Cristina Souza, and Rodrigo Vecchio Fornari. 18 The team included professors and students from Literature, Psychology, Design, and Journalism fields and the project was reported by Maria Gabriel, Maria Cristina Figueiredo Silva, Jeniffer Albuquerque, Graziela Lucchesi Rosa da Silva, Camila Akemi Aoto, José Aparecido Vanzela Junior, Maria Fernanda Mileski de Paula, Maria Rodrigues Provenzi, and Vanessa Diamante. 19 Information available at www.tol​edo.ufpr.br/​por​tal/​arti​gos-​cien​tifi​cos-​COVID-​19, retrieved on 04/​02/​ 2023. 20 This project was led by Professor Anelise Freitas Pereira Gondar. 21 Tests have been made with public agents from social assistance centres, who download to their functional cell phones and reach interpreters remotely. 22 “Hackathon”, available at www.pctec.unb.br/​even​tos/​138-​hacka​ton-​let​ras. 23 Please see https://​por​tal.fioc​ruz.br/​obser​vato​rio-​COVID-​19; https://​bit.ly/​eds-​fioc​ruz; www.zot​ero.org/​ gro​ups/​2442​236/​novo-​corona​viru​s_​COVID-​9_​fioc​ruz/​libr​ary, information retrieved on 04/​02/​2023. Please see https://​COVID-​19.elsev​ier.hea​lth/​home, information retrieved on 04/​02/​2023. 24 The authors got in touch with these initiatives from the dissemination of information in the network of partners and collaborators. 25 The project was idealised by Marisol Mandarino, a certified sworn English and Spanish translator and interpreter in Minas Gerais. 26 The languages offered were English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Danish, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese, Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), Wolof, and Warao. 27 The leader of the project, Marisol Mandarino, told the authors on 02/​02/​2023 through text messages that the project didn’t take off because malicious people started approaching the group through the QR code provided to access the WhatsApp group and sending pornographic material. She decided to cancel the project to avoid exposing the volunteer interpreters to this kind of approach. 28 https://​transl​ator​swit​hout​bord​ers.org/​ 29 https://​glo​ssar​ies.transl​ator​swb.org/​COVID19/​ 30 https://​instit​ucio​nal.ufpel.edu.br/​proje​tos/​id/​u2574 31 http://​mobil​ang.unb.br 32 www.soc​ioam​bien​tal.org/​ 33 http://​ipol.org.br/​ 34 Some of the policies and actions are implemented but not yet consolidated. Please see https://​dire​itos​ huma​nos.dpu.def.br/​nuc​leo-​de-​tradu​cao-​nut​rad/​ for more information.

Further reading Silva-​Reis, Dennys. 2021. ‘[Trans]missão & cura[tivo] em tempos de COVID-​19: contribuição para uma História Imediata da Tradução no Brasil’. In Traduzir a Pandemia, edited by Sabine Gorovitz, Ángela Maria Erazo Munoz, and Andrea Cristiane Kahmann, 116–​139. Porto Alegre: Cadernos de Tradução, Instituto de Letras–​UFRGS. Available at https://​seer.ufrgs.br/​index.php/​cad​erno​sdet​radu​cao/​arti​cle/​view/​ 107​419/​61723. Besides proposing other analyses, such as reflections on methodological issues about the Immediate History of Translation, as well as on affected agents and consumption habits of translated materials modified by the pandemic, Silva-​Reis’s paper operates as an excellent survey of some of the many initiatives developed in Brazil in 2020 that relate translation to the pandemic. Albres, Neiva de Aquino, and Michelle Duarte da Silva Schlemper. 2021. ‘Tradução em período de pandemia: distanciamento de crianças surdas na escola e literatura como linguagem viva’. In Traduzir a Pandemia, edited by Sabine Gorovitz, Ángela Maria Erazo Munoz, and Andrea Cristiane Kahmann, 159–​181. Porto Alegre: Cadernos de Tradução, Instituto de Letras–​UFRGS. Available at https://​seer.ufrgs. br/​index.php/​cad​erno​sdet​radu​cao/​arti​cle/​view/​105​900/​61724. In social distance, deaf children, who have the school as their main space for learning sign language, have suffered perhaps more than other children the delay in language acquisition. The authors in this article mention several projects developed for multimodal videos proposing reading and textual production activities for these children.

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Language access and linguistic rights for migrants in Brazil Gabriel, Maria et al. 2021. ‘Traduções simbólicas em contexto migratório: (re)existência e democratização da informação’. In Traduzir a Pandemia, edited by Sabine Gorovitz, Ángela Maria Erazo Munoz, and Andrea Cristiane Kahmann, 83–​104. Porto Alegre: Cadernos de Tradução, Instituto de Letras–​UFRGS. Available at https://​seer.ufrgs.br/​index.php/​cad​erno​sdet​radu​cao/​arti​cle/​view/​106​060/​61719. The authors mention the University Extension Project-​Brazilian Portuguese for Humanitarian Migration of the Federal University of Paraná (PBMIH-​UFPR) that develops materials from a “symbolic translation” as a way to support the exercise of citizenship and facilitate the access of migrant and/​or refugee communities to information related to health, economic, and social situations aggravated by the pandemic.

References Altenhofen, Cléo Vilson. 2013. ‘Migrações e contatos linguísticos na perspectiva da geolinguística pluridimensional e contatual’. Revista de Letras Norte@ mentos, 6 (12): 31–​52. Bizon, Ana Cecilia Cossi. 2020. ‘Acolhimento e solidariedade em contexto de pandemia: a experiência do banco de tradutores e intérpretes da Unicamp’. In Migrações Internacionais e a Pandemia da COVID-​19, edited by Rosana Baeninger, Luís Renato Vedovato and Shailen Nandy, 584–​608. Campinas: Núcleo de Estudos de População “Elza Berquó” –​Nepo/​Unicamp. Gorovitz, Sabine, Teresa Dias Carneiro, and Marcia Martins. 2023. ‘A interpretação comunitária como garantia de direitos: qual formação para qual atuação no Brasil?’. Revista Belas Infiéis, 12 (1): 1–​33. Hale, Sandra Beatriz. 2007. Community interpreting. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. IBGE. 2020. Síntese de indicadores sociais: uma análise das condições de vida da população brasileira. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, Coordenação de População e Indicadores Sociais. IPOL. 2021. Nota técnica. Website. http://​ipol.org.br/​nao-​a-​repres​sao-​ling​uist​ica-​no-​bra​sil. OBMigra. 2020. ‘Resumo executivo’. Relatório anual 2020. PDF file. https://​portal​deim​igra​cao.mj.gov.br/​ ima​ges/​dados/​relato​rio-​anual/​2020/​Res​umo%20Ex​ecut​ivo%20_​Re​lat%C3%B3rio%20An​ual.pdf. Pöchhacker, Franz. 2008. ‘Interpreting as mediation’. In Crossing borders in community interpreting, 9–​26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

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6 MULTILINGUAL CRISIS COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE ACCESS, AND LINGUISTIC RIGHTS IN SIERRA LEONE Shaun Pickering, Chloe Franklin, Jonas Knauerhase, Pious Mannah, and Federico M. Federici

Introduction Crises are triggered by one or multiple hazards. Hazards can be geomorphological (e.g., earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding); biological (e.g., viral epidemics or pandemics); technological (e.g., cyberattacks, electricity blackouts); or teleological (e.g., conflicts and terrorism). They all have in common the necessity to communicate risks to people exposed to crises in timely, accurate, and efficient ways. Fundamentally, affected people have the irrefutable right to seek information that is relevant to them; such information should ideally be provided in formats, languages, means, and channels that are accessible (WHO 2017). There is a need to establish strong channels of multidirectional communication and to circulate trustworthy information that can reduce, mitigate, or avoid threats and risks. In this context, communication takes a specific meaning as it pertains to circulating trustworthy information about threats and risks (i.e., risk communication) to reduce harm, manage the cascading effects of risks (i.e., crisis communication), and enable people to deal with the conditions of uncertainty generated by a crisis (Seeger and Sellnow 2019, 7–​9). Several codified crisis communication models exist (e.g., Reynolds and Seeger, 2013), and this chapter refers to the crisis and emergency risk communication (or CERC) model. CERC is an established set of guidelines supporting the training of responders, disaster managers, and emergency services; it focuses on efficient, honest, direct, and reliable communication to reduce health risks and the impact of disasters on people’s lives (Reynolds and Lufty, 2018). The CERC model recognises that responders and crisis/​disaster managers need to disseminate specific messages. Increasing evidence from cross-​border disaster and humanitarian activities shows that affected people must have access to information that they want and need. Unless multilingual crisis communication is embedded in standard operating procedures (SOPs), power dynamics create a predominance of imparted and delivered messages over dialogic, multidirectional forms of communication. The chapter offers a case study of approaches that consider resourcing multidirectional communication,

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as countries such as Sierra Leone have experienced the disastrous consequences of top-​down, non-​ culturally appropriate crisis communication. This chapter is divided into four main sections that detail an ongoing collaborative project that was initiated in 2020 between YMCA Sierra Leone and the Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) at University College London (UCL). Firstly, the Research context of the project will be described. The project’s three main stages will be explained in the Project methodology, followed by a Discussion section detailing the project’s strengths and limitations. Lessons learned to inform future work and the project’s replicability in other multilingual contexts will also be discussed; other contexts potentially include whole countries or linguistic and cultural minorities within a country. Lastly, the Conclusion section will summarise achievements to date, the project’s current status, and its future direction. Recommendations for future projects with a similar nature and goals will be provided.

Research context Crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC) in multilingual environments can be ineffective if residents cannot rely on information in an accessible language and format (O’Brien and Federici 2020; Alexander and Pescaroli 2019). The case study of Sierra Leone is presented in this chapter to highlight the criticality of efficient multilingual communication, which is not only specific to this country but is an issue in all multilingual contexts. However, the integration of strategies for effective risk communication in any multilingual context is challenging to achieve when there is limited or no capacity for interpreting or translation. Sierra Leone has recently experienced the consequences of a limited capacity to deploy a multilingual crisis communication strategy. Limited or absent culturally and linguistically appropriate risk communication characterised many of the activities in response to the 2014–​2016 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa (CDC 2019; Toppenberg-​Pejcic et al. 2019). The gaps and challenges in risk communication highlighted during the epidemic led the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise its communication guidelines, which are published in Communicating risk in public health emergencies. A WHO guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice (WHO 2017). During the time of the UCL-​YMCA Sierra Leone project, the Sierra Leone government also acknowledged “an urgent need to give national and local actors ongoing support to address these single points of failure” in the country-​wide issues with disaster management (Miles 2021; Miles, Bang, and Martin 2021). This chapter presents a proactive attempt to increase Sierra Leone’s translation capacity as part of the country-​wide drive to increase its disaster preparedness. The communication failures during the Ebola response demonstrated the pitfalls of crisis communication strategies that focus on response without grounded plans to enable multilingual communication as part of SOPs. Translation integrates with interpreting and other multimodal communication practices during the response phase, and it continues to be central in the post-​crisis phases of recovery and reconstruction. Terminological initiatives are crucial to providing tools to all modes of language mediation. Translation can support multilingual communication practices to become a risk reduction tool (Federici and O’Brien 2019). Language diversity does not need to be a constant, additional vulnerability (Federici 2020), but capacity to provide language services must exist to be able to respond, as it cannot be devised quickly, while data collection and studies cannot be easily conducted locally without appropriate language access (see Haldane et al. 2022). This chapter illustrates three stages of a bottom-​up approach that relied on raising awareness of the complexity of translating information among disaster managers, while simultaneously increasing translation 85

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and interpreting capacity in five local languages in Sierra Leone: Kono, Krio, Limba, Mende, and Themne. Increasing translation capacity targeted two areas: 1) augmenting the number of people who have fundamental translation skills, and 2) creating terminological resources for future translation, interpreting, and terminology work. Sierra Leone is a multilingual country. The 2004 Population Census is the main source of information about languages spoken in the country (Stats SL 2004); however, the data are obsolete. The figures provided here have certainly changed, but the changes are yet to be recorded: 18 languages are spoken in the country, with Krio as the most widely spoken. Only 10% of the population speaks it as their primary language and up to 97% as a lingua franca. The speakers of Mende as the primary language amounted to 32% of the population, Themne to 30%, Limba to 6.56%, and Kono to 4.16%. English is considered the official language and is used in jurisprudence, but it is predominantly spoken in schools, government administration, and the media. The 2021 Mid-​Term Population and Housing Census (Stats SL 2022) shows that the country’s 7,541,641 residents speak multiple languages. Literacy rates among residents aged 10 and above are approximately 51.4% in any language (59.4% male and 43.9% females); 44.2% are only literate in English, 2.6% in a local language, and 5% in two or more languages. Sierra Leone is prone to disasters and extensively exposed to natural hazards such as wildfires, water shortages, floods, and mudslides, as well as serious disease outbreaks (Miles, Bang, and Martin 2021). Sierra Leone’s population suffered devastating consequences during the 2014–​2016 Ebola outbreak with 14,124 cases (“suspected, probable, confirmed”) and 3,956 deaths (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] 2019). Toppenberg-​Pejcic et al. (2019, 440) highlight the need for community engagement in emergency risk communication as a key lesson learned from the outbreak; this can be achieved through linguistically and culturally “tailored interventions”. The epidemic intensified societal tensions (Hofman and Au 2017), misunderstandings (Enria 2019), and reactions to the harshness of the country’s colonial past (Bastide 2018). YMCA Sierra Leone called for a reform to risk communication strategies (Y Care International 2016); this was the motivation that led to the UCL-​YMCA Sierra Leone project, aiming to optimise multilingual crisis communications, linguistic equality, social cohesion, and crisis preparedness in Sierra Leone. This project combines YMCA’s operational experience of the complexity of communicating across urban/​rural divisions, tribal differences, and languages, with UCL’s expertise in crisis translation and intercultural crisis communication. In 2015, all United Nations (UN) member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, consisting of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This project aligns with UN SDG 16 to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” (UN 2015). Such a goal can be achieved in Sierra Leone through “positive interaction (exchanges and networks between individuals and communities) and social inclusion (integration of people into civil society)” (Legère and Rosendal 2015, 75) that transcend linguistic boundaries in the country’s multilingual population. Disaster preparedness is in the common interest; the technical expressions concerning disaster risk reduction (DRR) in English are not commonly understood. In 2016, the intergovernmental expert working group on indicators and terminology relating to DRR released a new glossary of terms to discuss risk reduction. The UN General Assembly established the working group “in its resolution 69/​284 for the development of a set of possible indicators to measure global progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–​2030”. The United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) terminology, adopted formally on 2 February 2017, is available online (UNDRR 2016). The UNDRR Terminology is used as a reference in projects, policies, and activities concerning the interrelated 86

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agenda on sustainable development, climate change resilience, and disaster risk reduction. It was consolidated and published in English alongside translations in the UN official languages, and it is presented as a glossary that summarises critical concepts in policies, action, science, and fieldwork in disaster management and sustainable development. Access to these terms allows groups to engage with them without an intermediary. Risk communication depends on making information available in a language and format that people understand so that they can then take measures to protect themselves and others. Translating the terminology represents a small step to ensuring equal access to concepts that shape political decisions, investments, and ultimately people’s lives. Enabling multidirectional communication means decolonising access to information. Different language communities deserve the choice to access information in a meaningful way that reflects linguistic and cultural differences. Supporting community-​accepted and community-​driven initiatives to understand, learn about, and act against locally relevant risks means enabling such access.

Project methodology Emerging during the peak of COVID-​19, the project aimed to identify language experts and expand translation capacity to deal with increased preparedness for any type of disaster, including public health emergencies. The initiator of the project, YMCA Sierra Leone, communicated an urgent need with local disaster risk management stakeholders to focus on multilingual communication by expanding translation capacity. They recognised the potential applicability of activities designed within the EU-​funded project International Network on Crisis Translation (INTERACT) to increasing awareness of multilingual communication (Federici et al. 2019a) among disaster managers in Sierra Leone. The project aimed to achieve three goals: 1) increase the number of speakers of multiple languages able to perform essential crisis translation work, 2) create multilingual resource(s) in the five languages, and 3) establish a professional association of experienced interpreters and translators to sustain the development of professional standards for translating and interpreting into and from Sierra Leonean languages. The project followed three main stages: 1) crisis translation training, 2) the delivery of a printed and digital version of the UNDRR Terminology enriched by pictograms and development of a mobile application, and 3) the establishment of a professional association of language service providers.

Training workshops Trainers from UCL and facilitators from YMCA Sierra Leone delivered translation skills training in March 2021 to 50 bilingual volunteer participants in Sierra Leone consisting of linguistic students and representatives from Sierra Leone disaster committees. The training was delivered from the UK via Zoom video conferencing to comply with COVID-​19 restrictions. YMCA Sierra Leone facilitators and the course participants met face-​to-​face for the training in Sierra Leone to overcome issues such as the lack of electricity and unstable internet connections. The participants were motivated to apply newly acquired translation skills to support the wider community in disaster risk reduction and management initiatives. The training consisted of three sessions covering the basic, core concepts of translation. In May 2021, the primary trainer facilitated the language-​ specific workshops in which the participants translated the UNDRR Terminology into Kono, Krio, Limba, Mende, and Themne within their language groups. Session 1 of the training began with personal introductions to facilitate classroom rapport. Firstly, the trainer outlined the content and the intended outcome of the training, i.e., to apply the 87

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learned skills to translate the UNDRR Terminology into Kono, Krio, Limba, Mende, and Themne. The trainer provided definitions of the following key terms in the translation domain: • • • • •

‘Source text’/​‘start text’: the text requiring translation. ‘Target text’/​‘translated text’: a proposed target language rendering of the source text. ‘Source language’: the language in which the text requiring translation is expressed. ‘Target language’: the language into which a text is to be translated. ‘Receiver’: the audience who will be reading the translated text. (Haywood, Thompson, and Hervey 2009, 224–​225)

The trainer then explained translation processes and professional translation practice. Two definitions of the term ‘translation’ were used for group discussion. The first definition was based on a widely used reference book in the field of translation: “Translation refers to the process of, or the product resulting from, transferring or mediating written text(s) of different lengths (ranging from words and sentences to entire books) from one human language to another” (Colina 2015, 3). The second definition is an easy-​to-​read and simplified, minimalistic definition adopted in the context of introducing fundamental principles of translating to an audience of speakers of two languages whose competence in English is unknown: Translation should be seen […] as an action that transforms the ‘start text’ into a different text we call the ‘translated text’. This ‘translated text’ should ‘carry over’ the same ‘message’ that is in the ‘start text’ but should express it in a way that is appropriate for the participant’s language and culture. (Federici and Cadwell 2018, 26) These definitions were selected for their clarity of the core concepts in translation, i.e.: • Translation is the transfer of one human language to another, from one written text to another. • Translation refers to transfer and mediation of texts and transformation of the start text to the translated text. • The translated text must be appropriate for the target language and audience. The trainer elicited from the participants important aspects of the target audience (or ‘recipient/​s’) to consider prior to commencing work on a translation and during the translation process. They demonstrated a clear understanding of numerous considerations based on their previous experience and knowledge in translation and interpreting, and formed a list, including audience, register and tone of a text, distribution method (i.e., how people receive the information presented to them), and content. Figure 6.1 shows the experiential questions used to describe register in the

Figure 6.1 The friend-​mother-​grandmother model

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friend-​mother-​grandmother model, developed based on Federici and Cadwell (2018), as a way of explaining the considerations of appropriateness for the intended audience in terms of the register and tone of a translation. The following core elements of translation were explained: • A translated text should be accurate, i.e., it should convey the same information/​message, it should not omit information, and it needs to be complete. • Terminology should be consistent (e.g., ‘headache’ is not equivalent to ‘migraine’; therefore, the terms cannot be used interchangeably to refer to the different conditions, as they lead to different treatments). • Translations should be accurate and equivalent, yet culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate for the target audience. • The translator should use reliable and high-​quality sources of information and be aware of any information bias that should be excluded in the translated text. The translator should also be aware of who has written the source/​start text. The transmission of a message from one language to another is likely to encounter challenges, primarily due to the lack of terminology expressing precisely the same concept in both languages. Therefore, the concept of ‘equivalence of purpose’ was explained as an operational simplification of functionalist theories of translation (Nord 2018 [1997]). The greatest challenge faced by the trainers was delivering non-​language-​specific training (see discussions in Federici and Cadwell 2018; Federici et al. 2019b). The participants were trained to use translation strategies via explanation in their only common language within the learning context, i.e., English. The participants applied intralingual practices of rewording, rephrasing, paraphrasing, and glossing strategies to their target languages. They were encouraged to practise this concept by paraphrasing a message in English in different ways. In translation, a different structure may be required to convey the same message. Therefore, this task was designed to enable the participants to understand how messages can be structured differently without a loss of meaning and how a structural change can alter or exclude the original message. Although this practice has multiple limitations, language-​ specific discussions included experienced translators and interpreters and linguistic experts in Kono, Krio, Limba, Mende, and Themne; this helped to ensure all participants’ understanding of the translation strategies learnt intralingually in English to then apply to an interlingual translation. The participants thought critically about the constituent elements of a text’s message and how best to render them in the target language. Federici and Cadwell’s (2018) translation workflow (Table 6.1) highlighted key translation elements; these easy-​to-​follow steps facilitated the participants’ understanding of key elements to consider when translating a complete message.

Table 6.1 Suggested translation workflow Read the start text. Underline the challenging parts. Start translating. Check the translated text. Review the translated text. Check if people can understand the translated text without problems. Source: Federici and Cadwell (2018, 26–​27)

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‘Check the translated text’ means ensuring that nothing has been excluded. ‘Review the translated text’ means ensuring that the text makes sense in the target language. In session 2, the key concepts covered were: completeness, omission, consistency, bias and objectivity, reliability, and quality. Completeness was defined as “the quality of being whole or perfect and having nothing missing” (Cambridge Dictionary n.d.). The key message was that it is not necessary to include every word in a translation; instead, a complete rendition of the source text’s message is required. To illustrate this concept, the participants completed an activity in which they had to determine if two English texts, each a summary of the other, conveyed the same message and meaning. Discussions were lengthy for this exercise since there were disagreements regarding what information each text should contain, and reaching a consensus was challenging. Other elements of session 2 included the importance of consistency in terminology usage to avoid confusing the reader and raise awareness of bias and objectivity, both in the terminology used for a translation and in the resources utilised for background research. The focus on terminological consistency and bias helped to prepare the participants for discussions regarding suitable translations of the UNDRR Terminology. Without vocabulary or other bilingual lexical resources, translation of technical terms relied on the participants’ consensus. Technical terms such as ‘hazard’ are central to the UNDRR Terminology, but even conceptual equivalents were at times impossible. For instance, one of the participating Kono language experts offered the following key explanation during the final revision of the multilingual dictionary: The potential for something (e.g., ‘hazard’) to happen does not stand as a word on its own in Kono; it can only be described in words, such as: Kasaa koe an mbe ka na-​a, meaning ‘something that will cause disaster is coming’. Nimisa can also either be the event itself or the after effect. The UNDRR Terminology itself is based on a negotiated consensus regarding specific terms in English. The terminology was published as a long glossary in 2009. However, with a view to increase clarity and comprehensibility, the terminology was reissued in 2016, after a working group consisting of scientists and policymakers agreed on accurate definitions that somewhat simplified the scientific complexity of the 2009 glossary (UNDRR 2016). Lastly, the importance of utilising reliable resources when conducting background research was emphasised. Advice was also given on assessing the reliability and quality of resources. The significance of producing reliable, high-​quality translations was covered extensively, and the participants were made aware of the potential consequences of inaccurately translated texts, including the potential to cause harm. The following session, i.e., session 3, focused on the importance of record keeping of translation work to ensure terminological consistency when translating texts within a domain or on a particular topic. An example of a reusable resource for terminology and translated segments was provided, including suggestions on how to modify a resource to suit individuals’ preferences and working styles. The trainer explained the difference between a ‘term’ and ‘terminology’. To illustrate this difference, the separate terms ‘red’ and ‘herring’ were compared to the combination of terms ‘red herring’–​this could be considered as terminology, as it has a more specialised meaning, i.e., a type of fish). The participants were organised into language-​specific groups. They commenced translations of the UNDRR Terminology and were asked to complete as much work as possible before the language-​specific workshops, pre-​scheduled for May 2021 (i.e., two months later). During the 90

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interim, their progress was hindered by issues such as personal time constraints, work/​family commitments, limited access to technology (most of the participants could only work with PCs provided by YMCA Sierra Leone on their premises), and the lack of language-​specific resources available. In response to these issues, UCL and YMCA Sierra Leone: • recruited language experts including lecturers from the linguistic department of the University of Sierra Leone located in the capital Freetown, a lecturer from the University of Makeni, former and current translators for the Bible Society Sierra Leone, and members of the Institute of Sierra Leonean Languages. The experts assisted the training participants as senior translators, revisers, and lexicographic resources, i.e., they performed the role of living bilingual resources and lexicographers assisting with coining new terms, • initiated a collaboration with the design agency Amberpress, based in Berlin, Germany, to produce bespoke pictograms to accompany the translations, with the ultimate aim of optimising multilingual communication. In May 2021, two and a half days of language-​specific workshops were held in the regions where the languages are most widely spoken. The trainer was present on Zoom to facilitate the workshops and provide support when necessary. The language experts guided the participants in their decision-​making related to orthographical, terminological, and phraseological choices. The participants were set three tasks for the workshops: to complete, check, and revise their translations. The pictograms were presented to the participants, and they discussed their comprehensibility and suitability for the various target audiences, i.e., speakers of different languages. Following the workshops, their suggestions for localisation were proposed to Amberpress. Additionally, two linguistic experts per language spent two weeks revising and editing the translated texts.

Production of the multilingual UNDRR dictionary and mobile application The translated UNDRR Terminology into Kono, Krio, Limba, Mende, and Themne was released as an open-​access print and e-​book, and printed copies were delivered to crisis and disaster managers in Sierra Leone. The book was officially launched on 29 October 2021 in Freetown, in a formal reception. Attendees included the UN Resident Representative and representatives from the United Nations Development Programme, Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), and the Ministry of Education of Sierra Leone. The launch attested to the political significance of the project’s outcomes. In the first year after its release, the multilingual version of the UNDRR Terminology was used by disaster risk managers as a reference dictionary. It was accessed and used in participatory workshops with the language communities and as a learning resource by linguistic students and lecturers in Sierra Leone to design other terminological resources. The main obstacle to accessing the translations of the terminology is the relative level of literacy in the local languages, with some language communities using their primary language only orally and not in written contexts. Following the development of the multilingual terminology, the priority was to disseminate this resource widely by making it easily accessible in multiple formats and modes. The translations of the UNDRR Terminology were used to design a multi-​function mobile application; this application will be hosted using the Microsoft Azure platform and made available on the Android Play Store and the App Store for free download.1 This application is another milestone in supporting local communities in disaster management. The terminology and the pictograms are supported by audio recordings to facilitate access for people with different literacy levels and for speakers 91

Shaun Pickering et al. Table 6.2 Technological infrastructure of the mobile application Front-​end technologies

Back-​end technologies

Web infrastructure

React Native React JS SOPs

Note JS Expo MySQL

Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine

of languages that are predominantly used orally. With its offline capacity, it will be a constant resource for anyone involved in sustainable development. The development of the application followed a consultative process. A series of workshops were held with key stakeholders to determine the functionality of the application. The first workshop was held with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sierra Leone’s NDMA, and some Information Technology students from Njala University located in Freetown. The rationale for this workshop was to enable disaster stakeholders to identify the specification of the application, ranging from ‘must have’, ‘should have’, and ‘could have’ features. The design and coding were based on the principle of future-​proofing the application for continued updates, upgrades, and ease of access. The application enables back-​end users with computer literacy but no coding skills to update the multilingual glossary and add video and audio files to further expand the accessibility of the mobile application. Videos in sign language are also planned for the future. The user-​end was designed for ease of access through multiple mobile platforms and for offline use for deployment without broadband access. The entries of the UNDRR Terminology can be accessed on a device or remotely, allowing mobile users to limit data storage or data access depending on needs and circumstances. The second workshop was held between the application designers and Information Technology students from Njala University via Zoom. The purpose of this workshop was to link the students together and to present the specifications and features that the application should include, as suggested by Sierra Leone’s NDMA and UNDP. For the UCL students, this was an authentic project expected to design a multiplatform mobile application with a usable solution; it had to be user-​ friendly and needed to be easily updatable and upgradable by administrators with some degree of computer literacy but without coding skills. For the Njala students, the project was a learning experience of tandem learning, though theirs was not experiential learning, but more alike to a form of shadowing the UCL students and beta-​testing the proposed mobile application. The final workshop was held at Sierra Leone’s NDMA headquarters where the designers presented the final version of the application to all the Agency’s staff for their final feedback. As the project focuses on enhancing support for multilingual communication among several stakeholders, it is crucial to assess whether the terminology (and later, the mobile app) is used and is useful for its intended audiences in real settings. Hence, starting in the summer of 2022, semi-​structured interviews and questionnaires were conducted to assess the intended audiences’ perceptions and satisfaction levels with the translations, accessibility of the dictionary, and usability of the different formats (i.e., the print, digital, and mobile application versions). Principles of collaborative participatory research methods were used for the assessment (Cadag 2019). Participatory practices are currently used in applied linguistics and translation studies in areas connected with linguistic justice and equality. The agency of marginalised groups must be considered when assessing how these particular language communities that the terminologies intend to serve can assess the translated terminology. The project continues to design ways of

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93 Figure 6.2 The system architecture behind the UNDRR Terminology (as designed by Harry Daintith, Anelia Gaydardzhieva, Wenyong Lai, and Bobi Martens)

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assessing the usability of the resource to use it as a prototypical approach to further reduce access inequality. It is necessary to provide methods of assessing the terminology that are meaningful for the communities who need to use them, rather than for the researchers.

The establishment of a professional association of translators, interpreters, and linguists in Sierra Leone A professional association called the ‘Sierra Leonean Association of Language and Mediation’ has been established to encourage, oversee, and coordinate the development of professional language service provision in Sierra Leone. At the time of writing this chapter, the official website is live,2 the statute and composition of the association are in place, and monthly meetings occur to ensure the necessary support for the professionalisation of translation, interpreting, and language mediation among linguists using Kono, Limba, Mende, and Themne, as well as Krio and English. The association’s membership is forward-​looking as its members currently consist of approximately twenty people, including linguistic experts and students. The association provides a framework for continued collaboration in disaster management across Sierra Leone’s various language communities and is venturing into translation projects to support multilingual education in the local languages.

Discussion This section discusses the authors’ reflections to evaluate the project’s strengths, limitations, and lessons learned that can inform the project’s replication in different multilingual contexts. One key strength was the project’s endorsement by the Office of National Security of Sierra Leone, the newly formed National Disaster Management Agency in Sierra Leone, and the United Nations Development Programme. The COVID-​19 pandemic and the country’s efforts to enhance its disaster management were fortuitous circumstances that aided this project without any budget and matching funds from the project sponsors (for an assessment of costs, see Federici et al. 2021). Key stakeholders’ motivation to modify local crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC) practices and increase focus on multilingual crisis communication in crisis preparedness activities offered the project a unique opportunity for reshaping the country’s multilingual communication agenda from the bottom up, steered by the needs of language communities and semi-​, proto-​, and experienced professionals in the language service industry. Additionally, the participation of language experts from the University of Sierra Leone and the Institute of Sierra Leonean Languages ensured a degree of quality assurance for the translations. Without them, reaching consensus on translations would have been even more complex. The quality assurance practices adopted for the project relied on continued collaboration. This was a valuable learning opportunity for all the participants, including some of the language experts who had previously worked only as interpreters and had never needed to commit their (mainly spoken) language to the (partially) agreed orthography of their languages. Key stakeholders gained practical knowledge (e.g., how to insert language-​specific diacritics and symbols) and awareness of language and culture-​specific issues when translating into Kono, Krio, Limba, Mende, and Themne. Furthermore, the collaboration between the participants themselves and between the participants and the language experts was an opportunity for enhanced social cohesion within their respective communities. The five translations of the UNDRR Terminology represent a tangible project outcome, i.e., an accessible multilingual resource for a wider target audience beyond the project’s participants to support national and international stakeholders in peace-​making, 94

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humanitarian, and disaster management operations. The professional association provides a critical foundation for continued collaboration between key stakeholders and fostering knowledge, awareness, and understanding of the Kono, Krio, Limba, Mende, and Themne languages and their respective cultures. The project informs knowledge in the field of Crisis Translation, hence the potential for the project’s replicability focusing on other crisis-​related terminology, languages, cultures, countries, and world regions. Multilingual crisis communication is a global issue; it is critical not only to increase research in this area globally, but to facilitate the spreading of practices that have demonstrated their value. The project is ongoing; we present here some of the limitations of its early phases, with the view of informing future projects inspired by this case study. Firstly, the lack of access to any language-​specific resources to aid the translations during the translation process was an issue; it was challenging for the translators and expert linguists to find suitable terms to convey the UNDRR Terminology. The lack of resources had been expected; however, resolving this issue was extremely challenging. Language experts were identified late in the project; however, their contribution was significant, as they represented ‘living resources’ for their languages. The participants’ varying levels of computer literacy and lack of access to computers also presented expected challenges.

Conclusion The proactive attempt to increase Sierra Leone’s translation capacity has been successful so far, as it has led to the creation of an organised and collaborative professional association that can support and collaborate with the country’s crisis and disaster managers. The increase in local disaster preparedness resulting from an increase in translation capacity must be monitored and assessed over the next three, five, and ten years. The preliminary assessment suggests that it is working. The project’s future direction envisages an increased focus on community engagement activities in disaster management, building on the project’s previous achievements to further strive for stronger resilience and greater crisis preparedness for the country’s population. The project has laid strong foundations for enhancing multilingual communication in crises; the collaboration between universities, existing associations, and new professional associations represents a step forward towards increasing translation capacity and striving for linguistic equality. In the workshops and in the participatory uses of the UNDRR Terminology, there are signs that collaboration and participation across the multilingual communities are practical and effective tools to increase social cohesion, while also working on Sierra Leone’s crisis and disaster preparedness agenda. While evaluating the project’s limitations and the lessons learned, we would like to make three key recommendations for any future attempt to replicate the project: 1) Conducting preliminary desk-​based research into the local languages and cultures concerned supports the early phases of the project. 2) Identifying and selecting reliable culture-​specific language resources prior to training as much as possible (however small these are) facilitates discussions of translation difficulties during the training, supporting tutors working outside their professional language combination. The trainer(s) can incorporate this cultural awareness into the training (even if the trainer is not able to speak the same language), e.g., by referring to specific information during the training such as cultural beliefs/​values, history, current affairs. Demonstrating cultural awareness can also assist in building rapport between the trainer and participants. This could be achieved by learning how to welcome the participants in their language and in a culturally appropriate way at the beginning of the training. The ideas presented here have the potential to impact 95

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confidence and trust in the trainer, hence, trust in what is being taught and why it is being taught. 3) Asking local educational institutions to permit the use of IT equipment could help to overcome the lack of technological access for training participants. However, different geographical contexts may pose different challenges in terms of travelling and access to physical buildings. Offering training to over 100 learners whose language competences had not been assessed in advance led to predictable issues, which trainers face in any context with substantial digital inequalities (e.g., computer literacy, computer access, bandwidth issues, etc.). Numerous challenges were encountered, including managing the training and allocating resources for a range of professionals and students. Another complexity was developing both human resources (i.e., supporting new translators) and terminological resources (i.e., using appropriate expressions to match the technical language). These complexities demonstrate the necessity of time to increase linguistic preparedness. Logistical problems also emerged when dealing with access, availability, and reliability of technologies, availability of language experts, and the complexity of the translation tasks. It took time to recruit experts in the necessary language combinations and to achieve and assess to some extent the quality of translations of this technical terminology. These logistical issues compound when low-​resource languages have neither corpora nor bilingual tools (in print or digital form) to support translators. So far, this project has reinforced that multilingual communication reducing risks in crises cannot be organised on an ad hoc basis. This case study in Sierra Leone demonstrates how there could be instances in which linguistic preparedness creates new translation capacity, but determination, planning, and political willingness are required. It also takes time to create human and technological resources, together with new forms of working collaboratively. This project has highlighted that it is unrealistic to source interpreters and translators that are able to work with technical hazard/​risk-​related language during the crisis response phase, and therefore, preparedness is vital.

Notes 1 Harry Daintith, Anelia Gaydardzhieva, Wenyong Lai, and Bobi Martens, MSc students of Computer Science at University College London, collaboratively designed the mobile application following the specifications provided (see Figure 6.2). 2 See www.slalm.org.

Further reading Cadag, Jake Rom. 2022. ‘Decolonising disasters’. Disasters, 46 (4): 1121–​1126. https://​doi.org/​10.1111/​ disa.12550. This short manifesto must be read by anybody concerned with multilingual communication in crises with a perspective on equality. It introduces a Disasters special issue on new ways of conducting disaster research that increases access to local knowledge and affected people to disaster knowledge and summarises key limitations in a field where cultures and languages continue to be read from afar. Chmutina, Ksenia, Neil Sadler, Jason von Meding, and Amer Hamad Issa Abukhalaf. 2021. ‘Lost (and found?) in translation: key terminology in disaster studies’. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 30 (2): 149–​162. This article focuses on how the English-​language terminology around disasters is neither easy to access nor easy to translate. It epitomises the rationale for translating the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction Terminology as a priority for disaster managers, local NGOs, and multilingual communities in Sierra Leone.

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Crisis communication, language access, and linguistic rights Enria, Luisa. 2019. ‘The Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone: Mediating containment and engagement in humanitarian emergencies’. Development and Change, 50 (6): 1602–​1623. This article summarises the operation context of the international humanitarian response to the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. It contextualises the socio-​political motivation for a better multilingual crisis communication strategy, supported by increased language capacity that underpins the case study discussed in this chapter. Haldane, Victoria, Betty Peiyi Li, Shiliang Ge, Jason Zekun Huang, Hongyu Huang, Losang Sadutshang, Zhitong Zhang, Pande Pasang, Jun Hu, and Xiaolin Wei. 2022. ‘Exploring the translation process for multilingual implementation research studies: a collaborative autoethnography’. BMJ Global Health, 7 (5): e008674. This article predominantly focuses on the role of translation in established practices for data collection in research studies, demonstrating the impact of limited translation capacity on public health research and the risks of data misrepresentation. O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico M. Federici (Eds.). 2022. Translating crises. London and New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Academic. This volume provides an overview of the current debates in crisis translation. In particular, the last six chapters are key case studies focused on standard operation procedures by international entities operating in disasters and using CERC communication models.

References Alexander, David E., and Gianluca Pescaroli. 2019. ‘The role of translators and interpreters in cascading crises and disasters: Towards a framework for confronting the challenges’. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 29 (2): 144–​156. Bastide, Loïs. 2018. ‘Crisis communication during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa: the paradoxes of decontextualized contextualization’. In Risk communication for the future, edited by Corrine Bieder and Mathilde Bourrier, 95–​108. Cham: Springer. Cambridge Dictionary. n.d. Completeness. Website. Accessed 19 November 2021. https://​dic​tion​ary.cambri​ dge.org/​dic​tion​ary/​engl​ish/​compl​eten​ess. CDC. 2019. 2014–​2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Atlanta, GE: Centers for Disease Control Prevention. Website. www.cdc.gov/​vhf/​ebola/​hist​ory/​2014-​2016-​outbr​eak/​index.html. Cadag, Jake Rom D. 2019. ‘Participatory research methods for language needs in disaster research’. In Translation in Cascading Crises, edited by Federico M Federici and Sharon O’Brien, 177–​198. London and New York: Routledge. Colina, Sonia. 2015. Fundamentals of translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Enria, Luisa. 2019. ‘The Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone: Mediating containment and engagement in humanitarian emergencies’. Development and Change, 50 (6): 1602–​1623. Federici, Federico M. 2020. ‘Managing vulnerability during cascading disasters: Language access services’. In Oxford research encyclopedia of natural hazard science, edited by B. Gerber and S. L. Cutter. Oxford University Press. DOI 10.1093/​acrefore/​9780199389407.013.342. Federici, Federico M., and Patrick Cadwell. 2018. ‘Training citizen translators: Design and delivery of bespoke training on the fundamentals of translation for New Zealand Red Cross’. Translation Spaces, 7 (1): 20–​43. Federici, Federico M., and Sharon O’Brien. 2019. ‘Cascading crises: Translation as risk reduction’. In Translation in cascading crises, edited by Federico M. Federici and Sharon O’Brien, 1–​22. London and New York: Routledge. Federici, Federico M., Sharon O’Brien, Patrick Cadwell, Jay Marlowe, Brian Gerber, and Olga Davis. 2019a. International network in crisis translation–​Recommendations on policies. Policy Report. Dublin City University: INTERACT. https://​doras.dcu.ie/​23880/​2/​INTE​RACT​_​D2.1_​Pub​lic%20Rep​ort%20on%20 Pol​icy%20G​aps.pdf. Federici, Federico M., Minako O’Hagan, Sharon O’Brien, and Patrick Cadwell. 2019b. ‘Crisis translation training challenges arising from new contexts of translation’. Cultus, 12: 246–​279.

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Shaun Pickering et al. Federici, Federico M., Pious Mannah, Jonas Knauerhase, Shaun Pickering, and Chloe Franklin. 2021. Community preparedness and linguistic equality in Sierra Leone. Project Report. London: CenTraS. Last updated 14 December 2021. Accessed 11 November 2022. https://​doi.org/​10.53241/​CENT​RAS/​002. Haldane, Victoria, Betty Peiyi Li, Shiliang Ge, Jason Zekun Huang, Hongyu Huang, Losang Sadutshang, Zhitong Zhang, Pande Pasang, Jun Hu, and Xiaolin Wei. 2022. ‘Exploring the translation process for multilingual implementation research studies: A collaborative autoethnography’. BMJ Global Health, 7 (5): e008674. Haywood, Louise M., Michael Thompson, and Sándor Hervey. 2009. Thinking Spanish translation: A course in translation method, Spanish to English. London: Routledge. Hofman, Michiel, and Sokhieng Au (Eds.). 2017. The politics of fear: Médecins sans Frontières and the West African Ebola epidemic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Legère, Karsten, and Tove Rosendal. 2015. ‘National languages, English and social cohesion in East Africa’. In Language and social cohesion in the developing world, edited by Hywel Coleman, 75–​91. London and Berlin: British Council & Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Miles, Lee. 2021. ‘Targeting disaster management: New research evidence from Sierra Leone’. The Conversation. Website. https://​thec​onve​rsat​ion.com/​target​ing-​disas​ter-​man​agem​ent-​new-​resea​rch-​evide​ nce-​from-​sie​rra-​leone-​169​749#:~:text=​Sie​rra%20Le​one%20is%20pr​one%20to,like%20Eb​ola%20 and%20CO​VID%2D19. Miles, Lee, Henry Bang, and Jamie Martin. 2021. Enhancing disaster management in Sierra Leone. Driving African capacity–​building in disaster management (AFRICAB) Final Report 2021. Bournemouth: BUDMC. Website. www.budmc.uk/​sier​rale​one?pgid=​ku58e​9q1-​0025f​5d9-​56a8-​42e4-​bc53-​7550​2767​7a6. Nord, Christiane. 2018 [1997]. Translating as a purposeful activity: Functionalist approached explained. Second edition. London and New York: Routledge. O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico M. Federici. 2020. ‘Crisis translation: Considering language needs in multilingual disaster settings’. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 29 (2): 129–​143. https://​doi.org/​10.1108/​DPM-​11-​2018-​0373. Reynolds, Barbara, and Caitlyn Lutfy. 2018. Crisis and emergency risk communication. Fourth edition. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services–​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Website. https://​emerge​ncy.cdc.gov/​cerc/​man​ual/​index.asp. Reynolds, Barbara, and Matthew Seeger. 2013. ‘Crisis and emergency risk communication as an integrative model’. Journal of Health Communication, 10 (1): 43–​55. Seeger, Matthew W., and Timothy L. Sellnow. 2019. Communication in times of trouble. Best practices for crisis and emergency risk communication. Hoboken, NJ, and Oxford: Wiley. Stats SL. 2004. Population and Housing Census. Statistics Sierra Leone. Last modified 29 March 2019. Accessed 11 November 2022. https://​cata​log.ihsn.org//​cata​log/​4596/​downl​oad/​58456.Stats. Stats SL. 2022. 2021 Mid-​Term Population and Housing Census–​December 10, 2021. Statistics Sierra Leone. Website. www.sta​tist​ics.sl/​index.php/​cen​sus/​mid-​term-​pop​ulat​ion-​cen​sus.html. Toppenberg-​Pejcic, Deborah, Jane Noyes, Tomas Allen, Nyka Alexander, Marsha Vanderford, and Gaya Gamhewage. 2019. ‘Emergency risk communication: Lessons learned from a rapid review of recent grey literature on Ebola, Zika, and yellow fever’. Health Communication, 34 (4): 437–​455. UN. 2015. United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Website. https://​sdgs.un.org/​goals. UNDRR. 2016. UNDRR terminology. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Website. www. undrr.org/​term​inol​ogy. WHO. 2017. Communicating risk in public health emergencies. A WHO guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice. World Health Organization. PDF File. https://​relief​web.int/​ sites/​relief​web.int/​files/​resour​ces/​978924​1550​208-​eng_​0.pdf. Y Care International. 2016. Ebola Emergency Response: Evaluation and Learning Summary–​February 2016. Y Care International. Website. https://​relief​web.int/​rep​ort/​libe​ria/​ebola-​emerge​ncy-​respo​nse-​eva​luat​ion-​ and-​learn​ing-​summ​ary-​febru​ary-​2016.

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7 THE LANGUAGES OF HONG KONG’S INTERNATIONAL CRISIS RELIEF RESPONSE Marija Todorova

Introduction Recent research in international organisations has shown that the effect of translation on the inclusion of local communities does not tend to be given prominent attention in the aid sector. It is surprising that in a sector which would be unable to operate without translation (Sanz Martins 2018) and despite the interest in the role that language plays in international development aid (Cornwall 2007; Cornwall and Eade 2010; Anderson, Brown, and Jean 2012), the first attempt to connect translation studies with development studies has only been made in the last decade (Marais 2013, 2014; Marais and Delgado Luchner 2019; Heywood and Harding 2021). Moreover, translation and interpreting in the international humanitarian sector and in crisis situations tend to neglect the language needs of the local communities relying on aid workers who are often not trained in translation or interpreting work (Federici et al. 2019; Todorova and Ahrens 2020; Footitt, Crack, and Tesseur 2020). This further broadens the inequalities that already exist for vulnerable populations in developing countries that face humanitarian crises and have been identified as an area of global concern within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: “reducing inequalities and ensuring that no one is left behind are integral to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.1 Drawing on experiences related to language use by international organisations for sustainable development aid in Southeast Europe (Todorova 2019; Todorova and Ahrens 2020), this chapter aims to examine the use of languages in the distribution of relief aid provided by Hong Kong-​ based humanitarian organisations in crisis situations outside of Hong Kong. In addition, the study aspires to move forward the debate on language challenges and opportunities in the sector (O’Brien et al. 2018) by examining the linguistic inclusion of local communities and beneficiaries of Hong Kong aid organisations through the use of translation and interpreting. Accordingly, the chapter investigates translation policies and practices of Hong Kong-​based aid organisations working in the field, including languages and modes. This study examines the languages of emergency and humanitarian aspects of development aid, or more specifically, humanitarian aid provided to victims of disaster, as defined in policy documents by the Hong Kong government. In the focus of the study are humanitarian organisations based in Hong Kong, users of the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) provided by the Government of

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-9

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Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) to offer immediate assistance in international disaster-​affected areas. In particular, the study centres on the humanitarian aid delivered through the DRF to countries included in the Chinese government’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Research context In recent years, scholars in translation studies have started shifting their attention to international organisations, such as Amnesty International (Schäffner, Tcaciuc, and Tesseur 2014; Tesseur 2014, 2017) and Oxfam (Footitt 2017; Sanz Martins 2018), alongside theoretical attempts to examine how communication needs are addressed within these international organisations (Madon 1999) and practical ethical implications of translation during a humanitarian crisis (Hunt et al. 2020). Even so, as Tesseur has recently noted, there is still “little understanding in Translation Studies (TS) at the moment of translation and interpreting policies and practices in international organisations and a lack of in-​depth case studies on how specific organisations may deal with their language needs” (2018, 4), especially in a situation of immediate crisis. In most cases of international aid, provision of timely assistance means the provision of translation and interpreting services between locally used languages and the aid organisation’s main operating language(s). However, despite such importance, translation practices within the humanitarian sector have so far rarely been considered as crucial to international aid dissemination. As Tesseur has recently noted, there is still “little understanding in TIS [translation and interpreting studies] at the moment of translation and interpreting policies and practices in (international) NGOs, and a lack of in-​depth case studies on how specific NGOs may deal with their language needs” (2018, 4). Recent research of international organisations has shown that the way in which translation affects the inclusion of local communities does not receive prominent attention in the aid sector. Translation and interpreting needs of local communities are often neglected when delivering emergency aid (Federici et al. 2019; Footitt, Crack, and Tesseur 2020). On one hand, aid organisations do not collect data on the languages and literacy of local communities, relying on aid workers who are often not trained in language work (Federici et al. 2019; Footitt, Crack, and Tesseur 2020). On the other hand, donors do not ask implementing organisations to include translation in their project management and reporting (Crack 2019). Despite its immense effect on the ultimate success or failure of humanitarian efforts, translation is often considered only in terms of its role in communicating project goals and results, failing to incorporate the local population in all planning stages. Federici and O’Brien (2020) have thus proposed “a shift of focus towards considering language translation as part of disaster prevention and management” (130). This focal shift is supported by recent initiatives (Greenwood et al. 2017) to elevate communication of “crucial and timely information in crisis management” to the status of a human right. This change in status would ultimately also entail serious changes in the way translation and multilingual communication in relation to humanitarian and relief efforts are conceptualised and studied. Further research has helped shed some light on the importance of multilingual and translational practices, taking into consideration documents created by international organisations focused on development aid. These studies have shown how the process of translation involving the export of English-​based jargon-​specific language and Eurocentric views can impede the mission of the developmental aid and limit the accessibility to development possibilities. Footitt (2017), for example, studied the internal documents of Oxfam International for about 60 years and noticed that the use of the “Anglo-​dominated lexicon of aid and development” led to “programs which 100

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were considerably less effective” (524). In addition, the position of power assumed by international organisations has led to “a largely unquestioned practice of feedback and evaluation, rooted linguistically as much as conceptually in Anglophone models of management and strategic thinking” (529). Also focusing on Oxfam International, Sanz Martins (2018) has described the specific linguistic needs that resulted in the development of its professional translation service. However, the organisation still mainly uses English as the sole official language, with Spanish and French as strategic languages and Arabic and Portuguese as tactical languages. Sanz Martins suggests that the fact that “connections with local staff and beneficiaries are … limited” is a challenge that can be solved if the organisation keeps “in touch directly with local staff and partners and not only with intermediary requestors” (116). Looking at another international organisation working in the area of human rights abuses, Amnesty International, Tesseur (2014) has focused on the translation policies and practices, noting that translations into small non-​core languages “remain much more unregulated and diverse” (574), which has led to lower translation quality and lack of terminology consistency. Furthermore, in a study of two Swiss-​based organisations and their language and translation practices in Africa, Delgado Luchner (2018) notes that one organisation used “English as lingua franca” (52) while the other organisation communicated exclusively in French, thus both depending on translation into the local languages by local staff or volunteers. However, both organisations have reported their “lack of mastery of the local languages spoken by beneficiaries as an asset” (Delgado Luchner 2018, 60), failing to recognise that the availability (or lack of availability) of local translators is influencing the selection of countries and local partners who are able to receive aid. Delgado Luchner (2018) has also reported that the use of English as a lingua franca was especially prominent in the communication of international organisations with development agencies such as the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Furthermore, looking at the role of the U.K.’s Department for International Development, Crack (2019) has noted the “absence of extended commentary, guidance or reflection about language” (166). She has also pointed out that because of their English-​language competencies, “Northern-​based NGOs are more likely to receive funding, regardless of their local language capacity” (166) and, thus, are in a position to set priorities for local development. Finally, as demonstrated in studies on the localisation of development discourse into the languages of developing countries in Southeast Europe (Todorova 2018), the dissemination of the key development concepts and discourses cannot be reduced to a mere case of importing from the English language without an accompanying amendment by local actors who are well versed in English. The situation is much more complex as it involves the grassroots population as an essential factor in the successful transition of the foreign concepts into indigenous notions (ibid.). These studies prove that translation in the humanitarian sector happens directly from English or using English (and to a lesser extent other languages such as French, Arabic, and Portuguese) as intermediary language to distribute humanitarian and development aid to the local population that does not speak English. However, it is difficult to make a clear distinction between translation and multilingualism in development work. Staff of international organisations are very often multilingual and these multilingual staff members or volunteers often act as translators or interpreters (Federici et al. 2019; Todorova 2020) while at the same time international NGOs have limited translation policies in place to regulate their multilingual work (Tesseur 2021) or use informal translation and interpreting practices (Tesseur, O’Brien, and Friel 2022). Additionally, scholars have started questioning the inequalities produced by the current geography of knowledge production, with many concepts primarily originating from the global North, 101

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resulting in a trend to emphasise local contexts and local knowledge accompanied by an emergence of the global South as a new site of knowledge production. South–​South cooperation, that is, cooperation in the development and humanitarian efforts between developing countries in the global South, is seen as free of obligations imposed by colonial history and based on solidarity and mutual benefit. South–​South cooperation refers to the exchange of resources and knowledge between the countries of the global South; it can be traced back to 1955 and the Asian-​African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia–​also known as the Bandung Conference (Acharya 2016). In 2004, the establishment of the India-​Brazil-​South Africa (IBSA) Dialog Forum was meant to increase the collaboration between these three developing countries and enhance South–​South cooperation (Stuenkel 2014). However, the “absence of a common language in a literal sense and in terms of cultural differences and misconceptions” (Gray and Gills 2016, 569) continues to create barriers to transnational solidarity and shared priorities among IBSA countries. Moreover, language seems again to determine cooperation partnerships, underscored by the notions of “common language” and “cultural proximity” as witnessed in Brazil’s technical cooperation with Mozambique (Seifert 2021). Within the South–​South cooperation, apart from South Asia, one of the regions that is involved in China’s international development efforts is Africa. The Belt and Road Initiative, also referred to as the New Silk Road, was launched in 2013 as a vast development initiative, primarily including Chinese infrastructural investments in countries in Asia but also Africa and Europe. It is envisioned as following two ancient routes to connect China to the rest of the world: 1) the silk road connecting China to Central Asia, and 2) the marine silk road, or the Marco Polo route, that connects China to Africa and Europe through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean (The State Council of the People’s Republic of China 2015). The BRI includes developing countries such as Nepal, Mozambique, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Uganda, and others, with the Greater Bay Area (GBA, Guangdong-​Hong Kong-​Macau) foreseen as a gateway to the BRI. These same countries have been often recipients of the DRF relief aid (Reports of DRF 2003–​2021).2 Furthermore, Hong Kong–​Africa relief aid can also be observed within the framework of South–​South cooperation discourse, thus introducing a new perspective on the role of language in relief aid, different to the historically “Western” centred debates. Once a recipient of international emergency relief aid after the devastation caused by typhoon Wanda in 1962, Hong Kong has since grown into a developed economy that provides relief and development aid worldwide. The Hong Kong Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) was established in 1993 to provide an instrument for the Hong Kong SAR government to respond to international pleas by countries in need of humanitarian aid in the relief of disasters occurring outside Hong Kong.3 For the purposes of the DRF, a disaster is defined as “natural disasters and non-​natural catastrophes, e.g., an explosion of nuclear/​chemical facilities and terrorist attacks causing substantial damages and casualties”, excluding ongoing problems, such as “refugee problems, wars or post-​disaster rehabilitation/​reconstruction” and “the relief support should be confined to time-​critical response in the emergency context” (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 2020). Given the rising trend in both the number of approved applications and funding amount in respect of grants allocated to relief organisations, the annual amount of the Fund had been increased from HK$50 million on its establishment to HK$80 million in 2016–​2017 and further up to HK$100 million in 2019–​2020 (unless otherwise indicated, the data for the following paragraphs are derived from the Reports on DRF). In the period from its establishment to 31 March 2020, 18 organisations and nine government authorities had received grants from the Fund totalling HK$2.084 billion. Among the 18 relief organisations receiving grants from the Fund, the top five recipients include World Vision Hong Kong, Oxfam Hong Kong, The Salvation 102

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Army, Amity Foundation Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Red Cross, with approved grants totalling $836.41 million, which accounted for 40.12% of the total grants approved by the Fund. In terms of geographical distribution, China is the biggest recipient of grants receiving almost 68%, followed by other parts of Asia with 25%, and Africa with close to 5% of the total funds. All DRF grants are made upon the advice of the Disaster Relief Fund Advisory Committee, composed of official and non-​official members chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration. This Advisory Committee also provides guidance on the policy and practices related to the distribution of funds for disaster relief and the size of grants given to specific recipients and monitoring the grant use. In 2019/​2020, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, through DRF, approved HK$66.78 million to support relief organisations in providing emergency relief to the victims of disasters that occurred outside Hong Kong. The funds were disbursed for 18 programmes carried out by nine relief organisations, providing relief to typhoon and flood victims in Malawi, Mozambique, India, the Mainland of China, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. The number of beneficiaries was estimated to be around 470,000 people. The nine relief organisations included: Adventist Development and Relief Agency China (Hong Kong), Oxfam Hong Kong, Amity Foundation Hong Kong, CEDAR Fund, Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong, Plan International Hong Kong, World Vision Hong Kong, Hong Kong Red Cross, and Save the Children Hong Kong. According to the Report on the Disaster Relief Fund 2019–​2020, 25.49% of the overall approved grants were used for relief programmes in Africa. Considering that ca. 10% of overall approved grants went to relief programmes in Africa in the early 2000s (Reports on DRF 2003–​2007),4 the rise to over 25% indicates a growing demand for Hong Kong relief aid to African countries. Many of these organisations also provide development aid outside of Hong Kong, including Africa, and receive funding from sources other than the DRF and engage in development activities other than disaster relief. For example, Amity Foundation, a Chinese charity with an office in Hong Kong, opened two local offices in Ethiopia and Kenya in 2019 in order to facilitate the exchange between China and Africa and contribute to Africa’s social and economic development. The study investigates the translation practices of Hong Kong-​based aid organisations when providing relief to local communities in need worldwide, with a particular focus on Anglophone and Lusophone countries. In its examination of language use in the aid sector in Hong Kong, this study uses a broad survey of humanitarian aid organisations and direct interviews with representatives from the Hong Kong Red Cross. The main target of the research is humanitarian organisations in Hong Kong that have received grants from the DRF in the past five years. Organisations such as World Vision Hong Kong, Hong Kong UNICEF, and Plan International were invited to participate in the survey. Their funded relief work mainly focuses on disasters, such as cyclones and flood victims, in relief areas including India, Sri Lanka, Malawi, and Mozambique.

Research methodology The study will be based on survey data aimed to investigate the critical role of translation in establishing an equal, two-​way dialogue between Hong Kong development aid organisations and the communities they serve within Africa. The findings from the survey will then be compared with data collected through examination of documents from both the government and the charity organisations who provide crisis relief aid. Cross findings will be used to identify points for improvement in terms of translation provision to local communities, as well as replicable solutions emerging from the use of translation and interpreting in the context of South–​South development cooperation. 103

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In this research, humanitarian organisations in Hong Kong that received financial support5 from the Disaster Relief Fund in past years are invited to participate in the survey, including World Vision Hong Kong, Hong Kong UNICEF, and Plan International, etc. Their funded relief work mainly focuses on disasters, such as cyclones and flood victims, that occurred in relief areas, including Africa, India, and the Philippines. Besides, humanitarian groups based in Hong Kong that did not receive the Disaster Relief Fund are also included. These organisations provide help to refugees, asylum seekers, and domestic workers in Hong Kong. As beneficiaries from these organisations may not speak English or Cantonese, organisations from both categories faced language challenges during their work. Translation therefore plays a key role between the Hong Kong office and relief areas in providing appropriate and timely assistance. With the hands-​on experience of colleagues working in humanitarian organisations, this survey investigates the impact of linguistic problems in Hong Kong’s international development and crisis response sector and the current language approaches used by humanitarian workers in Hong Kong. The survey is conducted by an online questionnaire sent out to about 40 Hong Kong-​based organisations and about twenty organisations with offices in Macau. The data is aimed at investigating the critical role of translation in establishing an equal, two-​way dialogue between Hong Kong development aid organisations and the communities they serve. The survey is conducted bilingually (English and Chinese) and contains a total of 26 questions divided in four parts, including single-​select and multi-​select multiple choice questions (with “other” option included), Likert scale, and open-​ended questions. In the first part, respondents fill in data about their organisation and individual language skills. In the second and third parts, the survey questions focus on the workflow and language-​using habits of relief organisations, specifically on communication between the Hong Kong office and the workers and beneficiaries in relief distribution areas. Questions in part two include languages used in the office environment, as well as translation performed by humanitarian staff and translation training needs, while part three includes questions on the types of communication used in relief areas and languages used. The last part includes questions about work-​related practices of translation in the organisations, including practices of hiring professional translators and use of machine translation tools. The survey collected eleven responses from employees of nine different relief organisations in Hong Kong. Participation in the survey was voluntary, the answers were anonymous, and the respondents answered in their individual capacities and not as representatives of their respective organisations. Additionally, documents available on the DRF website were analysed as a validation and comparison strategy with datasets, including guidelines for grants, mechanisms for funding applications, monitoring measures, press releases, and annual reports from 2003 to 2021. After the survey, individual semi-​ structured interviews were conducted with three representatives from the Hong Kong Red Cross (HKRC) and a focus group discussion was held with five representatives of different Hong Kong-​based humanitarian organisations. These interviewees were used to verify the findings of the survey as well as allow the possibility to probe more deeply and obtain more details on the most important questions. Both the survey and the interviews respect the respondents’ right to anonymity, so the results of both will be presented in an aggregate form without referring to individual answers. In order to provide staff anonymity, the results will not be separated by organisations, location, or any other criteria.

Discussion The first part of the survey collected basic information about the language ability of the respondents. Firstly, the survey asked about the language primarily used at work, given the choice of English, 104

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Cantonese, Putonghua, Portuguese, or others. The result is nearly divided in half, with Cantonese having a slightly higher percentage of use than English. The next question then asked the respondents to fill in information about their language skills and ability, including the languages they know and their competency. The result showed that most of the workers in Hong Kong’s humanitarian organisations speak Cantonese, supplemented with intermediate to advanced proficiency in English. Some can speak other foreign languages, such as Spanish and Japanese, but at basic to intermediate levels. As shown in the survey result, all the respondents used language skills at work. The result indicated that English is the most used language during work in humanitarian organisations, while Chinese is the second most used language. In their daily workflow, workers mainly use English for emails, documents, meetings, and phone calls, while some of them also use Chinese in their daily routines. Some of them mentioned that they use Cantonese for local communication with colleagues and English for paperwork and overseas communication. Nearly all respondents mentioned using English to communicate with colleagues in relief areas, except using Putonghua for colleagues in the mainland China area. A smaller number of organisations mentioned the use of Portuguese as an intermediary language when communicating with local multilingual partners, especially in countries where Portuguese has a status of a colonial language, such as Mozambique. Meanwhile, 65% of the respondents translate documents as part of their work routine. In terms of the work with beneficiaries, humanitarian organisations use various ways to reach and communicate with their beneficiaries, including direct face-​to-​face communication, phone calls, and emails. When conducting work in other parts of the world, Hong Kong relief organisations usually do not communicate or reach the beneficiaries directly but through the local contact person, local office, or local partner organisations. Over 90% of the respondents reach the beneficiaries

Figure 7.1 Languages primarily used at work

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Figure 7.2 Ways of communication with beneficiaries

in the relief area through local partners and contact persons (Figure 7.2). However, almost half of them will contact their beneficiaries by phone calls, emails, and have direct face-​to-​face communication. Yet, 20% produced leaflets to contact their beneficiaries. Other ways of reaching beneficiaries include radio and staff at field offices. One respondent stated they didn’t communicate directly with beneficiaries. Furthermore, nearly all respondents have a multilingual local contact person. However, respondents who did not choose yes for this option were not involved in their organisations’ international projects but rather worked on projects implemented in Hong Kong and mainland China. Thus, all respondents who worked in overseas relief areas communicate with their beneficiaries through local partners and a contact person who can speak the local language(s). Most of the contact persons or organisations in relief areas are locals, while only a tiny percentage are international workers. Some respondents also said they would not have any direct communication with beneficiaries. Interestingly, the comment box of the survey respondents revealed that Hong Kong offices of international humanitarian NGOs do not face as many linguistic challenges as we expected, as a significant portion of their international relief work is directed towards mainland China, using Chinese as the main language of communication. Lastly, for translation-​related work in humanitarian organisations, only less than 20% of organisations hired professional translators. While 80% of respondents pointed out that they do not use any machine translation to communicate with beneficiaries, Google Translate is the most popular tool for the respondents that will use machine translation. Consequently, organisations can only solve the translation problems between Hong Kong and beneficiaries in relief areas by relying on multilingual local staff while communicating through the use of English directly or as an intermediary language. As can be seen from the survey results, humanitarian organisations in Hong Kong do not have translation teams and translation policies in place, and professional translators are rarely engaged to provide translation services. This corresponds with the findings from other international humanitarian organisations (Federici et al. 2019). However, rather than relying on a few

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bilingual employees who are able to translate between the predominantly English-​speaking main office and the local beneficiary communities (Federici et al. 2019, Footitt, Crack, and Tesseur 2020), the communication in the Hong Kong-​based humanitarian organisations is conducted by adding a step that includes English, and occasionally Portuguese, as intermediary languages between Chinese and the local languages of the beneficiaries. This is especially relevant in their work with developing countries in East Asia and Africa that have a common linguistic colonial legacy. In their everyday work, employees in the Hong Kong office are expected to be bilingual in English and Chinese (Cantonese or Putonghua or both), performing their tasks in both of these languages simultaneously. Based on the focus group discussion, they are either native in English and use Chinese as a heritage language or are native in Chinese and have been educated in English, gaining advanced or nearly native proficiency. This is in line with the common practice in Hong Kong of requiring that “employees in the professional workplace are able to speak and write English intelligibly” (Qian 2008, 87). Compared with a textual analysis of the DRF documents, procedures for application and reporting, Hong Kong relief organisations are expected to be able to present reports of their work in both English and Chinese. Additionally, DRF reports are presented on their website in both English and Chinese. The latest DRF report (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 2023), presented on the DRF’s website alongside project illustrations and captions, features an additional pop-​up window with short summaries of feedback statements from projects’ beneficiaries. These beneficiary statements could be assumed to have undergone translation (Delgado Luchner 2018) from the local languages spoken by community members into English and then using the English translation into Chinese, undergoing adaptations and transformations along the way (ibid.). On the other hand, staff at the Hong Kong humanitarian office cannot speak the languages of the beneficiary communities in relief areas, making their direct communication with the relief recipients almost impossible. Even though some countries, including Malawi, India, Mozambique, and Cameroon, among many others, have retained the languages of their colonial heritage as official languages after their independence, often members of the most vulnerable populations in these countries are not literate in the official languages and speak one of the many other locally used languages (Tedjouong and Todorova 2023). The distribution of disaster relief services and activities, including relief items or non-​tangible relief support, becomes possible only through engaging multilingual local partners with knowledge in English as an intermediary language and one or more of the local languages of the disaster-​affected communities. In order to communicate with the non-​English and non-​Chinese-​speaking beneficiaries in relief areas, the Hong Kong relief organisations engage a local partner with the knowledge of English and the local language of the relief recipients. Nevertheless, this does not mean there have been no linguistic challenges throughout the relief work. While the selection of project countries is not necessarily affected by language knowledge, unlike, for example, with Swiss development NGOs (Delgado Luchner 2018), since the main selection criteria are determined by an appeal made based on a specific disaster and in an emergency context, we could still hypothesise that the use of English or Portuguese as languages with a colonial past might play a part in the provision of humanitarian and relief aid in a certain country providing greater access for the most vulnerable communities. Additionally, the availability of local partners with certain local language skills might be crucial in which communities get access to relief aid and support (ibid.). However, these local partners are not required to have any translation training or certification.

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Additionally, for conducting their ground work, the HKRC engages volunteers and local staff in the relief area. The interviewees pointed out that local staff can provide localisation and engage with the community using their local language, translating from English into the local languages spoken by various ethnic groups. This supports previous research that translation in an emergency context is preferably performed by members of the local community who bring their knowledge of the community and their social capital that enables trust (Tedjouong and Todorova 2023). However, these volunteers and local staff have often not been trained in translation or have previous translation skills. Moreover, translation and interpreting training in locally used languages is often unavailable from government-​supported education institutions (ibid.). There is a need to provide them with the appropriate professional training in translation, and more specifically, indirect translation, to perform their roles with more expertise. Furthermore, as revealed in the interviews conducted with HKRC representatives, strategy discussions and negotiations with local governments are more difficult because language use at high levels requires competencies in diplomatic English and the local language of the recipient country. The translator must have high ability in both English and the local language to deliver the message from the Hong Kong office to the local government or to translate the relief context and information from the local government, which only very few people can do for these scenarios. Finally, both donors, such as the Hong Kong Disaster Relief Fund and the Hong Kong-​based humanitarian and development organisations, can benefit from developing clear policies for translation (Tesseur 2021). In this way, translation practices will be addressed in a more systematic manner based on research in the field. The use of indirect translation will be clearly identified, and training will be provided when needed.

Conclusion The findings presented in the literature review suggest the importance to the sector of communication in local languages. However, the initial research suggests a lack of explicit awareness of this among both organisations and the DRF. Analyses of annual reports, policy, and other documents have yielded no indication of any provisions on the use of languages and translation in the distribution of crisis relief aid to disaster victims outside of Hong Kong. There is a yawning gap here, and it is likely to affect the effectiveness of the aid given. With aid to Africa on the rise, the issue is also urgent. The post-​survey interviews confirm the survey’s outcome that the predominantly used language in aid distribution is English, while indirect translation happens from Chinese to English and from English into the local languages. Occasionally, the use of indirect translation from Chinese into Portuguese and Portuguese into the local languages assists in aid distribution in Lusophone countries, such as Mozambique. To conclude, reducing inequalities and including the most vulnerable communities in accessing relief aid by Hong Kong-​based humanitarian organisations do depend on the language knowledge of their local partners and take advantage of using English and Portuguese as intermediary languages. The survey result reflects the general situation of Hong Kong humanitarian organisations and the language-​related aspects of their working routines. It showed that nearly all of the humanitarian organisations communicate with their beneficiaries in relief areas through a local office or local contact person and will not contact beneficiaries directly. Instead, they usually only use English as the intermediary language to communicate with the local partner and rely very much on the local workers to pass messages to local beneficiaries in the local languages and dialects.

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In the future, the study will benefit from conducting more focused interviews with Hong Kong humanitarian organisations. Moreover, research in the use of languages to increase equitable access to humanitarian aid should include an assessment of the translation needs of the local beneficiaries, as these have so far rarely been considered crucial to international aid dissemination.

Notes 1 2 3 4 5

For more on SDG10 please read www.un.org/​sus​tain​able​deve​lopm​ent/​ine​qual​ity/​ For more on the DRF and reports, see www.admw​ing.gov.hk/​eng/​links/​drf​und.html#two www.admw​ing.gov.hk/​eng/​links/​drf​und.html#four See note 2 for more on the DRF and reports. Since its establishment in 1993 to March 2022 the Disaster Relief Fund has awarded HK$2,186 million to a total of 18 organisations (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 2023).

Further reading Tesseur, Wine. (2023). Translation as social justice: Translation policies and practices in non-​governmental organisations. Routledge. This book analyses the translation policies and practices of international non-​governmental organisations (INGOs), engaging in critical questions around the ways in which translation can redress power dynamics between INGOs and the people they work with, and the role of activist researchers in contributing to these debates. O’Brien, Sharon (2022). Crisis Translation: A snapshot in time. INContext: Studies in Translation and Interculturalism, 2 (1). https://​doi.org/​10.54754/​incont​ext.v2i1.12. A brief introduction to the disciplines of disaster studies and crisis communication is provided and crisis translation is situated at the nexus of these two areas. Following from this, the article considers the position of crisis translation in relation to topics of interest to translation studies scholars such as conflict, development, and community translation.

Acknowledgment This study was supported by the Hong Kong Baptist University Faculty of Arts Research Impact Grant.

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8 HOW DID TRANSLATORS AND INTERPRETERS IN CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS GET IGNORED? Overview of international effort in protecting our colleagues working in crisis settings and the rights of speakers of non-​dominant languages Henry Liu, Debra Russell, and Colin Allen

Introduction Why explore translators and interpreters working in crisis communications? Firstly, crises rarely respect linguistic or state boundaries (Moser-​Mercer et al. 2021), assuming states are monolingual homogeneous entities, thereby needing translators and interpreters as mediators for some or all of those affected. It is now more widely known that both the general impact of crises are on the rise (Aronsson-​Storrier and Dahlberg 2022) and the particular impact on non-​dominant language speakers is disproportionate (Horton 2020; Maxmen 2021). When speakers of such languages communicate in a language they do not understand (or do not understand well), they might misunderstand risks, make poor decisions, or be hindered from participating in preparedness, response, and recovery efforts (Mathews et al. 2022). And this is particularly pertinent to deaf people (McKee 2014) who are often cut off from aural sources of information having to access information through printed materials or captioned media in the majority (spoken) language. Secondly, there has been increased awareness of weaponisation of language (see Rafael 2012) and translation and interpreting as factors of combat power (Luo 2016). Furthermore, there has also been a popular belief that bad translation or interpreting, for example in a diplomatic setting, could lead to conflict or an acceleration to a next level of it. Given these critically important roles translators and interpreters have played in every stage of crisis–​and if we believe the role of communication across language barriers and accessibility to information is to level the playing field and to reduce disproportionate disadvantages; and if we believe translators and interpreters are integral in providing accessibility–​then we should ask why are translators and interpreters still considered an afterthought or even ignored? Their welfare has certainly been universally ignored: according to the 1949 Geneva Convention, even those who are 112

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accused have the right to an interpreter, but the rights of interpreters are not included in the treaty (United Nations 1949). More recently, more than 300 interpreters have been killed while serving the American administration of Iraq (Bartolini and Ferracci 2020). Many authors and scholars have written on the difficulty in defining crisis and about the controversies surrounding classifying crises (and disasters, emergencies…) (Perry 2007; Cadwell 2021). For this chapter, we have simplistically classified crises into non-​conflict-​related and conflict-​ related (as opposed to using the term war, which can be subjective), whilst fully acknowledging that management of multilingual communications and accessibility affects both types of crisis and that the distinction is not always clear. In this chapter, we have explicitly excluded commercial and financial crises. We provide a historical overview of international efforts in defining and protecting translators and interpreters working in each type of non-​conflict and conflict-​related crisis. Through this, we hope to highlight the underlying thread which leads to the current status of translators and interpreters, including all sign and spoken language translators and interpreters, working in all crises. We ask the question if their situation could be remedied internationally.

Research context Literature of the many disparate and interdisciplinary domains that our approach touches upon is available, but given that this chapter aims to cover the reasons why there is a particular void both in practice and in the supposedly supporting literature, the research context primarily focuses on how the chapter relates to what has not been covered well or at all. The, albeit, limited review therefore aims to cover what is absent. Much attention has been paid to translators and interpreters in war, conflict, and high-​risk situations (see Ruiz Rosendo, Barghout, and Martin 2021) but, in contrast, little has been written with regard to international and/​or multilateral efforts in the recognition and protection of translators and interpreters in crisis settings (see Tesseur 2023 for an overview on humanitarian settings). Thanks to the relatively comprehensive archiving of documents in multilateral institutions, researchers with such interest have these institutional archives like International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and United Nations (UN) as starting points. Methodology with respect to archival research has been outlined in related articles and tomes (see Takeda 2021). Nevertheless, in archival document and information retrieval it is always harder to find why something is absent than when it is present. Similarly, there is relatively little concrete multilateral effort in the absence of international (let alone enforceable) consensus on when translators and interpreters ought to be used in crisis communication and their role boundaries. One exception was a multi-​centred research group funded by the EU called The INTERnAtional network on Crisis Translation (INTERACT). The most pertinent findings of the group’s research and activities could form the evidential basis of an international or transnational best practice (O’Brien et al. 2018; O’Brien and Federici 2019). However, there is little evidence INTERACT or any other research projects have led to concrete changes of this perennial linguistic blind spot (Tesseur 2023). Why not? Firstly, this may be due to the sensitive geopolitical environment surrounding the crisis ecosystem. Secondly, technology, which Linda Fitchett mentioned specifically as a solution to individuals risking their lives reinforced by “No Language Left Behind” narrative (NLLB Team et al. 2020), shifted the focus away from individual translators and interpreters and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Thirdly, unlike, for example, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), the training and investment of crisis translators and interpreters may be seen as a lesser priority, especially given the visibility of volunteers’ services like Translators Without Borders (now part 113

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of CLEAR Global) and the promises of tech solutions. This also leads to underinvestment in the training of individuals and structural and logistical preparedness in crisis communications. Ultimately, one wonders if racism and ableism play a part in our reluctance to localise crisis communication (Slim 2020). So perhaps analogous to fixers in journalism (Jukes 2019; Kotisova and Deuze 2022), who play a similarly critical role in crisis journalism and are equally ignored, and following the seminal works of Tesseur (Footitt, Crack, and Tesseur 2020 and Tesseur 2023) on international non-​governmental organisations (INGOs), the future avenue of research can focus on decolonising and democratising crisis communication specifically and localisation in general (Moser-​Mercer et al. 2021). As indicated earlier, a review like this is never complete. Even though they may be subject to similar precarity, the authors have excluded the vast literature on translators and interpreters in the post-​settlement settings, and asylum determination (e.g. Valero-​Garcés 2018; Schuster and Baixauli-​Olmos 2018; Cases Berbel 2020), which necessarily overlaps with the much wider field of public service interpreting.

Research methodology Although not analogous to the rather asymptomatic research context previously, the research methodology diverges from more traditional approaches too–​an historiographic approach through literature review. The three authors have been involved individually and in conjunction in recent international efforts in the last 10 years in supporting and protecting sign and spoken language translators and interpreters working in crisis and high-​risk settings. Through the preparatory work in establishing guidelines, the authors have respectively undertaken extensive literature searches as well personal and professional correspondences with contacts within international and multilateral agencies to gain understanding of historical efforts, successful or otherwise. In writing this chapter, the authors–​who have all been chairs of international bodies, namely World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI), and International Federation of Translators (FIT)–​have worked to ensure it contains the most up-​to-​date research and efforts around the world as well as newer insights in crisis communication and how it impacts on present and future colleagues and those needing accessibility.

Discussion Sections for both non-​conflict and conflict-​related crises are further divided into subsections (see Table 8.1) and by discussing literature we outline different aspects of each, and the role(s) translators and interpreters play and international efforts in protecting them.

Table 8.1 Overview of subsections NON-​CONFLICT-​ RELATED CRISES

• public health emergencies and access, • civil emergencies, • humanitarian aid and development

CONFLICT-​RELATED CRISES

• pre-​violence diplomatic and intelligence settings, • violence (war), • post-​violence

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Non-​conflict-​related (or not necessarily conflict-​related) crises Public communications have been historically mediated through national or state official languages. Few states, however, are truly monolingual and homogenous, certainly with respect to their linguistic landscapes. Along the same logic, global public communication is conducted mainly through a few languages (Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020). Crisis communication could therefore be characterised as the large-​scale exclusion of minorities, especially linguistic minorities, including indigenous peoples and parts of populations needing accessible information (Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020; O’Brien and Federici 2019; Alexander and Pescaroli 2020). A mismatch between the language in which such information is communicated and the linguistic repertoires of those who need the information serves to exacerbate the effects of disasters on linguistic minorities in comparison to the majority population (Uekusa 2019). A combination of language barriers on the one hand, and low levels of trust in official communications on the other, have made minority populations particularly vulnerable to misinformation and fake news (Burke 2020; van Liempt and Kox 2020).

(Public) health emergencies and access Local, regional, and global health emergencies are not new phenomena. The role that signed and spoken language translators and interpreters play in these emergencies has been in the spotlight since the beginning of this millennium (Sandset 2021), especially following recent public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The challenge to provide accurate and prompt multilingual public health information was experienced by national authorities as well as global and international players, including the World Health Organization (WHO). Created in 1948 as part of the United Nations system, the WHO is an intergovernmental organisation charged with providing a public health response to the international spread of disease through the International Health Regulations (WHO 2005) and the focal point for health within the UN Inter-​Agency Standing Committee for humanitarian assistance (Müller, Ruelens, and Wouters 2021). Yet the only occasion where language is mentioned in the IHR is Article 32 Treatment of travellers. Furthermore, with its mandate, the World Health Assembly–​its governing body–​only adopted resolution WHA71.15 on multilingualism, which pertains only to the official languages of the WHO, as late as May 2018. Beyond these official languages, WHO adopts a much more ad hoc approach concerning disseminating health information via translation (there is no information available regarding interpreting), mainly through collaborations with the regional offices. WHO states that 273 publications have been translated into 58 languages in the biennium 2016–​2017 (WHO A72/​53). The COVID-​19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on the work of sign language interpreters. In 2021, WFD and WASLI produced access guidelines in English and International Sign Language (WFD 2021) that address the technical specifications for captioning and interpreters during emergency broadcasts. Putting on an interpreter alone does not meet the legal and moral obligation to be accessible as not all interpreters are suited for the task of media broadcast interpreting (Russell, Nicholson, and Howard 2022). Nor does use of avatars. Many national broadcasters had very little understanding of what makes sign language accessible. These developments then led to further joint statements by the WFD and WASLI regarding the standards necessary for quality broadcasting of sign language interpreters. Amidst the pandemic, in contrast to many countries, the United Kingdom did not provide sign language interpreting access during the daily government updates, which resulted in the successful court case (R v Minister for the Cabinet Office 2021), filed against the UK government.

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The pandemic also created significant tensions between interpreters and deaf people over conflicting rights–​these included the right of deaf people to access health care services and the right of interpreters to decline appointments that may put them at risk of contracting COVID-​19. Once more WFD and WASLI were called upon to issue a statement supporting the rights of all persons and encouraging countries to find solutions that could support access and ensure health care workers, and by extension, interpreters were safe.

Civil emergencies Unlike its humanitarian counterpart, the international disaster legal framework still needs a universal flagship treaty (Bartolini 2017). As the scale and destruction of civil emergencies escalate (Alexander and Pescaroli 2020), particularly exacerbated by climate change, communication with multilingual diverse affected communities on the ground increases (Cadwell 2021; Moser-​Mercer et al. 2021). Yet, despite the considerable literature on this (see O’Brien 2022), the lacuna for the role and need for translation and interpreting remains absent both in any policy and protocol of International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) or the EU Modex urban search and rescue modules and in any post-​emergency evaluative reports (Federici 2022). Translation remains a “perennial hidden issue” in crisis response (IFRC 2018). Whilst there is academic attention to national policy of crisis communication (see Li et al. 2020), this has neither been translated into concrete implementation nor international protocol in the emergency preparation and response spaces. Ignoring translation and interpreting in emergency response policies–​and as a risk reduction, crisis preparedness, or response tool (O’Brien 2022)–​has led to a lack of standardisation, lack of training, lack of coordination with ad hoc and patchy provision, as well as almost complete reliance on the volunteer-​based provision of language services (Cadwell 2021)–​the very common theme across crisis translation and interpreting. Putting aside preparation and focusing on emergency response, translation costs money (O’Brien and Federici 2019). The current paradigm of crowdsourcing or volunteer-​driven provision is free and seemingly abundant. It is difficult to identify and ascertain the scope and scale of civil emergency language needs and what proportion of crisis communication is met by volunteer-​ based provision. Furthermore, ethical concerns exist (O’Brien et al. 2018). Considerations in that respect over the practice of Translators Without Borders (TWB) have also been noted (Piroth and Baker 2020). Moreover, with the ever-​increasing use of apps and cloud-​based platforms, it is difficult to ensure confidentiality, both with respect to sensitive personal information of the affected and volunteered and donated by translators and interpreters (Liu 2018). Stone and Russell (2022) identified that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN-​CRPD)–​drafted 2006, effective from 2008–​shaped by the World Federation of the Deaf, has been one of the most useful global legislative frameworks that has supported public access to sign language interpreting services in recent years. Ratified by 186 countries as of April 2023, the UN-​CRPD has provided the deaf community with a tool to lobby. While all of the tenets apply to deaf citizens, of relevance to this chapter are Article 9 on ‘Accessibility’, Article11 on ‘Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies’, Article 29 on ‘Participation in Political and Public Life’, and Article 25 on ‘Health’. In 2011, WFD and WASLI produced a joint position paper outlining the international treaties that identify human rights for deaf people, including the right to communication access during natural disasters or other mass emergencies (WFD 2011). This was in response to mass emergencies in Japan (tsunami) and Chile (earthquake), where deaf people had limited access to information 116

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available to all citizens, and in the case of Chile where the government flatly refused to put sign language interpreters on televised broadcasts that were providing critical emergency information. The resulting document not only offers guidance to national associations of the deaf but also ensures planning for crises to include sign language communication. However, despite the number of country signatories to the convention, deaf people and interpreters continue to point to violations to the UN-​CRPD and the need for significant changes on the parts of governments and civil society organisations involved in humanitarian and disaster relief efforts to provide communication equity in signed languages.

Humanitarian aid and development Hunt et al. (2019) argue that from justice and ethical perspectives, providing translation services, where language barriers and inadequate translation contribute to inequitable resource distribution, is an ethical obligation. One of the first references of information constituting part of humanitarian good alongside food, water, shelter, and health care was Greenwood et al. (2017), coming from an information communication technologies perspective. Liu (2017) also suggested that in order for information to be accessible in humanitarian operations, linguistic services ought to form part of the humanitarian aid deliverables. Footitt, Crack, and Tesseur (2018) argued that only through translation and interpreting can international development be delivered in a way respecting the local communities, whilst Tesseur (2021) stressed that communication is an aid but only if delivered in the right language. This is especially important for those, already marginalised, experiencing further injustice without translation and interpreting during disasters and crises (O’Mathúna et al. 2020). Yet we find that neither the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) nor the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have a translation or interpreting policy, certainly not outside of the official UN languages. Similarly, the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) also fails to mention language services. The same holds true for northern NGOs (Tesseur 2023). What emerged was the low level at which multilingualism and translation are institutionalised in NGOs (Tesseur and Footitt 2019). However, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) explicitly mentioned language services in the form of cultural mediators in its operational support budget which is to the tune of EUR 63.5m (Pan 2016) or up to 40% of its overall budget. Whilst explicitly mentioned, cultural mediator is only one of the many operational support personnel listed. With cultural mediation outsourced, see Spathopoulou, Kallio, and Hakli 2021 for concerns. Translation and interpreting skills are often expected from local staff without training or respect. Whilst they have been at lower risk of being attacked or injured than their counterparts working in conflict settings, incidents like that in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Burke 2019) have increased (PRIO 2015 and FPRI 2016). But the main focus of protection is on their working conditions and the overall lack of provision and funding towards language services. Ensuring that linguistic services form part of the humanitarian deliverables and duty of care for language mediators would be a first and powerful step to more sustainable institutional multilingualism. Furthermore, what is translated, Tesseur (2021 and 2023) found is mostly into a handful of lingua francas, concordant with Piller, Zhang, and Li (2020), largely overlook interpreting and translation from and into local languages. Staff was not always aware even if INGOs have guidelines for using interpreters. At the same time, although individual NGO workers recognise the critical role of translation in their work, international interventions are not meeting the vision of ‘leaving no

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one behind’ as expressed in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations 2015).1 The limited nature of the current translation policies is remarkable since some of the communities that these INGOs work with have low literacy, speak languages that are often oral only, and include blind and deaf communities (Tesseur 2023).

Conflict-​related crises Despite the frequent invisibility of interpreters in the historical record and the mutability of the interpreter’s status or role, the need for and importance of interpreters during warfare is undeniable (Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2016). One may speculate that this is because the discipline of translation and interpreting was not formalised in many parts of the world (and indeed still not today).2 With the ever-​globalised and interconnected world, more conflicts require the mediation of translators and interpreters (Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2016; Elias-​Bursac 2015; Footitt 2016).

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) The international multilateral agency most commonly associated with crises is the ICRC. Founded in 1863 and subsequently custodian of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), it employs interpreters under the Tracing Agency and Protection Team. However, the search for a clear policy when it comes to translation and interpreting, especially outside of its two official languages, remains fruitless. Similarly, there is a conspicuous absence of translators and interpreters in the Geneva Convention and its subsequent protocols, except in Protocol III Articles 96 and 105 and Protocol IV Articles 72 and 123 regarding rights and means of defence. To date, Moser-​Mercer (2015) and Bartolini and Ferracci (2020) provide the only analyses on the legal status of translators and interpreters in conflict and little has been written on why journalists and even cooks have been included in the Convention whilst translators and interpreters are not.

Pre-​violence During peacetime, translators and interpreters may be engaged in intelligence, diplomatic and information campaigns (or categorised under propaganda). Whether they are cryptologic linguists, diplomats, or staff, often they have no formal translation or interpreting training, even more often without association with professional bodies of translators and interpreters. Some of them are freelancers or even mercenaries (The Guardian 2022). It is uncertain if they perceive themselves as translators or interpreters. Whilst the self-​perception may differ, the heterogeneity of diplomatic translators and interpreters at least, and the varied pathways in becoming one (Olsen, Liu, and Viaggio 2021), as well as the nature of their work, would preclude them from self-​organisation, especially at an international level.

War (in-​zone) Conflict has always been a breeding ground for interpreters, and their recruitment is often the result of some tragic situation (Ruiz Rosendo et al. 2021). Whilst the combination of interpreting and other roles is no doubt challenging for individuals, it also provides them with more capital which could directly or indirectly protect them and even enhance their power (Guo 2016). Much has been written with regards to the roles of translators and interpreters during conflict (see Footitt and Kelly 2012; Laugesen and Gehrmann 2020; Todorova and Ruiz Rosendo 2022) and 118

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peacekeeping (Kelly and Baker 2013). To-​date, there is limited literature on effort in protecting and ensuring enforceable rights for our colleagues working in these settings. It was argued that military linguists are clearly covered by the Geneva Convention, whilst contracted conflict zone interpreters are neither military nor civilian (Baker 2010). This apparent lack of clarity under which provisions conflict zone interpreters are protected under IHL is disputed by Moser-​Mercer 2015, who stated that both humanitarian interpreters and military linguists “are covered by the Responsibility to Protect Principles” (S.RES.1674). This is supported by the ICRC Interpretative Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law (2009) and Bartolini (2010) but it is important to note that none of these has ever been tested in court and that recourse would be difficult if not impossible. It most certainly markedly differs from the experience of conflict zone interpreters in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Further, whilst under IHL, Protocols III and IV specify the provision of an interpreter. So who protects these interpreters then? Putting aside interpreters working for or with military forces, how about interpreters recruited and employed by international organisations operating in conflict zones? Moser-​Mercer 2015 argued that they could be protected under UN Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) 1990 and the Montreux Document, although noting that Montreux is not law as such, Moser-​Mercer also admitted that “conflict zones are more often than not legal vacuums” (254). Again, this is as yet untested. It is the experience of conflict zone interpreters which brought about, independently, amongst the initiatives the following: the International Association of Conference Interpreters; Interpreters in Conflict Areas project in 2009; the formation in 2010 of Red T, a non-​profit organisation advocating for the protection of translators and interpreters in high-​risk settings (Fitchett 2012); and the attention paid by the FIT Human Rights Standing Committee (2008–​11). During the Critical Link 6 conference hosted by Aston University, Birmingham in 2010 representatives of all three organisations met for the first time, and at that time also included representatives of the International Criminal Court. Subsequently, this three-​member coalition collaborated to draft and publish the Conflict Zone Field Guide in March 2012 (Red T 2012). The limitation of this guide is well covered by Moser-​Mercer 2015. Similarly the FIT ID card for conflict zone interpreters has failed in both its incarnations. Nevertheless, this coalition–​later joined by the International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters (IAPTI), Critical Link International (CLI), and WASLI–​is the first time that international and multilateral bodies present a common front in advocating on behalf of translators, interpreters, linguists, and fixers working in high-​risk, and in particular conflict, zones. In 2014, the FIT XX Congress in Berlin called upon national governments and the international community to: • • • •

protect the local translators and interpreters in conflict zones ensure a life in security during and after their work in the conflict zone respect the impartiality of the work of translators and interpreters work for a UN Convention and/​or an international safety document for the protection of translators and interpreters in conflict zones during and after their service. (Baur et al. 2014)

At the same time, Red T initiated a petition for a UN resolution protecting civilian linguists (translators and interpreters alike) in conflict situations similar to that of Resolution 1738 for journalists. 119

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In February 2022, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the national Ukrainian Society of the Deaf (UTOG) started working with its government to ensure sign language interpreters were available for daily official government updates. Because of the implementation of military law, with funding to UTOG frozen, interpreters provided volunteer services. UTOG has since received external aid to support interpreting and translation services. In March 2022, WFD produced guidelines for the protection and safety of deaf people in armed conflict zones (WFD 2022). With some 4500 deaf people, including over 700 deaf children, having fled Ukraine between the start of the Russia–​Ukraine war and the end of 2022 (Chepchina 2022), WASLI’s European Regional Representative mobilised quickly to establish a network of interpreters and translators who could work with deaf associations in countries receiving deaf refugees, providing volunteered interpreting access at border crossings and within deaf associations. While the initial stages of volunteer interpreting may have been necessary, just like what happens to the spoken language translators and interpreters in humanitarian settings, it is not a sustainable model and raised ethical issues.

Post-​violence Modern warfare does not end in victory or defeat, merely in a withdrawal of the military intervention when local conditions are reckoned to be sufficiently stable. In addition to the already vexed issue of in-​zone protection of conflict zone translators and interpreters and the applicability of the Geneva Convention, the wider issue of subcontracting or outsourcing of the provision of translators and interpreters in Iraq and Afghanistan meant that at the conclusion of the operations, the fate of these contracted translators and interpreters could be at the discretion of the contractors, not that of the state(s). Although the exact proportion is not known, many local interpreter deaths or injuries are not incurred in the field but as a result of violent attacks on them or their families by factions during and after conflicts who consider them traitors (Fitchett 2012). In fact, until Afghanistan, there has been no known incident of organised repatriation of linguists by engaged countries. On 13 December 2012, New Zealand became one of the first countries to offer resettlement for the interpreters they engaged with in Afghanistan (NZ Government 2012). Since then, the Joint Doctrine Note on Linguistic Support to Operations (UK Government 2013) was published. However, subsequent reports, like those by Olivia Carville (2012) and Deborah Haynes (2014), confronted the military and their governments with their failure of duty of care to employees which the logistics-​based approach to language and interpreting had caused (Tesseur and Footitt 2019) and as recent as the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 showed too many are still left behind (Pikulicka-​Wilczewska 2021; Jamieson 2021; Martin 2022) and with little recourse. Local/​civilian interpreters working for the military are not hired because they have received training as interpreters (see Cases Berbel 2020) but because they speak the relevant languages. Those who have been repatriated are often neither welcomed nor eligible to become recognised as translators or interpreters in their new country and many have been known to be unemployed or even homeless (Honderich and Debusmann 2021). Professional associations of translators and interpreters have not accepted them as professional members. There are also few organisations dedicated to military interpreters except Association Nationale des Officiers et sous-​officiers Linguistes de Réserve (ANOLIR). Conflict also necessarily means loss of infrastructure like professional associations. As a consequence, there is no formal representation of conflict zone translators and interpreters at any level. Even lesser known are the locally sourced staff from the 120

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conflict times working in post-​violence rebuilding or humanitarian settings. The lack of visibility and recognition, as mentioned in Tesseur (2021), precludes organisation, let alone international effort in protecting them. Whilst the Nuremberg trials have been the most quoted war crimes tribunal and oft cited as the dawn of simultaneous interpreting, much of the work behind the investigation of these crimes has not been explored until recently, nor the role translators and interpreters played (Swigart 2015; 2019). Similarly, there has been increased interest in translators and interpreters in reconciliation (e.g. Mpolweni 2008; Raditlhalo 2009; Verdoolaege 2008). Each tribunal formed since Nuremberg has posed unique and specific challenges (Swigart 2017; Tomić and Montoliu 2013; Anthonissen 2008; Elias-​Bursac 2015). Thus far, most translators and interpreters employed in these settings work from and/​or into relatively rare languages in the international scene. Furthermore, the cohort of translators and interpreters, whether from the International Criminal Court (STIC) or others, had no previous training in translation or interpreting, per se. There is also little evidence of professional organisation from themselves or the International Criminal Court, and effort to protect them is not known. This is significant given that in-​country colleagues could be subject to similar risks to those of their conflict zone counterparts. Furthermore, due to the proximity to violence, conflict zone interpreters may volunteer or be pressed to give evidence on war crimes they witness in the course of their work as interpreters. For a comprehensive monograph on this topic, please refer to Takeda (2021). Finally, thankfully comparatively rare, translators and interpreters have been on the other side of war crimes tribunals. As many as 100 interpreters in the Pacific, nearly all Taiwanese, have been put on trial (twenty of whom were in Europe, safe) and at least thirteen have been executed (Lan 2016). All of the convicted interpreters, except three with military rank, were civilians mobilised and attached to military units or hired locally for temporary assignments. To date, no translators or interpreters have been subject to war crimes prosecution since World War II, but at least one individual has been the subject of criminal proceedings (Takeda 2021). What would and should an international body do should this happen? What international mechanisms are there to prevent this from happening?

Conclusion It is not through lack of trying that crisis translators and interpreters around the world and the people they serve have been ignored. Our sign language colleagues have done better. Notwithstanding, it is not an uncommon conviction that International Law would be the magic bullet to solve this problem. This review highlighted the universal precarity crisis translators and interpreters are in, with or without international legal frameworks. It is often assumed that conflict zone interpreters should be afforded similar rights and protection as conflict zone journalists. Whilst the parallel may be apparent intuitively, closer inspection highlights the pertinent differences. Most so-​called war correspondents are Western, White journalists working for international media and many belong to unions or professional associations at home; whilst most conflict zone interpreters are local, from the Global South, untrained and unorganised (see Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2016). With war experiencing greater privatisation, clarifications may be due for how the rules and regulations of war and international conventions apply to civilian contract interpreters, recruited from a range of places and working for different national and international forces (Takeda 2021). In fact, the wider precarity, lack of status and protection, and outsourcing of risk of conflict zone interpreters is akin to fixers in the journalistic ecosystem and can be seen via a colonial lens (Kotisova and Deuze 2022). 121

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Therefore, even if the aforementioned petition initiated by Red T was to gain traction, it does not mean it would be translated into any actual UN action let alone a resolution, which would require a Security Council (UNSC) resolution.3 Further, even if the draft resolution by Red T was to be adopted in full or in part by UNSC with the ultimate achievement of introduction of a new Protocol to the Geneva Convention, the question remains–​who is going to police this? And what happens when it is not being upheld by a state (and/​or its military) given the nature and current state of International Humanitarian Law (Zyberi 2018; Jinks 2020; Spoljaric 2022)? At the other end of the conflict timeline, it would be desirable, although equally elusive, to have a transparent and internationally adopted protocol towards the engagement of local conflict zone translators, interpreters, linguists, and fixers. Such a protocol would outline nation states’ obligations, or lack thereof, at the commencement and/​or just prior to commencement of violence, especially with respect to rules of engagement, in-​zone protection, and post-​ deployment obligations (perhaps analogous to abandoned explosives under CCW/​MSP/​2003/​ 2; United Nations 2003). Such an international protocol would also raise awareness of military and logistics planners in the engagement of such individuals and groups as a matter of priority and thereby with commensurate training (Ruiz Rosendo 2022). But like the Geneva Convention initiative, it is difficult to imagine adoption of such a protocol in the current and foreseeable geopolitical environment. Languages and language mediators should be placed at the heart of conflict and post-​conflict investigations (Tesseur and Footitt 2019). Despite repeated mentioning of multilingualism, inclusion, and localisation, there is still little mention of translation or interpreting in international charter, treatise, or inventory. Recruitment, training, working conditions, and protection of translators and interpreters in these high risk situations remain ad hoc and funding thereof remains correspondingly unpredictable, if at all. Just as in the conflict setting, the need to plan for translation and interpreting before deploying a humanitarian mission has remained peculiarly absent in the NGO sector (Tesseur 2023). NGOs rarely rely on professional translators, but seek the services of their colleagues, volunteers, or community members (Footitt, Crack, and Tesseur 2020). To quote Federici (2022, 25) “ignoring practical solutions to embed languages in emergency preparedness is a political choice.” If information is a form of aid, then it comes at a cost, just like water, food, medicine, and other supplies, and the free provision of information should not be assumed, even in a crisis (Hunt et al. 2019). The increasing use of crowdsourcing, tech, and cloud-​ based solutions further commoditises multilingual communication and likely threatens sustainability and development of this subspeciality. The current paradigm ultimately lets authorities and organisations get away with a lack of planning and funding, continue to ignore multilingual crisis communication, and delegitimise the translators and interpreters who make it happen. It is high time to properly fund and recognise translation and interpreting and the wider language services in civil emergencies and humanitarian aid as part of its deliverables (Liu 2017). This is potentially more achievable.

Notes 1 See Fettes 2015 and Tesseur 2023 for critical analyses of SDGs. 2 For a comprehensive historiography of this specific aspect of the profession, which is beyond the scope of this chapter, please see Linguistica Antverpiensia (2016) special issue vol 15. In the last 20 years we have seen growing research on conflict zone interpreters, in particular their neutrality or impartiality positions (see Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche 2018), again beyond the scope of this chapter. 3 See Resolution 2474 on missing persons in armed conflict.

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Ignoring translators and interpreters in crisis communications 4 NLLB Team: Marta R. Costa-​jussà, James Cross, Onur Çelebi, Maha Elbayad, Kenneth Heafield, Kevin Heffernan, Elahe Kalbassi, Janice Lam, Daniel Licht, Jean Maillard, Anna Sun, Skyler Wang, Guillaume Wenzek, Al Youngblood, Bapi Akula, Loic Barrault, Gabriel Mejia Gonzalez, Prangthip Hansanti, John Hoffman, Semarley Jarrett, Kaushik Ram Sadagopan, Dirk Rowe, Shannon Spruit, Chau Tran, Pierre Andrews, Necip Fazil Ayan, Shruti Bhosale, Sergey Edunov, Angela Fan, Cynthia Gao, Vedanuj Goswami, Francisco Guzmán, Philipp Koehn, Alexandre Mourachko, Christophe Ropers, Safiyyah Saleem, Holger Schwenk, and Jeff Wang.

Further reading Moser-​Mercer, Barbara. 2015. ‘Interpreting in conflict zones’. In The Routledge handbook of interpreting, edited by H. Mikkelson and R. Joudenais, 302–​316. London: Routledge. This chapter provides the most comprehensive analysis on the protection of conflict zone translators and interpreters under International Humanitarian Law. Laugesen, Amanda, and Richard Gehrmann. 2020. Communication, interpreting and language in wartime historical and contemporary perspectives. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Tesseur, Wine. 2023. Translation as social justice translation policies and practices in non-​governmental organisations. Oxon: Routledge. These two books are the most detailed monographs on conflict zone interpreting and humanitarian translation respectively.

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PART II

Professionalisation

9 INTERPRETING IN HUMANITARIAN NEGOTIATION Lucía Ruiz Rosendo

Introduction In the last decade, there has been increasing interest in the study of interpreting in conflict and post-​conflict situations. Most of the studies have focused on the role of local interpreters recruited by international coalition forces to work alongside military personnel in peacekeeping and counterinsurgency operations in different regions (e.g. Gómez Amich 2017; Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2019). One may argue that, as a consequence of this focus, the work of interpreters in military theatres has drawn the attention of scholars to the detriment of interpreters working in other contexts such as humanitarian missions. Indeed, the role of interpreters in these missions has not been the focus of sustained inquiry, and few are the studies that analyse their role, with some noteworthy exceptions (see, for example, the works of Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche 2018; Moser-​Mercer, Kherbiche, and Class 2014; Tedjouong and Todorova 2022). There are even fewer studies specifically focusing on the role of interpreters in humanitarian negotiation, despite the fact that the success of such negotiations, which depends, at least in part, on the work of interpreters, is an essential step in the deployment of aid in any humanitarian crisis. This chapter both surveys the characteristics of humanitarian negotiation, in general, and of humanitarian interpreting in frontline negotiation, in particular, and provides a summary of the research undertaken thus far. Different facets will be explored, including the definition of humanitarianism and of humanitarian action and the implications of interpreting in a context characterised by the persistent consequences of conflicts or other crises, such as a lack of basic resources, internecine violence and negative perception of the foreign intervening parties, among others. The training in humanitarian negotiation which interpreters must undergo will also be analysed: in such contexts, interpreters, apart from interpreting skills, must acquire and develop very similar skills to those of the negotiators themselves in order to be successful in their endeavour. Finally, the chapter will suggest sources for further reading and offer recommendations for future research.

Research context This section will offer a definition of humanitarian negotiation and a description of interpreting in this context. Based on the premise that an interpreter is, to some degree, a negotiator, the section

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-12

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will also focus on the skills in humanitarian negotiation that the interpreter needs to develop, apart from interpreting skills.

Interpreting in humanitarian negotiation In humanitarian negotiation the interpreter is called upon to be the linguistic and cultural bridge between the country’s population, the humanitarian organisation or any other institution, local governmental authorities and/​or various militaries or armed groups that are involved in the humanitarian crisis. Humanitarian negotiation takes place in a crisis situation, crisis being understood as “a specific, unexpected, non-​routine event or series of events that creates high levels of uncertainty and a significant or perceived threat to high priority goals” (Seeger, Sellnow, and Ulmer 2003, 7). Given that negotiation relies on communication, the term “crisis communication”, coined by these authors, acquires an important meaning in this context. It is defined as: “… the ongoing process of creating shared meaning among and between groups, communities, individuals and agencies, within the ecological context of a crisis, for the purpose of preparing for and reducing, limiting and responding to threats and harm” (ibid., 13). Interpreting in humanitarian negotiation falls within the broader category of “translation and interpreting in crisis situations” and, more specifically, of “humanitarian interpreting” (see Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche (2018, 423) for a definition of the concept). In the relevant literature, reference to translation and interpreting in crisis situations encompasses an array of contexts, ranging from armed conflicts to “all forms of communication in extreme conditions, be they armed conflicts, disasters, emergencies, or crisis” (Federici 2016, 2). Similarly, translation and interpreting in crisis situations is a concept linked to emergency management that refers to linguistic mediation, predominantly in writing, that translators undertake with or for specific commissioning bodies (O’Brien 2016). Interestingly, the term is more frequently used in reference to written translation than with regard to oral interpretation. Whilst the topic has received much needed attention recently, studies are scarce, particularly those focusing on humanitarian interpreting. Several studies focus on translation in the context of a health emergency: O’Brien and Cadwell’s (2017), for instance, studied the readability of health-​ related information in the 2014 Ebola crisis in Kenya; and Wang (2019) focused on translation in the COVID-​19 emergency in Wuhan. Other studies have examined ad hoc translation performed after natural disasters (Cadwell 2019; Munro 2013). Yet other studies specifically focus on humanitarian organisations dealing with emergency situations. Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche (2018) examine the role of the interpreters in the context of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Montalt (2020) analyses the role of translators in the context of Médecins sans frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders) and Translators Without Borders (TWB). Todorova’s works (2016, 2017, 2019) analyse the role of interpreters engaged by UNHCR in Macedonia and Kosovo. Tesseur (2018) and Delgado Luchner (2018) both explore the role of translators and interpreters in the context of NGOs. And Moser-​Mercer et al. (2021) examine two case studies, Jordan and Kenya, to analyse how the international policy framework can inform local initiatives and to understand the backdrop to designing sustainable interpreter training programmes in humanitarian interpreting. However, none of these studies specifically address interpreting in humanitarian negotiation. In order to understand what interpreting in this context entails, it is important to first untangle the notion of humanitarian negotiation.

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Humanitarian negotiation One of the basic concepts underlying humanitarian negotiation is that of “humanitarianism”. This notion refers to “those practices formally described as ‘humanitarian’, such as humanitarian relief or aid, and the far more controversial (military) humanitarian intervention” (Radice 2016, 103). In this context, humanitarian action refers to assistance that is based on the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence, as enshrined in international humanitarian law (IHL). Defining the humanitarian space is not devoid of difficulties, since the field of humanitarianism has not yet delineated the contours of its professional jurisdiction (Grace 2020). As Dieckhoff (2020, 566) posits, “the humanitarian community is, in fact, a highly divided field of actors with regard to their interpretations of the principles and realities governing humanitarian action”, and there is a diversity of negotiations taking place amidst crisis situations. There is also an intense debate about separating humanitarian and political spaces (Brauman 2019; Labbé and Daudin 2016; Schimmel 2006; Weiss 1999). Dieckhoff (2020) argues that humanitarian and political negotiations are interdependent and that the relationship between the humanitarian and political spaces is complex. The humanitarian space is primarily considered as a space in which humanitarian personnel should be able to assess the needs of the population and to make decisions about the delivery and use of assistance; however, humanitarian work is constrained by power relations that belong to political and ideological spaces. Despite these ongoing discussions, there is a tacit consensus in the literature that the main purpose of humanitarian action is the relief of suffering through the delivery of aid—​in the form of food, non-​food items, water and sanitation, medical and health services and logistical support—​ and the protection of populations in need. For humanitarian organisations to gain access to vulnerable populations and to deliver said aid, they have to carry out on-​the-​ground negotiations with various actors. Humanitarian negotiation, which is an essential component of humanitarian action, derives from the Geneva Convention adopted in 1949. According to the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN n.d.), humanitarian negotiation is a series of interactions between humanitarian organisations and parties to an armed conflict to determine and agree on the terms and logistics of humanitarian operations in conflict environments in order to ensure access to vulnerable groups. Humanitarian negotiation is, therefore, a bartering process that usually occurs in situations of armed conflict, but also of natural disasters and health emergencies, between humanitarian agents and governmental actors, non-​state armed groups (NSAGs) or other community members. The objective is to gain safe access to vulnerable populations at risk who live under the political and/​ or security influence or control of armed groups, as well as people who live in areas in which this control is disputed (Herbet and Drevon 2020). A negotiation is successful if it elicits changes in the counterpart’s1 behaviour towards the civilians and the humanitarian personnel and operations. To achieve that goal, some organisations, such as the CCHN (2019), have developed different tools to interact with these groups. Other organisations, such as the United Nations, have drafted guidelines on how to carry out humanitarian negotiation (see Mc Hugh and Bessler 2006). Humanitarian negotiation falls within the broader concept of “humanitarian diplomacy” (also called “disaster diplomacy” or “intervention diplomacy”: see Minear and Smith (2007, 1) for a definition of the term). This concept is increasingly used by humanitarian organisations, national cooperation agencies and ministries to refer to the need to build the partnerships necessary to achieve humanitarian objectives (Lamb 2008), although the concept is not devoid of controversy (see Régnier 2011 for an in-​depth analysis of the term and its connotations). 133

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Given that negotiators’ counterparts do not share the same ideology as the (not necessarily homogeneous) humanitarian system, humanitarian personnel face a series of challenges and dilemmas, mostly stemming from the fact that they negotiate from a position of weakness (Clements 2018; Turunen 2020). Indeed, there is a power asymmetry between the armed groups or local authorities and the humanitarian negotiators, in that the latter are constrained in their bargaining strategies by humanitarian principles, they lack weapons and have no control whatsoever of the territory. This may lead them to concede some of their demands and to end up with a poor compromise (Cutts 1999; Mancini-​Griffoli and Picot 2004). Interestingly, power, in this context, does not derive from the distribution or possession of resources but rather “it is the means through which the negotiating parties change the position of their counterparts” (Clements 2018, 369). Another challenge is that humanitarian actors, including interpreters, are sometimes viewed by the parties to the conflict as an illegitimate intrusion (Dieckhoff 2020), and this makes it more difficult for these humanitarian actors to create trust and confidence, and to generate concessions and compromises through negotiations. Contemporary armed conflicts are characterised by the existence of NSAGs who compete with the state for control over people, resources and territory. The main objective of humanitarian agents is, therefore, to engage these groups in order to reduce the levels of violence. The challenge is to create favourable conditions and build trust for armed groups to come to the table and negotiate. This encompasses different phases: bargaining and implementation, setting the agenda and building the structures for future negotiation (Clements 2020). According to Lempereur (2016, 664) it is a three-​step process: “a planning stage to put a safety zone in place, an implementation stage during the crisis to make the zone operational and an exit stage to properly end the mission”. In this process, the awareness of the context is crucial, and this entails taking into account the interests and goals of the counterparts in the negotiation (Turunen 2020). The reality is that the counterparts usually have more information about the humanitarian organisation than the humanitarian organisation about the counterparts, which increases the power asymmetry between the parties. Yet another challenge is that humanitarian actors are sometimes thrust into negotiations for which they cannot properly prepare; even though humanitarian negotiation is increasingly receiving much needed attention, there is a distinct lack of training and support materials provided to them. Some organisations, such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), have created some materials. As a further effort, the CCHN was founded in 2016 as a joint initiative between UNHCR, MSF, the World Food Programme (WFP), the ICRC and HD with the objective of providing training to humanitarian negotiators. Despite these initiatives, Grace (2020, 17) highlights the persistence of the “negotiation cognizance gap”. This term refers to the fact that humanitarian actors, including interpreters, are not sufficiently aware of the role that negotiation plays in their work, and sometimes they find themselves in the middle of negotiations without being conscious that a negotiation is actually taking place. In humanitarian negotiation, the main challenge when acquiring these skills is that negotiators learn mostly by doing; even with previous training, they will have to engage in negotiation before they acquire all the necessary expertise.

Skills needed in humanitarian negotiation In this context, as in others, experience is essential. The training approach must, therefore, include induction training, observation of negotiations on the ground and sessions to discuss trial-​and-​error experiences as a matter of necessity. The challenge lies in deciding what lessons negotiators should 134

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learn, given the myriad factors that shape negotiations and the different obstacles encountered. While some lessons can be generalised for all negotiations, there are others that cannot. According to Grace’s (2020) analysis, through the lens of Benoliel’s (2017) framework, skills in humanitarian negotiation can be grouped into four categories of capital: cognitive, emotional, social and cultural. Any interpreter who works in humanitarian negotiation should develop these skills as well as interpreting skills. Cognitive capital is the ability to understand the issues of the negotiation, including the context, the counterpart’s interests and motivations, and the substance of the negotiation itself. Emotional capital is the ability to analyse and control emotions when challenges arise in the negotiation, and to use some emotions to move the negotiation forward, such as empathy or understanding the rationale behind the counterpart’s behaviour. It also entails managing the psychological implications of working in such intense environments. Social capital2 refers to developing interpersonal relationships and building trust and respect for fruitful negotiation, while setting boundaries around those relationships and demonstrating firmness. Lastly, since negotiation fundamentally describes highly specific behavioural interactions, cultural capital means the ability to understand cultural norms and values, a form of capital that is essential for humanitarian staff entering a culturally different context. Indeed, cultural and language challenges, as well as contextual differences, have an impact on the negotiation, and constitute a not inconsiderable obstacle, particularly when communicating with parties whose cultural backgrounds differ substantially from that of the humanitarian actors. Consequently, culture affects the dynamics of the negotiation, hence the importance of recruiting local actors who are familiar with the cultural environment. This being said, problems can still arise, even if humanitarian actors belong to the same culture as that of the recipients of the aid. In any case, the negotiator has to be aware of the impact of culture on the dynamics of the negotiation, and has to develop awareness of cultural differences and to acquire the skills to determine how cultural differences will impact the negotiation. However, this is not always possible and it is, therefore, obvious that when the negotiator does not share the language and culture of the counterpart they will need to communicate with the help of an interpreter.

Research methodology In November 2020, the CCHN contacted the author of this chapter3 to discuss the challenges that its members were facing when negotiating through interpreters. The organisation was holding different discussion rounds on this topic with field practitioners based in different regions and had launched a series of interviews to develop case studies and eventually create tools to support frontline staff in the field. The author’s input was needed to help the organisation create a training programme to equip the interpreters working for their members with the necessary skills to interpret in multicultural and multilingual negotiations. After a series of preliminary interviews with the CCHN coordinating team, it was decided that in order to design a training programme adapted to the needs of the members, a study had to be carried out to understand the particularities of the context and to identify both the needs and the challenges. The objective was to answer the following research question: How can the practice of interpreting in humanitarian negotiation be defined? This research question was further nuanced as follows: What are the challenges that interpreters encounter when working in humanitarian negotiation? What are the needs of the negotiators as users of interpreting services? Since the author of the chapter was given the opportunity to work with interpreters recruited by CCHN members, as well as with negotiators and the coordinating team, the study was conceived as participatory research, a type of qualitative social research that is 135

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geared “towards planning and conducting the research process with those people whose life-​world and meaningful actions are under study” (Bergold and Thomas 2012, n.p.). By engaging with community members, community-​based participatory research (CBPR) was used, an approach to research that further involves the active participation of researchers and community stakeholders as equal partners in all steps of the research process. Since the ultimate goal was to create a training programme adapted to the needs of interpreters in humanitarian negotiation that could be deployed anywhere, which would benefit not only said interpreters but ultimately negotiators and the organisations themselves, the study was further conceived as participatory action research (PAR) (Baum, MacDougall, and Smith 2006). In the first stage, in order to better understand what humanitarian interpreting entails in the field of negotiation and to better elucidate the interpreter’s role in this context, the findings obtained by the CCHN in a study they had previously carried out through interviews with both negotiators and interpreters were examined (CCHN 2021). This prior study was essential to understand the challenges of interpreters in this context, as well as the needs of negotiators who work with interpreters in negotiations (Erni and Espinosa Mooser 2021). At a later stage, several online interviews were conducted with the two CCHN coordinators, focus groups were organised with negotiators and interpreters, and a working group made up of interpreters, negotiators and the coordinating team was created with the objective of organising monthly meetings. Both negotiators and interpreters were based in different regions and worked for the different humanitarian organisations that are members of the CCHN. The interviews, focus groups and conversations during the meetings of the working group were not recorded. Instead, notes were taken and used as the basis for the creation of written narratives, in the case of the interviews and the focus groups, and as a report in the case of the conversations during the working group conversations. Inasmuch as the respondents had shared their individual, in-​depth experience, they were considered co-​researchers. The aim of the study in this first stage was to gain a deep understanding of the experiences of negotiators and interpreters as stakeholders themselves have perceived them. Therefore, the data analysis process was inductive, i.e. one of listening to what the data was telling the researcher and not one of verifying whether the data matched conclusions drawn in advance. The first step was to read the data obtained through the interviews, focus groups and working group meetings and understand what the participants were conveying. In a second step, each account was analysed in order to identify statements that told the story of each participant’s experience. After a process of reflexive iteration, significant statements were arranged into categories and then collapsed into higher level themes. A total of six categories were identified: the need to create trust between the interpreter and the negotiator; the importance of teamwork; the challenging nature of the relationships created with the counterpart; challenges and frustrations encountered by both the negotiator and the interpreter; interpreting as a source of legitimacy; and security implications. These categories were all related to two higher level themes: the heterogeneous profile of and the undefined role played by the interpreters, and the flagrant lack of training. After the data analysis, the next step consisted of writing a narrative based on the data as reorganised into categories and themes. The aim was to stay faithful to the original statements and to preserve the anonymity of the individuals involved. The descriptive narrative provides a summary that reconstructs the participants’ experiences as narrated by them (this narrative is presented in “First stage: engaging with the community”). In the second stage, after having answered the research question, a training course for interpreters working in humanitarian negotiation was designed. The main objective of the course was to deal with the needs and challenges identified in the study, as well as to include the skills 136

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and forms of negotiation capital identified in the literature (see “Second stage: training interpreters in humanitarian negotiation”).

Discussion First stage: engaging with the community In this section, the results of the study carried out in the first stage will be presented, structured around the categories identified in the data analysis. Humanitarian interpreters come from different backgrounds and have different profiles, from language specialists who have studied interpreting and work full-​time as interpreters, to members of local communities who volunteer to interpret for humanitarian workers on an ad hoc basis. Regardless of the profile, the interpreter’s positionality in the field of humanitarian negotiation is complex. On the one hand, the interpreter works in a team with the negotiator, sharing with them the organisation’s culture and (usually) foreign language; on the other hand, the interpreter (usually) shares the main language and culture with the counterpart, with the exception of mobile or expatriate interpreters (i.e. non-​local interpreters). In addition, many of the interpreters working in humanitarian contexts are untrained interpreters; in other words, individuals who happen to end up interpreting rather than trained interpreters who happen to work in the humanitarian field, a finding that is common to other humanitarian contexts (see Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche 2018) and to other crisis or conflict-​related contexts. In such contexts, interpreters are not hired because they have received training as interpreters, but because they speak the relevant languages (Baigorri Jalón 2021; Ruiz Rosendo 2022). Given that they have not previously been trained nor have they acquired the necessary skills to interpret, their role as interpreters is usually contingent on their role as legitimate peripheral participants (see Lave and Wenger 1991) in the humanitarian sphere. Instead of working as interpreters prior to their recruitment by the humanitarian organisation, they became interpreters precisely because they had been recruited as such by the organisation. They have first-​hand experience, in that some of them have been interpreting for many years; what they lack is the narrative underlying some interpreting practices, roles and strategies. These interpreters have a broad field of experience and have learned by doing, but they have not necessarily had access to formal training in interpreting. This lack of training could be evident even at the very base level, such as some gaps in interpreting skills, ethics and reasoning in decision-​making (see Tryuk 2021 to learn more about the ethical implications of interpreting in conflict and crisis). Importantly, there is no clear definition of the tasks performed by untrained interpreters, a common occurrence in interpreting in conflict scenarios (Baker and Pérez González 2011). Interpreters are often negotiators themselves, for whom interpreting constitutes just one of their many tasks, compared to the trained interpreters who seldom handle their own negotiations and whose main task is interpreting. In addition, whilst there is a generalised agreement that interpreters play an essential role in cultural brokering and in facilitating negotiation, there are significant differences between the perceptions and attitudes of trained and untrained interpreters and between local and expatriate interpreters of and towards interpreting. Overall, it appears that the general perception—​both of negotiators and of the interpreters themselves—​is that trained interpreters have a much stronger tendency to interpret accurately even if they may not agree with what the negotiator is saying, or they do not believe them to be competent enough to lead the negotiation. On the other hand, it appears that, in a similar situation, untrained interpreters, especially local staff, are much more inclined to rephrase, filter or completely change what the negotiator is saying if they believe that such a change would have a positive impact on 137

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the outcome of the negotiation; or to intervene if they feel that the negotiator is moving the negotiation in the wrong direction due to a lack of cultural awareness. The lack of a clear definition of the untrained interpreter’s role could explain this reaction, in that untrained interpreters may also act as negotiators in the context of the same negotiations, so the same counterparts they would meet as interpreters are their interlocutors when they act as negotiators. Indeed, this has significant ethical implications due to the fact that untrained interpreters, in particular, find it difficult to set boundaries to their job. Additionally, it could compromise the objective of creating trust between the stakeholders, especially since the negotiators consider that it is crucial to be able to trust that the interpreter will interpret what is actually being said in the conversation. In a similar vein, it is difficult for local interpreters to balance their sense of belonging to the local community and their being an interpreter. Furthermore, belonging to the local community can put interpreters at risk in some situations. In fact, protecting the interpreter is a main concern for negotiators, who know that certain sensitive subjects may put interpreters, and, particularly, locally recruited interpreters, in danger. Negotiators consider that it is easier to negotiate with the help of an interpreter and to create trust when they have established a prior relationship with the interpreter. In any case, the interpreters feel frustrated when they do not feel that the negotiator trusts them or their advice, particularly when it comes to cultural issues, or when they feel excluded from the team. They think that not taking their advice into account could have serious negative repercussions on the relationship created between the negotiator and the counterpart. This finding is related to the fact that negotiators do not always possess the cultural capital described in the “Research context” section, while the interpreters, particularly locally recruited ones, understand the implications that a specific intervention could have on the outcomes of the negotiation by acknowledging the values, beliefs and symbols shared by the members of a social group to which they usually belong. As Ruiz Rosendo (2020, 55) argues, “culture influences how a person sees the world and reacts to it. Indeed, what is acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another, and individuals’ reactions to a given event may vary along cultural lines”. Avruch (2004) further states that individuals carry different cultures—​ racial, ethnic and religious norms and values, but also the values of a certain organisation, profession or occupation—​which means that every interaction is multicultural at several levels. There is also the culture of the negotiation itself, a cultural context created and shared by the parties to the negotiation. Therefore, the interpreter’s cultural competence—​substantive cultural knowledge and the language—​is especially important for humanitarian negotiators: even before the parties come to the negotiating table, their most fundamental understandings of their values and interests would have been circumscribed by the language in which they are expressed, i.e. any negotiation will be framed from the very beginning by the interlocutors’ cultural constructions. The lack of cultural capital is aggravated by the fact that there is a high turnover of negotiators, who rarely stay in a given place for a long time. This means that the interpreters are the ones establishing and maintaining the relationships with the counterparts. The main repercussion of such a high turnover is that new negotiators do not always understand the context and do not know what has been discussed in the past, and, consequently, tend to ask the same questions as their predecessors. This puts interpreters in the difficult position of having to decide if they need to intervene in the conversation. Preparing for the negotiation can also be a major cause of stress for interpreters. Even though both negotiators and interpreters agree that it is good practice to have a briefing before the negotiation, and a debriefing after it, many interpreters said that this rarely takes place; this makes them 138

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feel like they are not part of the team and that they are not well prepared for the meeting and for future encounters. Interestingly, frustrations related to the interpreters’ inability to accurately translate certain technical terms were voiced by both sides. However, the interpreters related this frustration to the fact that they do not usually receive briefings about the terms that will be used (which would have allowed them to prepare); a negotiator identified the lack of training and language skills as the main source of this problem. Moreover, negotiators mentioned that they feel frustrated when they have the impression that the interpreter is not accurately interpreting what they say. The interpreters, on the other hand, said that some things could not be interpreted word for word. Indeed, some humanitarian concepts cannot be translated into local tribal languages and this poses problems when trying to interpret accurately. In this case, long explanations are needed to embed the humanitarian concepts in local ones for the counterpart to understand. Importantly, even if there are few studies examining the role of interpreters in humanitarian negotiation, negotiators believe that interpreters have a big impact on the way they and their humanitarian organisation are perceived by their counterparts and are, therefore, an important source of legitimacy. Along these lines, negotiators think that the interpreters’ place in society plays an important role in giving legitimacy both to the interpreters themselves and to the negotiator, since cultural awareness is, itself, an important source of legitimacy. It is therefore paradoxical that little attention is paid to the development of tailored training programmes. Further analysis and reflection of the findings allowed me to come to an important conclusion: interpreters working in these humanitarian contexts need to acquire not only traditional interpreting skills, but also skills similar to those of humanitarian negotiators, in order to develop their negotiation capital. Interpreters in humanitarian contexts therefore hold a dual role: not only must they perform the functions of an interpreter, but they must also be able to negotiate. This dual role is what makes the interpreter’s role(s) in this context so complex. In order to provide effective training to interpreters in such contexts, we must first accept that the interpreter has to act as a negotiator, acquiring both negotiation and interpreting skills and understanding the cultural differences in negotiating styles. The training course designed and offered to CCHN interpreters is based on this premise.

Second stage: training interpreters in humanitarian negotiation The overarching aim of the course provided to interpreters was to develop humanitarian interpreters’ skills in negotiation and interpretation by confronting them with situations that are likely to be encountered in a negotiation. The four-​day course, taught in English (a language considered as a lingua franca, given that it is the main foreign language for most of the interpreters in this context), aimed at broadening participants’ understanding of different communication scenarios and their implications for the interpreter; acquiring strategies to deal with these scenarios; analysing situations from an ethical perspective; and developing coping strategies to be deployed before, during and after a negotiation. Given the practical nature of the objectives and the participants’ level of expertise, the course consisted of a minimal theoretical part and a comprehensive practical component. The online format allowed for the participation of interpreters who work in different humanitarian organisations and who are based in different regions. There have been three editions of the course held so far: two in 2021 and one in 2022. Regarding the structure, the course is divided into two parts, followed by a final simulation exercise. The first part consisted of a two-​day intensive peer workshop on humanitarian negotiation, organised and structured around the content of the CCHN Field Manual on Frontline 139

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Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN 2019) and taught by CCHN trainers. The second part consisted of a two-​day intensive specialised session on interpreting in humanitarian negotiation taught by myself. The learning outcomes of the first part are: to plan the negotiation strategically; conduct context analyses and network assessments; analyse the interests and motives of the counterparts; set objectives and priorities in the negotiation; define scenarios and red lines in the negotiation; and evaluate the negotiation process. In other words, the main objective of this part is to develop negotiation skills and to acquire the necessary negotiation capital. The second part focuses on interpreting skills, and is divided into different sections: consecutive and note-​taking; ethical implications; preparation and documentation; and intercultural communication. The ultimate goal is to make interpreters aware of their role within the negotiation team, to build trust with the negotiator and to make decisions under pressure when interpreting. Since experience is essential in this context, the participants are confronted with real case scenarios designed by the CCHN coordinating team and myself, following a case-​based learning (CBL) approach. The comprehensive simulation exercise aims at: applying negotiation tools to plan and execute a negotiation; applying the lessons learned about the role of the interpreter, ethics of interpreting and technical skills to a negotiation context; and learning about different negotiation styles. The participants receive a very detailed report that describes a fictitious conflict (but based on the challenges of a real one); the negotiation that is to take place; the mission’s objectives; the characteristics of the humanitarian organisation involved; and the counterparts. Some of the participants perform the role of the negotiator and negotiate on behalf of the humanitarian organisation, others play the role of the interpreter and yet others negotiate on behalf of the government forces, playing the role of the counterparts. Participants have one hour to prepare for the negotiation with all the tools learned during both the peer workshop (first part) and the specialised session (second part), and then meet to negotiate for 30 minutes. After the first round, they have 20 minutes to adjust their strategy following some feedback, and then meet again to strike a final deal in 20 minutes.

Conclusion Humanitarian negotiation constitutes an essential step for humanitarian organisations whose objective is to access the vulnerable populations ravaged by conflict or any other crisis. Interpreting in such negotiations is not devoid of challenges, due to the stressful environment in which interpreters work in and the constellation of skills that they have to acquire. This is due to the fact that, in this context, interpreters, whilst they have to be aware of their role and set boundaries to it, need to acquire skills that go beyond interpreting to encompass the different forms of expertise needed in humanitarian negotiation. Even if they are not the negotiators themselves, they have to be able to manage the negotiation and to apply culturally relevant negotiation strategies to reach a mutually beneficial outcome for both sides. Despite the increasing understanding of the complexities involved, and despite the greater awareness of the essential role that interpreters play in this context, there are few studies that specifically focus on interpreting in humanitarian negotiation, and little training has been provided to these interpreters so far. This is precisely the objective of this study as presented in the research question, to define the practice of interpreting in humanitarian negotiation (first stage), and of the training course that was created in the light of the results of the study (second stage). It would be desirable for research in the field of interpreting in humanitarian negotiation, in particular, and of interpreting in crisis situations, in general, to expand in the near future, together with our understanding of interpreters’ roles and needs in specific contexts and organisations. Such research could further explore the challenges faced by interpreters as a consequence of the 140

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tense environment in which they carry out their work. There are issues that will require a great deal of further analysis, this being particularly true of the psychological implications of humanitarian interpreting, the ethical repercussions of the interpreter’s complex positionality and the relationships created with the different stakeholders. Further analysis is also required in order to explore the training needs of interpreters in the humanitarian context, as well as the impact of training on the interpreter’s performance.

Notes 1 For the purposes of this chapter, “counterpart” refers to the groups with which the humanitarian negotiator works in this context. 2 Please note that this contribution does not aim to venture into Bourdieusian concepts. 3 She was contacted given her previous experience as a researcher in the field of interpreting in conflict zones and as a designer of training courses in the field of humanitarian interpreting.

Further reading CCHN. 2021. Negotiating with interpreters and interpreting during negotiations. Website. https://​frontl​ine-​ negot​iati​ons.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2021/​05/​2021-​05-​Listen​ing-​Tour-​on-​Nego​tiat​ing-​with-​Inter​pret​ ers.pdf. This report explores and compares the views of negotiators and interpreters about their working relationships and challenges and best practices when working together. CCHN. (n.d.). Interpreting in humanitarian negotiations. A guide for humanitarian negotiators and interpreters. https://​frontl​ine-​negot​iati​ons.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2021/​12/​2021-​Inter​pret​ing-​in-​human​itar​ian-​negot​ iati​ons-​A-​guide-​for-​human​itar​ian-​nego​tiat​ors-​and-​inter​pret​ers.pdf. This guide provides practical advice for humanitarian negotiators and interpreters on how to best work together and achieve a satisfactory outcome in the negotiations. The advice presented in this guide is the result of interviews conducted by the CCHN with humanitarian experts, experiences shared by members of the CCHN and the collaboration with Prof. Lucía Ruiz Rosendo from the Interpreting Department at the University of Geneva. Delgado Luchner, Carmen, and Leila Kherbiche. 2018. ‘Without fear or favour? The positionality of ICRC and UNHCR interpreters in the humanitarian field’. Target, 30 (3): 408–​429. Drawing on their experiences in training interpreters for the ICRC and the UNHCR, the authors of this article develop a positionality-​based understanding of the concept of “humanitarian interpreting” and define this new analytical category. Based on two paradigmatic profiles of humanitarian interpreters, they present a comparative analysis of the intrinsic and relational factors shaping the positionality of ICRC and UNHCR interpreters in the humanitarian field and describe some of the ethical dilemmas these interpreters face. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2020. ‘Translating and interpreting in conflict’. In The Oxford handbook of translation and social practices, edited by Ji Meng Ji and Sara Laviosa, 45–​65. Oxford: Oxford University Press. This chapter describes the study of translation and interpreting in conflict and provides a survey of its history and characteristics, a summary of the research carried out so far and a description of the current state of the field. It focuses on the interpreter’s positionality as an essential notion. A range of issues—​such as unfamiliar locations; legal, psychological and ethical considerations and security—​complicate the work undertaken by translators and interpreters in such settings.

References Avruch, Kevin. 2004. ‘Culture as context, culture as communication: Considerations for humanitarian negotiators’. Harvard Negotiation Law Review, 9: 391–​408. Baigorri Jalón, Jesús. 2021. Languages in the crossfire. Interpreters in the Spanish Civil War (1936–​1939). London: Routledge.

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Lucía Ruiz Rosendo Baker, Mona, and Luis Pérez González. 2011. ‘Translation and interpreting’. In The Routledge handbook of applied linguistics, edited by James Simpson, 39–​52. London: Routledge. Baum, Fran, Colin MacDougall, and Danielle Smith. 2006. ‘Participatory action research’. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60: 854–​857. Benoliel, Michael. 2017. ‘Building negotiation capital’. Asia Management Insights, 4 (1): 54–​60. Bergold, Jarg, and Stefan Thomas. 2012. ‘Participatory research methods: A methodological approach in motion’. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13 (1). http://​nbn-​resolv​ing.de/​urn:nbn:de:0114-​fqs​1201​302. Brauman, Rony. 2019. ‘A quoi sert le droit humanitaire?’ Annuaire Français de Relations Internationales, XX: 113–​127. Cadwell, Patrick. 2019. ‘Trust, distrust and translation in a disaster’. Disaster Prevention and Management, 29 (2): 157–​174. CCHN. n.d. Interpreting in humanitarian negotiations. A guide for humanitarian negotiators and interpreters. PDF File. https://​frontl​ine-​negot​iati​ons.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2021/​12/​2021-​Inter​pret​ing-​in-​human​itar​ ian-​negot​iati​ons-​A-​guide-​for-​human​itar​ian-​nego​tiat​ors-​and-​inter​pret​ers.pdf. CCHN. 2019. CCHN field manual on frontline humanitarian negotiation. Geneva: CCHN. PDF File. https://​ frontl​ine-​negot​iati​ons.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2019/​11/​CCHN-​Field-​Man​ual-​EN.pdf. CCHN. 2021. Negotiating with interpreters and interpreting during negotiations. PDF File. https://​frontl​ ine-​negot​iati​ons.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2021/​05/​2021-​05-​Listen​ing-​Tour-​on-​Nego​tiat​ing-​with-​Inter​pret​ ers.pdf. Clements, Ashley J. 2018. ‘Overcoming power asymmetry in humanitarian negotiations with armed groups’. International Negotiation, 23: 367–​393. Clements, Ashley J. 2020. Humanitarian negotiations with armed groups. The frontlines of diplomacy. London: Routledge. Cutts, Mark. 1999. ‘Negotiating with warring parties’. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 18 (3): 43–​46. Delgado Luchner, Carmen. 2018. ‘Contact zones of the aid chain. The multilingual practices of two Swiss development NGOs’. Translation Spaces, 7 (1): 44–​64. Delgado Luchner, Carmen, and Leila Kherbiche. 2018. ‘Without fear or favour? The positionality of ICRC and UNHCR interpreters in the humanitarian field’. Target, 30 (3): 408–​429. Dieckhoff, Milena. 2020. ‘Reconsidering the humanitarian space: Complex interdependence between humanitarian and peace negotiations in Syria’. Contemporary Security Policy, 41 (4): 564–​586. Erni, Fiorella, and Ana P. Espinosa Mooser. 2021. Negotiating with interpreters and interpreting during negotiations. PDF File. https://​frontl​ine-​negot​iati​ons.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2021/​05/​2021-​05-​Listen​ing-​ Tour-​on-​Nego​tiat​ing-​with-​Inter​pret​ers.pdf. Federici, Federico M. (Ed.). 2016. Mediating emergencies and conflicts. Frontline translating and interpreting. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Gómez Amich, María. 2017. Estudio descriptivo de la autopercepción de los intérpretes en zonas de conflicto: estudio de caso en Afganistán [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Granada. Grace, Rob. 2020. ‘The humanitarian as negotiator: Developing capacity across the aid sector’. Negotiation Journal, 36 (1): 13–​41. Herbet, Irénée, and Jérôme Drevon. 2020. ‘Engaging armed groups at the International Committee of the Red Cross: Challenges, opportunities and COVID-​19’. International Review of the Red Cross, 102 (915): 1021–​1031. Labbé, Jérémie, and Pascal Daudin. 2016. ‘Principles guiding humanitarian action’. International Review of the Red Cross, 97 (897/​898): 183–​210. Lamb, Christopher. 2008. ‘Humanitarian diplomacy’. IFRC. Website. www.ifrc.info/​en/​news​and-​media/​opini​ ons-​and-​positi​ons/​speec​hes/​2008/​human​itar​ian-​diplom​acy. Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lempereur, Alain. 2016. ‘Humanitarian negotiation to protect: John Rabe and the Nanking International safety Zone (1937–​1938)’. Group Decision and Negotiation, 25: 663–​691. Mancini-​Griffoli, Deborah, and André Picot. 2004. Humanitarian negotiation: A handbook for securing access, assistance and protection for civilians in armed conflict. Geneva: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Mc Hugh, Gerard, and Manuel Bessler. 2006. ‘Guidelines on humanitarian negotiations with armed groups’. ReliefWeb. Website. https://​relief​web.int/​sites/​relief​web.int/​files/​resour​ces/​7E201​0A3E​7E58​0F38​5257​ 1090​07C5​BDD-​un-​ocha31​jan.pdf.

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Interpreting in humanitarian negotiation Minear, Larry and Hazel Smith (Eds.). 2007. Humanitarian diplomacy: Practitioners and their craft. Tokyo: United Nations University Press. Montalt, Vicent. 2020. ‘Medical translation in crisis situations’. In Intercultural crisis communication translation, interpreting and languages in local crises, edited by Christophe Declercq and Federico M. Federici, 105–​126. London: Bloomsbury. Moser-​Mercer, Barbara, Leila Kherbiche, and Barbara Class. 2014. ‘Interpreting conflict: Training challenges in humanitarian field interpreting.’ Journal of Human Rights Practice, 6 (1): 140–​158. Moser-​Mercer, Barbara, Somia Qudah, Mona Nabeel Ali Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga, and Mohammed Al-​ Batineh. 2021. ‘Beyond aid: Sustainable responses to meeting language communication needs in humanitarian contexts’. Interpreting and Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1 (1): 5–​27. Munro, Robert. 2013. ‘Crowdsourcing and the crisis-​affected community: Lessons learned and looking forward from Mission 4636’. Journal of Information Retrieval, 16: 210–​266. O’Brien, Sharon. 2016. ‘Training translators for crisis communication: The Translators without Borders example’. In Mediating emergencies and conflict. Frontline translating and interpreting, edited by Federico M. Federici, 85–​111. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. O’Brien, Sharon, and Patrick Cadwell. 2017. ‘Translation facilitates comprehension of health-​related crisis information: Kenya as an example’. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 28: 23–​51. Radice, Henry. 2016. ‘The responsibility to protect as humanitarian negotiation: A space for the ‘politics of humanity’?’ International Politics, 53 (1): 101–​117. Régnier, Philippe. 2011. ‘The emerging concept of humanitarian diplomacy: Identification of a community of practice and prospects for international recognition’. International Review of the Red Cross, 93 (884): 1211–​1237. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2020. ‘Translating and interpreting in conflict’. In The Oxford handbook of translation and social practices, edited by Meng Ji and Sara Laviosa, 45–​65. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2022. ‘Interpreting for the military: Creating communities of practice’. JoSTrans, 37: 16–​34. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Clementina Persaud. 2019. ‘On the front line: Mediating across languages and cultures in peacekeeping operations’. Armed Forces & Society, 45 (3): 472–​490. Schimmel, Volker. 2006. ‘Humanitarianism and politics: The dangers of contrived separation’. Development in Practice, 16 (3/​4): 303–​315. Seeger, Matthew, Timothy L. Sellnow, and Robert R. Ulmer. 2003. Communication and organizational crisis. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Tedjouong, Ebenezer, and Marija. Todorova. 2022. ‘Training needs of interpreters in the refugee crisis in Africa.’ In Interpreter training in conflict and post-​conflict scenarios, edited by Lucía Ruiz Rosendo and Marija Todorova, 101–​113. London: Routledge. Tesseur, Wine. 2018. ‘Researching translation and interpreting in non-​ governmental organizations’. Translation Spaces, 7 (1): 1–​19. Todorova, Marija. 2016. ‘Interpreting conflict mediation in Kosovo and Macedonia.’ Linguistica Antverpiensia, 15: 227–​240. Todorova, Marija. 2017. ‘Interpreting at the border: “Shuttle interpreting” for the UNHCR’. Clina, 3 (2): 115–​129. Todorova, Marija. 2019. ‘Interpreting for refugees: Empathy and activism’. In Intercultural crisis communication: Translation, interpreting, and languages in local crises, edited by Federico Federici and Christophe Declercq, 153–​173. London: Bloomsbury Academics. Tryuk, Malgorzata. 2021. ‘Translating and interpreting in conflict and crisis’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics, edited by Kaisa Koskinen and Nike K. Pokorn, 398–​414. London: Routledge. Turunen, Salla. 2020. ‘The front lines of diplomacy: Humanitarian negotiations with armed groups’. Seminar organised at Bergen Global, Norway. 1 October 2020. Wang, Peng. 2019. ‘Translation in the COVID-​19 health emergency in Wuhan. A crisis manager’s perspective’. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization, 6 (2): 86–​107. Weiss, Thomas G. 1999. ‘Principles, politics, and humanitarian action’. Ethics & International Affairs, 13: 1–​22.

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10 THE IDEAL CONFLICT ZONE INTERPRETER Military perspectives and perceptions of interpreters’ skills and attitudes Eleonora Bernardi

Introduction Although the armed forces prefer to use either military or civilian interpreters from the Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) for language support, the reality on the ground, from Bosnia-​ Herzegovina to Afghanistan, has seen widespread use of locally recruited civilians. This has prompted, in the last fifteen years, a great deal of research on issues such as interpreters’ safety (Fitchett 2014; Juvinall 2013), loyalty, allegiance and neutrality (Inghilleri 2008; 2019; Stahuljak 1999; Monacelli 2002) and, more recently, on training (Todorova and Ruiz Rosendo 2022), spearheaded by the In Zone project of the University of Geneva1. The skills and attitudes that interpreters are asked to deploy in conflict zones have nevertheless been scarcely considered, even by scholars who have devoted great attention to the topic, with only reliability and trustworthiness (Askew and Salama-​Carr 2011; Tipton 2011; Hajjar 2017; Van Dijk, Soeters, and de Ridder 2010) and language and cultural skills (Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2019; Prati 2016) being mentioned as key competences. From a military point of view, besides the general tendency to consider a good interpreter a trustable one, no specific studies were carried out to understand what the expectations and perceptions of the armed forces are for their local interpreters. To fill this gap, this contribution aims to identify the skills that military institutions/​peacekeepers expect of their civilian interpreters in conflict zones, using oral interviews with fifteen officers who worked daily with interpreters in the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The method of interviews was picked despite its limitations: with time the soldiers’ memory might have become more selective or passive, their allegiances might have shifted and other missions might have determined their replies. Therefore, a 24-​question list was used to prompt their memory and help them recover information that might have been forgotten or faded over time, and specific care was taken to make sure that the information provided was related to the knowledge they had at the time of the mission and was not acquired in subsequent ones. Most interviewees, although retired officers, were recruited through veterans’ associations, while the rest are still in active service (except for M05) and seem to be still rooted in the dominant military narrative. Despite the shortcomings highlighted above, interviews were the only way to gather insight on such a recent conflict, for

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which most information is still classified. We believe that this small but circumstantial sample could be relevant for other conflicts/​peacekeeping missions: identifying skills expected in civilian interpreters from their users could, on the one hand, better define military expectations and their relationship with interpreters and, on the other hand, offer a useful reference framework to be used in recruitment or to develop or perfect existing training programmes. To achieve this goal, this chapter will feature a review of the available literature on the topic, it will present the methodological approach adopted with advantages and drawbacks and it will later discuss the findings of the interviews, trying to draw conclusions that could be relevant for the broader field and applied to future conflicts, peacekeeping missions or crisis areas.

Research context Accounts from Iraq, Afghanistan (Vitaliano 2010; Washburn 2004), Bosnia-​Herzegovina and Kosovo (Jones and Askew 2014) have often underlined the poor quality of locally hired interpreters, usually untrained and unmanaged, and lacking both language and interpreting skills. Nevertheless, relatively few scholars and practitioners have wondered what the expectations of the armed forces are, and what skills and attitudes their interpreters need to effectively work in such settings. The issue has been shortly discussed from an interpreter’s point of view, mainly by Edwards (2002) who proposes a list of interpreters’ skills in peacekeeping and war contexts, like the ability to interpret in both directions, cover matters that range from the very simple to the highly specialised without dictionaries or any other tool, and to act as a cultural, diplomatic and political intermediary. On the military side, just a few reflections on the skills civilian interpreters should possess are available (Thomas 1995; Van Dijk, Soeters, and de Ridder 2010), and the general tendency seems that of identifying the ideal interpreter with the military one, without defining the relevant skillset. Consequently, trustworthiness–​also described as loyalty and reliability–​ emerges as the most important skill required of civilian interpreters (Askew and Salama-​Carr 2011; Tipton 2011; Baigorri-​Jalón 2011; Inghilleri 2010; Hajjar 2017; Van Dijk, Soeters, and de Ridder 2010). “Soft skills”, like communication and personal relations, as well as cross-​cultural competencies–​that is, the ability to understand and engage effectively in different cultures–​are also considered important (Ingold 2014; Vieira 2014; Gómez Amich 2017; Hajjar 2017; Kelly and Baker 2013; Bos and Soeters 2006) together with interpreters’ cultural awareness (Persaud 2016, 258–​259). This is because interpreters in conflict and crisis zones are asked to perform a series of tasks and roles that go well beyond the “simple translation of spoken utterances and local cultural knowledge practices” (Inghilleri 2015, 261): they are negotiators, intelligence operators, advisors, guides, drivers, lie-​detectors, fixers and language teachers (Cummings 2012) and, as such, they are asked to possess the whole set of relevant skills. Operating in highly stressful and dangerous environments, they also need the right attitude, which for Edwards (2002) means being unbiased, while Persaud (2016, 258–​259) stresses the need for flexibility, empathy, etiquette, psychological stamina and physical endurance. Major Roy Thomas also adds to the list courage and a gift for persuasion, intended as the ability to “influence interpersonal relationships for the sake of a wider cause” (Baker 2012a, 20), which he explains with an example from his time in Sarajevo in the 1990s: The authorities granted me the necessary clearance to go to Eastern Bosnia […]. However, in what looked like a deliberate attempt to keep me there, no clearance was given to leave this pocket to return to Sarajevo where my headquarters were located. Accompanied only by this interpreter, I managed to go from Goražde to Sarajevo without clearances, solely on this 145

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man’s gift of persuasion at the checkpoints. He demonstrated this gift for a friend under even more challenging circumstances. He persuaded an army truck driver to come and recover an UNMO (United Nations Military Observer) vehicle stuck in the mud, under mortar fire. Some UNMO interpreters more than others had a special gift. (Thomas 1995, 10–​11) To survive in such a context, Thomas believes interpreters also need to perform first aid, drive military vehicles and manage radio and communication systems, especially if travelling alone with peacekeepers who might be wounded or killed. The need to develop basic military skills is also confirmed by Finnish civilian interpreters in Afghanistan who believe that training in military attitude and culture was essential to perform their task effectively (Snellman 2014). From a purely linguistic and translational point of view, in their few contributions, the armed forces rarely focus on language and interpreting skills and seem to sometimes confuse the different interpreting modes available, as emerges in our data and Persaud’s (2016). Their knowledge of professional interpreters’ codes of ethics is also limited and interpreting competence seems to be equalled to language one2 (Baigorri-​Jalón 2011, 176). As per the gender of interpreters, no contributions have been published so far although, according to Thomas, in Bosnia-Hercegovina “some observers felt that male interpreters were most suited for critical sessions with local commanders; others insisted on female interpreters for the same type of conference” (Thomas 1995, 12). If both interpreting and military scholars have discussed the tasks and roles performed by interpreters in conflict zones, the specific skills needed to perform adequately have only been partly addressed. This brief literature overview shows that interpreters are required to be trustworthy, and yet culturally embedded, courageous and persuasive, but it also shows that no comprehensive research has been undertaken to understand what the expectations of military/​peacekeeping organisations are for their civilian interpreters in terms of skills, attitudes and gender. We believe that identifying service users’ perspectives and expectations is essential to improve the collaboration between interpreters and their employers in zones of crisis and war, and could also inform interpreters’ recruitment and existing or future training curricula. We will therefore build on available research by trying to answer a simple, yet complicated, research question: what are the features that the armed forces look for in their civilian interpreters in terms of skills, attitudes and gender to effectively perform in a zone of crisis and war?

Research methodology To answer this question, we used as a case study the conflict in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Despite having occurred almost 30 years ago, the war in Bosnia-​Herzegovina and Croatia, an inter-​ethnical conflict on European soil which required international intervention, is still relevant today, especially since enough time has passed for peacekeepers to be able to talk about it and for scholars to objectively contribute to the debate on interpreting in conflict zones. Military representatives were asked what their ideal civilian interpreter is during interviews carried out within a broader PhD project investigating the role, position and practice of interpreters during the war, using archive material and semi-​structured interviews with former military personnel and interpreters. Military subjects interviewed were recruited with the help of veterans’ associations and organisations (like the Canadian “The Memory Project”), Peacekeeping Training Centres, the Italian Army and through snowball sampling, which proved particularly useful in accessing interviewees from several countries. 146

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Figure 10.1 Breakdown of military officers intervieweda a When rank is marked as N/​A it is because it was either not available or undisclosed for privacy reasons. M02 is not mentioned in the comments because he never provided the consent to use the interview.

As can be seen in Figure 10.1, a total of fifteen military subjects who worked in either Croatia and/​ or Bosnia-​Herzegovina during the war were interviewed individually between 2019 and 2021: ten were deployed within the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) from 1991 until 1995 or other UN missions (such as UNMOP, United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka) as either United Nations Military Observers (UNMOs) (eight) or with national contingents (two), one was deployed within the European Community Monitoring Mission (ECMM), and three with the Implementation Force (IFOR) and the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) after 1995. The military subjects interviewed were all male officers (ten retired and five still in service), and six were deployed on subsequent tours to the area within different missions or to missions in other theatres like Kosovo or Afghanistan (their comments on interpreters in those areas were included when relevant). Officers did not know each other except for three sets of interviewees3, but this did not seem to have influenced their position, since they all provided different, sometimes opposed, answers to the questions, except for question 16, to which M03 and M05 both replied that they expected a detailed rendition, and included cultural and social feedback. Although small and not representative of the population, we believe that this sample can be considered a good starting point, both for the difficulty of interviewing in the military sector and for its representativity (two officers from Portugal, three from Canada, one from Malaysia, one from Sweden, one from the UK, two from Italy, three from Ghana, one from Brazil, one from Ireland and one from Morocco) which guarantees plurality of views and cultural approaches4. The semi-​structured interviews were initially to be held in person, but were moved to online platforms due to the COVID-​19 pandemic: despite the difficulties of online qualitative interviewing identified in the literature, like troubles in establishing a relationship, lack of disclosure and paralinguistic clues (Baker 2019), the online tool provided us with the chance to access interviewees from far-​away countries and did not seem to affect disclosure, even of highly emotional issues. Four interviewees nevertheless preferred to answer in writing for security reasons, while ten took part in oral interviews–​of these, four provided written notes that were later discussed in more detail in the oral interview. Data collected with written interviews that were not followed by online ones were not necessarily less extensive than the oral ones, as interviewees provided complete and

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detailed answers in writing as well, but it did not offer the chance to ask follow-​up questions and therefore to explore topics that emerged from their answers. Interviews had an average length of one hour and were carried out mainly in English, as the military lingua franca (twelve of them) except for two interviewees who preferred to speak in Italian and one in French. Interviewees were asked 24 questions about their experience with interpreters, including issues such as recruitment, payment, risks, relationship, tasks, neutrality and confidentiality. Expectations about interpreters’ skills, attitudes and gender were investigated directly in questions 23 (“What is a good interpreter in a war setting?”), 16 (“What kind of interpreting did you expect from your interpreter?”) and 11 (“Did you ever feel that there was a difference when using a male or a female interpreter?”), but also emerged in other exchanges during the oral interviews, as it often happens in semi-​structured qualitative oral data collection. After having anonymised answers by coding respondents with progressive numbers (M01 is military interviewee number one, and so forth) and removing references that could enable their identification, data were analysed using both thematic content, to extract direct answers to our questions, and narrative analysis (Baker 2006, 2010) to gain insight into the way military personnel perceived locally recruited interpreters and to place their experience in relation with that specific time and place. Despite the contribution that such a case study can give, we are nevertheless aware of the methodological limitations of using interviews, especially if carried out several years after the events investigated, as they are “the contingent product of memory that filters recollections of the past through a speaker’s self-​presentation years later” (Baker 2019, 160) and they can be influenced by a series of factors, some of which have already been discussed in the introduction. Despite the limitations of interviewing and while being aware of the possible drawbacks presented by memory, the interviewees’ conscious and/​or subconscious narratives, the passing of time, the respondents knowing each other and having worked with interpreters in subsequent missions, we believe that interviews still provide a valuable tool to explore the interaction between language, war and interpreting, if the complexities of memory and remembering are fully taken into account, as many scholars have already done in this field (Baker 2011; Gómez-​Amich 2016; Kelly and Baker 2013). This is because interviews provide useful individual, but also collective and cultural, context about a single experience, despite the time distance, which is often what allows interviewees to consider their experience without the limitations or influences of the narratives that were dominant at the time (Baker 2019) and to talk about it freely. Since military matters are usually covered by confidentiality and war archives are often classified for 30 or 50 years after a war has ended or until its protagonists are alive (Footitt 2019), interviews taken some twenty years later are sometimes the only way for scholars in this field to gather relevant data and information.

Discussion As mentioned earlier, the skills and attitudes of the “ideal” civilian interpreter in zones of crisis and/​or war were extracted from the answers of military personnel to three questions: what their ideal interpreter is, what kind of translation they expect and whether gender makes a difference in the choice of interpreters. Some of the skills identified pertain more to their expectations about the interpreting act itself, others to professional and personal behaviour and attitudes. Among personality traits and attitudes, military interviewees mention courage (M01; M02), as already put forward by Thomas (1995), understood not just as the courage to work in a war zone, but also to stand up to interlocutors and ask them to speak more clearly or to slow down (M13). Other traits mentioned are empathy and social skills (M03), honesty (M11) and unobtrusiveness, described as “when interpreters stay in the background and do their job without dominating the conversations” 148

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(M13). Another personal feature emerging from interviews is calmness, as is the ability not to get sucked in to the emotions and tensions of the moment, even when speakers are yelling and jumping up and down in fits of anger: “I needed the interpreter to speak with the same calm I was trying to speak with, they couldn’t take in that emotion” (M04). Moving on to professional skills, emerging mainly from question 23, the ideal civilian interpreter working for the military or peacekeepers should, first, be trustable (M03; M05; M06; M07; M10; M12), thus confirming what emerges from the literature. Trust seems to be understood here as an alignment with the military mission’s conversational and ideological goals and as a sense of belonging to the “us” (the armed forces) rather than the “them” (the civilian group): “What do I understand as trustability, or liability whatever, is not the fact that she translates, obviously she is here to translate, but she helps me accomplish my mission. That’s not only about the translation” (M05). M10 defines this approach as “the ethics of the interpreter”, that is loyalty in translation and confidentiality, again confirming that the perfect civilian interpreter tends to coincide with the military interpreter, as openly stated by some of the interviewees who claim that the best interpreters are the military ones (M06), or civilians brought from a Troop Contributing Country (M03; M10)5. Not having control over the mediated encounter, as they would in a monolingual interaction, and not being sure that what they get is the actual gist of the conversation, the foreign armed forces probably feel that they can only rely on trust to feel less at risk and more in control of the situation. This is especially true when interpreters, often untrained or required to do so by the military themselves, provide a summarised rendition or act as gatekeepers without informing all the participants of the conversation: the fear of not being fully aware of what the interpreter and other speakers laugh or talk about is mentioned frequently (M03, M04; M11)6 as a factor that undermines trust in the interpreter. In this respect, accuracy is another concept that emerges as paramount from our interviews (M04; M06; M07; M09), understood as “saying exactly what I say and mean”: “I needed the interpreter to interpret exactly what I was saying because it meant if she didn’t and [the local military representative] got the wrong impression, we would launch airstrikes, you know, so it was a tense moment” (M04). This approach, which underlines the difficult and delicate role played by communication in a war setting, is understandable but fails to consider that interlanguage transfer is not just the simple operation of turning A into B and that a lot of factors come into play. Only two interviewees, who have extensive experience in working with interpreters, define accuracy more broadly as “translating the purpose of their words, the message” (M06), and understand the interpreters’ need to use generic ideas and not to provide a “word-​for-​word” translation. On this point, the military seems to be particularly concerned by interpreters’ tendency to “soften” bad words and insults (M06) and generally prefer that these are also reported in full “because that would be an indicator of something” (M04). Another skill that was often brought up by interviewees is the interpreters’ ability to understand the situation and act as language, cultural and situational informants (M01; M05; M13) and to be, therefore “[m]‌uch more than translators” (M05). “One of the key aspects of all this is that communication is much more than language expression. What you do is much more important than what you say” (M05). M05 further explains this concept, stating that the military is “full of people who are capable of translation […], even machines”; what they need is to understand the culture “because that’s what saves your life” (M05). Cross-​cultural skills are especially important in “counter-​insurgency” where knowing the enemy, their culture and modus operandi have a multiplier effect (Petraeus 2006, 2), especially when these are particularly distant from the culture of foreign troops: “In 149

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Afghanistan’s tribal languages, I don’t think that words for ‘Canada’ or ‘Canadian’ even exist” (M01). Consequently, the type of translation expected by interpreters is often in contrast with the “accuracy” imperative mentioned earlier: it includes “everything–​technical, social, cultural” (M03) and presupposes educating the military on the cultures of those they interact with (M12), not necessarily within the interpreted event, but before or after the encounter (M14). This is underlined especially by former members of UNPROFOR which, as a UN peacekeeping mission, was aimed at obtaining all sorts of information on the conflict to try and find a solution to end it (M15). In this respect, interpreters’ importance is also linked to their ability to pick up the non-​verbal aspects of communication, including body language, and evaluate the situation, turning them into the first security mechanisms: Interpreting [is] not only speaking what I am asking them to speak and to come back to me with what they are telling me but also to look around and to pick up those kinds of things so that we could figure out, what was going on in that particular situation […] reading body language is important. (M04) This ability to read body language and act as a cultural informant and advisor extends, in some cases, to actual negotiation skills that help interpreters set up meetings “with either military commanders, religious leaders, cultural leaders, leaders of industry because one of the tasks that we wanted to achieve was to get a better understanding [of how the place and the local actors function and think]” (M13). So far, the skills expected of civilian interpreters by their employers seem to identify, on the one hand, the civilian interpreter with the military one, a member of the armed forces who is engaged and works actively to achieve the missions’ aims. On the other hand, interviewees mention the importance of objectivity and neutrality (M02; M08; M09; M14) and sustain that the perfect interpreter is one “who does not mix personal opinions with the translation” (M02), or the “aseptic” one (M14), totally disconnected from the context, or at least able to “repress emotions”, at least when interpreting. As M14 himself recognises, it is not an easy thing to do, especially when interpreters are embedded in the conflict as civilians of a country at war, or when they have worked for the military units for a long time and have come to identify with them; that is why he suggests frequent turn-​over of civilian interpreters (M14). The kind of translation expected is quick, as the time element is essential, objective, straightforward and without interpretations or personal opinions (M02; M04; M12), in clear contrast with the “cultural informant/​gatekeeper” role described by other interviewees. Despite this dichotomy in expectations, both groups mention knowledge of military jargon, terminology and key military concepts (M06; M10; M11; M12) as being paramount, as also put forward by Kelly (2019). Military knowledge could also be understood as the instinctive bodily responses to danger, like taking cover during an attack, embarking or disembarking military vehicles, and use of protection and military communication equipment. Many of them confirm Albaaka’s (2020) assumption that interpreters need some kind of body-​response training, and express great concern on this point, as they felt a responsibility to protect these untrained civilians in the unstable front-​ line territory, often putting their lives at risk. Finally, as per interpreting and mediation skills, three interviewees believe interpreters must be fluent in the language of the mission (M04; M11; M12) but, except for good memory (M13), skills such as note-​taking, reformulation and communication, diction, or consecutive/​chuchotage7 are not mentioned by interviewees.

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Finally, we wondered if there is a preference as per the gender of the interpreter, although keeping in mind that war has traditionally been a male-​only sector only recently opened to women and that answers could be influenced by dominant perceptions of femininity and masculinity in the military culture.8 Traditional gender-​related preconceptions are nevertheless almost absent from the collected answers and almost half of the respondents (six out of fifteen) claim that they did not remark any difference in using a female or a male interpreter, as both sexes performed equally and were “both extremely brave” (M01). They maintain that the main differences were related to age, maturity, skills, interests and personality traits rather than gender. Even when the locals’ cultural expectations would prefer male interpreters as the voice of military representatives (M10; M11), either because they were believed to convey more “toughness” and “decisiveness” (M04) or for cultural preconceptions about women, interviewees resisted that approach (M01; M04). They proudly state that they managed to impose on their interlocutors the interpreter they considered the most effective for the job, regardless of the gender: “[My approach was like] I don’t care how tough you are, this is the person that is speaking on my behalf, and you will respect her or we are leaving, then you know that would be fine” (M04). It is worth reminding here that such preconceptions concerned not only women interpreters but could also affect male interpreters, often regarded as “cowards” by the local communities for not fighting in the trenches (Baker 2012b, 859; M01). Even when speakers claimed to prefer one gender, it was usually for practical considerations: interviewees who prefer male interpreters to female ones (four out of nine) affirm that it is because men had often completed military service and mastered the “military skills” described earlier (M04), and were less problematic when travelling long distances and camping outside, without proper toilets, in difficult weather and security conditions (M06). Two interviewees preferred male interpreters as they were less at risk of rape and sexual violence (M06; M14), while M03 thinks they were more suitable to interview shocked combatants (M03) having sometimes experienced combat stress themselves. Another argument for the use of male interpreters is that working with female interpreters “attracts attention from the male soldiers and commanders” (M01) and it can lead to fraternisation that complicates the working relationship (M03), although this could hardly be related to interpreters’ skills and attitudes. Female interpreters were preferred by five out of nine interviewees because they were perceived as more neutral and less threatening in the local culture, where it would have been more difficult to see women as undercover military agents (M05; M08). Other interviewees preferred female interpreters because they found them better at promoting communication: they were able to “break the ice” and speakers “would open up” more easily. The same interviewees also claim that female interpreters were smarter (M08) and had a sort of sixth sense, an ability to quickly put things together that in several instances led them to identify dangers and proved very useful for the unit’s safety (M08; M15).

Conclusion Accounts from recent and less recent conflicts have underlined the lack of quality in locally recruited civilian interpreters but, so far, only a few contributions have reflected on what skills and personality traits the armed forces expect from their locally hired civilian interpreters. This project, interviewing fifteen military officers deployed in Bosnia-​Herzegovina and/​or Croatia in the 1990s, tries to fill this void and define their “ideal interpreter”. Despite the sample circumstantiality and the limits of memory, what emerges from our interviews is that the ideal civilian interpreter in a zone of crisis and war is, for the military, the person that can be trusted with one’s life, loyal, but at the same time accurate in conveying the exact words and meaning. 151

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That perfect interpreter is a cultural informant, whose embeddedness in the conflict is extremely valuable, and who is expected to provide situational, cultural and geographical guidance, act as an advisor and negotiator and be the first alert mechanism for potentially dangerous situations, by picking up both verbal and non-​verbal cues. At the same time though, military representatives also believe that the interpreter should be neutral and provide “aseptic”, unemotional translation. This points to a dichotomy in users’ expectations: on the one hand, they value local interpreters for their cultural contribution, on the other, they are afraid their interpreters’ cultural embeddedness and have the unrealistic expectations that interpreters, as citizens of a country at war, might be neutral spectators of the events unfolding in their countries. This dichotomy shows, once again, that the armed forces look at local civilian interpreters through the prism of the military ones. Other skills that emerge as important are knowledge of military terminology, jargon and culture, the ability to quickly make decisions and perform translation, but also be autonomous (for example to embark/​disembark a military vehicle, use protection equipment), perform first aid and be able to operate communication devices and military vehicles if needed. As per attitude, courage and empathy are ranked as the most important personality traits, together with unobtrusiveness and the ability to remain calm. If stress management and resiliency are taken for granted, so are language and interpreting skills, forgetting that the ability to correctly and neutrally articulate nuances and shades of meaning is closely linked to language command and mediation experience. Finally, when it comes to gender, almost half of the interviewees do not have a clear preference for their interpreters’ gender while the other half is almost equally divided between male and female, with a slight preference for female interpreters who are judged better at promoting communication and less subject to suspicion of militarisation and spying. In this respect, findings reverse the stereotyped conception of the military as a world “for men and of men”, with military personnel even resisting the gender stereotyping of local authorities and imposing on them their trusted interpreters, whether male or female. To conclude, our results show that the ideal civilian interpreter for the armed forces is trustworthy, knows military terminology, has basic military skills and translates quickly and accurately, regardless of the genre, but also that expectations about interpreters’ skills and personality traits are often conflicting within the armed forces themselves, alternating between a culturally embedded interpreter who resembles a military one, and an “aseptic”, neutral one, more similar to a professional conference interpreter. What is interesting to underline is that interviewees’ replies are homogeneous across different national and cultural groups, which is probably due to the fact that they all underwent pre-​deployment training in UN peacekeeping training centres across the world but sharing similar methods and contents. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to confirm and/​or expand on these findings and to evaluate whether the interviewees’ national and cultural origin, gender and training influences their perceptions. Given this dichotomy, we believe that it is essential to develop a profile for civilian interpreters in zones of crisis and war, clearly defining the skills and attitudes required to avoid wrong or conflicting expectations among service providers and users. Such a profile should be developed together by interpreting scholars and military representatives and made available to both soldiers and interpreters who would then be aware of mutual expectations, thus improving working relationships and collaboration. Moreover, defining a skillset or profile for the civilian interpreter in conflict zones is the first step to carrying out effective recruitment and to developing new or amending existing training courses for both interpreters and the armed forces. The latter would benefit from specific training on the use of interpreters, which has sometimes been introduced in subsequent missions, but which was not provided to interviewees at the time, except for the Swedish officer. We hope that this first categorisation of interpreters’ skills and attitudes–​which must be adapted to 152

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the need of each military service (Kelly 2019, 95)–​can be relevant to other conflict/​peacekeeping or crises zones, since the use of civilian interpreters and translators was fraught with problems–​Iraq and Afghanistan are a case in point in this respect–​and can hopefully function as a reference for future peacekeeping or humanitarian missions, especially given the current geopolitical situation.

Notes 1 The Centre for Interpreting in Conflict Zones (In Zone) of the University of Geneva has been providing training for humanitarian and conflict zone interpreters since the early 2000s, in collaboration with MSF, UNHCR and ICRC, through both on-​site and virtual learning. 2 Military interpreters are usually required to possess language knowledge equal to at least to STANAG 3, but training in interpreting is rare and limited, as far as we know, to the Australian forces (Dehghani 2020) and to an Italian pilot experience from the early 2000s (Monacelli 2002). 3 M01 and M04 knew each other, just like M05 and M03 for having served in the same army, while M05 knows M06 as they served together in Bosnia-​Herzegovina. 4 We didn’t consider, at this stage, if national and cultural backgrounds affected the officers’ replies, which seemed generally homogeneous across countries and culture, but it would be interesting, in the future, to consider whether culture has an influence on their perceptions. 5 The preference for “interpreters you bring form home” here conflicts with the literature which points out how their trustworthiness and loyalty has been questioned in history (Takeda 2009, 59; Glionna and Khalil 2005; Stanković 2001; Snellman 2014, 58). 6 Accounts show that it was generally impossible to control the quality of interpreters’ output during the war (Kelly and Baker 2013) although sometimes military interpreters, or what the British call “heritage” or “colloquial” speakers, who spoke another Slavic language were taken along to check interpreters’ work (Baker 2012a). 7 Simultaneous training of local interpreters was only introduced after 1998 when Ian Jones and Louise Askew (2014) reformed and professionalised NATO language support services in Bosnia-​Herzegovina, therefore interpreting was mainly provided as liaison interpreting, chuchotage. 8 The gender discussion emerged spontaneously as revolving around the male–​female dichotomy, with unfortunately no mention to other, more inclusive, gender identities.

Further reading Thomas, Roy. 1995. ‘U.N. military observer interpreters in Sarajevo’. Language International, 7 (1): 8–​13. One of the rare contributions by a military officer on the use of interpreters in Bosnia-​Herzegovina. It provides examples of the complex situations his interpreters had to work in and of good military personnel-​interpreter collaboration. Baker, C. 2019. ‘Interviewing for research on languages and war’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 157–​179. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Discusses the benefits and disadvantages of using interviews for research in languages and conflict and on the different methodological approaches to qualitative interviews analysis. Persaud, Clementina. 2016. Interpreting at war: A case study on EUFOR BIH Althea [PhD Thesis]. Seville: University of Seville. An interesting PhD dissertation that uses interviews and questionnaires to investigate the training received by the European Union Force (EUFOR) Althea interpreters and areas of training to be improved considering both interpreters’ and service users’ perspectives.

References Albaaka, Ali. 2020. ‘Risk perception and its management: Lessons from Iraqi linguistic mediators for the Australian defence force in the Iraq War (2003–​2009)’. In Communication, interpreting and language in

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Eleonora Bernardi wartime historical and contemporary perspectives, edited by Amanda Laugesen and Richard Gehrmann, 223–​252. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Askew, Louise, and Myriam Salama-​Carr. 2011. ‘Interview: Interpreters in conflict–​the view from within’. Translation Studies, 4 (1): 103–​108. Baigorri-​ Jalón, Jesús. 2011. ‘Wars, languages and the role(s) of interpreters’. In Les Liaisons Dangereuses: Langues, Traduction, Interprétation, edited by Henri Awaiss and Jarjoura Hardane, 173–​ 204. Coll. Sources-​Cibles. Beyrouth: Université Saint-​Joseph. Baker, Catherine. 2011. ‘Tito’s children? Language learning, educational resources, and cultural capital in the life histories of interpreters working in Bosnia and Herzegovina’. Südosteuropa. Zeitschrift Für Politik Und Gesellschaft, 04: 478–​502. Baker, Catherine. 2012a. ‘Opening the black box: Oral histories of how soldiers and civilians learned to translate and interpret during peace support operations in Bosnia-​Herzegovina’. Oral History Forum d’Histoire Orale, 32 (Special Issue): 1–​22. Baker, Catherine. 2012b. ‘Prosperity without security: The precarity of interpreters in postsocialist, postconflict Bosnia-​Herzegovina’. Slavic Review, 71 (4): 849–​872. Baker, Catherine. 2019. ‘Interviewing for research on languages and war’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 157–​179. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Baker, Mona. 2006. Translation and conflict: A narrative account. London: Routledge. Baker, Mona. 2010. ‘Interpreters and translators in the war zone. Narrated and narrators’. The Translator, 16 (2): 197–​222. Bos, Geesje, and Joseph Soeters. 2006. ‘Interpreters at work: Experiences from Dutch and Belgian peace operations’. International Peacekeeping, 13 (29): 261–​268. Cummings, Michael. G. 2012. ‘Influencing the population: Using interpreters, conducting KLEs, and executing IO in Afghanistan’. CALL Newsletter September 2012: 12–​18. Dehghani, Yavar. 2020. ‘Effectiveness of intensive courses in teaching war zone languages’. In Communication, interpreting and language in wartime: Historical and contemporary perspectives, edited by Amanda Laugesen and Richard Gehrmann, 89–​108. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Edwards, Victoria. 2002. ‘The role of communication in peace and relief mission negotiations’. The Translation Journal, 6 (2): 11. Fitchett, Linda. 2014. ‘The AIIC project to help interpreters in conflict areas’. In Languages and the military alliances, occupation and peace building, edited by Hilary Foxit and Michael Kelly, 178–​185. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Footitt, Hilary. 2019. ‘Archives and sources’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 137–​156. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://​doi.org/​10.1007/​978-​3-​030-​04825-​9_​8. Glionna, John M., and Ashraf Khalil. 2005. ‘ “Combat linguists” battle on two fronts’. Los Angeles Times. Website. www.lati​mes.com/​archi​ves/​la-​xpm-​2005-​jun-​05-​fg-​int​erpr​et5-​story.html. Gómez Amich, María. 2016. ‘The untold story: June´s case study’. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, 15: 89–​105. Gómez Amich, María. 2017. Estudio descriptivo de la auto percepción de los intérpretes en zonas de conflicto: estudio de caso en Afghanistán [PhD Thesis]. Granada: University of Granada. Hajjar, Remi M. 2017. ‘Effectively working with military linguists: Vital intercultural intermediaries’. Armed Forces & Society, 43 (1): 92–​114. Inghilleri, Moira. 2008. ‘The ethical task of the translator in the geo-​political arena: From Iraq to Guantánamo Bay’. Translation Studies, 1 (2): 212–​223. Inghilleri, Moira. 2010. ‘“You don’t make war without knowing why”: The decision to interpret in Iraq’. The Translator, 16 (2): 175–​196. Inghilleri, Moira. 2015. ‘Military interpreting’. In Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies, edited by Franz Pöchhacker, Nadja Grbić, Peter Mead, and Robin Setton, 260–​261. London/​New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. Inghilleri, Moira. 2019. ‘On encounters and ethics in the Vietnam War’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 51–​72. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

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The ideal conflict zone interpreter Ingold, Catherine. 2014. ‘Cross-​cultural competence plus language: Capturing the essence of intercultural communication’. In Cross-​cultural competence for a twenty-​first-​century military: Culture, the flipside of COIN, edited by Robert Greene Sands and Allison Greene-​Sands, 303–​315. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Jones, Ian P., and Louise Askew. 2014. Meeting the language challenges of NATO operations: Policy, practice and professionalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Juvinall, Ben. 2013. ‘Heaven or hell?: The plight of former wartime interpreters of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts living in the U.S’. Michigan State International Law Review, 21: 205–​227. Kelly, Michael, and Catherine Baker. 2013. Interpreting the peace: Peace operations, conflict and language in Bosnia-​Herzegovina. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Kelly, Michael. 2019. ‘Language policy and war’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 91–​110. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Monacelli, Claudia. 2002. ‘Interpreters for peace’. In Interpreting in the 21st century: Challenges and opportunities, edited by Giuliana Garzone and Maurizio Viezzi, 181–​193. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Persaud, Clementina. 2016. Interpreting at war: A case study on EUFOR BIH Althea. [PhD Thesis]. Seville: University of Seville. Petraeus, David H. 2006. ‘Learning counterinsurgency: Observations from soldiering in Iraq’. Military Review, 4: 2–​12. Prati, Lucia. 2016. L’interprete nelle peace-​support operations: Indagine sul campo presso il contingente italiano in Libano [MA Thesis]. Bologna: University of Bologna. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Clementina Persaud. 2019. ‘On the frontline: Mediating across languages and cultures in peacekeeping operations’. Armed Forces & Society, 45 (3): 472–​490. Snellman, Pekka. 2014. The agency of military interpreters in Finnish crisis management operations [MA Thesis]. University of Tampere. Stahuljak, Zrinka. 1999. ‘The violence of neutrality-​translators in and of the war [Croatia, 1991–​1992]’. College Literature, 26 (1): 34–​51. Stanković, Miloš. 2001. Trusted mole: A soldier’s journey into Bosnia’s heart of darkness. London: HarperCollins. Takeda, Kayoko. 2009. ‘War and interpreters’. Across Languages and Cultures, 10 (1): 49–​62. Thomas, Roy. 1995. ‘U.N. military observer interpreters in Sarajevo’. Language International, 7 (1): 8–​13. Tipton, Rebecca. 2011. ‘Relationships of learning between military personnel and interpreters in situations of violent conflict: Dual pedagogies and communities of practice’. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 5 (1): 15–​40. Todorova, Marija, and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo (Eds.). 2022. Interpreter training in conflict and post-​conflict scenario. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis. Van Dijk, Andrea, Joseph Soeters, and Richard de Ridder. 2010. ‘Smooth translation? A research note on the cooperation between Dutch service personnel and local interpreters in Afghanistan’. Armed Forces & Society, 36 (5): 917–​925. Vieira, Aimee. 2014. ‘Complications in cross-​cultural communications: Using interpreters’. In Cross-​cultural competence for a twenty-​first-​century military: culture, the flipside of COIN, edited by Robert Greene Sands and Allison Greene Sands, 195–​210. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Vitaliano, Angela. 2010. ‘Afghanistan, quando gli interpreti dell’esercito Usa parlano a fatica l’inglese’. Il Fatto Quotidiano. Website. www.ilfatt​oquo​tidi​ano.it/​2010/​09/​14/​afgh​anis​tan-​qua​ndo-​gli-​int​erpr​eti-​delle​ serc​ito-​usa-​parl​ano-​a-​fat​ica-​lingl​ese/​60238/​. Washburn, David. 2004. ‘Contractor Titan’s hiring faulted’. San Diego Union-​Tribune, May 21.

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11 REINVENTING THEMSELVES– ​C ONFLICT ZONE INTERPRETERS FROM AFGHANISTAN AS INTERPRETERS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS IN SPAIN A case study on impartiality, empathy and role María Gómez-​Amich

Introduction According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Afghans make up one of the largest refugee populations worldwide. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is plagued by chronic poverty, lack of food, insecurity, mismanagement and corruption (De la Calle and Parrondo 2016; Bernabé 2017). It has suffered a protracted conflict for the last four decades; the Soviet invasion, their civil war, the Taliban, the American invasion and, currently, the withdrawal of the international troops with the consequent return of the Taliban to power, which has resulted in millions of Afghans fleeing the country or being internally displaced since 1979. The current Afghan crisis–​after the Taliban seized back control of the country in August 2021–​has seen more than one million Afghans fleeing their country and seeking international protection, adding to the 2.6 million Afghans already registered as refugees around the world. Given the complex nature of this type of crisis, this setting has received increasing attention in Interpreting Studies, with authors researching the interpreter’s role during asylum hearings (Pöllabauer 2004), the interpreting habitus within the asylum system (Inghilleri 2005), the interpreter’s work on refugees’ mental health (Tribe 2002) and during psychotherapy sessions with refugees (Miller at al. 2005), stress and coping in traumatised interpreters (Holmgren, Søndergaard, and Elklit 2003), training programmes for refugees to become interpreters (Lai and Mulayim 2010), the challenges faced by interpreters and recommendations to best support them in refugee interpreting settings (Crezee, Jülich, and Hayward 2013), the interpreting services through the asylum process assessed by the main actors (León-​Pinilla, Jordà-​Mathiasen, and Prado-​Gascó

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2016), the complexities surrounding the interpreting services in this setting (Valero-​Garcés 2018) and the lessons learned from the field itself (Todorova 2020). Most studies, however, do not single out interpreters who work with asylum seekers, nor do they include any details about their own impressions with regard to their role, performance and challenges, except for Todorova’s work in which she shares real-​life experiences of field interpreters who worked in two refugee crises in the Republic of North Macedonia (2020). This case study seeks, therefore, to contribute to this research field with data extracted directly from a series of in-​depth, narrative interviews carried out with five Afghan interpreters who, in previous years, worked for the Spanish troops in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) deployed to Afghanistan and who–​after having become refugees themselves–​are currently interpreting for the Afghan families applying for asylum in Spain.

Research context The aim of this study was to explore the perception that these former conflict zone interpreters have of their current role in Spain, as well as to investigate how the adherence to the UNHCR’s professional code’s key tenets–​impartiality1 and objectivity–​can be influenced by certain factors that characterise this highly contextualised setting, including, among others, emotions (anger, resentment, frustration and hope), vicarious trauma, occupational stress and empathic pain. Can these factors affect the interpreter’s positionality and consequently alter the interpreter’s appreciation for certain UNHCR principles? Do the professional concepts of impartiality and objectivity ever become inapplicable or undesirable in certain situations? From the data collected for this case study and the narratives presented in the following pages, we can infer the need to consider renegotiating certain professional protocols and principles, similar to what has already been evidenced in previous studies (cf. Barsky 1996; Baker 2006; Dragovic-​Drouet 2007; Zimányi 2009; Todorova 2020), including those contextualised within conflict zones (Gómez-​Amich 2017; Martin and Gómez-​Amich 2021). Interpreting for refugees when working with minority and rare languages seems to result from an unexpected and tragic situation in which innocent lay people suffer and flee the horrors of violent conflicts, as has been argued for conflict zone interpreting (Baigorri Jalón 2011). The right to interpreting services for asylum seekers was set in the 1951 Refugee Convention signed by almost 150 countries around the world, including Spain. The right of asylum and subsidiary protection in the Spanish territory is regulated by Art. 16 and Art. 18 of the Spanish Law 12/​2009. The Spanish administrative unit in charge of enforcing the law applicable to asylum and subsidiary protection is the OAR (Oficina de Asilo y Refugio) and one of its main responsibilities is assisting asylum seekers throughout their application for international protection. When the applicants do not speak the language of the country, their ability to access the necessary services becomes limited, and the quality of the services received is negatively affected (Crezee, Jülich, and Hayward 2013). Hence, it is the authorities’ responsibility to provide interpreting services to ensure social justice and equality. These interpreting services are required throughout the entire application process, which involves very diverse settings such as courts, police premises, attorney offices, healthcare centres, social services and academic institutions, to name a few (cf. Birot 2013; Crezee, Jülich, and Hayward 2013; León-​Pinilla, Jordà-​Mathiasen, and Prado-​Gascó 2016). Nevertheless, as evidenced elsewhere, the availability of qualified interpreters to work at asylum hearings seems to be “one of the most critical issues in this field and has been discussed from the legal as well as the linguistic point of view” (Kolb and Pöchhacker 2008, 29). This seems to be

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of particular concern, considering that asylum applicants seek interpreting services in settings as complex as detention centres, mental health facilities, and minors and youth units (Crezee, Hayward, and Jülich 2011; Crezee, Jülich, and Hayward 2013). In these settings–​as evidenced by Moser-​Mercer and Bali (2008)–​the interpreting services are mainly offered by ad hoc interpreters who have rarely received any training on professional skills and necessary professional ethics. This undoubtedly contributes to the “consolidation of new paradigms of linguistic, cultural and religious mediation” (Pérez-​González and Susam-​Saraeva 2012, 152). However, their cultural and linguistic capital represents an invaluable tool to support all actors involved in the asylum application process. These interpreters are solidly positioned inside the Afghan culture and deep inside the Afghan conflict itself. Consequently, and considering that “communication is going to be affected by feelings of shame, terror, guilt, suspicion, fear” (Martín Ruel 2021, 252), fundamental ethical principles such as impartiality and objectivity–​as well as accuracy, integrity and professionalism–​seem to become a challenge when carrying out tasks of “extreme interpreting” (Bámbaren-​Call et al. 2012) for survivors of violence and psychological trauma as a result of the same fear of ethical harassment and cleansing, physical and sexual assault, imprisonment, political and religious persecutions, terrorism, human rights abuses, murder and war that these interpreters escaped from to become refugees themselves. This seems to be one of the main reasons why some scholars might make a case for the interpreter’s latitude and advocate for a less restrictive role for the interpreter, which would include specific characteristics otherwise traditionally reserved for mediators (León-​Pinilla, Jordà-​Mathiasen, and Prado-​Gascó 2016; Todorova 2020). This may be of particular interest when it comes to scenarios where the applicants are constantly interrupted while defending their case in one of the multiple interviews in different institutional settings (León-​Pinilla, Jordà-​ Mathiasen, and Prado-​Gascó 2015), when through adversarial procedures they do not qualify for refugee status until proven otherwise (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020), when frictional encounters may pose ethical dilemmas during interpreted interviews (Bahadir 2010) or if the performance of the other main actors is described as dispassionate and disinterested (Lakoff 1989 in Fenton 2004) even though the applicant’s life or death might depend on decisions made on the international law (Fenton 2004). Little attention, however, has been paid to the effects that these highly emotional environments can have on the interpreters and to what extent emotional plight and high levels of distress can have different repercussions on the work of interpreters who come from the same country of origin as the refugees they interpret for (Holmgren, Søndergaard, and Elklit 2003, 22). The discussion in this chapter focuses precisely on how repeated exposure to emphatic pain, occupational stress and vicarious trauma can impact interpreters emotionally and hence alter the perception they have of their own role and responsibilities.

Research methodology This qualitative, descriptive study draws on data collected through narrative interviews with five local interpreters2 who worked for the Spanish troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO ISAF mission between 2003 and 2015. Spain deployed 35 Spanish contingents called ASPFOR (Afghanistan Spanish Force) and all Spanish troops withdrew from Afghanistan on 31 December 2014. The local interpreters who had worked for Spain in Afghan territory were allowed to apply for asylum in Spain. The five subjects participating in this case study benefited from such an opportunity and have been residing and working in Spain since 2015. All interviews with the study subjects were conducted in Spanish and via an Internet-​based calling platform in early January 158

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2022. The narratives presented in the following pages were translated from Spanish into English by the author of this chapter. The interviews followed the narrative approach, which allows for the elicitation of in-​ detailed data and, consequently, the exploration of different dimensions of the interviewee’s experiences and perceptions on particular topics of interest to the study project because “there is no human experience that cannot be expressed in the form of a narrative” (Jovchelovitch and Bauer 2000, 57). In the first stage–​based on Wengraf’s (2004) SQUIN method, i.e., “Single Question to Induce Narrative”–​all the respondents were given the opportunity to freely speak about their personal story (childhood in Afghanistan, studies, language acquisition, recruitment process, life as a refugee in Spain, etc.), as well as to describe their perceptions and impressions with regard to their role as interpreters for Afghan families seeking asylum in Spain. For the second stage of the interviews, a semi-​structured script3 was used as a supporting tool to ask specific questions to collect the interviewees’ insight and opinions on key topics related to this case study. It is also worth mentioning that, at the end of the interview, each study subject was asked a series of open-​ended questions on concepts such as neutrality, performance, interpreter’s responsibilities, strategies and cultural aspects. These specific questions were extracted from an interview script that had been previously assessed by experts on dialogue and conflict zone interpreting (cf. Gómez-​Amich 2017). The collected data was codified and subsequently analysed on NVivo 11 Plus following the “concept mapping” technique (Trochim and Linton 1986). Narratives were firstly codified into a series of thematic nodes for each study subject and secondly classified into clusters based on themes such as “neutrality”, “culture”, “emotions”, “responsibilities”, “agency”, “strategies”, “mediation”, “expectations” and “role perception”, to name a few. This approach generated thematic maps and allowed us to observe similarities and patterns across the narratives contained in the study corpus. This in-​depth analysis evidenced how in the “highly-​charged and highly-​exposed situations” (Salama-​Carr 2011, 105) in which the interviewees work, it may be required to renegotiate key principles contained in the UNHCR’s Code of Conduct since concepts such as impartiality and objectivity might not always be considered applicable and desirable principles. The discussion that follows is an attempt to acknowledge the figure and the work of the interpreters for refugees. This case study does not aim to assess the study subjects’ performance or the strategies they claim to have applied in the interpreting assignments described during the interviews. Similarly, this project does not aim to reach universal truths to support a series of prescriptive outlines for future reference. Rather, its purpose was to study in-​depth the presence and role of interpreters who work in contexts of crisis but who are rarely singled out for detailed comments and analyses of their narratives–​similar to what has been highlighted elsewhere for conflict zone interpreters (cf. Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2016; Todorova 2020). Narrative studies are particularly useful in the detailed analysis of data collected from rather small samples which, regardless of their size, can still provide very valuable insights (Mason 2000; Torikai 2009), especially when it comes to studies that take into consideration the subjects’ perspective (Baker 2006; Salama-​Carr 2011) as is the case in this project.

Discussion The results of this case study seem to point out that, similar to what has been concluded for other interpreting settings, certain principles in the professional codes of conduct emphasise the 159

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“interpreter’s paradox” (Martinez-​Gómez 2014, 189) according to which expecting interpreters to be invisible facilitators of communication in highly charged contexts such as conflict zones, humanitarian crises and asylum hearings is making them “embod[y]‌literally the violence of the conflict that [they] translate for the international community” (Stahuljak 1999, 39). The five Afghan interpreters who participated in this case study seem to perceive themselves as the connecting bridges and cultural experts among the involved parties, and they believe it is important to maintain high standards of professionalism. Bearing in mind that the concept of professionalism may be understood as a social practice bound by culture (Rudvin 2007), the subjects’ self-​perception seems to be aligned with previous studies on local interpreters in Afghanistan (Gómez-​Amich 2017). The same perception on expertise is observed in previous studies that focused on interpreters working with refugees, which concluded that the interpreter “holds an active role in the interaction” (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020: 167) and has indeed “real power over the message, including the power to retrigger trauma because he/​she controls the message and the flow of communication” (Bancroft 2017, 211). Certain concepts such as “control” and “power” may clash with one of the main tenets contained in the code of conduct that guides the supranational UNHCR, i.e., “impartiality”. The concept of “impartiality” is mainly based on the idea of an observer with no perspective of their own (Grillo 1991, 1587). However, as some authors have interestingly pointed out, “any observer inevitably sees from a particular perspective, whether that perspective is acknowledged or not” (ibid.). Consequently, if interpreters working in asylum hearings have their own opinions, perceptions, values and biases–​like any other human being–​the power and control mentioned in Bancroft (2017) will inevitably have consequences when the interpreter selects strategies to apply and roles to adopt in each interpreted encounter. In this case study, all interviewees argued that their behaviour and decisions as interpreters allowed them to tackle unavoidable challenges by carrying out a series of on-​the-​spot-​risk and contextual analyses of each situation. This aligns with what other authors have considered as one of the main features of professional behaviour, i.e., “the ability to employ specialist problem-​solving skills” (Hebenstreit, Marics, and Hlavac 2017, 74). However, their strategies–​described in the upcoming pages–​might not be in strict adherence to the notion of impartiality, a concept that has been openly criticised by scholars in conflict, healthcare and refugee interpreting (Barsky 1996; Davidson 2000; Patel 2003: Tymoczko 2003; Pöllabauer 2004; Dragovic-​Drouet 2007; Baker 2006; Todorova 2017; Gómez-​Amich 2017, 2021). Thus, I hasten to point out that the traditional narrative of the interpreter as an impartial facilitator of communication tends to be faced in challenging settings. Interpreting for survivors of violent crime, traumatic events, gender-​based violence, torture and war can pose ethical dilemmas to the interpreters (cf. Bahadir 2010), as such settings are typically more intense and complex than other interpreting settings. As a result, certain principles, strategies and levels of latitude might need to be discussed and renegotiated given that a reconsideration of the interpreter’s impartiality “may actually be more efficient to conflict resolution” (Todorova 2017: 119). As stated elsewhere, “the conditions in the workplace and the background of the interpreter might pose significant risks to ensuring the implementation and adoption of ethics” (Duman 2021, 115) and when the nature of the interpreted encounters and the content of the original messages are highly emotional or primarily negative, “traumatic events can affect and overwhelm every part of any individual’s body, mind, work, relationships, beliefs and values” (Bancroft 2017, 197). Consequently “the cost of caring” (Harvey 2003, 208) might have impacted the reasoning behind the interviewees’ choices when selecting the role that they would play when interpreting for the vulnerable party, especially when the interpreter has been through the same exact tedious

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and nerve-​racking application (cf. Bancroft et al. 2013) or they share a similar background with the applicant (Crezee, Jülich, and Hayward 2013: 255). In this regard, all five study subjects confirmed having fluctuated between different levels of agency when it came to selecting their role and its behavioural restrictions, oscillating between “faithful renderer of other’s utterances” (Hale 2008, 114) and other roles such as (quasi-​)mediator, advisor, consultant, coordinator, assistant and gatekeeper, depending on the contextual features and the needs they claimed to have identified in each encounter. This aligns with previous studies that advocate for the idea that “translators have ideologies and loyalty, and these are connected with specific cultural spaces, and not with the ‘in-​ between’ [which] clouds the need for a practical collective engagement as a tool for social change” (Todorova 2020: 69). Trauma resulting from forced migration and the emotions that are awakened in these contexts–​ including uncertainty, frustration, hopelessness, anxiety, insecurity and fear (León-​Pinilla, Jordà-​ Mathiasen, and Prado-​Gascó 2015)–​pose added challenges not only to refugees who are considered a migrant minority particularly vulnerable to mental health disorders (Williams and Westermeyer 1986), but also to interpreters who, in this case study, are not outsiders to the very same conflict, atrocities and human right violations they are interpreting. As a result, in highly charged situations scholars have interestingly pointed out that both “internal and external demands have proven to be stronger than adherence to the code” (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020, 150). As pointed out by Jiménez-​Ivars (2020, 153), “impartiality refers to refraining from allowing personal beliefs or feelings to manifest”, hence the concept of impartiality in certain settings becomes a real challenge, considering that “internal non-​neutrality is an involuntary psychological reflex for well-​adjusted persons, particularly when in close proximity to someone seen as being oppressed or otherwise demeaned” (Harvey 2003, 207). In these lines, it is essential to point out that the impartiality prescribed by protocols can actually further accentuate certain challenges for the vulnerable party (Grillo 1991; Pavlich 1996) and consequently will fail not only to protect the weakest stakeholder but also to address power imbalances (Todorova 2020). This, in certain cases and for certain interpreters, can make the notion of impartiality unfeasible on an emotional level (Harvey 2003). The critical challenge for the interpreter is precisely learning how to manage their empathic non-​neutrality, because “it is largely inevitable–​a psychological reflex–​to experience some degree of emphatic pain” (Harvey 2003, 207), especially when the interpreter is repeatedly exposed to “traumatic information and the traumatised state of others [which] can lead to a significant accumulation of occupational stress” (Bontempo and Malcolm 2011, 105) and in time can cause secondary traumatisation to the interpreter (Knodel 2018) as well as physical or psychological ill health (Bontempo 2012). All the participants in this case study raised similar concerns with regard to the role that emotions play when interpreting for trauma survivors and how these emotions not only make them psychologically vulnerable but they also might have different repercussions on their role, performance and level of impartiality, a tenet that has been problematised not only by Interpreting Studies researchers (Baker 2006; Dragovic-​Drouet 2007; Martinez-​Gómez 2014; Todorova 2020) but also by scholars of Mediation Studies (Gulliver 1979; Kriesberg 1991; Touval 2002). In this study, all the interpreters expressed feelings of empathy and reported a sense of frustration and helplessness when witnessing verbal and non-​verbal manifestations of “empathic communication” (Theys et al. 2021: 160) and listening to the challenges that the vulnerable party had to face. These results are in line with other studies on the topic of impartiality, empathy and occupational stress among interpreters (Hetherington 2011). Figure 11.1 contains the representation in figures of how deeply in a scale from 0 to 10 certain emotions have been felt by the interviewed subjects while interpreting for Afghan asylum seekers. As

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Figure 11.1 Emotions felt by the interviewed interpreters

shown, it is evident that empathy is the most recurrent emotion among these study subjects with frustration as the second most common one. This aligns with their narratives that are presented as follows. I firmly believe that emotions such as empathy, resentment and frustration deeply affect our role as interpreters because they affect our interest and dedication to our job. (Musa4) Emotions profoundly affect interpreters. […] Empathy with the asylum seeker is one of the most important aspects of my job. (Luqman) When they tell me about the good life quality they used to have in Afghanistan and they share with me their struggles to reach Spain and how they are being treated here, I get so frustrated. (Dalir) It is very hard because I can relate to their situation and struggles. It is very hard to see people crying and struggling. […] Interpreters do not have access to psychologists. (Abdul) It is a difficult job. If you are an emotional interpreter, you will find it very difficult because there will be very tough interviews. (Rahim) Working with refugees touches your soul. When you hear their stories, it is difficult not getting emotional. (Luqman) 162

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According to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), all human beings tend to behave in a particular manner depending on the attitude they might adopt with regard to a specific situation or person. Hence, “a favourable attitude towards the asylum-​seeker […] is likely to predict behaviour” (Jiménez-​ Ivars 2020: 167). In other words, the more committed an interpreter is to the vulnerable party, the more empathy will be expressed and subsequently the less neutral the interpreter will be in their performance (Brisset, Leanza, and Laforest 2013). As pointed out elsewhere, behaviours that can be classified as “diverted” from the norm established in professional codes tend to be connected to emotionally charged scenarios (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020), particularly if no training provisions or support mechanisms are in place to supervise the performance and well-being of those working in trauma-​informed encounters. Thus, impartiality can be challenged by (over) empathetic decision-​making that leads to lack of objectivity. In these lines, the previous narratives make us wonder, have the interviewed interpreters perhaps resolved that desperate times call for desperate measures? Considering that they have not received proper training or clear guidelines, the following narratives evidence how they seem to have opted for “self-​legislation” (Inghilleri 2010: 192) based on “their own ethical codes” (Baker 2012: 21) with certain decisions based on “gut feelings”, as it was also evidenced in previous studies (Ruiz Rosendo 2019). Consequently, they might have made decisions that–​in their eyes–​promised the maximum effect with the minimum damage to the vulnerable party. According to the collected data, we can conclude that the five interviewees portrayed themselves as active participants with enough power to alter the outcome of the asylum hearing interviews. I try to keep the control because if I lost it, I would not be doing my job properly. […] I have the most important role in all interviews. […] If you work as an interpreter for refugees, knowing the language is not enough; you must know how to mediate. (Dalir) I am, undoubtedly, the one who sets the rules in each encounter.

(Luqman)

Humans “perceive reality through their own social lenses” (Angelelli 2004, 2) and as a result, societal factors such as practices, behaviours and values form our vision of the world, which can be considered the product resulting from our own capital acquired in social institutions such as family, religion and culture. Interpreters are expected not only to translate the language and culture but also to consider numerous factors, including environmental, interpersonal, paralinguistic and intrapersonal demands encapsulated in the highly contextualised work involved in community interpreting (Dean and Pollard 2009, 2–​3). These factors will undoubtedly affect how the interpreters “interpret” the different practices, values and perceptions of society, which in certain cases can be opposed or conflicting among communities. In the case of refugee interpreting, it is paramount to be aware of institutional norms governing hearings and the sociocultural aspects inherent to both the applicant and the country where the applicant intends to become a refugee. Consequently, skills such as language proficiency, knowledge of key sociocultural aspects and familiarity with the application process play a crucial role when interpreting the life story of the asylum seeker, especially considering that “the success or failure of an application rests on the credibility of the oral account that supports the claim” (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020, 151). Hence, having been asylum seekers themselves, the interviewees highlighted the importance of being aware of the complexities and intricacies of the asylum application process and being familiar with the host country’s cultural norms. Similar to what has been evidenced in other interpreting 163

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settings, the law of supply and demand tends to rule the hiring of interpreters in asylum hearings (León-​ Pinilla, Jordà-​ Mathiasen, and Prado-​ Gascó 2016, 31), particularly regarding minority languages such as Pashtu and Dari. This cross-​cultural knowledge of languages and behavioural repertoire becomes the source of these interpreters’ social, cultural and economic status. It is precisely what forms their capital and makes them indispensable. However, considering that expectations of the interpreter’s role vary across cultures and professional fields (Leanza 2005; Hsieh 2006; Hale 2008; Kainz, Prunč, and Schögler 2011; Angelelli 2019; Ruiz Rosendo 2019; Crezee, Zucchi, and Jülich 2020; Duman 2021), the lack of training and clear guidelines for the interpreter might have some effect in the success of asylum hearings, a concerning scenario where it will be determined if an applicant is granted permission to stay in the hosting country or if they are forced to return to a land where their life might be in danger. This is a very demanding job. Interpreting is very difficult [but] NGOs always try to pay us the bare minimum. NGOs will hire you as long as you can say “Hi, how are you?” in Spanish. They do not care about the Afghan children or their families. This makes me very sad. (Dalir) Regardless of this statement, all five interpreters agreed that interpreting for refugees is rewarding. Results suggest that the interviewees portrayed themselves as an integral part of the community (cf. Beltran-​Avery 2001) whose main motivation was helping others rather than being guided purely by objectivity and impartiality, which aligns with previous studies (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020; Duman 2021). In this regard, the concept of wasta (contacts) and its importance in Afghan culture is worth noting. According to the study subjects, it was precisely through their contacts that they ended up working as interpreters for refugees and it was such wasta that enabled them to support the applicants beyond offering interpreting services in hearings, especially considering that, as stated elsewhere, asylum seekers tend to have high expectations on the role of the interpreter, usually considering them their ally (Tribe and Morrissey 2003; Fenton 2004). All five interviewees confirmed having fulfilled other sorts of responsibilities that extended beyond their linguistic duties: for instance, answering questions regarding the application process and the hosting country, giving advice on how to ensure a favourable outcome in hearings, guiding applicants in their job-​ hunting process, accompanying them to look for housing or even getting involved in domestic violence cases against other Afghan nationals. I always help Afghans outside hearings. There have always been Afghans who needed my help and I gave them my phone number. They always call me with questions and I always help them as much as I can. […] Spaniards do not complain if I want to help. In a domestic violence case, the Afghan applicants had my phone number, they called me and they stayed with me one night. (Rahim) This narrative is an extreme example of the interpreter’s involvement. It could be argued that such comments evidence how, as stated elsewhere (Pöllabauer 2005), the role of the interpreter for refugees has not been “crystallized” yet (cf. Henriksen 2008, 53) resulting in what has been previously defined as “functional polyvalence” (Alonso Araguás and Payàs Puigarnaus 2008), which can be argued as one of the reasons behind the stagnation and no real progress for the interpreter’s role (cf. Todorova 2020). Subsequently, we can observe a pronounced “role distance” (Goffman 164

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1961) between the normative role that the interpreters are expected to play in accordance with international codes of conduct, and the actual execution of such a role in real-​life scenarios, especially among ad hoc interpreters (León-​Pinilla, Jordà-​Mathiasen, and Prado-​Gascó 2016, 31) or in scenarios in which the code’s principles conflict with the interpreter’s personal ethics (Inghilleri 2012). For some authors, impartiality embodies “virtues that promote personal values such as confidence, self-​determination and equality” (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020, 153). For other scholars, impartiality might as well imply “offering equal fidelity to all speakers” (Prunč and Setton 2015: 273) while facilitating access to services and mediation (Duman 2021: 118). As a matter of fact, this data analysis pointed to the fact that interpreters “are often active partners in the process of mediation between various parties and in advocacy for the vulnerable” (Todorova 2020, 64), which aligns with interventionist and activist approaches to Interpreting Studies, according to which interpreters are inevitably involved in issues of responsibility towards others (Baker 2008). In this vein, the results of this study demonstrate a tendency among all five interviewees to stretch the restrictions traditionally imposed to their role in favour of higher levels of latitude and agency, a reality observed among practitioners with certain seniority who tended to advocate for and execute strong autonomy in their roles (Ng and Feldman 2008). In these lines, all five subjects agreed that–​even though their main responsibility consisted of accurately translating the content of original messages–​there are certain societal, institutional and contextual features that require their active intervention. Among their responsibilities, they listed some that are entirely aligned with the mediator’s role as described by the UN, including nourishing a respectful environment where parties are interested in maintaining the communication channels opened by “ensur[ing] that negotiating parties have sufficient knowledge, information and skills to negotiate with confidence” (United Nations 2012, 4–​5). In order to achieve that final objective–​in line with some of the findings published in previous studies (Valero Garcés 2018)–​all subjects claimed being responsible for advocating for cultural understanding, avoiding all face-​threatening acts (cf. Brown and Levinson 1987), softening the speaker’s tone and modifying the grammatical persons from first to third. They also believed it was their responsibility to include unsolicited cultural clarifications, to educate all main parties on each other’s habitus, to omit what they considered to be unnecessary religious references, and to adapt the accuracy of the original messages to what they thought to be culturally appropriate and favourable to the vulnerable party. Such level of agency and power in the hands of the interpreter makes the stakeholders’ autonomy impossible, resulting in the main parties losing control of their legitimate rights to empowerment as main actors in the event. This aligns with other studies contextualised in conflict zones which evidenced how the main actors were indeed unaware of the power that their interpreters were actually executing (Gómez-​Amich 2021), even though the same subjects confirmed they were open to reconsidering the role traditionally imposed to their interpreters in favour of a broader continuum from impartial to multipartial (Angelelli 2019) depending on the situation at hand. This is similar to what has been the case in countries with a solid intercultural mediation background (cf. Duman 2021), settings where interpreters are hired ad hoc (cf. Todorova 2020) or if advocacy and intercultural mediation becomes indispensable (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020). If I interpret for a doctor or a psychologist and they are asking certain questions to an Afghan woman, I openly tell them that, even though I am very sorry, I cannot translate those questions because if I do, the Afghan woman will get upset with me, she will stand up and she will leave. If me as an Afghan ask her certain questions, she will think I am stupid and I 165

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have changed too much in too little time. […] Spaniards get it and apologise, because they understand you cannot integrate a foreigner in two days. (Dalir) The narratives shared in this chapter portray these five Afghan interpreters as individuals who seem aware of the importance of providing accurate, objective and impartial translations, but only provided that such translations are not only institutionally appropriate within each encounter, but they also adhere to the strict rules of conduct that characterise the Afghan community (Hoedemaekers and Soeters 2009), for which the idea of honour is deeply rooted in their in-​group culture. In order to navigate challenging “culture bumps” (Archer 1986, 170) and aiming at avoiding any possible face-​threatening acts (cf. Brown and Levinson 1987) against all involved parties–​including the interpreter–​the five study subjects claim to have applied a series of strategies that, as per the narratives presented in previous pages, intended to facilitate the interaction dynamics by preserving the functionality of the communicative act and protecting the main actors from any potential discomfort and distrust that could eventually close the communication channels and, consequently, negatively affect the vulnerable party. These results align with other studies that have previously pointed to the fact that even though certain positions adopted by the interpreter could be considered as a clear violation of the ethical tenet of impartiality, interpreters “seem to feel that their role in preventing misunderstandings, which are often due to cultural differences, overrides it” (Angelelli 2006, 183). We can therefore conclude that, as other authors have previously hastened to point, “the meaning of impartiality is shaped by the system in which it is laid down” (Duman 2021, 115) and consequently it is much needed a careful and detailed reconsideration is needed of certain concepts intrinsically related to the interpreter’s role that seem to be less and less applicable and desirable in more than one setting of interpretation.

Conclusion This study has undertaken to analyse and describe the perception that five Afghan refugees have of their role as interpreters for other asylum seekers in Spain. The results show that all five subjects adopted different levels of agency and latitude, as a result of the very particular aspects that characterise the refugee interpreting setting. In doing this, they undertook different roles including gatekeeper, mediator and advisor inside and outside the interpreted encounters. We may infer from the data that there is a recurrent tendency to deviate from one of the code’s main tenets–​ impartiality–​in order to prioritise the vulnerable party involved in communication. The results of this study build up from previous publications that evidenced how one of the biggest challenges these interpreters need to face is coping with the applicants’ emotional stories and heart-​breaking experiences, which in the case of these five interviewees aligned with their own personal and family history. As other authors have demonstrated, anyone who works with a trauma victim will be exposed to the possibility of experiencing their client’s traumatic memories (McCann and Pearlman 1990). Therefore, the subjective well-being of refugees will undoubtedly affect the interpreters and their performance (León-​Pinilla and Jiménez-​Ivars 2013). These results suggest that with no supporting mechanisms, professional training or clear guidelines, interpreters tend to resort to self-​legislation by learning coping strategies on the job and by applying risk and contextual analyses to the different challenges they must face at work. However, following their own code of conduct will lead to different professional expectations of

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the interpreter’s role, which will sustain the lack of professional crystallisation that this setting in particular suffers from. It is therefore evident that there needs to be a discussion about how to best support our colleagues working in this setting by calling into question and reconsidering certain peculiarities of ethical standards of impartiality. As evidenced elsewhere, challenging scenarios, as the one at hand, require an open dialogue on how to adhere to “minimal as opposed to maximal standards allowing for a specific degree of latitude that prioritises universal ethics and takes contingency into consideration” (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020, 168–​169). This will support interpreters in feeling prepared to make complex but wise decisions (Valero Garcés 2018). It is also worth noting that, similar to what has been demonstrated for conflict zone interpreting (Gómez-​Amich 2021) and other studies on the refugee setting (Valero-​Garcés 2018), there is a need for acknowledging and defending the multiple roles that interpreters tend to adopt in this setting. Narrative, qualitative studies based on first-​hand experiences will be able to support scholars and practitioners in (re)starting a dialogue focused on what has been discussed in this chapter. In-​depth analysis similar to this study can give readers access to interpreters’ voices and personal impressions regarding actual challenges and varying roles in real-​life scenarios. We trust this chapter managed to acknowledge the work of these interpreters. Their participation in this type of study is highly valuable to our academic field, in that they can contribute to our understanding of dynamics in specific settings and how certain features have unavoidable consequences on the interpreter’s behavioural decisions and performance when working in the refugee context.

Notes 1 As stated elsewhere, “accuracy requires impartiality and impartiality is necessary to render accuracy” (Jiménez-​Ivars 2020, 153). Hence, this chapter focuses on the concept of impartiality and considers altered accuracy as one of the consequences of lack of impartiality among interpreters. 2 All five subjects were male, between 31 and 35 years old. 3 The original interview script was piloted with a focal group composed of experts in community and conflict zone interpreting. 4 All interviewees have been anonymised and fake names have been used to protect their identity.

Further reading Todorova, Marija, and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo (Eds.). 2021. Interpreting conflict: A comparative framework. London: Palgrave Macmillan. This book brings together a series of international and intercultural studies focused on the role of interpreters in conflict situations. The authors examine relevant notions of interpreting in conflict-​related scenarios, including positionality, emotional and ethical implications, training and power. Martin, Anne, and María Gómez-​ Amich. 2021. ‘Ideology, positionality and war. Local interpreters in Afghanistan.’ Interpreting, 23 (2): 269–​295. This article explores how ideology is part of conflict situations and may condition the interpreter’s role. Drawing on the narratives of five local interpreters from Afghanistan, the authors examine how ideology is reflected in the interpreter’s perception of their role. Jiménez-​Ivars, Amparo. 2020. ‘Impartiality and accuracy as a case point while interpreting in a refugee context’. FORUM, 18 (2): 150–​178. This article pays special attention to the difficulties of implementing two of the core principles of codes of ethics for interpreting in a refugee context: impartiality and accuracy. The author explores the interpreter’s appreciation of these principles and their self-​identification with them versus actual observance in refugee settings.

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Translation Studies: Selected contributions from the EST Congress, Copenhagen 2001, edited by Hansen, Gyde, Kirsten Malmkjær, and Daniel Gile, 263–​270. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Fishbein, Martin, and Leek Ajzen. 1975. Belief, attitude, intention, and behaviour. Reading, MA: Addison-​Wesley. Goffman, Erving. 1961. Encounters: Two studies in the sociology of interaction. Indianápolis: Bobbs-​Merrill Company, Inc. Gómez-​Amich, María. 2017. Estudio Descriptivo de la Autopercepción de los Intérpretes en Zonas de Conflicto: Estudio de caso en Afganistán. [PhD Dissertation]. University of Granada. Gómez-​Amich, María. 2021. ‘Local interpreters versus military personnel: Perceptions and expectations regarding the local interpreter’s role and agency within the Afghan conflict’. In Interpreting conflict. A comparative framework, edited by Marija Todorova and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo, 85–​112. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Grillo, Trina. 1991. ‘The mediation alternative: Process dangers for women.’ Yale Law Review, 100: 1545–​1610. Gulliver, Philip H. 1979. Disputes and negotiations: A cross-​cultural perspective. New York: Academic Press. Hale, Sandra. 2008. ‘Controversies over the role of the court interpreter’. In Crossing borders in community interpreting: Definitions and dilemmas, edited by Carmen Valero-​Garcés and Anne Martin, 99–​121. Amsterdam-​Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Harvey, Michael A. 2003. ‘Shielding yourself from the perils of empathy: The case of sign languages interpreters’. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 8 (2): 207–​213. Hebenstreit, Gernot, Alexandra Marics, and Jim Hlavac. 2017. ‘Professional ethics and professional conduct’. In Handbook for interpreters in asylum procedures, edited by UNHCR, 70–​84. Vienna: UNHCR. Henriksen, Thomas. D. 2008. ‘Liquidating roles and crystallising positions: Investigating the road between role and positioning theory’. In Global conflict resolution through positioning analysis, edited by Fathali M. Moghaddam, Rom Harré, and Naomi Lee, 41–​64. Dordrecht: Springer Science and Business Media B.V. Hetherington, Ali. 2011. ‘A magical profession? Causes and management of occupational stress in the signed language interpreting profession’. In Signed language interpreting, edited by Larraine Leeson, Svenja Wurm, and Myriam Vermeerbergen, 138–​158. London: Routledge. Hoedemaekers, Iris, and Joseph Soeters. 2009. ‘Interactions rituals and language mediation during peace missions: Experiences from Afghanistan’. In Advances in military sociology: Essays in honour of Charles C. Moskos, Vol. 12 Part 1, edited by Giuseppe Caforio, 329–​352. Bingley: Emerald Group. Holmgren, Helle, Hanne Søndergaard, and Aask Elklit. 2003. ‘Stress and coping in traumatised interpreters: A pilot study of refugee interpreters working for a humanitarian organisation’. Intervention, 1 (3): 22–​28. 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12 WIDENING THE SCOPE OF INTERPRETING IN CONFLICT SETTINGS A description of the provision of interpreting during the 2021 Afghan evacuation to Spain Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez and Gabriel Cabrera Méndez

Introduction Worldwide, interpreting is underprofessionalised in many domains, such as public service interpreting (PSI). In addition to training programmes, standards for practice, codes of ethics or professional associations, PSI possesses elements that characterise other equally true professions. Despite this, there is still a lack of recognition from society (Lázaro Gutiérrez 2014), which results in a lack of understanding and definition of interpreters’ roles and tasks. In conflict settings, this is particularly noticeable when interpreters are employed. Sometimes the criteria for their recruitment do not include specialised qualifications or their adherence to a particular association or code of ethics. The tasks they perform usually go beyond the typical role of interpreter, which implies neutrality to both interpreted parties (Gómez Amich 2017). Besides, during the evacuation from conflict zones, interpreters are sometimes left behind because of a poor understanding of their role boundaries, which can lead to suspicion over them from possibly any party in the conflict. These individuals and their work conditions possess common characteristics that may turn them into a professional group, following Bourdieu (1980).1 In this chapter, we will focus on interpreters who worked for the Spanish government and army during the Afghan conflict. In particular, we focus on the post-​war scenario to describe a still unexplored and poorly described setting. The study explores the professional activity of these former field interpreters who served in Afghanistan and now perform over-​the-​phone interpreting to assist evacuees in the context of the reception procedures of the Spanish government. By the time of writing this contribution, the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan is recent and the war in Ukraine has not started yet. International professional associations such as Red-​T or ENPSIT (European Network for Public Service Interpreting and Translation) publish and endorse open letters that evidence the difficult situation of interpreters in Afghanistan.2 These interpreters are taken as a case study to explore the undefinition of their professional activity and contribute to a better understanding of their characteristics.

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DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-15

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Research context In this section, the research context will be introduced. First, war interpreting will be presented as a professional activity. Then the Afghan conflict will be described to conclude with a characterisation and classification of the different types of interpreters who work in conflict settings.

War interpreting as a professional activity Interpreters can be present in all kinds of war conflicts and phases of conflict. In the preparatory phases, interpreters play an essential role in diplomatic and intelligence activities. During the conflict, interpreters make communication possible between allies and enemies and local and foreign populations, both military and civil. In the final phases of conflicts, interpreters participate in peace conversations and agreements and during population reallocations. Once the conflict is over, they still work on tasks related to reintegrating combatants into civil life, damage compensation and repair, and even during military trials. Ruiz Rosendo and Barea Muñoz (2017) reviewed literature and mapped war-​related scenarios in which interpreters work on the frontline, on journalistic missions abroad, asylum hearings, interrogations, court procedures, peacekeeping operations, investigations, post-​conflict scenarios or intelligence activities. Interpreting in conflict settings has been acknowledged as having characteristics similar to public service interpreting (Lázaro Gutiérrez 2014), as it deals with bidirectional dialogue interactions that occur in an institutional encounter. There have been many studies that examine public service interpreting as a profession, whereby Bourdieusian theories and the sociology of professions have been recurrent theoretical frames to study the professionalisation of war interpreters (Cappelli 2014; Moreno Bello 2014; Rok 2014; Gómez Amich 2017; Saleh 2017; Orlova 2019; Wolf 2019). In particular, the concepts of social capital, and the socialisation processes inherent to the performance of professional activities or professions as identitary traits, have been relevant to the field of public service interpreting (including interpreting in conflict settings). Most of the publications about war interpreters deal with professional issues, such as ethics, role boundaries and working conditions: see, for instance, Dragovic-​Drouet (2007) about the former Yugoslavia wars; Wong (2007) about the Opium War; Hwa-​Froelich and Westby (2003) about the Vietnam War; Inghilleri (2009, 2010) about the Iraq War; Kelly and Baker (2012) about the Bosnia-​Herzegovina War; Alcalde Peñalver (2015) about the Iraq War; Guo (2009) about the Second Sino-​Japanese War; Tryuk (2016) about World War II; Chen (2019) about interpreters in the Korean War; Chang (2016) about interpreters in the Sino-​Dutch War; Cowley (2016) about World War I; Todorova (2016) about the Kosovo and Macedonia Wars; Tălpaş (2016) about the Afghanistan War; Al-​Azawi and Rodríguez Espinosa (2018) about the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars; Alkhaldy (2019) about the Libyan War; Wolf (2019) about World War I; Cappelli (2014) about quality issues; Baker (2010), Askew and Salama-​Carr (2011), Alonso Araguás (2015), Li, Tian, and Huang (2016), Probirskaja (2016) and Gómez Amich (2017) about identity and self-​perception; and Stahuljak (2010) about emotional impact and violence. The results shown in these publications coincide in denouncing the dangers and social rejection that war interpreters have to confront, which include being at a high risk of death. Working conditions are dangerous and confusing (or flexible, as Rok 2014; Cowley 2016; or Gómez Amich 2017 argue), as roles are poorly defined. In modern conflicts, interpreters are acknowledged as a “necessary partner in the intercultural dialogue and a co-​creator of interaction and a partner in the development of the new environment” (Todorova 2016, 228), with a role that goes far beyond traditional neutral and invisible interpreting ones. From the literature, it is also deduced that the

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characteristics of war interpreting are similar in different wars, which validates a high degree of generalisation. Gómez Amich (2017, 123–​124) signals that the status of war interpreters is somehow inferior to that of interpreters in other settings. Even considering the universe of war interpreters, status differences will be found according to the kind of contract they signed and the category they belong to. She offers a list of items that describe interpreting and interpreters in war settings, where dangers, tension, lack of time, suffering, injustice and fear abound and affect interpreters’ performance. The contexts in which interpreting assignments develop are usually undesired, and conversations involve partners of different cultures and social statuses, which require adaptations of register, active turn-​ taking coordination, cultural explanation and smoothing out power imbalances. Interpreters know the local languages and cultures at the native level, and use different interpreting modalities, which include bilateral, chuchotage and even simultaneous. However, they sometimes lack previous training and briefing and perform in spontaneous, generally unstructured situations requiring direct contact between the parties. As we will consider in the following section, interpreters in war settings present different profiles, roles and characteristics. We suggest taking a further step from the literature that describes war interpreters to revisit some concepts relating to their professional profiles and focus, in particular, on interpreters who work for international organisations during the final stages of the conflict and the immediate aftermath. We will deal with interpreters that perform for the Red Cross in Spain, assisting in communication with people evacuated from Afghanistan. Interpretation is carried out over the phone and subcontracted to a Spanish telephone interpreting company: Dualia Teletraducciones. Although some studies about interpreters who work for an international organisation in conflict zones have been carried out, as far as we know, all of them deal with onsite interpretation assignments on the battlefield. In this case, we will deal with telephone interpreters who work from outside the conflict area but still in a conflict-​related setting, as they make communication possible with war evacuees (not-​yet-​refugees) regarding war-​related topics. We consider that this group of interpreters has been poorly defined and differentiated considering other kinds of interpreters, such as military and local ones. Besides, there lacks a description of how the interpretation services are provided, including the characteristics of the interpreters and those of the communicative event.

Interpreting in the Afghan context The extensive work of Gómez Amich (2017) about war interpreters in Afghanistan includes a description of their role in relation to Western troops’ goals. In Afghanistan emerges a new strategy that consists of influencing civilians against insurgent national troops, for which understanding and navigating their culture is paramount, as well as speaking their language. Interpreters thus become essential not only to establish communication amongst international troops from different states but also to liaise with locals. Communicating with locals is, actually, a hard task in Afghanistan, as different ethnic groups that speak more than 40 languages and 200 dialects (Jones and Askew 2014) coexist. Pashto and Dari are Afghanistan’s official languages, and most interpreters work with these two languages. In the Afghan context, interpreters were useful not only in bridging linguistic gaps, but also in dealing with cultural peculiarities. Gómez Amich (2017) refers to the role of civilians in the Afghan conflict and how they were manipulated to raise weapons on the Taliban side (including child soldiers and suicidal terrorists). Communicating with civilians was, thus, essential to counterattack civil insurgency and obtain local populations’ support. As Tălpaș (2016, 253) mentions, the 174

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interpreters are the only connection to the Afghan population when it comes to influencing them, as they are the only ones able to speak to them in their language and understand and deal with their cultural traits and peculiarities. Ruiz Rosendo and Barea Muñoz (2017) also focus on interpreters in Middle East conflicts and elaborate on a classification that takes into account “involvement in the different stages of the conflict, their positionality, working conditions, status and recognition by the parties involved in the conflict” (182). This categorisation is particularly useful to understand the complexity of interpreting in war or conflict settings. The alignment or positioning of interpreters, their training, their duties, etc. may vary enormously according to who hires them, when and how. The authors thus distinguish between military language specialists, local interpreters recruited by the military, United Nations (UN) language assistants and staff or freelance conference interpreters. Military language specialists are part of the military, and some are high-​ranking members. They are trained in strategic languages and act as mediators between troops and local authorities and armed groups. Local interpreters recruited by the military are quite a heterogeneous group made of local citizens and civilians recruited in the armies’ original countries. Their command of the languages, cultural knowledge and previous training in interpreting are diverse. Deficiencies in their previous, initial and continuous training; the poor definition of their tasks and roles; the difficult social and psychological position they hold (which poses issues related to alignment with parties and ethical dilemmas) reflect a high degree of underprofessionalisation of their activity. However, whether local interpreters and civilian interpreters hired in the armies’ original countries should be included in the same group is something which, in our opinion, should be reconsidered. UN language assistants are civilians who work as mediators between the military and civilians in UN peacekeeping operations. Once again, these assistants can be hired locally or in the troops’ original country. Even though they have not been usually trained in interpreting, they are precious because of their knowledge of the local culture. Alves (2015) explains that UN language assistants are recruited, taking into account a wide array of abilities, including problem-​solving skills, efficiency and efficacy, and powers of persuasion. They perform many different tasks apart from interpreting, including translation, accompaniment, administrative support and meeting organisation. We agree with Ruiz Rosendo and Barea Muñoz (2017) in that this group of interpreters present many similarities with the previously described group of local interpreters. They argue that the main difference between both groups is the existence of an otherwise unreferenced manual published by the UN, which contains guidelines for the military to work with language assistants. Although we think the manual constitutes a certain degree of acknowledgement of the professional tasks of language assistants, we doubt that this may, in fact, be enough to consider them a group different from local interpreters, since there might exist similar sets of guidelines for the latter that are unknown to us due to its restricted distribution. The last group suggested by Ruiz Rosendo and Barea Muñoz (2017) are staff or freelance conference interpreters. These interpreters mainly work for international organisations, either as staff members or freelancers. They have received formal training in interpreting or have wide expertise in it. They only work during the final stages of the conflict. Gómez Amich (2017) expands Allen’s (2012) classification of interpreters in conflict zones, comprising military linguists, contract interpreters and humanitarian interpreters. Military linguists include Ruiz Rosado and Barea Muñoz’s (2017) military language specialists and “local” interpreters hired in the troops’ original countries. Contract interpreters coincide with local interpreters in Ruiz Rosado and Barea Muñoz’s (2017) classification. Gómez Amich (2017) explains that some interpreting services are outsourced, so local interpreters are recruited by local companies or companies located in neighbouring countries. Humanitarian interpreters work on the ground with international aid and news organisations. These comprise UN language assistants 175

Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez and Gabriel Cabrera Méndez Table 12.1 Summary of different classifications of interpreters in war settings Ruiz Rosendo and Barea Muñoz (2017)

Allen (2012)

Our proposal

Military language specialists Local interpreters UN language assistants

Military linguists Contract interpreters Humanitarian interpreters

Military interpreters Local interpreters Civilian interpreters hired in the troops’ original countries Interpreters who work for international organisations Fixers

Conference interpreters

and interpreters working for other organisations. In this group, Allen (2012) also includes “fixers”, who are the interpreters who work for news agencies, although their tasks and roles are very different from other kinds of interpreters in conflict zones. It is worth mentioning that humanitarian interpreters do not only work in war zones but also in areas affected by natural disasters. According to the characteristics and roles of the interpreters described in the literature, we suggest revisiting some concepts of interpreting in conflict zones. To start with, the setting of this activity should be redefined. Instead of basing it on a physical zone or area, we suggest understanding conflict settings by taking into account other characteristics of the interaction, such as the profile of the main speakers, the content (topic) and the purpose of the communicative event. In this way, we could include interpretation in countries or territories outside the official battlefield, as with many conversations in pre-​and post-​war phases. Besides, we suggest a different classification for interpreters in conflict settings. On the one hand, we will consider those interpreters, all trained and qualified, who work for the military: • military interpreters, • local interpreters, • civilian interpreters hired in the troops’ original countries. Another subgroup will be those interpreters who work in conflict settings, but not particularly for the military: • interpreters who work for international organisations (e.g. UN, Red Cross), • fixers or interpreters for news agencies.

Research methodology The methodology of this study is descriptive and informed by ethnographic methods. On the one hand, it combines an insider’s description of the provision of interpreting services offered by Gabriel Cabrera Méndez, quality manager of Dualia Teletraducciones, and the co-​author of this contribution. On the other hand, interviews are carried out with the interpreters who work for the company on this macro assignment. As our main aim is to offer a complete possible description of the provision of interpreting services in this setting which began in August 2021 and remains operative as of the date of publication of this chapter, we will present information in several sections, which cater for a description of needs, the recruitment and training of interpreters, the 176

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quality control mechanisms of the company, the characteristics of the assignments and the evolution in the provision of the interpretation service. The profile of the interpreters who participated in the interviews was as follows: except for two interpreters in the focus group, all the others have worked professionally with the Spanish army in Afghanistan, which was installed in Kabul in 2005. All of them have acknowledged professing the Baha’i religion and are Farsi and Dari speakers, not Pashto. • Interpreter 1. Female, 58 years old, trained in Spanish philology. Sister of interpreter 3. Combines telephone interpreting with teaching private Spanish language classes. Has worked as a contracted interpreter at origin (Spain) for the army in Afghanistan. She works as a freelance interpreter for Dualia. • Interpreter 2. A 61-​year-​old woman, a geriatric assistant trained in social work and geriatrics, combines her work as a carer for the elderly with telephone interpreting. She has an employment relationship with Dualia on a temporary contract. She worked as a contracted interpreter at origin (Spain) for the army in Afghanistan. • Interpreter 3. Female, 56 years old, trained in English philology. She combines telephone interpreting with teaching English classes in a private academy and as an accompaniment interpreter for British residents in Spain. She worked for seven years as a contracted interpreter at origin (Spain) for the army in Afghanistan. She works as a freelance interpreter for Dualia. • Interpreter 4. Female, 27 years old, trained in translation and conference interpreting by the University of Azad (Teheran) with a specialisation in community interpreting. Professional interpreter for English and Dari/​Farsi with three years of professional experience. Did not participate as an interpreter with the Spanish army in Afghanistan. Has a freelancer relationship with Dualia. • Interpreter 5. 52 years old, trained in psychology, and owner of a language academy in Spain since 1990. Experience as a conference interpreter. Did not participate as an interpreter with the Spanish army in Afghanistan. Has a freelancer relationship with Dualia. • Interpreter 6. 61-​year-​old man, trained in information science. He started working as an interpreter for the Spanish army at 45 and left the job when the pandemic broke out. • Interpreter 7. Female. She participated as a contracted interpreter at the origin (Spain) for the army in Afghanistan. A group interview was organised on the Zoom platform in March 2022. Then, follow-​up interviews were carried out when information needed to be clarified or complemented, particularly from those interpreters who had to leave the meeting at any point. The group interview lasted 1 hour and a half and was conducted by the first of this contribution. The company’s quality manager facilitated the interview. He was also present, but, given his role as quality manager at the company the interviewees worked for, he adopted a secondary position not to influence the answers of the interpreters. The interview guide was informed by the work of Gómez Amich (2017) and Ruiz Rosendo and Barea Muñoz (2017), who interviewed local interpreters and conference interpreters who had worked onsite in conflict zones. It was conducted as a semi-​structured interview, facilitating the elicitation of answers by organising a group conversation in which personal experiences were shared. The questions were aimed at eliciting information about the interpreters’ motivation to apply for their jobs, their past and present experience as interpreters in general and in war settings, their training and qualifications, previous recruitment processes, their opinion about required tasks and abilities of interpreters in war settings, their perception about the social impact of their 177

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job, and the exemplification of their usual interpreting assignments. The answers provided by the interviewees helped build the picture that describes this modality of interpretation in conflict settings.

Discussion This section includes the results of the ethnographic research in the shape of a description of the setting, including the characteristics of the interpreting provision, from the description of needs and recruitment of interpreters to the features of the quality control and assurance system of the company that provided the services. As the research instruments are diverse (group interview, follow-​up individual interviews and insider or participant researcher collection of knowledge, information and other ethnographic artefacts), to keep the flow of information, the analysis of the results is presented in a condensed and narrated way. The results reveal a structured provision of interpreting services and a professional organisation of it, which includes a recruitment phase which responds to market needs and is guided by the search of qualified professionals, onboard and continuous training, a quality control and assurance system, a recurrence in the shape and topic of the assignments (which is a sign of specialisation) and monitoring of workload.

Recruitment of interpreters by Dualia Teletraducciones A critical point in the provision of interpreting for Afghan evacuees took place on 18 August 2021, when the first plane carrying 53 evacuees from Afghanistan arrived at the military base in Torrejón de Ardoz (near Madrid, central Spain). The Red Cross had hired Dualia’s telephone interpreting service. However, the particulars about the exact date of arrival of the evacuees, the number of people who were to arrive and how the interviews were going to be organised were not revealed. Up to that point, the company had only three freelance Farsi interpreters who could provide interpretation services to the Afghans, who speak the local variety known as Dari. Furthermore, of those three, only one was operating at night when the plane arrived. The refugees were handed over to the Red Cross, transferred to local hospitals and guarded by social workers and psychologists. Faced with the unexpected influx of work, finding interpreters able to provide the telephone interpretation service immediately started. The first two sources of potential interpreters that the company’s recruitment manager turned to were other NGOs and Iranian or Afghan consular services in Spain. The former had no Farsi, Dari or Pashto interpreters, and the consulates had been dismantled since the news of the takeover of Kabul broke. Following unsuccessful contacts, it was decided to launch an appeal on the social network Twitter/X with overwhelming success, resulting in more than 200 responses from Afghans and Iranians who were in Spain from former war processes, as recognised refugees or asylum seekers, and who spoke the requested languages. Many responses came from people who wanted to help as volunteer interpreters, but this service requires interpreters to be employed or self-​employed. The selection was carried out through CV screening and video conference interviews. After several selection processes and two enlargements of the group of interpreters, the current team of eighteen interpreters was established. There was no time to train these newcomers, so the company made sure they read and understood the working protocols and organised a virtual group where senior interpreters and office staff could answer newcomers’ doubts. 178

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A year after the onset of the service As mentioned before, many of the interpreters recruited worked professionally with the Spanish army in Afghanistan. However, since their return to Spain, they have been working in other jobs such as language teaching, running restaurants, nursing care for older people or had founded businesses such as a psychology office. Only one of the recruited interpreters was studying for a degree in Translation and Interpreting without having had any previous contact with military conflicts. These interpreters immediately joined the active work without prior training in the company. The initial training was summarised in a telephone or video conference call, highlighting the main elements of their work performance, after which they received the work protocols (Lázaro-​ Gutiérrez and Cabrera Méndez 2022), which explain how to proceed with the main telephone interpreting clients. The training was accompanied by creating an instant messaging group by mobile phone that included all interpreters, the quality manager and two support technicians from Dualia Teletraducciones to ensure 24/​7 contact and advice with those responsible for the telephone interpreting service for the Red Cross. The interpreters have continued to receive training through the company’s Virtual Training Classroom and the contract signed with the University of Alcala in courses proposed by the Quality Department and at the interpreters’ explicit request. Among the courses held in the academic year 2022/​23 , some of the most noteworthy were: Telephone interpreting as a tool for social inclusion; The limits of interpreting in public services; Managing trust between client, user and interpreter; Note-​taking for consecutive interpreting and Computer-​Assisted Translation Tools.3 Due to the uniqueness of the events in question, the newly recruited interpreters had to use their own strategies and rely on the help of the few experienced interpreters the company had in their language combination and the rest of the technical team to provide the best possible service. This service is constantly monitored for quality reasons by the quality manager, who listens to interpreters’ performance in real-​time. Interpreting assignments (conversations) are studied individually using the critical incident methodology (Flanagan 1954) to implement improvements. Since the arrival of the evacuees, the telephone interpreting service in the Dari language was offered almost exclusively to the Spanish Red Cross NGO, as it was responsible for managing all those arriving from Afghanistan in the first instance. During the first few nights, interpreting consisted of an initial emergency contact until the evacuees were referred to different points of assistance. The first interventions were made on the landside of the airport, welcoming evacuees and asking about their general state of health, both physical and mental. The calls were made from the Red Cross staff’s mobile phones, all of which have long been enabled to access the telephone interpreting service, as the NGO already uses telephone interpretation as a regular tool for communicating with the immigrant population in Spain. All evacuees were taken to the Gregorio Marañon reference hospital in Madrid, where the doctors on night duty interviewed them. As very few (evacuees and hospital staff) spoke English, almost every evacuee required a call to the telephone interpreting service from the hospital. In these first calls, there were already several cultural confrontations that the interpreters had to deal with, such as the refusal of pregnant evacuees to be examined by male doctors, the opposition of some parents to Western treatment for their young children and the limited number of people who could be in the consultation rooms because of the COVID-​19 pandemic. In the mornings, the evacuees were allowed to rest, so the telephone interpreting service in Dari was drastically reduced and required the interpreters to replenish their strength for the arrival 179

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of new night planes. During the following nights, more planes arrived from Kabul with more evacuees, while the evacuees already at the air base were being transferred to Red Cross assistance centres throughout Spain so that in a few days, new daytime calls were added to the night-​time calls from the airstrip or the reference hospital. These daytime calls came from different Red Cross centres and during regular business hours, so they all took place simultaneously. This forced Dualia Teletraducciones to hire a second group of telephone interpreters to provide the service, as the calls were coming in during a very short time and the system was collapsing. In this second wave, the calls were about the family reunification of the evacuees and the possibility of applying for Asylum and International Protection in Spain. The Dublin Regulation, whereby a refugee entering the European Union (EU) is obliged to apply for asylum in the first country, should normally have applied (Lott 2022). However, an exception was made to facilitate the departure of Afghans to destinations even beyond the EU. The interpretation sessions were about where they would have the best chance of surviving in decent conditions. Interviews held by evacuees in Red Cross centres were mainly arranged with three types of professionals: social workers, lawyers and psychologists. Appointments were scheduled between the evacuee and the professional without informing the telephone interpreting service, so the NGO required interpretation to be provided on demand. The topics of the conversations mediated by telephone interpreters differed depending on being discussed with social workers, lawyers or psychologists (see Table 12.2). The duration of these assignments usually ranges between 30 and 60 minutes, as this is the time allocated for these interviews: 30 minutes usually for administrative issues and 60 minutes for legal or psychological issues. But the time that refugees can stay in a Red Cross centre is not infinite; depending on the case, after six months, they must begin the more autonomous stage as refugees, leaving the reception centres, renting their own accommodation to live in and starting to work. From this moment on, the calls stopped coming only from the NGO, as the Afghans now can interact personally with the Spanish public services. In this way, requests for telephone interpretation came from emergency medical services, health centres, town halls, hospitals, specialist doctors’ consultations, other NGOs such as Caritas, domestic violence services, private companies such as home or health insurances, tourism offices, etc.

Evolution of calls to the Dari language telephone interpreting service during the year since the arrival of the first evacuees in Madrid In the first year of the Dari telephone interpreting service for evacuees from Afghanistan, Dualia service received 3938 calls, with a sharp increase in calls during the first two reporting months. This was most likely because in this period, all evacuees were in Spain while awaiting their decision to apply for asylum in Spain or to continue their journey to other destinations. It should be noted that August 2021 recorded only 152 calls. The first evacuees arrived in the early hours of 18 August, and the calls were received from that day until the end of the month (thirteen days). Other figures that can shed light on the magnitude of the avalanche of work that this event entailed in Spain (without forgetting that we are presenting data from a single company, so the volume must be higher) are the number of minutes interpreted during the first year of service in the 3938 calls detailed previously. The total number of minutes amounted to 148515 and the graph

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Widening the scope of interpreting in conflict settings Table 12.2 Topics of the interpreting assignments With social workers

With lawyers

With psychologists

Introduction of staff

Arrangement of the asylum application interview with the Police Explanation of asylum status

Trauma management

Explanation of the rules of coexistence in the centres Signing of documents on the processing of personal data Review of the state of health Composition of the family unit

Management of Spanish courses Management of work guidance and job search courses Management of financial aid for clothing, transport, maintenance Application for a health card and appointment of a general practitioner Warning calls about misbehaviour in reception centres

Management of personal documentation Guidance on employment contracts Identification of family members still in Afghanistan to be evacuated for upcoming surgical procedures

Improvement of sleep quality Emotional management Self-​awareness

in Figure 12.2 shows practically the same curve as the number of calls, with a particular peak of activity in September. Both graphs in Figures 12.1 and 12.2 show a decline in March 2022, which seems to coincide with the period when refugees in Spain are due to start their autonomous phase. The decrease in calls in July 2022 can be interpreted as a slight impact of the summer holidays. Based on this data, we can conclude that the average minutes per call is 37min 31sec per call. Figure 12.3 shows the number of calls broken down by clients in one year of the Dari-​language telephone interpreting service after the arrival of the evacuees. The Red Cross is predominant, followed by health centres and other social services. It is worth noting, as a fact that could be the subject of further study, that the group of interpreters began to receive calls from services for women survivors of domestic violence in February 2022, the same month the first call in Dari from a Spanish prison was recorded.

Conclusion To consider interpreting in conflict zones as a profession with particularities different from interpretation in other settings, it is necessary to describe and define it. Revising the existing literature, we can find partial descriptions of the roles and tasks that interpreters (who are given different names, such as mediators or linguists) perform in conflict settings. Some scholarly contributions also acknowledge the diversity of interpreters in this domain and offer classifications. We consider, however, that the domain of interpretation in conflict settings has to be redefined to include not

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Figure 12.1 The number of calls in Dari language for telephone interpreting (Data provided by Dualia Teletraducciones)

Figure 12.2 The number of minutes of conversations mediated by telephone interpreters in Dari language (Data provided by Dualia Teletraducciones)

only the interpretation carried out in physical zones of war and conflict but also in other parts of the world, such as those countries which receive evacuees. In this vein, it is also acknowledged that interpretation is carried out not only in the central stages of war but also in its initial and final stages, including the immediate aftermath. This reconceptualisation also implies including other modalities of interpretation, such as remote interpreting.

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Figure 12.3 The number of calls in the Dari language from different clients one year after the arrival of the evacuees from Afghanistan (Data provided by Dualia Teletraducciones)

After the literature review about interpreting provisions in conflict settings, we believe that existing classifications of interpreters in these settings could be more comprehensive, and further differentiation should be done. We suggest considering two main groups of interpreters in conflict zones: those who work for the military and those who do not. In the first group, military interpreters, local interpreters and civilian interpreters hired in the troops’ original countries would be included. The second group would be made of interpreters who work for international organisations (e.g. UN, Red Cross) and fixers or interpreters for news agencies. Interpreting in conflict settings is, like other interpreting specialisations, going through a process of professionalisation and institutionalisation. Although not yet fully defined in professional practice, formal training or even academic literature, it is currently expanding beyond physical areas and institutions as it is developed as a cultural practice within a community. It is characterised by the sine qua non-​presence of a person who interprets (translates, mediates) and the continuous negotiation of tasks (professional boundaries) and procedures, which is the result of the interaction of the interpreter with the other agents who are present during the communicative events and the contexts in which they are developed. This contribution has revisited the domain of interpretation in conflict zones and offered a new classification of interpreters working in this setting. Besides, a special focus has been placed on interpreters who work for international organisations during the final stages of conflicts outside physical war areas. The service provision has been described using the Spanish telephone interpreting company Dualia Teletraducciones as a case study. We hope that this contribution helps define interpretation in conflict settings pushing forward towards full professionalisation.

Notes 1 In this contribution only professional interpreters are considered and referred to. Amateur or ad hoc interpreters are outside of the scope of this chapter. 2 For more information on the importance of the safety of interpreters in conflict zones, we recommend reading the Open Letter Protecting Translators and Interpreters Worldwide by Red T (https://red-t.org/ our-work/open-letters/).​ 3 The interpreters themselves can request training courses tailored to their needs.

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Further reading Gómez Amich, María. 2017. Estudio descriptivo de la autopercepción de los intérpretes en zonas de conflicto. Estudio de caso en Afganistán. Granada: Universidad de Granada. Unpublished doctoral thesis available at http://​hdl.han​dle.net/​10481/​47868 Analysis of narratives by local interpreters in Afghanistan, with a focus on their self-​perception about their role and professional boundaries. Inghilleri, Moira, and Sue-​Ann Jane Harding (Eds.). 2010. Translation and violent conflict. Special Issue of The Translator, 16 (2). The special issue includes key contributions by Moira Inghilleri and Mona Baker. Moreno Bello, Yolanda. 2017. Aplicación de estudios sobre el lenguaje en zonas en conflicto. El caso del intérprete de Guerra. Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá. A study that combines narrative analysis and discourse analysis to explore the role of interpreting in conflict zones and the interpreters’ abilities to avoid asymmetries to make intercultural communication possible. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Manuel Barea Muñoz. 2017. ‘Towards a typology of interpreters in war-​related scenarios in the Middle East’. Translation Spaces, 6 (2): 182–​208. This publication presents a classification and categorisation of interpreters in conflict zones in the Middle East. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Clementina Persaud (Eds.). 2016. Interpreting in conflict situations and in conflict zones throughout history. Special Issue of Linguistica Antverpiensia, 15. This special issue includes an article about the situation of Afghan interpreters at the beginning of the 21st century by Mihaela Tălpaș.

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13 INTERPRETING ETHICS IN CRISIS IN THE CONFLICT ZONES A focus on the Afghanistan War Ping Yang

Introduction August 31, 2021 witnessed the withdrawal of international forces (from the USA, Australia, Spain, and the UK) from Afghanistan and marked the end of the Afghanistan War since it started in 2001. During the past 20 years, many Afghan civilians were recruited as unqualified interpreters to work for international forces stationed in Afghanistan (Fitchett 2019). Furthermore, their work was not limited to interpreting. For example, they also functioned as local guides, cultural mediators, and even key sources of intelligence (Ruiz Rosendo 2020; Tălpaș 2016; Anderson 2014, 4). As Baker (2010b) put it, “translators and interpreters retain their agency and exercise their power in diverse ways” (197). This suggests that the local Afghan civilians employed by the Western Forces as civilian Afghan interpreters (CAIs) (Moser-​Mercer 2015) took on multiple roles that may constitute a conflict of interest and cause ethical concerns in the war zones. Different forms of capital embedded in their language skills, local knowledge, and cultural expertise emerge (Bourdieu 1986) and they not only distinguish the CAIs from their fellow Afghans but also add benefits that include the perceived prestige of wearing army uniforms, teaming up with international forces, and earning wages. The ethics related to interpreting in the Afghanistan War have been much less researched than the conflict-​free zones (Gómez-​Amich 2018, 35). This makes it necessary to reflect on concerns related to the ethical standards and conventions established in the fields by and for interpreters in Afghanistan. This chapter focuses on a theoretical reflection on how the employment of civilian interpreters can potentially cause great concerns. These concerns involve both the interpreter employers, i.e., the international forces and/​or their recruitment agents, and the employees, i.e., CAIs. Specifically, using the theory of capital forms (Bourdieu 1986), this critical reflection is concerned with crises linked to interpreting ethics related to these parties in the twenty years of conflicts in Afghanistan. For this purpose, different types of ethics, such as normative ethics, meta-​ethics, and applied ethics, will be reviewed in the interpreting practices published in a wide context and related to the conflict zones. Next comes the proposal of a new concept of non-​normative ethics, which is normally considered abnormal in everyday interpreting settings (i.e., not in the context of a conflict) DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-16

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and is taken as an acceptable practice in the conflict zones. Then, the non-​normative ethics will be analysed by citing various sources of reports on the major stakeholders in the Afghanistan war zone and relevant publications on their behaviours in the conflict zones. Finally, the important implications that this theoretical reflection on the non-​normative ethics practised in the conflict zones has suggested for researching interpreting ethics will be discussed.

Research context In order to provide a relevant frame of related research, several terms related to ethics, such as normative ethics, descriptive ethics, and meta-​ethics, are reviewed. First, they are defined in connection with translation and/​or interpreting. Then, after identifying the gap in the current literature, a concept of non-​normative ethics is proposed in relation to interpreting behaviours and roles of the unqualified civilian interpreters in Afghanistan. Unqualified interpreters are those that have not obtained qualifications or training required to perform an interpreting role. Part of this training would cover concepts such as non-​intervention, impartiality and neutrality in interpreting settings, and relevant assessments. Non-​intervention in interpreting refers to the interpreter’s ability to refuse tasks that compromise their professional or personal standards and ethics and/​or unduly endangers their safety (Fitchett 2019). Interpreter impartiality means that the interpreter interprets the conversation contents accurately without participating in or expressing their own opinions or emotions (Fitchett 2019). Interpreter neutrality means that “interpreters must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, or religious nature” (Gallai 2019a, 217). Their interpreting needs to remain impartial at all times and faithful to the source language meaning of the conversational parties. Because the unqualified civilian interpreters have not received such training, it is not known whether they understand these interpreting concepts and principles that guide their interpreting behaviours in practice and the implications of not abiding by the interpreter ethics. Thus, the use of unqualified civilian interpreters in the conflict zones can lead to serious consequences because the interpreting errors can influence the army officers and soldiers in making an appropriate decision in the battlefield. On the whole, different types of ethics play for virtually any profession, and these ethics also play with interpreters. Normative ethics, for instance, is considered to include descriptive ethics and meta-​ethics (Dean 2015). Normative ethics refers to the guidelines that inform people to behave appropriately and regulate their job-​related practices in different professions (Elliot 2001). Interpreters are expected to take care of their customers according to the interpreting codes of practice. Somewhat related but different to normative ethics is descriptive ethics which studies how people behave and basically practise their profession in the field, either complying with or failing to adhere to the normative ethics or a mixture of both. Such a description of what happens based on the facts provides the opportunity to reflect on whether normative ethics promotes professional standards and accountability or whether there are any concerns about professional integrity. However, flexibility may be considered for special circumstances in medical interpreting. For example, although a general “hand-​off approach” is conventionally practised in medical interpreting, some room for flexibility is necessary for medical interpreters because it could help prevent an incident and save lives when they intervene instead of sticking to the interpreting rules (Dean 2015, 54). Dean and Pollard (2022) reflect on a case study of medical interpreting and identify the concept gap between descriptive ethics and normative ethics in this profession, thus calling for an introduction of a functional middle-​ground concept that can guide the flexible behaviour of medical interpreters. Meta-​ethics deals with the ethical claims people make in their practice

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(O’Neill 2001, 163). When this concept is applied to the interpreting practices, it focuses on how interpreters would perceive their own behaviours and roles in the conflict zones. As the context in which interpreting is performed varies, the perception (their own and others) of their interpreting behaviours and roles may differ from one context to another. For example, interpreting practice in war zones differs from war-​free zones. This chapter proposes the concept of non-​normative ethics, which refers to the deviating behaviours generally considered as unethical in war-​free zones but they are acknowledged as understandable in the exceptional and extreme situations and contexts such as conflict zones. Whether or not this agency is acceptable remains an open issue. This seems to suggest that interpreters do not have to comply with the normative ethics for the simple reason that they are working in conflict zones where due to urgency and possible immediate danger, they excuse themselves from normative ethics. It also implies that they have a valid reason to claim that unqualified interpreters could be employed in the conflict zones, potentially allowing for work beyond interpreting duties and therefore possible conflicts of interest. In order to guide the civilian translators/​interpreters working in the conflict zones in terms of their rights and responsibilities, the International Federation of Translators, the International Association of Conference Interpreters, and Red T published “Conflict zone field guide for civilian translators/​interpreters and users of their services” in 2012. The key points in the guide are summarised as follows (they also provide ethics guidelines that are referred to in the Discussion section of this chapter): • The interpreters and their family members have a right to protection. Their employers have responsibilities to protect them and their family members during and after the assignments; • The interpreters have a right to support for their assignment; • The interpreters need to know the limits of their role and adhere to appropriate professional standards. Their employers should not assign tasks not related to translating/​interpreting; • The interpreters have responsibilities for impartiality, confidentiality and accuracy in their assignments (Red T in partnership with AIIC and FIT 2012). Fitchett (2019) notes that the guide provides a benchmark for the relevant parties (employers, service providers, and service users), but it is not a legal document and therefore not binding as such. Moreover, it transpires that civilian interpreters do not have the legal responsibilities to adhere to the guide under any circumstances. As a result, the boundaries of non-​intervention, impartiality, and neutrality could be blurred or even ignored when interpreters were working in conflict zones (Gallai 2019b). After the UN Security Council initially established the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with an ally of 40 countries and put NATO in charge of it in 2003 to help fight against the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, a large number of CAIs were recruited to interpret for the ISAF personnel (Ruiz Rosendo 2021). Given that most of the interpreters who worked for ISAF in Afghanistan were civilians who had no training in interpreting or military procedure and who belonged to the community in conflict, it is important to consider the influence of the interpreters’ different backgrounds on their relationships with the different parties and on the different actors’ decisions, beliefs, and behaviours. (Ruiz Rosendo 2021, 51)

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These factors and their practices of non-​normative ethics do not comply with the interpreter code of conduct in the normal daily scenarios and interpreter ethics as part of their professional and personal standards. This is exactly what this discussion is about, concerning the non-​normative ethics about the parties involved.

Research methodology In this chapter, an integrative review of current literature (academic publications and non-​ academic materials) is used as a research method. This frequently used research method allows the researcher to synthesise the existing research publications and draw supporting information relevant to a topic of their research interest (Toronto 2020). It also gives the researcher access to the current state of literature and helps them to identify the research gaps. When the integrative literature review method was applied to this study, it focused on reviewing relevant literature about ethics issues related to interpreting in the war zones as academic publications, particularly during the Afghanistan War (2001–​2021), on the one hand, and on analyses of news outlets (reports and videos) as non-​academic materials on the other. This mixed approach serves several purposes: to provide an analysis of relevant research currently done in the area, to support the findings with real time news coverage. The research gap this chapter intends to fill was identified as a lack of conceptual terms: non-normative ethics proposed and defined earlier in this chapter. To search for relevant and current literature, both exact and open searches were done. The former search included indicative key phrases: “interpreting (or interpreters) ethics in conflict zones” and “interpreting (or interpreters) ethics in Afghanistan War”. The latter search included some general phrases: “interpreting (or interpreters) in Afghanistan War” and “Afghan interpreters”. Searches were performed in several major databases, both the subscribed ones for work published by Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Springer, and John Benjamins Publications, and the open access ones such as Google Scholar and ResearchGate. Though the open access sites may not cover what happened at the early years of the recent Afghanistan War (2001–​2021), they enabled public platforms for academics and researchers to present their projects in progress, publications, and unpublished manuscripts, including critical comments. As the publications and research projects take time to complete, due to the peer-​review process, some research outputs could only be published years later. After having found the relevant literature that helped frame the chapter, similar searches were performed in online content from news outlets, such as The Guardian, The Australian, and The Sydney Morning Herald. One reason for using online newspapers and news websites as sources of information about CAIs who worked with the foreign forces in Afghanistan is that war journalists and some news reporters went to Afghanistan and reported what was happening in the war zones, and they played an important role in locating and sourcing the first-​hand news, photos, and videos about relevant events (Willacy 2020, March 16). Another reason is that the CAIs’ voices, tragic stories, and personal experiences could be heard by the public when they speak to the media. The online newspapers, news websites, and video resources that were relevant to the topic and that were provided or produced by the major English-​speaking media outlets based in the UK, the US, and Australia helped to add to the content under thematic analysis. Still another reason why these resources were used was because the online materials could be updated by the writers, authors, and producers whenever possible so that the whole news stories could be accessible for general public scrutiny and public rights to freedom of information. It is important to identify the frameworks used in this discussion. One is the theoretical framework of capital forms by Bourdieu (1986) that was used to analyse the content of academic 190

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publications and non-​academic materials. Bourdieu (1986) proposes that capital can exist in economic, cultural, and social forms. The economic form is evidenced in making a profit; the cultural form is symbolised in one’s knowledge, skills, and qualifications; the social form is seen in one’s group affiliation and collective solidarity with their peers of the same status and profession (ibid.). The other is a framework of content analysis (Hammond and Wellington 2020) for interpreting the contents collected from the academic and non-​academic sources. A content analysis of qualitative data from these sources is used to identify patterns in key emerging themes in terms of the field guides and non-​normative ethics. Three major themes were identified, discussed, and analysed under the theoretical framework of capital forms.

Discussion In this section, three issues are discussed in terms of the non-​normative ethics as a new and key concept surrounding interpreting practices that were implemented by the CAIs during the Afghanistan War. The specific ethics issues include: whether the role of the CAI was definite while they worked with the international forces; whether the CAIs paid a high emotional price while working for the foreign forces in the war zones; and whether any sufficient protection was provided to the CAIs and their family members. These issues are analysed and supported by Bourdieu’s theoretical framework of capital forms (1986) and relevant literature to theorise the concept of non-​normative ethics in the conflict zones.

Is the role of civilian Afghan interpreters limited? As will be seen in the following analysis and discussion, it is questionable whether the CAIs are quality interpreting professionals in terms of the “Conflict zone field guide” published by Red T in partnership with AIIC and FIT (2012). Further, the NATO-​led international forces use contractors to recruit local interpreters because contractors and sub-​contractors as commercial business owners focus on profits and the Afghanistan war zone is in the same case. Following the 9/​11 terrorist attacks on New York, the US led the invasion of Afghanistan (Magnier 2010). The US government contractors advertised to recruit civilian interpreters in Afghanistan. The recruitment issues were focused on contractor frauds and vague role boundaries of interpreters. It was reported in Far News Agency (2021) that six interpreter recruiters of an American government contractor “allegedly engaged in an expansive conspiracy to enrich themselves at the expense of American soldiers and military operations in Afghanistan”. The issue arising from the non-​normative ethics is whether the foreign troops and/​or their recruitment agents provided full information to the CAIs before they were recruited. This information could include the consequence that the Taliban would see them as traitors to their country or they had to face prosecution in the future. Similar to what the Japanese militaries did to recruit local interpreters to meet its specific linguistic needs in its occupied areas in East Asia and Southeast Asia (Takeda 2021), the foreign troops recruited local civilians to work as interpreters (Anderson 2014) because their unfamiliarity with the local language and culture would make their military operations less effective or nearly impossible. The foreign forces needed the CAIs’ local knowledge and language skills (Gómez-​Amich 2018) which the CAIs used as an economic capital (Bourdieu 1986) to make a living and migrate to the Western countries in the future. Researchers (Fitchett 2019; Gómez-​Amich 2018; Tryuk 2015) questioned whether the CAIs were “qualified” to perform the roles expected in the conflict zone. On the one hand, they were not certified interpreters and did not receive any professional interpreting training (Fitchett 2019). 191

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Although some CAIs had university education, interpreting was not related to their former tertiary training (Gómez-​Amich 2018). On the other hand, they were fit for the service they offered because they had some cultural capital (local knowledge and language skills) (Bourdieu 1986), and motivation to work with the foreign forces (Gómez-​Amich 2018). In addition, some of them spoke multiple local language and had interpreting experience in conflict zones. However, there are questions about whether the CAIs and the foreign forces did anything about the limit to the interpreter role in the Afghanistan conflict zones. The “Conflict zone field guide” clearly states “the limits to your role must be clearly defined” (Red T in partnership with AIIC and FIT 2012). It means there are roles interpreters can play as they are hired to do and they must not take on any roles that are not related to the interpreting. They have the right to refuse a task that compromises their work, personal standards, ethics, and/​or unduly endangers their safety. The guide has made it clear to the users of the CAIs’ services that they need to clearly define the interpreter role. Still various sources of information have shown that neither the CAIs nor the foreign forces managed the issues in the limits to interpreter role in Afghanistan. Even if the CAIs were recruited to perform interpreting tasks for the foreign forces, they were practically used to work in various roles besides interpreting. These roles ranged from providing first aid to the wounded soldiers in the battlefield (Walker and Wilson 2009), patrolling daily with the soldiers (Anderson 2014) to fighting along with the army men (Gómez-​Amich 2018). Depending on the specific situation, interpreters play multiple roles as needed, such as “informer, traitor, detective, even executioner” (Tryuk 2015, 34), besides a vital role in interpreting language and cultural issues (Gómez-​Amich 2013). The conflict of interest issue was reflected in the multiple roles the CAIs played in the conflict zone. Some CAIs played the role of cultural mediators, educating American soldiers (Anderson, 2014). Others worked in the role of intelligence agents, providing the foreign forces with information about the Taliban and the Afghan army (sometimes posing threats) (Anderson 2014). Similarly, Gómez-​Amich (2021) interviewed five local interpreters working for the Spanish forces in Afghanistan conflict zones and they “have acted as advisors, mediators, lie detectors, intelligence sources, coordinators, guides and subject matter experts” (89). This would cause great concerns and ethics issues because the failure to comply with the limits to the interpreter role means that their non-narmative ethics behaviours could have an adverse impact on interpreting impartiality due to conflicts of interest (Tryuk 2015). The “Conflict zone field guide” states that impartiality requires interpreters to serve all parties in an equal manner and declare any conflict of interest, and that they should not indicate their own opinions or sympathies, or advocate for any cause (Red T in partnership with AIIC and FIT 2012). Impartiality is one of the responsibilities of the interpreters and they need to always maintain it when performing the interpreting role, particularly in the conflict zones. Because interpreters have different ideologies and cultural backgrounds (Tryuk 2015), they could contribute to the incorrect decisions to be made by one of the parties they serve when they do not refuse the unrelated roles and take them on beyond the limit. Those decisions could be life-​and-​death matters. Interpreters working in conflict zones must do their interpreting role only and adhere to impartiality in their interpreting assignments.

The pricey roles of CAIs for their services with the foreign forces The CAIs paid a price for physical danger, emotional stress, and mental disorder (due to insufficient protection) working with the foreign forces in Afghanistan. This is much higher than the pay they received from their employers and has been little discussed. The CAIs were in the all-​time 192

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physical danger and risked their lives while working for the foreign forces at the military bases and while on patrols. When interpreting for the patrolling members of the foreign forces, the CAIs faced more physical danger than the armed soldiers because they were not armed. They “are not allowed to carry weapons to defend themselves, neither are they trained in survival techniques” (Gómez-​Amich 2018, 35). It was the same case when the CAIs worked at the military bases which were attacked at any time (Gul 2021). The CAIs lamented that when they did what they were not contracted to do as interpreters, various issues arose, including causing conflict of interest and going beyond their role limit. At all times, the CAIs were aware that their language skills were fully used (Anderson 2014). Some of them reported, if not complaining, that they had to accompany every patrol day and night for years (Anderson 2014). As Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world (King 2021), many Afghans, including the CAIs, have lived a miserable life, worsened by one war after another. Many people lost their job and remained unemployed for a long time. They tried to get hold of any jobs they were offered in order to keep themselves and their families alive. Another source of danger came from Taliban rebels who would not hesitate to kill those that worked for the foreign forces. Even if they knew that they were running the risk of being attacked by the Taliban for betraying their own country and working with the foreign armed invaders, most interpreters wanted to make some money and nurtured a dream of going to the Western sanctuaries in the future. Regarding the translators and interpreters employed by the foreign forces according to the media reports, Baker (2010b) made two critical observations. First, in the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars, they were victimised because of the insensitivity and indifference of the military and the politicians. Their language skills and cultural capitals (Bourdieu 1986) were exploited but were offered less or no protection. And they were not treated equally but as second class citizens. Second, they were subject to sectarian violence or insurgency. They and their families were threatened by other Iraqi or Afghan insurgents either because they were different sectarians or because they worked for the foreign invaders, thus being treated as traitors to their country. Even though the CAIs worked with the foreign forces for years, some of them were treated as Others whose language and culture were distant to the Western soldiers. One CAI working for the US Forces in Afghanistan was sacked for failing to turn up for work and there was lack of understanding and empathy (Foust 2009). While some of the CAIs were allowed to stay in the army bases, others were not due to security reasons and insufficient trust (Gómez-​Amich 2018). But, most of them and their family members (and even former friends) were not protected from various kinds of abuses, imminent danger, and death threats from the insurgents (Lawrence 2020). One CAI who worked with Australian Forces in Afghanistan was murdered by Taliban (Skelton, MacDonald, and Browning 2021). In his interview with Srosh, an Afghan who interpreted for US Marines, Anderson (2014) documented Srosh’s anxieties because his cousin said, “Your life is haram [forbidden] because you work for Americans” (10). Srosh lamented that even if his relatives were not Talib, but they did not come to his home because he worked with Americans. Consequently, he could not trust his neighbours and some of his relatives (Anderson 2014). Another CAI said that besides Taliban threats he faced threats from his neighbours and relatives who accused him of being an infidel, of not being a Muslim anymore, and of helping the enemy armies. It was clear that CAIs lived in fear and emotional distress because they worked with the foreign invaders. They were considered–​ either by their own people, including Taliban, or their foreign army employers–​to have betrayed their own country, to have been unfaithful to their own religion, and to have done what they should have never done (Martin and Gomez-​Amich 2021; Tryuk 2021).

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Insufficient protection The high price the CAIs had to bear is also evidenced in the fact that they have not been protected. It is stated in the “Conflict zone field guide” that CAIs have rights to be protected. As Professor John Blaxland, the former head of the strategic and defence studies centre at the Australian National University, said, leaving vulnerable civilians without security would result in mass deaths and undo the work of Australian troops. Even though John thought that Australia had a moral obligation to protect these CAIs the Australian Forces had employed in Afghanistan by bringing them back to Australia, he admitted that Australia had “a track record of behaving abysmally on this front” (Banville 2021). Information from various sources (Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche 2019; Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2019; Ruiz Rosendo 2019) indicates that the CAIs could not control factors that made their interpreter role unlimited. The CAIs were not sure whether they fully understood their role limits as they needed the money and were desperate to have a new life in the future through working hard for the Western Forces so as to migrate into the Western countries. Three factors came into sight upon reflection on the conflict zones. First, the CAIs were local individuals who were untrained to interpret in the battlefield, and this might have been the first time for them to work in such a highly dangerous and novel environment with responsibilities. Second, they hated the Taliban insurgents so much, wanted to help the foreign forces remove them from the control of the country for a safe future, and were aware of their own current role as being indispensable to this goal. Third, no matter whether some CAIs were university-​educated or whether others were less literate, cultural shock and adaptation process on both sides have to take their course while they interacted with the personnel of different ranks in the foreign forces. Because the CAIs seemed to be powerless as they were temporarily hired as interpreters in the conflict zones, they were more likely to compromise their rights to protection. As Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche (2019) suggest, any interpreters (e.g., humanitarian, civilian, or military) working in the conflict zones and elsewhere would be concerned with ethics dilemmas of various sorts. This could have an impact on their interpreting agency (Ruiz Rosendo 2019), motivation (Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2019), and performance while working on interpreting assignments. The CAIs were aware of insufficient protection while interpreting in conflict zones. Even though there was a report on the openness and collaboration between Dutch service personnel and CAIs in Afghanistan (van Dijk, Soeters, and de Ridder 2010), the army men did feel the gaps (cultural, language, ethnic) of all kinds between them and the CAIs while they stayed together. When the CAIs were allowed to live on the army bases, only after they were given the highest level of security clearance, they were physically protected but not so emotionally or mentally, as their families were in constant danger and threat because of their interpreter role for the foreign troops. In contrast, those CAIs who lived at their homes for the night were not physically protected at all and could be hunted by the insurgents at any time. A CAI who was interpreting for the Australian Forces was tracked to his home by Taliban and became an assassination target (Greene 2021). It seems that the CAIs working with Australian troops were physically protected when they wore the army uniform, including a helmet. However, wearing the uniform did not automatically turn the CAIs into the members of the Western Forces and they did not have as much protection as did the soldiers (Moser-​Mercer 2015). According to accounts of the British soldiers, they were always aware of the small differences in the uniform the local civilian interpreters wore, and their whole appearance as a major difference (Baker 2010a). Some soldiers did not feel that they needed any CAIs after they finished patrols and operations, and returned to the base. In their eyes, CAIs

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completed their assigned role or business for the day and they should go where they belonged rather than hanging around on the military base. Added to their daily concerns was that future plans for the CAIs and their loved ones were not always in place. While some of them were able to make it to the Western destinations as their host countries, this dream has never come true for most of them or they have been on an endless waiting list or an empty promise. According to Curtis (2022), a former CAI employee working with Australian, British, and American forces in Afghanistan was lucky to escape from his country and arrive in Australia, but his parents, brothers, and sisters were left behind and had to hide from the Taliban’s search. It was reported that 62,000 CAIs were left behind in Afghanistan four months after the foreign forces withdrew from the war-​stricken country (Donati 2021). It turned out that most of the CAIs were virtually abandoned after the foreign forces pulled out of Afghanistan on August 31, 2021. Then, they started to use their social capital to mobilise their peers to join hands to make their voice heard (Bourdieu 1986). Hussan was one of those CAIs who had interpreted for the Australian Forces in Afghanistan conflict zones. According to Stein (2016), he applied for an Australian visa in 2013 before Australian Forces withdrew in 2014, but “there are fears a negative security assessment conducted by US Defense Department contractors jeopardised his chances”. Despite this, Captain Jason Scanes, for whom Hussan had interpreted in Afghanistan conflict zones for a year, had full confidence and absolute trust in him and would call him a right-​hand man and a brother. Both Jason and his commanding officer Lieutenant-​Colonel Damien Hick had no doubt of Hussan’s loyalty. Jason said, “I will be loyal to him as he was to me”, and he hired a lawyer to fight for Hussan’s visa. However, it turned out that Hussan’s visa application was not successful. Living in fear for their lives, he and his family were not protected in Afghanistan. After living like a prisoner in his home for years, he said, “This is really, really dangerous and [a]‌really, really hard life for me and my whole family” (Pepper 2018). It is not difficult to realise the harsh environment in which Hussan and his family members were struggling to survive, despite various practical issues ranging from facing the potential political prosecution from the Taliban to having a short supply of daily necessities. However, the Australian diggers whom Hussan worked with in the conflict zones raised their voices and supported him without hesitation or reservation. The former Australian Army veteran Jason Scanes “camped outside Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s office to advocate for Hussan’s rights, and has set up a charity called Forsaken Fighters, which aims to raise awareness about the role of interpreters” (Pepper 2018). He said “You can’t do your job without them, it’s like trying to undo a bolt without a spanner” and continued that “Essentially, when you arrive in Afghanistan, you’re issued an interpreter like you’re issued a pistol. You form a very close relationship and bond with them” (ibid.). He added that “They were our mates, they wore the Australian uniform with us every day in Afghanistan” (ibid.). Even if the veterans of foreign forces have personal experience working with the CAIs, know they are people of good characters, and stand up for their (and their family members’) rights to be protected, things are not as simple as they thought, and each of the CAIs has to go through a high level of background security checks based on their own immigrant assessment standards, in fear of hidden terrorism and terrorist attacks on foreign forces’ own soils in the future. In a word, the Western militaries and governments place the national interest and security as the top priority. The rights to protection of the CAIs and their family members would come second if they were given due attention and consideration. In the same way, a top Afghan interpreter was rejected from UK sanctuary even after he demonstrated loyalty to the UK Forces in Afghanistan for 16 years and his life was at risk according to two senior British military officers (Brown and Williams 2018). 195

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Conclusion The new concept of non-​normative ethics was proposed and discussed in terms of ethics issues arising from the CAIs and the relevant parties in this chapter. The theoretical framework of capital forms (Bourdieu 1986) was used to analyse how the CAIs mobilised their economic, cultural, and social capital while working with the foreign forces in the conflict zones. Its contribution is advancing a new concept of non-​normative ethics, explaining and reflecting on it in light of non-​normative practices adopted by the CAIs, their recruiters, and employers during the 20-​year Afghanistan War. Many Afghan interpreters played a key role in conflict zones and their non-​ normative interpreting behaviours were discussed in perspectives and supported with relevant literature. This reflection is made through citing various current and relevant resources, including academic publications and non-​academic materials such as online newspapers (which sometimes included video material, such as Willacy 2020 and Curtis 2022). It is worth noting that this critical discussion of the non-​normative ethics issues does not deny the normative ethical behaviours in their interpreting practices. As these non-​normative ethics behaviours and practices used by interpreters and the foreign forces are not new, and they were abused in the previous wars and conflict zones (Grant 2020; Inghilleri 2019), it does not mean that the CAIs and their Western recruiters and employers are doing the right things unless they abide by the “Conflict zone field guide for civilian translators/​ interpreters and users of their services” (Red T in partnership with AIIC and FIT 2012). Furthermore, their practices need to be scrutinised by the NATO Security Council observers and war journalists. Foreign forces and Western governments should practise democracy and accountability consistently in all contexts, ensuring public rights to freedom of information as they launch invasions into other countries at the expenses of taxpayers’ money. They should stop hiding Australian war crimes and using excuses of acting in the public or national interest when concealing the truth of killing the innocent Afghans in the conflict zone (Willacy, March, and Robertson 2022), and threatening to prosecute journalists who expose the hidden shocking files (Karp 2020) because it does not serve the long-​term interest of the country and would lose the trust of the Australian taxpayers. Despite the critical reflection and discussion, there are three limitations in this project. First, though it has explored as many resources as possible, the literature reviewed in this chapter may not be exhaustive and comprehensive. Some of the top secrets and confidential files are not accessible or made available to the general public. They may be released in the future and new information could be utilised to enhance the discussion in due time. Second, this discussion is based on literature review, secondary data from various news reports and online resources, and reflections on information available. It would help to collect first-​hand data through interviewing the CAIs and their family members and gain an insight into the detailed truth and event complexities. Finally, due to little access to local Afghan newspapers, no news reports written by Afghan journalists could be included. Despite these limitations, this project helps readers understand, analyse, and apply the concept of non-​normative ethics to the interpreter practices in the conflict zones, as well as the consequences of failure to adhere to the interpreting practices professionally.

Further reading Dean, Robyn K., and Robert Q. Pollard. 2022. ‘Improving interpreters’ normative ethics discourse by imparting principled-​reasoning through case analysis’. Interpreting and Society, 2 (1): 55–​72. https://​doi. org/​10.1177/​275238​1021​1068​449. This article reports on a case study of the need to introduce a functional middle-​ground (intermediate ethical concepts) that may bridge the disconnection between descriptive ethics and normative ethics practised by the

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Interpreting ethics in crisis in the conflict zones community interpreters. The reflective discussion is not only beneficial to community interpreters, but also meaningful to interpreter educators and interpreting researchers. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2021. ‘The role of the affective in interpreting in conflict zones’. Target, 33 (1): 47–​72. https://​doi.org/​10.1075/​tar​get.18165.rui. This article is concerned with how personal emotions (positive and negative) and prior life experience of interpreters working in conflict zones could have an impact on their interpreting behaviours and practices. Research into this area helps understand why some interpreters behave one way while others behave the other way and inform the interpreter training based on their specific circumstances and needs. Tryuk, Małgorzata. 2021. ‘Translating and interpreting in conflict and crisis’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics, edited by Kaisa Koskinen and Nike K. Pokorn, 398–​414. London: Routledge. This chapter focuses on the ethics challenges and issues translators and interpreters face while working in the conflict zones (wars) and crisis situations (refugees and asylum seekers). The author calls for the specific code of practices for translators and interpreters working in the conflict zones and crisis situations.

References Anderson, Ben. 2014. ‘The interpreter’. Vice News. August 15. Website. www.vice.com/​en/​arti​cle/​qva​m83/​ the-​inter​pret​ers. Baker, Catherine. 2010a. ‘It’s not their job to soldier: Distinguishing civilian and military in soldiers’ and interpreters’ accounts of peacekeeping in 1990s Bosnia-​Herzegovina’. Journal of War & Culture Studies, 3 (1): 137–​150. Baker, Mona. 2010b. ‘Interpreters and translators in the war zone’. The Translator, 16 (2): 197–​222. Banville, Kate. 2021. ‘Interpreters who helped Australian Forces in Afghanistan plead for visas to escape “extreme threats” ’. The Guardian. April 24. Website. www.theg​uard​ian.com/​world/​2021/​apr/​24/​inter​pret​ ers-​who-​hel​ped-​aus​tral​ian-​for​ces-​in-​afgh​anis​tan-​plead-​for-​visas-​to-​esc​ape-​extr​eme-​thre​ats. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. ‘The forms of capital’. In Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education, edited by John G. Richardson, 241–​258. Connecticut: Greenwood. Brown, Larisa, and David Williams. 2018. ‘Top Afghan interpreter denied UK sanctuary’. Scottish Daily Mail. January 18. Website. www.pres​srea​der.com/​uk/​scott​ish-​daily-​mail/​20180​118/​2815​9094​5976​534. Curtis, Katina. 2022. ‘Defence interpreters live in limbo and fear for families left behind in Afghanistan’. The Sydney Morning Herald. March 21. Website. www.smh.com.au/​polit​ics/​fede​ral/​defe​nce-​inter​pret​ers-​live-​ in-​limbo-​and-​fear-​for-​famil​ies-​left-​beh​ind-​in-​afgh​anis​tan-​20220​315-​p5a​4oc.html. Dean, Robyn K. 2015. Sign language interpreters’ ethical discourse and moral reasoning patterns [PhD Thesis]. Heriot-​Watt University. Dean, Robyn K., and Robert Q. Pollard. 2022. ‘Improving interpreters’ normative ethics discourse by imparting principled-​reasoning through case analysis’. Interpreting and Society, 2 (1): 55–​72. Delgado Luchner, Carmen, and Leïla Kherbiche. 2019. ‘Ethics training for humanitarian interpreters working in conflict and post-​conflict settings’. Journal of War & Culture Studies, 12 (3): 251–​267. Donati, Jessica. 2021. ‘More than 60,000 interpreters, visa applicants still in Afghanistan, 33,000 cleared to evacuate’. The Australian. December 21. Website. www.theaus​tral​ian.com.au/​busin​ess/​the-​wall-​str​eet-​ jour​nal/​more-​than-​60000-​inter​pret​ers-​visa-​app​lica​nts-​rem​ain-​in-​afgh​anis​tan/​news-​story/​c2d2d​9e1e​f9ed​ 9a76​d2b9​cbf9​93a8​bc0. Elliot, Robert. 2001. ‘Normative ethics’. In A companion to environmental philosophy, edited by Dale Jamieson, 177–​191. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Far News Agency. 2021. ‘Afghanistan/​ United States: Report: Scheme recruiting phony interpreters in Afghanistan may land six US army contractors behind bars’. April 23. Website. www.farsn​ews.ir/​en/​news/​ 140​0020​3000​356/​Repr-​Sch​eme-​Recri​ing-​Phny-​Ine​rpre​ers-​in-​Afg​hani​san-​May-​Land-​Six-​US. Fitchett, Linda. 2019. ‘Interpreting in peace and conflict: Origins, developing practices, and ethics’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 183–​204. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Foust, Joshua. 2009. ‘Maladies of interpreters’. The New York Times. September 21. Website. www.nyti​mes. com/​sea​rch?query=​Malad​ies+​of+​Inter​pret​ers%E2%80%99. Gallai, Fabrizio. 2019a. ‘Interpreters at war: Testing boundaries of neutrality’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 205–​230. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

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Ping Yang Gallai, Fabrizio. 2019b. ‘Interpreting ethics in fragile environments’. Journal of War & Culture Studies, 12 (3): 220–​235. https://​doi.org/​10.1080/​17526​272.2019.1644​414. http://​ezpr​oxy.uws.edu.au/​ login?url=​https://​sea​rch.ebscoh​ost.com/​login.aspx?dir​ect=​true&db=​a9h&AN=​137792​554&site=​ehost-​ live&scope=​site. Gómez-​Amich, María. 2013. ‘The vital role of conflict interpreters’. Nawa Journal of Language and Communication, 7 (2): 15–​28. Gómez-​Amich, María. 2018. ‘Life in conflict: A series of narratives by locally-​recruited interpreters from Afghanistan’. Close Encounters in War Journal, (1): 22–​44. Gómez-​Amich, María. 2021. ‘Local interpreters versus military personnel: Perceptions and expectations regarding the local interpreter’s role and agency within the Afghan conflict’. In Interpreting conflict: A comparative framework, edited by Marija Todorova and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo, 85–​112. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Grant, Matt. 2020. ‘Working with Australian Defence Force interpreters in Timor 1999 and Aceh 2005: Reflections drawn from personal experience’. In Communication, interpreting and language in wartime: Historical and contemporary perspectives, edited by Amanda Laugesen and Richard Gehrmann, 207–​221. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Greene, Andrew. 2021. ‘Afghan translators for Australian diggers now targets of Taliban threats’. ABC NEWS. June 8. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2021-​06-​08/​aus​tral​ian-​soldi​ers-​afg​han-​tran​slat​ors-​thr​eate​ ned-​tali​ban/​100196​610. Gul, Ayaz. 2021. ‘Taliban overrun Afghan base, capture troops as US, NATO forces exit’. VOA (South & Central Asia). May 1. Website. www.voan​ews.com/​a/​south-​cent​ral-​asia_​tali​ban-​over​run-​afg​han-​base-​ capt​ure-​tro​ops-​us-​nato-​for​ces-​exit/​6205​299.html. Hammond, Michael, and Jerry Wellington. 2020. Research methods: The key concepts. Second edition. Milton Park, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. Inghilleri, Moira. 2019. ‘On encounters and ethics in the Vietnam War’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt and Myriam Salama-​ Carr, 51–​ 71. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Karp, Paul. 2020. ‘Prosecution of Australian journalists for “secrecy offences” should be allowed, parliamentary report says’. The Guardian. August 26. Website. www.theg​uard​ian.com/​media/​2020/​aug/​26/​pros​ecut​ ion-​of-​aus​tral​ian-​jour​nali​sts-​for-​secr​ecy-​offen​ces-​sho​uld-​be-​allo​wed-​parlia​ment​ary-​rep​ort-​says King, Ian. 2021. ‘Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world–​now things could get even worse’. Sky News. August 17. Website. https://​news.sky.com/​story/​afgh​anis​tan-​is-​one-​of-​the-​poor​est-​countr​ies-​ in-​the-​world-​now-​thi​ngs-​could-​get-​even-​worse-​12383​072. Lawrence, John P. 2020. ‘Court approves plan to fix visa delays for war zone interpreters’. Tribune Content Agency (TCA) Regional News. June 16. Magnier, Mark. 2010. ‘Afghan interpreter pays a personal price’. Los Angles Times. January 20. Website. www.lati​mes.com/​archi​ves/​la-​xpm-​2010-​jan-​20-​la-​fg-​afg​han-​interp​rete​r20-​2010ja​n20-​story.html. Martin, A., and M. Gomez-​Amich. 2021. ‘Ideology, positionality and war: Local interpreters in Afghanistan’. Interpreting, 23 (2): 269–​295. Moser-​Mercer, Barbara. 2015. ‘Interpreting in conflict zones’. In The Routledge handbook of interpreting, edited by Holly Mikkelson and Renée Jourdenais, 302–​316. London and New York: Routledge. O’Neill, John. 2001. ‘Meta-​ethics’. In A companion to environmental philosophy, edited by Dale Jamieson, 163–​176. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Pepper, Fiona. 2018. ‘“His life is in danger”: Afghan interpreter launches legal fight for Australian visa’. ABC News. August 3. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2018-​08-​03/​afg​han-​inte​rpre​ter-​hus​san-​launc​hes-​ legal-​fight-​for-​visa/​9929​002. Red T in partnership with AIIC and FIT. 2012. Safety guidelines: Conflict zone field guide for civilian translators/​interpreters and users of their services. PDF File. https://​red-​t.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2017/​ 01/​T-​I_​F​ield​_​Gui​de_​2​012.pdf. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2019. ‘Rethinking the interpreter’s agency in wartime: A portrait of Gottlieb Fuchs’. The International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research, 11 (2): 58–​68. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2020. ‘Interpreting for the Afghanistan Spanish Force’. War & Society, 39 (1): 42–​57. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2021. ‘The role of the affective in interpreting in conflict zones’. Target, 33 (1): 47–​72. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Maria Clementina Persaud. 2019. ‘On the frontline: Mediating across languages and cultures in peacekeeping operations’. Armed Forces & Society, 45 (3): 472–​490.

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Interpreting ethics in crisis in the conflict zones Skelton, Tim, Hamish MacDonald, and Kea Browning. 2021. ‘Afghan interpreter who worked with Australian troops murdered by Taliban’. ABC News. October 20. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2021-​10-​20/​afg​ han-​inte​rpre​ter-​wor​ked-​with-​aus​tral​ian-​tro​ops-​kil​led-​tali​ban/​100552​634. Stein, Ginny. 2016. ‘Former Australian soldiers fight to get Afghan interpreter a visa’. ABC News. June 23. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2016-​06-​23/​for​mer-​aus​tral​ian-​soldi​ers-​fight-​to-​get-​afgh​ani-​inte​rpre​ter-​ visa/​7530​272. Takeda, Kayoko. 2021. Interpreters and war crimes. New York: Routledge. Tălpaș, Mihaela. 2016. ‘Words cut two ways: An overview of the situation of Afghan interpreters at the beginning of the 21st century’. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series–​Themes in Translation Studies, (15): 241–​259. Toronto, Coleen E. 2020. ‘Overview of the integrative review’. In A step-​by-​step guide to conducting an integrative review, edited by Coleen E. Toronto and Ruth Remington, 1–​9. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Tryuk, Malgorzata. 2015. On ethics and interpreters, edited by Central Ebook. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang AG. Tryuk, Małgorzata. 2021. ‘Translating and interpreting in conflict and crisis’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics, edited by Kaisa Koskinen and Nike K. Pokorn, 398–​414. London: Routledge. van Dijk, Andrea, Joseph Soeters, and Richard de Ridder. 2010. ‘Smooth translation? A research note on the cooperation between Dutch service personnel and local interpreters in Afghanistan’. Armed Forces & Society, 36 (5): 917–​925. Walker, Jerimiah D., and Ramey L. Wilson. 2009. ‘First responder training for interpreters in Afghanistan’. Military Medicine, 174 (2): iii–​vi. Willacy, Mark. 2020. ‘Killing Field: Explosive new allegations of Australian special forces war crimes’. Four Corners. March 16. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2020-​03-​16/​kill​ing-​field/​12060​538. Willacy, Mark, Stephanie March, and Josh Robertson. 2022. ‘ADF report into alleged misconduct in East Timor warned of culture issues in special forces, years before claims of Afghanistan war crimes’. ABC News. July 6. Website. www.abc.net.au/​news/​2022-​07-​06/​defe​nce-​rep​ort-​war​ned-​of-​spec​ial-​for​ces-​code-​ of-​sile​nce/​101209​430.

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14 THE CRISIS OF THE TRANSLATOR An overview of the occupational situation of Syrian translation professionals during the war Madiha Kassawat

Introduction In March 2021, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported 6.6 million Syrian refugees worldwide, and 13.4 million people in need of humanitarian and protection assistance in Syria, including 6.7 million internally displaced persons (UNHCR 2021); knowing that the Syrian population was 22.7 million in 2011 (The World Bank n.d.) makes these statistics even more shocking. The United Nations Human Rights Office estimated more than 306,000 people killed over ten years in the Syrian conflict (OHCHR n.d.). The crisis has significantly and negatively impacted every Syrian, inside or outside the country. These approximate numbers reflect the volume of the disaster in Syria and for the Syrian people. While the media and politics have been occupied largely by those who fled the country, tragically passed away or managed to make it to other countries, little attention was given in research to people still living the crisis. The same applies to academic works, which seem to focus on the lives of refugees elsewhere (Assi, Özger-​İlhan, and İlhan 2019; Tsourapas 2019). When it comes to Translation Studies (TS), the focus is on the difficulties encountered in the process of translation and interpreting in the migration context (Balkul 2018; Berbel 2020; Polat Ulas 2022), rather than the occupational situation of professional translators in crisis settings. However, the size of the Syrian crisis necessitates a broader view in addition to the critical issues already covered. This study will provide a brief overview of the crisis in Syria to explain how it is multi-​layered and what the current situation of translation professionals looks like. The term “translation professionals” will be used interchangeably with the term “translators” in a generic way because even interpreters can perform textual translation in Syria. This chapter will zoom into the internal scene to provide an overview of the situation of translation professionals as a category with exceptional circumstances in general and during the crisis in particular. There is a paucity of research that deals with the translator as an individual in a crisis, just like other individuals in the society living in that crisis. Such research should enrich what has already been offered in crisis-​based studies in TS research and enable more work to define the challenges these professionals may face and how to deal with them more efficiently. The chapter 200

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will discuss theoretical arguments to highlight relevant studies and findings and describe the gap in TS with regard to the occupational situation of the translator in such contexts. It will then present qualitative results showing in detail how translators survive in the crises. The research methodology will be elaborated in terms of the case study, the sample, the challenges and the analysis. A critical discussion will then take place to find intersections and/​or discrepancies between the results of this study and the results of previous ones. The discussion will emphasise the contribution of this research to the field and suggest its applicability to similar situations. This chapter therefore explores the translator’s occupational situation in a crisis, namely the war in Syria and the consequent worsening economic situation. It attempts to answer the following questions: what are the mechanisms translators adopt to survive and manage their employability attempts and/​or professional sustainability? What are the challenges they encounter in finding clients and managing their business in a fluctuating economic situation? It also looks into whether translation is a sufficient profession to live on during a crisis. This exploratory study aims to get out of the frame of the text to see the translator in the frame of society, influenced by external factors.

Research context Crisis translation is commonly viewed as “any form of linguistic and cultural transmission of messages that enables access to information during an emergency” (Federici et al. 2019, 247). Discussing translation in crises often revolves around issues of intercultural and linguistic communication (Ramos 2021; Federici and Declercq 2021), ethics and neutrality (Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2016), and highlights the training needs of translators to manage urgencies (Federici and Sharou 2018). In other words, there is a focus on the process, the output and the performance of the translator/​interpreter in a crisis. The lack of access to translation and information during crises (Hunt et al. 2019) is, of course, the main reason for such studies, which focus on translators and interpreters as agents facilitating crisis management and supporting humanitarian aid. However, there is a need to look at the translator’s life and day-​to-​day challenges in crises. Research on the translator is common in TS, but it is often associated with the texts they produce (Froeliger 2005). The translator is viewed to be inadequately represented in Holmes’ classic map, which deals to a great extent with the textual aspects rather than the people who produce the texts (Chesterman 2009). A new subfield called Translator Studies was suggested to cover “research which focuses primarily and explicitly on the agents involved in translation, for instance on their activities or attitudes, their interaction with their social and technical environment, or their history and influence” (Chesterman 2009, 20). Although Chesterman’s proposal also seems to associate the translator with his/​her surrounding, more attention is paid elsewhere to the translator/​interpreter as a human first and foremost, and: the idea of the human being as a disembodied rational agent who never falls sick, who doesn’t have aging [sic] parents, who doesn’t raise small children, who doesn’t have bothersome siblings, that is, a pure mind floating free of cultural, sentimental, emotional attachments. (Cronin and Luchner 2021, 93) Such translator-​or interpreter-​oriented perspectives are becoming increasingly necessary in TS, given the world developments in terms of the life style, cultural interactions, the introduction of different technologies and the impact these aspects have. These changes should be reflected in the translator’s mind set and life, and should in turn affect the profession and the translation 201

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themselves. Few scholars have drawn attention to translators’ difficulties in crisis contexts, such as managing the workload and emotional stress (Al-​Shehari 2019). The effect of the severe circumstances translators and interpreters go through in Yemen–​for instance, on the translation quality–​has been highlighted, including the painful stories they translate and the fact that they live in a similar situation (ibid., 33). The mental stress includes day-​to-​day challenges in their personal life, such as the power cut off for hours, the lack of essential services and utilities and blocked websites (ibid., 34–​35). The subject of occupational stress has been addressed in Translation Studies. However, research was limited to professional factors which lead to stress and affect job satisfaction, such as working with tight deadlines, remuneration, being overloaded and managing one’s translation business (Courtney and Phelan 2019, 108). Similarly, the translator’s status was found to be relatively low with a lower income than comparable professionals (Dam and Zethsen 2011, 986). Moreover, the translation profession in general has been reported to be “almost totally unregulated”, anyone can practise it, let alone the lack of an agreed professional code of conduct and the lack of a reference association (Katan 2009, 113–​114). This brings to the front the importance of viewing the translator as an entrepreneur managing not only the translation output but also the business side of the occupation (Tiokou 2020). For instance, a study found that freelance translators have more autonomy and control over their working conditions than comparable professionals, but concluded that labour market characteristics draw differences from one group of workers to another (Fraser and Gold 2001). Therefore, this study narrows the perspective to the Syrian case and follows the assumption that the issues translators suffer from in non-​crisis situations, such as the low status and the lack of regulation of the profession, are expected to be more amplified for translators living in a crisis.

An overview of the situation in Syria Following the “Arab Spring”1 in many Arab countries from 2010 onwards, protests and uprisings in Syria started in 2011, leading to an armed conflict which quickly escalated and became an unprecedented war with an increasingly acute impact on society and the economy. This crisis resulted in “the severe deterioration of the economy as a result of the destruction of lives, physical infrastructure, capital flight and the imposition of sanctions” (Wind and Dahi 2014, 132). Consequently, the Human Development Index of Syria lost 32.6 per cent of its pre-​crisis value (United Nations 2015). The economic situation continued to deteriorate, particularly with the intensified sanctions imposed by the US and EU on Syrian officials in 2011 and, later, the prohibition of new investments of American businesses in Syria and the complete blocking of services by Americans to Syria (Wind and Dahi 2014, 132). Similar sanctions were imposed by 19 of the Arab Leagues’ 22 members (Saleh and Samir 2011). According to the article: “the new sanctions could plunge Syria deeper into an economic crisis, although the League said measures were not intended to hurt ordinary people” (ibid.). In 2020, “Caesar” sanctions were imposed to “prevent any foreign investors from doing business with the Syrian government because secondary sanctions will be applied to those who breach these terms” (Selimian, Nassr, and Sen 2022, 3). While the sanctions targeted specific sectors and groups, the Syrian people themselves suffered from their effects the most. The sanctions lead to a fear of breaching US and EU rules, which in turn impedes trade even in allowed goods and adds an obstacle for reconstruction (ibid., 3). According to a report by the World Food Programme, as of early 2021, 12.4 million people are food insecure in Syria due to factors like protracted displacement, soaring food and fuel prices, stagnant salaries, loss of livelihoods and reduced food production (WFP 2021). The economic collapse, or the “bread 202

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crisis” (Giving Hope For Them 2021), was accompanied by a spike in the dollar price, which equalled 46 Syrian pounds at the start of the war, and reached 4,000 Syrian pounds in March 2021 (ibid.), leading to a stark inflation. In addition to the economic consequences of the crisis, the psychological well-being was severely affected too. A study on the well-being of Syrian people was conducted based on web searches, assessment reports provided by non-​governmental organisations and international agencies, and mental, psychological and social science databases (Hassan et al. 2016). It included Syrian people who are internally and externally displaced. The main issues in conflict settings found in this study included, for example: loss, fear, grief, boredom, hopelessness, fatigue, sleeping problems, emotional, rational and material losses, concerns about safety and stress (ibid., 130–​131). While the results seemed to be associated more with refugees, another study (Kakaje et al. 2021), which included the same groups to analyse mental distress during COVID-​19, found that participants living in Syria were more worried about their reduced ability to earn the same income, to provide food and their relationship with their relatives and friends (ibid.). Such information shows the aggravating conditions Syrian people in general are living in. With the focus on translators in this study, these aspects should also be taken into account to provide a more comprehensive picture of the situation. Due to the absence of an official body representing the translation industry in Arab-​speaking countries, there is a lack of data on translation and translators in those countries in general. Jacquemond even criticised data provided by the Arab states for being “very much deficient” (2009, 19). He also criticised exaggerating data provided in a report issued by the UNDP and considered it misleading (ibid., 20). Data on the translation sector in the Arab countries also seem to be ignored in international statistics which are at the content level rather than the translation language (MLC Translation Services n.d.). The difficulty of obtaining reliable data applies to Syria, and as such the organisation of the Syrian translation sector remains rather informal (Melki 2007, 145). Not surprisingly, the lack of formalisation of the industry leads to competition due to offers of low rates, which affect good translators and, consequently, shifting to other activities or practising translation as an extra job (Melki 2007, 140–​141). Moreover, access to translation assignments and jobs from outside Syria is still difficult and translators rather depend on personal contacts and acquaintances (ibid., 156). A more comprehensive report on the translation sector in specific Arab countries, based on industry interviews, provided that there is a lack of a sufficient number of qualified translators in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia and a lack of capital investment in purchasing modern publishing equipment in Egypt and Morocco. Only Syria and Lebanon did not report issues related to these two factors at the time of the report (Harabi 2007, 13). However, the great supply is not met by enough demand. According to Melki 2007, translation firms in Syria are limited to legal translation bureaus (140). Printing and publishing remain underdeveloped, let alone the low purchasing power of most readers, censorship, marketing and distribution difficulties (ibid., 144). Despite these commonly existing issues in the Arab world, Syrian publications were considered well-​positioned according to the same report. They were becoming a major contributor to library materials (ibid.), while Damascus used to be a specialised centre for translation and interpretation (Melki 2007, 156). The high level of Arabisation in the country, and the fact that Arabic is the only official language, were factors which were used to enhance the translation sector at the time of the reports in 2007. The translation wave seemed to have just started to grow at that time, with the Higher Institute for Translation and Interpreting starting translation teaching activities in 2006 at Damascus University. Although the available data is limited and relatively outdated, it highlights key areas that need to be taken into account in the research. For instance, it was reported that Syria was 203

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economically isolated due to rigid political control and limited private initiative in cultural industries (Melki 2007, 140). Other factors that hold economic growth also affect the translation sector, such as inefficient markets, inadequate pricing mechanisms, a non-​competitive public sector, the inexistence of independent professional associations and the overwhelming bureaucracy (ibid.). These existing difficulties before the crisis are expected to increase in quantity and severity, given the humanitarian hurdles Syrian people have been having since 2011 and the additional economic sanctions applied.

Research methodology The study adopted a qualitative approach in order to get in-​depth information about the occupational situation, challenges and the mechanisms of the participants to adapt and meet the challenges. Interviews were used in this study due to the sociological nature of the subject. Narrative interviews are considered an interactional tool which allows having a conversation with the participant about his/​her story and experience. Furthermore, it provides a space for exchange between the two speakers (Nossik 2011, 119). Therefore, semi-​structured interviews were conducted mainly with professional translators living in Syria. The participants were provided with the general topic prior to the call. The same questions were asked to all the participants with subsidiary questions to help certain ones elaborate their answers. The questions were exploratory and revolved around four axes based on the theoretical background discussed earlier: (1) socio-​demographic data (age, education and experience); (2) life and work challenges if any (see Al-​Shehari 2019); (3) the mechanisms they adopt to survive and/​or sustain their occupation during the crisis; and (4) explaining the current situation of translation in Syria, and how it compares to the situation before 2011. Participants who had left the country recently, i.e. during the past five years, were also included as they must have some input on their experience in the crisis. The term “professional” will be used in the classical sense “to signify people who engage in an occupation–​in this case translation–​to make a living” (Dam and Zethsen 2011, 977–​978). Twelve participants, detailed in Table 14.1, included established translators who started the practice before the war and others who started working in the field during the war. Given the crisis context and the availability of participants with the required profile, the sample included those who depend on translation for a living, either fully or partially. Personal contacts helped find participants who met the required profile, then some participants helped find others following the snowball sampling method (Waller, Farquharson, and Dempsey 2016). The interviews were conducted through online audio calls, given the difficulty to access the participants in person at the time of the study. The interviews lasted about 30 minutes, and were extended to one hour either due to the repeated Internet interruption or the participant’s motivation to elaborate. The interviews were done in the Arabic Syrian dialect to allow as much spontaneous conversation as possible. Individual interviews were conducted in January 2022 and included twelve participants aged between 31 and 68. Six participants are in their 30s, thus most of them started practising translation early in the crisis. Three are in their 40s and 50s, and three others are in their 60s. Other people who graduated at the beginning of the crisis were also contacted, but they do not work in translation at all. For example, one of them works as a vendor in a pharmacy. Only one contacted person was not interested in participating. As for the geographic locations of the participants, seven of them live in Damascus, two live in Latakia, one lives in Hama, one immigrated to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2017 and one moved to France at the end of 2021. Those who emigrated were chosen for the relatively long period they spent working in Syria and the insight they might have.

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The crisis of the translator Table 14.1 The main characteristics of the participants Initials

Age

Gender

Source language

Education

Main current activity

Dependence on translation

DD DR NM

32 50 68

Female Female Male

French English Hungarian

NGO Librarian Translation

30% 90% 100%

RA✝ NN AF

67 34 55

Male Female Male

Spanish English English

Translation Translation Translation

100% 100% 100%

RB

64

Female

French

Translation

100%

AH

31

Female

French

Teaching

20%

AA

38

Male

English

Engineering

10%

FT HD

38 45

Male Female

English English

MA in interpretation BA in English literature BA in Mechanical engineering BA in Spanish literature BA in Translation BA in economy & MA in translation BA in pharmaceutical studies & MA in interpretation Two MA degrees in translation & cultures and civilizations BA in mechanical engineering MA in translation PhD in mechanical engineering MA in translation MA in interpretation

100% 100%

JM

34

Male

French

Translation Translation/​ interpreting Teaching

MA in translation & international law

20%

✝ Participant (RA) passed away before the publication of this book.

Five interviews were recorded. The participants’ initials are used to keep them anonymous. Eight of them completed a professional master in translation at the Higher Institute for Translation and Interpreting at Damascus University. The remaining four have a BA in English literature (DR), a BA in translation (NN), a BA in Mechanical Engineering (NM)–​translating from Hungarian–​or a BA in Spanish literature (RA)–​translating from Spanish. The last two languages are not supported at the university at the master level but these translators came into the field thanks to their experience in studying abroad. Moreover, a participant completed a master in translation and has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (AA), one has a BA in pharmaceutical studies (RB) and one has a BA in economy (AF). In addition to translation, the participant (JM) holds a master in international law. Therefore, the participants can be considered professional regarding their qualifications and experience, ranging from 8–​44 years. The one with the least experience has translated five books so far, while the most experienced one has translated 75 books and was active at the time of the interview. Notes were taken for the rest due to the interrupted Internet connection or the inability to record on the used channel. One of the recorded interviews was followed up by email because of the Internet connection. All the participants are native speakers of Arabic. Six of them (50%) translate from English, four translate from French, one translates from Hungarian and one translates from Spanish. The sample population reflects the availability of English and French speakers as these are the second and third foreign languages taught at schools, respectively (Melki 2007, 151), and

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eventually prevailing in the market. Eight out of the twelve participants turned out to be working mainly in literary and book translation. The participants were motivated, flexible and eager to take part in the research. Participants did not get any pecuniary compensation for taking part in the interviews. The obstacles were mainly due to the deteriorated situation in Syria. For example, scheduling the calls was based on the hours the participants got electricity at home. Their lives are programmed around access to electricity when they have to do their tasks within a limited amount of time, including the interview. In addition, the Internet connection was typically slow or frequently interrupted, which prevented recording the interview in one go and resulted in relying on note-​taking more. Attempts to make video calls with a few participants living in Syria failed due to the bad connection. One participant showed sensitivity before the interview, when she was contacted by email, thinking that the interview would be on political issues. The sampling phase was challenging due to the lack of statistics and official documentation on translation and translators in Syria. Despite the aforementioned challenges, conducting interviews using modern technology proved extremely helpful in finding participants at a distance and in a crisis. Integrated recording features in the used channels were also practical regarding the process and the documentation. Having done all the interviews, notes were collected and documented, and recordings were transcribed. The coding technique was used for the analysis. It was used to organise data around themes, identify units of analysis, apply labels and highlight patterns (Saldanha and O’Brien 2013, 189).

Discussion The interviews drew a broader picture of the situation of translation professionals in Syria. The participants described their day-​to-​day life and the challenges they faced to accomplish their mission. They shared most of the challenges that are related to the crisis. The interviews also revealed how the crisis impacts the translators’ life on the psychological, economic, social and cultural levels. Some factors existed before the crisis, as was explained earlier, and were accentuated more after 2011. These factors include practising translation beside another profession or shifting the profession completely (Melki 2007, 145). This behaviour seems to prevail more during the crisis, to find new resources and to adapt to the fluctuating situation where some professions suffer or disappear. Four of the participants tend to have a mix of translation and other jobs, at least during certain periods in their lives, such as data entry and reporting in an NGO (DD), language school teaching (AH and JM), teaching at the university in the field of engineering (NM) or translation (HD and RB), in pharmaceutics (RB), in the culture sector (RA) and mechanical engineering (AA). However, experienced translators tend to depend mainly on translation now, while younger translators tend to mix with other jobs. This can be interpreted by the fact that translators start as fans and need time to establish their reputation or build a network. Meanwhile, they rely on other jobs to survive. Common issues in translation were also reported by six participants, such as the commercial approaches of some publishing houses that hire under-​experienced translators for their low rates, which results in poor quality. Similarly, the lack of respect for the profession, not considering translation as a profession in the first place and the lack of recognition of the translator were reported as issues which have always existed and still prevail. The absence of a reference association or official body that fixes the rates and organises the profession’s ethics has been discussed in TS. The situation in Syria in this regard is even worse due to the absence of a social security system that protects freelance translators. Therefore, their rights are not protected either at the 206

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professional level or at the humanitarian level. Some publishing houses do not sign contracts with the translators. Two participants reported experiencing fraud acts due to the lack of legal protection.

Psychological effects of the crisis Given that safety is a major issue in any war situation, psychological challenges can be expected among those suffering from the crisis. Safety issues prevented participant (NN) from going to the university to attend her classes and complete her BA in one go, as the roads were often blocked for security reasons. Other participants provided similar feedback and shared similar stories of everyday life at times of crisis. For example, every participant complained about how power often got cut off for hours during the day. Participant (RA), in Hama, reported that electricity was only provided for one hour a day, which is problematic for work. A couple of participants used alternatives such as inverters (relatively expensive).2 Most participants used extra batteries for their laptops, Internet connection and led lights. However, it was difficult to define working hours, let alone actually have a “normal” working day. The technical and logistical issues, and their continuously unexpected nature, often led to delays in delivery (DR). The overall working conditions were unhealthy due to the technical issues, having to work at home at night to compensate for the power cut-​off during the day and the additional hurdle translators have when they need to search for a piece of information but find that access to certain websites is not possible as these were blocked by the government or the website owners/​countries themselves (AF). Those who work on-​site had to work at home during the COVID-​19 pandemic and suffered from electricity issues too. Working during warm or cold temperatures is problematic due to the difficulties of using ACs or heaters. The work environment is unsettling and distracting, resulting in less productivity than you wish (RA and HD). Distraction and stress are also triggered by fear. Participant (RB) survived shelling seven times. She was often worried about the painful situation she was living in before she emigrated. For example, the fear of shelling and having to suddenly run out of the house once it happens. Moreover, there is a lack of social communication and gatherings, except at funerals. There are no meetups or any space to relax and socialise (RB). Even though she worked at home, she had to go to her family’s place to charge her laptop and complete a translation. The same participant also complained about the transport time, which increased three-​fold during the crisis. It should be mentioned that while still writing this chapter, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit Türkiye and Northern Syria on February 6, 2023, killing 7,735 Syrians (SOHR 2023). About two weeks later, an Israeli air strike hit residential areas in the capital Damascus, killing five people (Al-​Khalidi 2023). A few participants were contacted following the earthquake. They were safe and sound but feeling shocked and scared of the disaster and the daily earthquakes. The factors previously mentioned, which affect the translator’s mental health, have led to losing hope, particularly among participants who are in their 30s. Participant (DD) used to dream about studying abroad, but her dream is diminishing due to the hardship of living. Participant (HD), who is a translator and translation professor, observes through her work that there is an absence of ambition even in students. Moreover, participant (FT), who came back from the UAE to start a translation agency, confirmed that there is a depression and lack of motivation to commit among the candidates despite the will to offer acceptable wages due to the aspiration of many young people to emigrate. Participant (NN), who is 34 years old, used to be satisfied and adapted but is currently learning a new language and trying to find scholarship opportunities abroad. The economic situation plays a major role in such a tendency, but it will be discussed in more detail later. 207

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Interestingly, translation is sometimes viewed as a window of relief. For instance, participant (AF), a 55-​year-​old man, used to interpret but is now focusing on textual translation, which requires research and is more fun for him. He says that the crisis was a chance for him to improve himself in the domain. For (AH), translation is another world, as she describes it. She translates books on psychology and self-​development, which strengthen her. For participant (NM), 68 years old, translation is the resort. Retired people in general, and those who are more than 40 years, are less willing to emigrate and are finding their personal space in translation. This can be due to the available time for them after retirement and the little responsibilities they may have. Participant (AH), though 31 years old, is trying to accept the situation after having travelled to study and returned from France during the crisis due to financial difficulties and the unwillingness to seek asylum. Overall, experienced translators who started their careers before the crisis are not willing to emigrate, while younger ones are more desperate and willing to leave. They do not see translation as a profession enough for the future due to the previously mentioned factors and other economic challenges, which will be discussed next.

Financial effects of the crisis Given the fluctuations of the economic situation, including the consequences of the war, isolation and unstable currency, the participants were asked about these challenges in detail and how they adapt. Experienced participants (DR and RA) observed economic obstacles for the Syrian market. Publishing houses sometimes suffer from a shortage of paper and means to print translated works. The readers have reduced purchasing power and more day-​to-​day life concerns, let alone the emigration issue. Participant (AH) also complained that books arriving in Syria are already outdated, which reduces the chance of translating them and selling the translated version, as external publishers are faster. She also said that more opportunities would have been available without a war, as there would be stronger foreign relationships, more private companies or, at least, activities to stay in touch with the foreign language and culture. Other participants who work with publishing houses reported a difficulty in participating in foreign and Arab book fairs due to the travel restrictions on Syrian people, let alone obtaining publication rights which is also a challenge (RA). For example, participant (HD) suggested a book for translation and contacted the original publisher to get the copyrights, mentioning Syria in the application as the requesting country. She did not receive any response. Even Syrian publishing houses are not treated with justice, HD said. From her point of view, the security situation and the economic sanctions made the country unsafe for projects, investment and cultural activities. As for the recruitment methods, all participants depend on their colleagues, friends, professors and word of mouth. None of the participants received offers through professional networks or platforms, which can be interpreted by the lack of entrepreneurial training on the side of the translators and the avoidance of dealing with Syrian individuals on the side of the foreign agencies. Two young participants (NN and DD) happened to be contacted through Facebook by Lebanese bureaus to cooperate on small documents. Ten out of twelve participants talked about cooperating and fulfilling demand from external Arab markets, such as Lebanon, Jordan, the Gulf countries and/​or Morocco. These depend on foreign demand as a source of income. This is not because the rate is better, said (NM), but because the currency exchange rate makes a difference. This enables many translators to depend on translation for a living. For instance, (NM) used to have only 20 per cent of his income from translation, and (RA) used to translate on the side only, part-​time. They both depend on their translation work as the only source of income at the time of the interview. Participants (DR and NN) also depend on 208

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translation but report that they are self-​sufficient as single people only. When asked if he is responsible for a family, participant (JM) laughed and replied ironically that he is thankful he does not have this burden. Based on these factors, emigration is not only geographical and is not limited by physical displacement. There is a virtual type of emigration or a different kind of brain drain in the translation sector. Translators who are attracted to external markets, even if they are paid little in that market, would no longer be available for any local opportunities, particularly given the actual circumstances and challenges. Also worrying is how the external clients treat these freelancers and under which conditions these freelancers are working. An unequal treatment in terms of the rates by Arab non-​Syrian publishing houses has been reported. These clients are interested in working with Syrian translators because of the low rates they propose. For example, clients from Lebanon offer rates at least twice less than what they pay to Lebanese translators–​33$ per page in 2014 (DD). External clients in general are condemned for making use of the bad situation of Syrian translators and offering them less than translators from other nationalities (NN). If the translator asks for a higher rate, clients do not accept because he/​ she is Syrian (HD). The participants seem to be satisfied even though the currency devaluation made their existing income insufficient to live on. For example, participant (RB) explained the situation ironically as her pension was 20,000 Liras before the war, equalling 400$. Due to inflation, it increased to 95,000 Liras in 2021, which is now equal to 20$. Similarly, participant (RA) had a pension of 300$ that diminished to 35$ due to the economic situation. The participants reported spending most of their foreign income on objects that they do not have to use under normal conditions, like laptop and home equipment batteries. The targeted exploitation is about offering low rates and benefiting from good quality and expertise Syrian translators provide. For example, participant (JM) reports having received French documents from Morocco to translate into Arabic, although he thinks that qualified French translators are available in that country but the clients prefer to send them to Syrian translators as they can accept lower rates. Moreover, the documents are highly technical and specialised and come from different fields of study, requiring extra effort and search skills. When the participants were asked about payment methods under the ruling restrictions, they all reported being paid through mediators or friends because banking transfer is not allowed. Transfer through mediators also implies extra fees.

Conclusion This chapter started with an overview of the current studies on crisis translation and highlighted the need for more focus on the translator as a human living in and not only helping in a crisis. The war in Syria was taken as a case study given the complex scene consisting of intersected political and economic–​existing and emerging–​issues. The research investigated the mechanisms and the challenges translators in Syria encountered during the war. It adopted a qualitative methodology based on semi-​structured interviews, which covered relevant areas, answered the research questions and highlighted patterns which emerged due to the crisis. The study focused on the translator in the social and professional frameworks and did not intend to tackle any political involvement or points of view by the participants. The results can be applied to many professionals other than those in translation. However, the translator’s case is noteworthy, given the already fragile status. The interviews confirmed the expected challenges and revealed more details about them. For instance, economic hurdles were expected. However, the face of the translation market seemed to have changed due to the physical and virtual emigration and the continuously changing capacity of the Syrian publishing houses and the reading market. A recent phenomenon emerged in the capital. Traditional leading bookshops are shutting their doors and being sold (Youssef 2021), knowing 209

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that Damascus was named the capital of Arab culture in 2008. Closing bookshops should significantly affect the cultural life and psychological balance in the life of Syrian people and eventually negatively impact the translation profession. Moreover, the study investigated the translator’s mechanisms and/​or reaction to the challenges imposed by the crisis, knowing that the translators seem to have already adapted to the old obstacles. These mechanisms help them survive but negatively affect the sector in the long term, due to the gradual disappearance of a translation and reading market in the country. Moreover, the status of translation and its professionals seems to get worse, which necessitates an even higher awareness of the issue of the translator’s status at a global level in order to have enough resilience in a time of crisis. University training and the availability of professional associations proved to be missing elements that would have increased translators’ resilience and ability to lean on solid knowledge of their rights and fixed rates, and obtain sufficient legal and humanitarian support. The assumption of this study, that existing issues are expected to increase in the crisis, was proved to a certain extent, with differences at the age level of the participants. The situation in Syria continues to get worse with the start of the war in Ukraine and the global political and economic complexities, leading to even higher goods prices and unprecedented dollar spikes. Following the earthquake, concerns about aides reaching victims were raised due to the political divisions in the country and the continuing economic sanctions (Alkousaa 2023). A call for the international community to stop the sanctions on the war-​torn country was made using the hashtag #StopSanctionsOnSyrians (ibid.). Eventually, the sanctions were temporarily paused for 180 days (U.S. Department of the Treasury 2023). This chapter was only an exploration of the situation, and it invites similar research focusing on the translator in other contexts. Similar crises’ impact on translators’ lives also needs to be analysed in depth. The current international scene calls for more attention to this particular group of people as it plays a vital role in advancing cultures and lives. International politics (such as the imposed sanctions in this case) can lead to fragile situations that make response to urgencies more challenging. The war in Ukraine has led to an increase of demand for certain types of translation, but have also hurt certain aspects of the sector, the translators’ livelihood or adaptation mechanisms to the accumulative consequences of the crisis. The same applies to countries in crises, such as Yemen, Iraq and Palestine which are also prone to political challenges that have a major impact on people including translators. Cultural aspects can also be similar in those previously mentioned countries. Readership and translation activities can reduce, as well as other cultural aspects. Attending or participating in a show, a theatre play or even reading a book can help people and translators survive during their crisis. The lack of such activities, beside other factors, creates more obstacles in front of the adaptation efforts. As participant (RB) says, “any cultural activity during the war is a resistance”. With the undeniable role of translation and translators in the cultural life, a humanitarian approach can help in addressing critical social and research questions. We hope this chapter helps advance translator-​centred research in crisis situations. We also hope it draws a more detailed picture of the situation in Syria and contributes to existing research with a different perspective of the translator as an individual, first and foremost.

Notes 1 The term was first used by the Foreign Policy US Magazine to describe the uprising in Tunisia and the following similar events in other Arab countries. The term is not within the scope of this research and is used with reservations, given its contradiction with reality and its loose definition. 2 Those who worked at home during the COVID-​19 pandemic suffered from electricity issues too.

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Further reading Aburas, Rahma, Amina Najeeb, Laila Baageel, and Tim K. Mackey. 2018. ‘The Syrian conflict: A case study of the challenges and acute need for medical humanitarian operations for women and children internally displaced persons’. BMC Medicine, 16 (1): 65. https://​doi.org/​10.1186/​s12​916-​018-​1041-​7. The paper describes the consequences of the war in Syria on maternal and child health care services and the vulnerable situation of internally displaced people. Federici, Federico, and Sharon O’Brien (Eds.). 2019. Translation in cascading crises. London: Routledge. https://​doi.org/​10.4324/​978042​9341​052. The book is about the importance of multilingual communication and the role of translation during crises. It presents studies showing different perspectives on the concept of crisis translation and how it often revolves around translation as aid. Klimkowski, Konrad. 2015. ‘Entrepreneurial training in translator and interpreter education’. Roczniki Humanistyczne, 63 (11): 67–​83. https://​ojs.tnkul.pl/​index.php/​rh/​arti​cle/​view/​6385. A paper on entrepreneurship in translation education, and how students foresee their professional life in the field. It shows the difficulties of entering into the market and suggests including entrepreneurship in translation programmes. Sen, Kasturi, Waleed Al-​Faisal, and Yaser AlSaleh. 2013. ‘Syria: Effects of conflict and sanctions on public health’. Journal of Public Health, 35 (2): 195–​199. https://​doi.org/​10.1093/​pub​med/​fds​090. An article published earlier in the crisis discusses the negative impact of the economic sanctions imposed on Syria on the health sector and the destruction of infrastructure.

References Al-​Khalidi, Suleiman. 2023. ‘Israeli missile strikes building in central Damascus, five dead’. Reuters. February 19, sec. Middle East. Website. www.reut​ers.com/​world/​mid​dle-​east/​isra​eli-​miss​ile-​stri​kes-​build​ ing-​cent​ral-​damas​cus-​seve​ral-​cas​ualt​ies-​witnes​ses-​2023-​02-​18/​. Alkousaa, Riham. 2023. ‘Syrians abroad fear political rifts will stop aid reaching quake victims’. Reuters. February 7, sec. Middle East. Website. www.reut​ers.com/​world/​mid​dle-​east/​syri​ans-​abr​oad-​fear-​politi​cal-​ rifts-​will-​stop-​aid-​reach​ing-​quake-​vict​ims-​2023-​02-​07/​. Al-​Shehari, Khaled. 2019. ‘Crisis translation in Yemen: Needs and challenges of volunteer translators and interpreters’. In Translation in cascading crises, edited by Sharon O’Brien and M. Federici Federico, 25–​45. London/​New York: Routledge. Assi, R., S. Özger-​İlhan, and M. N. İlhan. 2019. ‘Health needs and access to health care: The case of Syrian refugees in Turkey’. Public Health, Special issue on Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health, 172 (July): 146–​152. Balkul, Halil. 2018. ‘A comparative analysis of translation/​interpreting tools developed for Syrian refugee crisis’. International Journal of Language Academy, 6 (4): 32–​44. Berbel, Elke Cases. 2020. ‘Challenges and difficulties of translation and interpreting in the migration and refugee crisis in Germany’. Open Linguistics, 6 (1): 162–​170. Chesterman, Andrew. 2009. ‘The name and nature of translator studies’. HERMES–​Journal of Language and Communication in Business, no. 42 (August): 13–​22. Courtney, Jennifer, and Mary Phelan. 2019. ‘Translators’ experiences of occupational stress and job satisfaction’. The Translation & Interpreting, 11 (1): 100–​113. Cronin, Michael, and Carmen Delgado Luchner. 2021. ‘Escaping the invisibility trap’. Interpreting and Society, 1 (1): 91–​101. Dam, Helle, and Karen Zethsen. 2011. ‘The status of professional business translators on the Danish market: A comparative study of company, agency and freelance translators’. Meta: Journal Des Traducteurs /​Meta: Translators’ Journal, 56 (4): 976–​997. Federici, Federico M., and Christophe Declercq. 2021. Intercultural crisis communication translation, interpreting and languages in local crises. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Federici, Federico M., and Khetam Al Sharou. 2018. ‘Moses, time, and crisis translation’. Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Journal of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association, 13 (3): 486–​508.

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Madiha Kassawat Federici, Federico M., Minako O’Hagan, Sharon O’Brien, and Patrick Cadwell. 2019. ‘Crisis translation training challenges arising from new contexts of translation’. Cultus: The Intercultural Journal of Mediation and Communication, 12: 246–​279. Fraser, Janet, and Michael Gold. 2001. ‘Portfolio workers’: Autonomy and control amongst freelance translators’. Work, Employment and Society, 15 (4): 679–​697. Froeliger, Nicolas. 2005. ‘Placer le traducteur au coeur de la traductologie’. Meta: journal des traducteurs /​ Meta: Translators’ Journal, 50 (4). Giving Hope For Them. 2021. ‘The new humanitarian | Syria’s “bread crisis” in graphs’. August 6. Website. https://​giving​hope​fort​hem.com/​2021/​08/​06/​the-​new-​human​itar​ian-​syr​ias-​bread-​cri​sis-​in-​gra​phs/​. Harabi, Najib. 2007. ‘Economic performance of the Arabic book translation industry in selected Arab countries: An overview and synthesis’. In Performance of the Arabic book translation industry in selected Arab countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi-​Arabia and Syria, edited by Najib Harabi, 4–​24. MPRA Paper. Hassan, G., P. Ventevogel, H. Jefee-​Bahloul, A. Barkil-​Oteo, and L. J. Kirmayer. 2016. ‘Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Syrians affected by armed conflict’. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25 (2): 129–​141. Hunt, Matthew, Sharon O’Brien, Patrick Cadwell, and Dónal O’Mathúna. 2019. ‘Ethics at the intersection of crisis translation and humanitarian innovation’. Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, 1 (3): 23–​32. Jacquemond, Richard. 2009. ‘Translation policies in the Arab world’. The Translator, 15 (1): 15–​35. Kakaje, Ameer, Ammar Fadel, Ayham Ghareeb, and Ragheed Al Zohbi. 2021. ‘Mental distress in ongoing conflict and non-​conflict settings during COVID-​19: A study on Syrians in different countries’. Global Mental Health, 8 (April): e12. Katan, David. 2009. ‘Translation theory and professional practice: A global survey of the great divide’. HERMES–​Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 42 (August): 111–​153. Melki, Roger. 2007. ‘Economic performance of the Arabic translation industry in Syria’. In Performance of the Arabic Book Translation Industry in Selected Arab Countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi-​ Arabia and Syria, edited by Najib Harabi, 138–​168. 6707. MPRA Paper. MLC Translation Services. n.d. Translation industry trends and statistics–​My language connection. Website. www.mylan​guag​econ​nect​ion.com/​tran​slat​ion-​indus​try-​tre​nds-​and-​sta​tist​ics/​. Nossik, Sandra. 2011. ‘Les récits de vie comme corpus sociolinguistique: une approche discursive et interactionnelle’. Corpus, no. 10 (November): 119–​135. OHCHR. n.d. ‘UN Human Rights Office estimates more than 306,000 civilians were killed over 10 years in Syria conflict’. OHCHR. Website. www.ohchr.org/​en/​press-​relea​ses/​2022/​06/​un-​human-​rig​hts-​off​ice-​ estima​tes-​more-​306​000-​civili​ans-​were-​kil​led-​over-​10. Polat Ulas, Asli. 2022. ‘Aslı Polat Ulaş, emotional challenges of interpreters working with refugees in Turkey’. New Voices in Translation Studies (December): 64–​89. Ramos, María del Mar Sánchez. 2021. ‘Review of Federici & O’Brien (2020): Translation in cascading crisis’. Babel, 67 (3): 384–​387. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Clementina Persaud. 2016. ‘Interpreters and interpreting in conflict zones and scenarios: A historical perspective’. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series–​Themes in Translation Studies, 15 (December). https://​doi.org/​10.52034/​lans​tts.v15i.428. Saldanha, Gabriela, and Sharon O’Brien. 2013. Research methodologies in translation studies. Manchester, UK: St. Jerome Publishing. Saleh, Yasmine, and Ayman Samir. 2011. ‘Arabs impose sanctions on Syria over crackdown’. Reuters. November 27. Website. www.reut​ers.com/​arti​cle/​us-​syria-​idUSTR​E7AM​0QA2​0111​127. Selimian, Haroutione, Marie Nassr, and Kasturi Sen. 2022. ‘Conflict, sanctions and the struggles of Syrians for food security in the shadow of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021’. BMJ Global Health, 7 (1): 1–​6. SOHR. 2023. ‘Death toll update | The number of Syrians killed due to earthquake in Syria and Turkey reaches 7,535’. The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (blog). February 18. Website. www.syri​ahr.com/​en/​ 288​964/​. The World Bank. n.d. ‘Population, total–​Syrian Arab Republic | Data’. Website. https://​data.worldb​ank.org/​ indica​tor/​SP.POP.TOTL?locati​ons=​SY. Tiokou, Carlos DJOMO. 2020. ‘Le traducteur dans tous ses états: éléments de mutation de l’érudition à l’entrepreneuriat’. Al-​Kīmiyā, 18 (June): 9–​28. https://​journ​als.usj.edu.lb/​al-​kim​iya/​arti​cle/​view/​532. Tsourapas, Gerasimos. 2019. ‘The Syrian refugee crisis and foreign policy decision-​making in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey’. Journal of Global Security Studies, 4 (4): 464–​481. https://​doi.org/​10.1093/​jogss/​ ogz​016.

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The crisis of the translator UNHCR. 2021. Syria emergency. Website. www.unhcr.org/​syria-​emerge​ncy.html. United Nations. 2015. ‘New UN-​backed report reflects “crushing” impact of conflict in Syria on its people’. UN News. March 10. Website. https://​news.un.org/​en/​story/​2015/​03/​493​082. U.S. Department of the Treasury. 2023. ‘Treasury issues Syria General License 23 to aid in earthquake disaster relief efforts’. U.S. Department of the Treasury. Website. https://​home.treas​ury.gov/​news/​press-​relea​ ses/​jy1​261. Waller, Vivienne, Karen Farquharson, and Deborah Dempsey. 2016. Qualitative social research: Contemporary methods for the digital age. Los Angeles: SAGE. WFP. 2021. ‘Syria country brief’. World Food Programme. https://​docs.wfp.org/​api/​docume​nts/​WFP-​000​ 0136​261/​downl​oad/​?_​ga=​2.153822​512.986776​303.164​5217​533-​789295​423.164​5217​533. Wind, Ella, and Omar Dahi. 2014. ‘The economic consequences of the conflict in Syria’. Turkish Review, 4 (2): 132–​140. ً Youssef, Dareen. 2021. ‘‫عاما من العمل‬ 50 ‫[ نوبل تغلق مكتبتها في دمشق بعد قرابة‬Nobel closes in DamaSyrianscus after 50 years of work]’. ‫[ سناك سوري‬Syrian Snack] (blog). Website. https://​snac​ksyr​ian.com/​​-‫​نوبل‬-‫مكتبة‬ ‫​قرا‬-‫​بعد‬-‫​دمشق‬-‫​في‬-‫​مكتب​تها‬-‫تغلق‬/​

Acknowledgements This study was not funded by any entity. It has been accomplished thanks to the cooperation and readiness of the participants, despite the daily challenges they are encountering.

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PART III

Community

15 INTERPRETER AND TRANSLATOR TRAINING From crisis response to sustainable livelihoods Barbara Moser-​Mercer, Somia Qudah, Mona Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga, and Mohammed Al-Batineh

Introduction This chapter provides an outline of the legal frameworks at international and national levels that govern communication in humanitarian contexts, from preparedness all the way through to recovery and the nexus to development. We deduce from these the legal requirements for language mediation–​interpreting, translation, transcription and other forms of language support–​and how countries and entire regions affected by crisis, including conflict, can responsibly meet these legal requirements together with stakeholders in the humanitarian and development ecosystem as crisis-​affected countries move into the recovery stage and out of the humanitarian programming cycle. The approach is set within the World Humanitarian Summit’s Grand Bargain commitments, adopted in 2016, and the accompanying Agenda for Humanity, designed to shift power and funding to local actors (broadly defined) (Moser-​Mercer et al. 2021). The discussion forms part of the humanitarian policy and practice review (Gibbons and Otieku-​Boadu 2021), and within that framework contributes more specifically to the localisation debate. The Grand Bargain now brings together 64 NGOs and NGO networks with the aim of making the humanitarian system more efficient. As humanitarian action is almost always in crisis mode, the approaches championed in the Grand Bargain and its future iteration (IASC 2022) prevent humanitarian settings from becoming protracted by supporting their evolution into a more manageable post-​crisis and constructive recovery mode. Sustainable solutions require long-​term engagement, which the humanitarian system is not designed to provide or to sustain, given the rapid succession of large-​scale and often concurrent crises in different parts of the world with funding agendas largely focused on life-​saving operations, i.e. the ongoing crisis, only. Over the past two decades, issues of multilingual communication in humanitarian and development contexts have been debated mostly in academic circles (for a recent overview see Todorova and Ruiz Rosendo 2021), but there is scant evidence of the impact such debates have had on the quality of communication across language barriers on the ground (O’Brien and Federici 2020). The authors contend that this is in large part due to a communication gap between what academic institutions have designed for contexts in which they have little to no lived experience, the paucity of authentic and readily accessible research evidence from these contexts and because solutions DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-19

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for problems encountered in humanitarian settings have often been designed largely without the active participation of those who would ultimately need to implement them nor those who would need to benefit from them, and without consideration for how such interventions could be sustainably funded (Moser-​Mercer et al. 2021; Ali, Alhassan, and Burma 2019; Pak and Moser-​Mercer, in press). The objective of this chapter is twofold. Firstly, it aims to discuss and provide concrete examples from two different humanitarian and development contexts of inclusive, sustainable and decolonising approaches for training language mediators: Jordan and Kenya are presented as two cases at distinctly different stages of the humanitarian programming cycle. Secondly, the chapter also aims to include experience-​based guidance and a model for how stakeholders in the humanitarian and development system can be engaged to effect system change in ways that will promote and further the development of the field of language mediation in the very countries and contexts in which it continues to be poorly implemented. We present two cases for learning from crises and investing in language communication training as a way of improving preparedness and quality livelihoods for those affected by crisis.

Research context Barakat and Milton (2020) and Barbelet (2018) call for a reassessment of the debate around localisation by putting less emphasis on first establishing a normative understanding of what localisation should exemplify. Roepstorff (2019) suggests that the key components of localisation as part of current reform efforts in the humanitarian sector should include partnerships, local funding, capacity strengthening, coordination, recruitment of local staff and visibility. And yet, Anderl (2016), in analysing academic discourse on localisation, posits that there is a real disconnect between the current localisation agenda and the conceptualisation of what it means to be “local” and act “locally”, and that the discourse is dominated by a binary opposition to the “international” that had hitherto characterised humanitarian responses. Underlying assumptions about what it means to localise vary, and there is as yet scant systematic evidence of how genuine local action, as characterised by Roepstorff (2019), could be implemented. This chapter seeks to describe two related cases of localisation that meet many of the desirables listed by Roepstorff and hopes to contribute to the evidence base for localisation in the field of humanitarian translation and interpreting.

The need for quality translation and interpreting in crisis contexts We adopt UN OCHA’s definition of a humanitarian crisis as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-​being of a community (UN OCHA n.d.). A humanitarian emergency represents a critical threat to the health, safety and well-​being of a community that usually covers a wide area of land. Either can be the result of conflict or natural or man-​made disasters. Crisis-​affected communities are in urgent need of accurate and reliable information in a language they can readily understand and act upon. These communities have an in-​depth understanding of their immediate surroundings and empowering them to be in the driver seat of humanitarian response is thus the very foundation of a needs-​based response. Several complementary standards have been developed to guide humanitarian response. These are crucial when designing and coordinating a rapid response in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster or during any protracted crisis. 218

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The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHSQA 2014) sets out nine commitments that organisations and individuals involved in humanitarian response can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of the assistance they provide. As part of that standard, there are two standards that relate to communication and community engagement: Standard 4 defines how communities and people affected by crisis know their rights and entitlements, have access to information and participate in decisions that affect them, and Standard 5 outlines how such communities gain access to safe and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints (ibid.). The World Humanitarian Summit of 2016 produced the Grand Bargain, an agreement between more than 30 of the biggest donors and aid organisations, such as the World Bank, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Save the Children, Canada, and Sweden, with the aim of shifting both power and funding directly to local actors and people in need. Of particular relevance is the commitment to a “participation revolution: to include people receiving aid in making the decisions which affect their lives” (Grand Bargain 2019). The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC 2012) sets out clear guidelines on recovery, saying that planning for recovery starts at the onset of a crisis response and is designed, among other things, to strengthen resilience and ensure sustainable livelihoods, which is of particular relevance to this chapter. Aid agencies have traditionally communicated through face-​to-​face meetings, either through their staff or community representatives. This is an excellent form of communication as it helps to build trust and understanding over a period of time and promotes exchange at an individual level. However, it is often impossible to reach everyone, especially during the early phases of a humanitarian response when the situation changes from day to day. Access could be restricted due to damage to infrastructure and/​or a lack of security. Apart from face-​to-​face communication, other useful options for disseminating information and receiving feedback that proved useful are radio or television, mobile phones and text messaging, flyers and posters, newspapers and social media. Often, community leaders act as dissemination points for their local community and become essential links in the communication chain when multiple languages are involved. This chapter aims to leverage available modes of communication in crisis contexts and build sustainable responses that ensure resilience in the future (IFRC 2012). In addition to these points, the international community, through the Inter-​Agency Standing Committee (IASC), has entered into Commitments on Accountability to Affected People and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. This commitment covers four elements: 1) leadership, 2) participation and partnership, 3) information, feedback and action, and 4) results (IASC 2017). And lastly, when working in humanitarian contexts and dealing with vulnerable populations and persons of concern (PoC) to UNHCR, there are Protection Principles to be observed. Three protection principles, embedded in the Sphere Handbook (2018), promote the right to life with dignity and also provide a framework for communication and community engagement: 1) Prevent: Enhance the safety, dignity and rights of affected people, and avoid exposing people to further harm; 2) Respond: Reduce the impact of physical and psychological harm that arises from violence, coercion, deliberate deprivation and other threats; and 3) Remedy: Assist people to claim their rights and access appropriate remedies. In order to respect these guiding principles and legal requirements set out for humanitarian operations, it is essential to overcome communication barriers that are rooted in language and culture. An assessment of language needs is therefore an important part of a comprehensive humanitarian needs assessment during the initial phases of crisis, including conflict, as well as throughout the various phases of a humanitarian response. Similar assessments are standard for other humanitarian sectors such as WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), protection, food security, shelter, 219

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Figure 15.1 Humanitarian cluster system and programming cycle UNHCR Cluster Approach (2011)

emergency telecommunications and education, under the responsible UN agencies as illustrated in the graph in Figure 15.1. In a comprehensive meta-​analysis of Rapid Needs Assessments (RNAs) in humanitarian crises Bosmans et al. (2022) found that such assessments were deemed useful. Still, none of the studies included language needs assessments, nor was there any evidence of RNA results being acted upon. The Good Enough Guide (ACAPS 2014), a sector standard guide to humanitarian needs assessment, offers a checklist for humanitarian organisations to design needs assessments and includes interpreters, preferably trained, as an essential resource. And yet, Evidence of failings in crisis communication is plentiful and usually categorised under ‘issues of communication’; reasons for avoiding these failings are compelling (Greenwood et al. 2017), translation is considered as a perennial hidden issue (Crowley and Chan 2011, 24; IFRC 2018, 103), yet its inclusion in emergency planning (and studies thereof) remain minimal… (O’Brien and Federici 2020, 138) 220

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Recommended multi-​sector needs assessments (Translators Without Borders 2021) remain aspirational and evidence of need does not often translate into initiatives or funding for action to meet them. As needs escalate due to an increasing number of acute and protracted crises worldwide, including intersecting and cascading crises (Alexander and Pescaroli 2019) funding is spread thinly covering only 41% of global humanitarian needs (Relief Web 2022) and language needs are hardly ever considered “life-​saving”, the litmus test for where limited donor funds will be invested in times of crisis.

How crisis-​prone countries can respond with training Following our discussion of localisation as a way to an inclusive response that builds on local assets and strengthens local action as a crisis response as well as a means of future preparedness, we present two crisis-​affected countries, each at a different stage of humanitarian response. Our aim is to elevate local voices as they describe their reasoning and approach to developing sustainable solutions to language mediation in their respective contexts. Neither aims to be exhaustive, but illustrates the challenges as well as the opportunities, the constraints as well as the affordances inherent in each local context to build language mediation resources that are sustainable in their respective context. This section provides an overview of content and technology-​supported non-​formal and formal training as well as specialised training modules that can be integrated into stackable degrees that are designed, developed and accredited in the crisis-​affected country and/​or in countries that host large numbers of forcibly displaced persons. The focus is on training in multilingual communication that can be operationalised at short notice in the crisis-​affected country or region, is by definition contextualised to local needs (Campbell 2018) and creates an essential bridge between the needs as identified in rapid needs analyses that are a standard requirement of coordinated sector response in humanitarian contexts and local training institutions; the latter are best equipped to meet these needs both in terms of a rapid contextualised response as well as with a view to disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction as outlined in the Sendai framework (United Nations n.d.) adopted by countries worldwide. As the two country examples demonstrate, both immediate training needs as well as medium-​and long-​term livelihood approaches are essential for a country to develop “communication resilience”; in other words, for immediate responses to language communication needs in crisis to be deployed, a country should have invested in building capacity in the sector in order to rely on a professional workforce in addition to volunteer-​based approaches that support the scale of efforts necessary during crises. However, by not relying on volunteer services beyond some immediate urgent response, framing translator and interpreter training within the Disaster Risk Management obligations of each country creates the needed sustainable resources on which a country can draw during crises.

Syrian refugee crisis–​the case of Jordan as a major refugee-​hosting country The need for translation and interpreting arose in Jordan, the second largest host of Syrian refugees per capita behind Lebanon (UNHCR 2022a), as a result of the conflict in Syria (2011 onwards). This led to a significant increase in the presence of international and non-​governmental organisations providing services for refugees and for the host community (Olimat and Mahadin 2022). Translation and interpreting are non-​regulated professions in Jordan, and the terms are used interchangeably. This has consequences for the practice of the profession on the local market. The lack of official records of professional translators and interpreters and the fact that translation 221

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is being practiced by individuals and commercial offices, without necessarily having to demonstrate a defined level of language and professional competence, fueled the need for regulating all aspects of the profession, including certification and contractual status (Shunnaq 2016; Olimat and Mahadin 2022). Despite numerous BA degrees in Translation offered by Jordanian universities, what is required from humanitarian translators and interpreters is above and beyond the general language proficiency of bilinguals or what current BA university degree curricula have to offer. The need for professionalising translation and interpreting for crisis contexts is therefore crucial for addressing labour market needs in a crisis-​affected and crisis-​prone country such as Jordan (Werman 2022). Keeping in mind that trainees may come from different educational backgrounds, particularly refugees whose credentials may not necessarily be equatable to the Jordanian system, such training needs to have the flexibility to accommodate these circumstances when developing the training and specifying entry requirements. This was achieved in Yarmouk University, Jordan, through the Lifelong Learning Center, the Queen Rania Center for Jordanian Studies and Community Service, which has the official capacity to offer vocational trainings that can be certified by the Ministry of Higher Education in Jordan. Such trainings can be in the form of 1) a certificate, which is usually short and can be at level 4 or 5 according to the European Qualification Framework, or 2) a diploma at level 5 according to the EQF. The latter was the chosen form for the 60 ECTS1 nine-​months Diploma in Humanitarian Interpreting and Translation, which primarily focused on Arabic–​English as the language pair, since Arabic is the mother tongue of all the students and English is the most sought-​after language for translation in Jordan (Olimat and Mahadin 2022). Consequently, 15 Syrian students from Azraq camp and 10 Jordanian students were enrolled in the diploma in February of 2020. Prior to launching translation and interpreter training, and in order to guarantee its effectiveness in terms of content and instructional methods for crisis contexts, trainers should understand the extent of crisis-​induced language needs in crisis-​affected countries and identify candidates for training. To achieve this, and in addition to the faculty members’ cumulative experience gained from working on the ground with refugees and stakeholders, a series of meetings that hosted Jordanian and Syrian translators and interpreters either already working in the field or aiming to do so, was arranged in Amman, Azraq camp and Yarmouk University in Irbid. These meetings were instrumental in the design of the diploma modules as well as their implementation. Training effectiveness also requires assessing aspects of deployment to crisis contexts as well as the level of the potential trainees’ skills in translation and interpreting. This is vital for both trainers and trainees, as it will form a roadmap for students to develop their competencies. Such assessment levels should be defined by training developers so that the outcomes can be checked against context-​specific needs before curricular content is designed and delivered. A good example for such a scale is the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale,2 which consists of nine skill-​level descriptions for translation performance and forms a guideline for tasks that translators carry out. The nine skill-​level descriptions are grouped into three bands: the Minimal Performance band (levels 0+​to 1+​), the Limited Performance band (levels 2 and 2+​) and the Professional Performance band (levels 3 to 5). Yarmouk University adapted this scale to indicate the skill levels of refugee and host community applicants aiming to raise their level to that of the Professional Performance Band as a diploma learning outcome (see Figure 15.2). In designing a country’s response to language communication needs for humanitarian contexts, the ILR scale provides a useful roadmap from rudimentary towards full-​scale preparedness. Training institutions should be represented in the relevant humanitarian sector working groups, particularly in Education Sector Working groups and those clusters focusing on protection and 222

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Figure 15.2 Skill-​level descriptions at Yarmouk University, adapted from the ILR scale

health, so that needs can be continuously assessed in collaboration with humanitarian agencies. Thus, progressive training modules can be designed to continuously improve multilingual communication in the field and to adapt to changing circumstances. Collaboration in humanitarian sector working groups promotes awareness of implementing partners regarding language communication needs; advocacy is also needed with host country governments whose support for accrediting sustainable training programmes is required. For a crisis-​affected country to progressively meet multilingual communication needs, a series of translation modules need to be introduced consecutively. In the case of Yarmouk University, the Diploma started with an introductory module, targeting the Minimal Performance band, which aims to widen students’ understanding of key theoretical issues, methodologies and approaches required to provide translation at a professional level in crisis contexts. In a comprehensive and practice-​oriented module, students acquire sound knowledge of the various translation methods and interpreting strategies, learn about legal frameworks for humanitarian action and learn about ethics in humanitarian contexts, all of which are required for making informed decisions when on task. Subsequent modules will then increase the complexity of the discourse level, introduce challenging authentic and country-​specific scenarios and develop revision and editing skills across different discourse types used in humanitarian contexts, such as manuals and press releases, official announcements, rapid messaging communications, radio communications and community meetings. Specialised translation and interpreting modules, that are directed at the Limited Performance Band, contributed to more in-​depth knowledge and skills in technical sectors such as the WASH cluster (cf. Figure 15.1), Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and logistics, all of which are an integral part of humanitarian response, whether acute or protracted, and require multilingual communication. The graduation projects were situated to comply with the Professional Performance Band, which marks the graduates’ readiness to meet the labour market needs. With these arrangements in mind, existing academic programmes in universities can qualify humanitarian translators and interpreters as part of their BA and MA degrees as one of the many subspecialties they offer to their students. 223

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Such an approach has the advantage of rapidly strengthening the capacity in crisis contexts across the humanitarian programming cycle; utilising programmes that already exist may result in a more immediate impact, as opposed to establishing new diplomas and degrees whose introduction may be delayed due to lengthy approval procedures at universities and by education authorities.

The digital humanitarian ecosystem–​Translation technologies As the GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association, 2018) report illustrates, humanitarian operations are increasingly going digital, both during immediate as well as during protracted crises. IT infrastructure and connectivity are considered a priority in establishing basic humanitarian operations, ranging from food security to digital identity, text-​based communication, volunteer mapping and cash-​based assistance. While a discussion of the advantages and challenges of digital humanitarianism is beyond the scope of this chapter, the presence of non-​traditional humanitarian actors–​notably from the technology-​rich North and West and Asia–​with limited knowledge of the context and protection issues, has created significant challenges, power imbalances and protection risks that are difficult to balance against the potential contribution new technologies can make to alleviate human suffering (Fejerskov, Clausen, and Seddig 2021). When training translators and interpreters in these contexts, it is crucial that training institutions ensure the use of digital tools and technologies is safe and does not create harm or protection risks either for vulnerable populations nor for translators and interpreters. This includes preventing misuse of digital technologies or information. For instance, digital communication platforms and databases must not be used to collect sensitive information about individuals, which could then be used maliciously. In addition, the use of digital tools and technologies must not perpetuate power imbalances or contribute to the exploitation of vulnerable populations. Furthermore, training institutions must ensure that neither target groups nor translators and interpreters are exposed to digital security risks, such as hacking or data breaches, or require them to handle sensitive information that could jeopardise their safety. Translation technologies have been used in the context of humanitarian and crisis translation as a tool to speed up translation tasks and to maximise outreach. This includes the use of collaborative online translation environment tools, translation memories, glossary systems and machine translation engines (O’Brien and Federici 2020). However, the lack of skilled translators, post-​ editors and project managers has been an issue facing crisis translation efforts; this has also raised several questions regarding the quality of crowdsourced translation and post-​editing endeavours in crisis contexts (Krimat 2021). From this perspective, humanitarian and crisis translation training needs to cover translation project management, translation technologies and machine translation post-​editing to meet the current and further demands of crisis and humanitarian translation. This would also boost the skills that humanitarian translators and refugee-​trainees possess and give them a competitive edge in the global (digital) translation market once servicing acute and protracted humanitarian crises ends and they need to ensure sustainable livelihoods. Consequently, such components in the curriculum would improve the digital livelihood of refugee students and would allow them to work remotely on paid translation tasks, as they are not usually permitted to work in host countries. In this regard, many NGOs have shifted their focus towards building freelancing competencies in refugees, considering this move a promising solution to overcome slow host country responses to including the forcibly displaced in national labour markets. Translation technologies, post-​editing and project management modules need to make use of project-​based teaching with students exposed to authentic scenarios that exist in crisis-​affected countries, where they work on real-​life individual and collaborative translation tasks taken from the local 224

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humanitarian or crisis translation context under the supervision of university faculty. This develops an awareness of the nature of the translation tasks in humanitarian and crisis contexts and exposes them to the challenges they will face on task. Students engage in building translation resources, such as translation memory and a termbase, from online and previously translated humanitarian content to be used in translation projects, and then use these resources to translate a document using online translation environment tools that support the shareability of translation resources when connectivity allows. Similarly, post-​editing machine translation competencies can be developed by executing real-​ life post-​editing tasks where time is a decisive factor. For instance, during the Haiti relief response, post-​editing was an essential component in ensuring the timely delivery of translated materials. It is important to note, however, that the effectiveness of this approach may be limited by the availability of network coverage and access to devices in crisis-​affected countries. The skills and knowledge gained from the translation technologies and post-​editing modules can be applied in the project management module, which serves two key purposes. Firstly, it can be designed to foster entrepreneurial skills by introducing trainees to the language industry and discussing translation as a business with particular reference to authentic humanitarian contexts. Secondly, the focus can be placed on providing theoretical and practical components in translation project management in general and in crisis contexts in particular. The theoretical components therefore provide an overview of translation project types, principles, processes and phases as they relate to crisis contexts, while the practical part can focus on hands-​on training involving developing project scope statements, planning human resources, executing, supervising and closing translation projects as part of a humanitarian response. The response to language and translation needs in humanitarian and crisis contexts has so far essentially focused on the immediate needs of the community without a real focus on developing a sustainable response that would serve medium-​and long-​term goals during the recovery phase. The use of online tools and teaching, however, has opened up the possibility of creating sustainable teaching and learning materials that can not only be used in the case of protracted crises but also serve as a foundation for relevant content in the event of future crises. Digital and online tools should be utilised to the fullest in preparing material for translators and trainees in humanitarian translation and interpreting to ensure greater accessibility and better dissemination. Offering such open translation and educational resources on humanitarian learning platforms such as KayaConnect,3 rather than exclusively on a training institution’s proprietary platform or even an own version of a commercial tool, increases the visibility of language communication needs and exposes humanitarians to solutions they would otherwise not even consider as part of their humanitarian toolbox. The training content described here also highlights the unique advantage of designing and developing content in countries affected by humanitarian crises not merely as a way of strengthening future disaster response, but also in terms of recognition of each crisis context being specific so that learning materials need to be locally produced to be authentic and effective in strengthening professional competencies relevant to local needs. To ensure sustainability, such training programmes and their related content should generate uptake and funding beyond initial pilots (Cadwell, O’Brien, and DeLuca et al. 2019).

Language enhancement Proficiency, active listening, fluency, accuracy, intonation, pronunciation, language variations and dialects, and public speaking skills are essential to quality interpreting and translation and require intensive and extensive practice by interpreters and translators (Setton and Dawrant 2016). The 225

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Diploma in Humanitarian Interpreting and Translation at Jordan’s Yarmouk University includes a language enhancement module comprising receptive and productive skills. The trainees’ skills are honed through deliberate practice through a language enhancement module that precedes and continues during translation, translation technologies, post-​editing and project management modules. This training component can subsequently be continued in synergy with the interpreting and translation training modules during which the trainees work on memory skills, paraphrasing and summarising humanitarian discourse, and as they acquire collocations and multi-​word units relevant to humanitarian contexts, practice sight-​translation, delivering speeches with confidence, and refining pronunciation. Such a module is designed to help trainees understand a broad variety of humanitarian discourse, speaking styles, dialects and registers to prepare them for their task (Ali, Alhassan, and Burma 2019). This is reflected in the design of the diploma’s curriculum and its implementation as described in the next paragraph. Trainees create a repository of refugee or migration stories and practice the basics of speech delivery varying their pitch and tone, controlling their speed, use of fillers, pauses and voice. They further engage with training tools that build a foundation for interpreting, such as the enhancement of short-​term and long-​term memory, strengthening of listening capacity, resistance to language interference and preparation for better public speaking. As a precursor to speaking, listening is the foundation of interpreting. Therefore, it is important for translation trainers to start the language enhancement module with a self-​assessment tool of listening behaviour known as the HURIER model (hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating and responding; Setton and Dawrant 2016). The Diploma trainees respond to questions associated with each component on a scale from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always) while evaluating their listening behaviour. Since the HURIER model describes the listening process, the trainer can identify the trainee’s challenges and move from where the trainees are in their B language to where they should be to advance to the next levels, and adjust the training curriculum accordingly. Listening skills are incrementally built through proceeding from the stage of aural comprehension to the stage of acquisition. The stage of aural comprehension is first performed when top-​down and bottom-​up listening processing come together in the curriculum. Trainees are first informed of the discourse topic, they activate discourse schemata facilitated by brainstorming, activate vocabulary stored in the mind related to the discourse topic and anticipate the speaker’s purpose, the setting and the terminology needed for the crisis context. With bottom-​up processing, trainees start from the smallest unit of meaning–​words, phrases, chunks, sentences–​and end with the whole text. When these two perspectives of mastering listening are consecutively incorporated in a training curriculum, trainees can draw a discourse mental map that reflects organisation of the discourse, its structure and relationships between sentences by following three types of cues/​ signals: language, verbal and visual cues. Such an approach is particularly useful for training interpreters for crisis contexts where they usually work in sub-​optimal conditions that include ambient noise and language variations. Deviations from standard language are very difficult to process, as are topics that evoke strong emotional responses. More appears to be required than simply aural comprehension. The trainees’ capacity improves towards acquisition as they incorporate source language linguistic features/​ patterns into their target language repertoire. In this way, listening as comprehension forms the basis for a follow-​up acquisition activity, which, in turn, is the basis for speaking activities. This approach in a training curriculum serves as the basis for comprehension as well as for acquisition. This involves a cycle of training activities during which trainees listen to spoken discourses; acquire collocations, expressions, patterns or frames they know are relevant to humanitarian 226

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contexts; experiment with paraphrasing techniques using synonyms, hyponyms or changing sentence structures; sight translate; and record their responses for peer feedback. Linking listening as aural comprehension to acquisition in the way described here stimulates the trainees’ mental switching and enhances second language proficiency including pronunciation, word stress and vocabulary. Pronunciation is learnt by practice and trainees can refine their pronunciation by integrating into the curriculum the International Phonetic Alphabet transcription and rules of word stress (IPA 1999). To examine how well a trainee is performing, they respond to a self-​assessment template that would evaluate their speech delivery and public speaking skills at both the verbal and non-​verbal dimensions. This way the trainee can decide where they are challenged the most and find out the parts that they are going to work on the hardest. It is essential for the ideal training framework to include approaches and design activities and practices that would increase the trainee’s reading efficiency during live encounters. This skill could be improved through incorporating strategies for becoming active readers, exercising these strategies on reading assignments and building a reading journal throughout the training course where the trainees are asked to summarise arguments made in the reading assignments and write regular reflections on their reading speed and efficiency. Reading these journals out loud, as if the trainee read for someone, is excellent training for delivery-​pacing, chunking, intonation as well as helping to learn multi-​word units and collocations. With relevance to humanitarian contexts, this strategy does to the trainee’s reading abilities what shadowing does to listening. The training framework can also include integrated writing tasks in response to humanitarian cases where the trainee is required to read a passage and listen to meeting recordings, and then produce a report for humanitarian actors. The proposed training modules can serve as a model for other crisis-​affected countries. Although Jordan hosts more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees living in urban or semi-​urban areas of Jordan, a protracted humanitarian context, communication needs in crisis contexts have often been overlooked in the country’s universities. Hence, there is a vital need for training for sustainable humanitarian interpreting and translation.

From crisis to recovery and disaster preparedness–​the case of Kenya as a major refugee hosting country Kenya shares borders with five crisis-​affected African countries and has been hosting large numbers of refugees for decades. Due to Kenya’s former mandatory encampment policy, 90% of refugees live in one of two large camp complexes, Kakuma/​Kalobeyei in the North-​West, bordering South Sudan and Uganda, and Dadaab refugee camps in the North-​East, bordering Somalia, with the remaining 10% living in urban contexts. However, in the wake of the 2018 New York Declaration (UNHCR 2018a), the Global compact on refugees (UNHCR 2018c) and the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) (UNHCR 2018b), the passage of the Refugee Act in 2021 (Kenya Law 2021) is designed to transition these camps to development contexts, settlements that are integrated with local host communities. Decades of investment in capacity-​building for short-​ term humanitarian needs now have to incorporate a long-​term sustainable economic development approach. Although due to its regional geo-​political exposure to conflict and climate-​induced disasters, Kenya will remain a destination country for forcibly displaced Africans, and thus will not entirely transition out of the humanitarian programming cycle. It is the recovery phase of that cycle that now determines communication needs. As such, this case illustrates how available assets in the field of interpreting, in the form of training programmes developed within a framework of development collaboration, allowed Kenya, as a country that has hosted refugees from the Horn 227

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of Africa and the Great Lakes region for decades, to rely on available understandings of language communication needs in humanitarian settings and benefit from curricular and trainer capacity. Different training opportunities had been developed for humanitarian contexts in Kenya since 2010 when UNHCR approached the University of Geneva to support the training of humanitarian interpreters for the Kenyan humanitarian context. This was subsequently complemented by a Certificate in Community Interpreting offered by Kenyatta University in collaboration with the University of Geneva in the Dadaab refugee camp in 2014, and most recently in 2021 by a Diploma in Community Interpreting offered by the University of Nairobi under the umbrella of the African Network for Higher Education in Emergencies (AHEEN)4. This demonstrates the progression from ad hoc non-​credentialed stand-​alone capacity-​building courses to fully credentialed and accredited university diplomas in parallel with a crisis-​affected country’s progression from crisis to recovery phases in the humanitarian programming cycle. It also marks a transition from an “aid”-​oriented approach that has actors from the North deliver training in the South, to a local approach spearheaded and supported by local actors and stakeholders with a view to preparedness and sustainability in disaster risk management. The University of Nairobi already had extensive experience in training conference interpreters as leaders in the Pan-​African Masters in Conference Interpreting5 and through its established Center for Translation and Interpreting. This facilitated the design and advancement of a new curriculum for humanitarian interpreting through the various academic approval stages, a process that otherwise could easily take up to two years. Materials development and digital learning pedagogy were supported by existing needs and employability analyses in the two Kenyan refugee camps. The backlog of over 30,000 Refugee Status Determination interviews for lack of availability of qualified interpreters in the myriad of languages and dialects spoken in the camps (47 in Kakuma/​ Kalobeyei alone) attributed further urgency to the implementation of the new programme. As the Diploma in Community Interpreting (University of Nairobi) reached out to refugee applicants in the camps, and as camps are transitioning to integrated settlements with services that were formerly provided by UNHCR being handed over to government departments tasked with implementing the 2021 Refugee Act, advanced students and graduates proceeded to language-​ services-​needs analyses in their camp contexts and founded a language services start-​up with seed funding from the African Higher Education in Emergencies Network and mentoring from a private sector global language service partner. The course curriculum anticipated this transition and included content and learning assignments that would allow students authentic learning experiences in their respective camp contexts. Coordination with other humanitarian partners in Education Sector Working Groups in both camps, as well as participation in the livelihoods-​ oriented Kakuma Integrated Socio-​economic Development Program (that brings together the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, UNHCR and ILO, the International Labour Organization), ensured that advanced students and graduates benefit from timely analyses of economic opportunities which in turn is leveraged in student assignments and research projects. While the Diploma in Humanitarian Interpreting and Translation primarily focuses on building solid interpreting skills relevant to the contexts in which refugee learners live and work, its embeddedness in the transition from strictly humanitarian to development contexts requires curricular flexibility and adaptability so that students and graduates can benefit from work opportunities that provide sustainable livelihoods. The entire programme is delivered virtually by the University of Nairobi and supported locally in the camps by refugee-​led organisations whose members have higher education experience and support learners on the ground. Educational technology plays a key role in assessing the potential for graduates to also provide their interpreting services remotely. Analysing connectivity and bandwidth requirements, testing devices for their suitability for harsh 228

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climatic conditions such as excessive heat and dust, and designing backup solutions for when connectivity fails are all part of what humanitarian interpreters need to do in order to become reliable providers of interpreting services, onsite and remotely. It is crucial that such technical solutions are designed on the ground for them to become truly reliable and sustainable. Documenting what works and what does not is therefore as important for students as studying ethics challenges and documenting safeguarding issues using participatory research methods in their current and future work environments. This underscores the crucial importance of local knowledge construction as it gives agency to those with lived experience of the very contexts in which interpreting is required, enables them to create reliable evidence as part of their academic training, evidence that they hope will inform future humanitarian responses. There is a considerable degree of variation in humanitarian contexts, not merely at the level of language and culture, but also in terms of where in the humanitarian programming cycle a specific crisis context is situated. Core competencies in interpreting are of course the bedrock of professional practice, but for them to guarantee graduates sustainable livelihoods, they need to be studied in context with a curriculum that provides learners with a maximum of flexibility to integrate their lived experience and to acquire tools for knowledge production that in turn informs better practice.

Conclusion Communication in crisis contexts is governed by a number of legal frameworks (Core Humanitarian Standards, IASC commitments, IFRC guidelines, Sphere handbook, etc.). With the exponential increase to over 100 million forcibly displaced people globally (UNHCR 2022b), the humanitarian system is overstretched. This has brought new actors such as academic institutions into a traditionally closed humanitarian response system. Due to the protracted nature of many humanitarian crises, it has encouraged critical reflection on how humanitarian and development actors need to collaborate, how development-​thinking needs to be integrated into humanitarian response and, most importantly, how the responsibility to respond to crises and disasters needs to shift to local actors to redress the imbalance of power between humanitarian responses designed, funded and controlled by actors from the North and local responders mostly from developing countries that bear the brunt of forced displacement. The pandemic has demonstrated their effectiveness in reaching vulnerable populations as actors from the North were unable to come on the ground, and has highlighted the capacity of local education and health systems to drive the response. In this chapter we have tried to illustrate how local actors can contribute sustainably to language communication needs in humanitarian settings during different phases of the humanitarian programming cycle. They used their lived experience of local humanitarian communication needs to advocate within their own institution for the rapid development of an entirely new training programme; or, as in the case of a protracted context such as Kenya, built on capacity available from past humanitarian and development projects to adapt to new needs as the country transitions out of the humanitarian programming cycle. While linking training development to specific phases of a humanitarian response is important, one-​off programmes with earmarked funding to meet the needs of an emergency response are rarely sustainable and for that reason fail to lead to system change where established training institutions include relevant degree programmes in their regular offering and consider language communication as a key component of any disaster response plan. Approaches to capacity-​building in multilingual communication in humanitarian contexts can transition in line with the different phases of the humanitarian programming cycle to strengthen local preparedness and ensure that multilingual communication needs are met during future crises as part of a local response that is culturally appropriate and benefits the crisis-​affected country and its population. 229

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Notes 1 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). 2 See www.govt​ilr.org 3 See https://​kaya​conn​ect.org 4 See http://​aheen.net 5 See https://​knowle​dge-​cen​tre-​int​erpr​etat​ion.educat​ion.ec.eur​opa.eu/​en/​pan-​afri​can-​mast​ers-​con​sort​ium-​ int​erpr​etat​ion-​and-​tran​slat​ion-​pam​cit

Further reading Moser-​Mercer, Barbara, Somia Qudah, Mona Nabeel Ali Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga, and Mohammed Al-​ Batineh. 2021. ‘Beyond aid: Sustainable responses to meeting language communication needs in humanitarian contexts’. Interpreting and Society, 1 (1): 5–​27. This article provides detailed arguments in favour of local responses and the Grand Bargain commitments. CDAC network (www.cdac​netw​ork.org/​) Provides comprehensive analyses of crisis communication, offers case studies of current and past crises and detailed recommendations as to which tools and communication strategies work best in emergencies. Piller, Ingrid, Jie Zhang, and Jia Li. 2020. ‘Linguistic diversity in a time of crisis: Language challenges of the COVID-​19 pandemic’. Multilingua, 39 (5): 503–​515. This article provides a valuable overview of crisis communication during the different phases of the pandemic.

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Interpreter and translator training Gibbons, Pat, and Cyril Otieku-​Boadu. 2021. ‘The question is not “if to localise?” but rather “how to localise?”: Perspectives from Irish humanitarian INGOs’. Frontiers in Political Science, 3: 744559. www. readc​ube.com/​artic​les/​10.3389/​fpos.2021.744​559. Grand Bargain. 2019. Agenda for humanity. Website. www.agenda​forh​uman​ity.org/​init​iati​ves/​3861. Greenwood, Faine, Caitlin Howarth, Daniel Escudero Poole, Nathaniel A. Raymond, and Daniel. P Scarnecchia. 2017. The signal code: A human rights approach to information during crisis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. https://​hhi.harv​ard.edu/​publi​cati​ons/​sig​nal-​code-​ethi​cal-​obli​gati​ons. GSMA. 2018. Mobile for humanitarian innovation. The digital humanitarian ecosystem. PDF File. www. gsma.com/​mobil​efor​deve​lopm​ent/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2018/​12/​Land​scap​ing-​the-​digi​tal-​human​itar​ian-​ ecosys​tem.pdf. IASC. 2017. Commitments on accountability to affected people and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. Website. https://​inter​agen​cyst​andi​ngco​mmit​tee.org/​acc​ount​abil​ity-​affec​ted-​popu​lati​ons-​includ​ing-​ pro​tect​ion-​sex​ual-​explo​itat​ion-​and-​abuse/​docume​nts-​56. IASC. 2022. The future of the Grand Bargain. PDF File. https://​inter​agen​cyst​andi​ngco​mmit​tee.org/​sys​ tem/​files/​2022-​12/​Joint%20NGO%20St​atem​ent%20on%20GB%20fut​ure%20pa​per%20aro​und%20 GHO%20lau​nch%20FIN​AL_​1​3122​2_​0.pdf. IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). 2012. Recovery programming guidance. www.ifrc.org/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​2021-​06/​IFRC%20R​ecov​ery%20prog​ramm​ing%20g​uida​nce %202​012%20-​%201232​900.pdf. IFRC. 2018. World disasters report 2018. Leaving no one behind. Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. PDF File. https://​www.irfc.org/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​2021-​09/​ B-​WDR-​2018-​EN-​LR.pdf. IPA (International Phonetic Association). 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the international phonetic alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kenya Law. 2021. Refugee Act 2021. Website. http://​kenya​law.org:8181/​exist/​kenya​lex/​actv​iew.xql?actid=​ No.%2010%20of%202​021. Krimat, Noureddine. 2021. ‘The challenge of quality management in crowdsourced translation: The case of the NGO Translators Without Borders’. QScience Connect 3–​Tenth International Translation Conference. https://​doi.org/​10.5339/​conn​ect.2021.tii.4. Moser-​Mercer, Barbara, Somia Qudah, Mona Nabeel Ali Malkawi, Jayne Mutiga, and Mohammed Al-​ Batineh. 2021. ‘Beyond aid: Sustainable responses to meeting language communication needs in humanitarian contexts’. Interpreting and Society, 1 (1): 5–​27. O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico M. Federici. 2020. ‘Crisis translation: Considering language needs in multilingual disaster settings’. Disaster Prevention and Management, 29 (2): 129–​143. Olimat, Sameer, and Dana Mahadin. 2022. ‘The Jordanian translator in the era of COVID-​ 19 pandemic: Challenges and perspectives’. Translation and Interpreting, 14, 142. Pak, Jane, and Barbara Moser-​Mercer. In press. ‘Critical transformative higher education for migration and global studies programs working with refugee communities’. In Emancipatory human rights and the university, edited by Andre Keet and Felissa Tibbits. London: Routledge. Relief Web. 2022. Global humanitarian overview 2022, October update. Website. https://​relief​web.int/​rep​ort/​ world/​glo​bal-​human​itar​ian-​overv​iew-​2022-​octo​ber-​upd​ate-​snaps​hot-​31-​octo​ber-​2022. Roepstorff, Kristina. 2019. ‘A call for critical reflection on the localisation agenda in humanitarian action’. Third World Quarterly, 41 (2): 284–​301. Setton, Robin, and Andrew Dawrant. 2016. Conference interpreting. A complete course. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Shunnaq, Abdullah. 2016. ‘Public and private translation sectors in Jordan’. International Journal of Arabic-​ English Studies, 16 (1): 165–​190. Sphere. 2018. The sphere handbook. Website. https://​sphe​rest​anda​rds.org/​handb​ook-​2018/​. Todorova, Marija, and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo (Eds.). 2021. Interpreting conflict. A comparative framework. Cham: Springer Nature. Translators Without Borders. 2021. 2021 multi-​sector needs assessment. PDF File. https://​transl​ator​swit​hout​ bord​ers.org/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2021/​03/​Langu​age-​questi​ons-​MSNAs-​2021.pdf. United Nations. n.d. Sendai and Hyogo frameworks for disaster risk reduction 2015–​2030. PDF File. www. preven​tion​web.net/​files/​43291_​send​aifr​amew​orkf​ordr​ren.pdf. UN OCHA. n.d. A humanitarian crisis is … Website. www.ohchr.org/​en/​taxon​omy/​term/​878.

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16 INTERPRETING AS A FORM OF HUMANITARIAN AID PROVISION AT AN ITALIAN NGO Challenges and outlooks Maura Radicioni

Introduction This chapter explores the role of humanitarian interpreters as intercultural and language mediators in humanitarian emergencies, i.e., in events or series of events that occur as a direct consequence of wars, conflicts, migrations, and major health emergencies that represent a critical threat to the health, safety, security, or well-being of a community or other large groups of people.1 In this role, interpreters help people with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, who are often displaced from their homes and almost always witness a deterioration of their living conditions (National Research Council 2001), to address their communication needs. The contribution stems from a case study of the interpreting, cultural mediation, and multilingual communication practices implemented by the cultural mediators of the Italian NGO Emergency ONG Onlus (hereinafter Emergency), which operates from Milan. It posits that said practices are a form of humanitarian aid provision, as shown in the context of the COVID-​19 health emergency (Emergency 2022a), to enable communication and guarantee migrants’ right to health. In this chapter, the term “cultural mediator” refers to the language intermediary, hired by Emergency and working within the framework of the NGO’s Italian operations (Programma Italia) to provide language and cultural mediation between Emergency health professionals and migrant patients in triadic settings, as well as social and cultural guidance to migrant patients in dyadic encounters. Cultural mediators in the meaning intended in this contribution, therefore, perform both (inter)cultural mediation and interpreting tasks, and are perfectly comparable to humanitarian interpreters according to Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche’s (2018) definition of “humanitarian interpreting”.2 Emergency is an independent humanitarian NGO which provides free medical and surgical care to civilian victims of war, land mines, and poverty in war-​torn scenarios outside Italy. It gives assistance to people in need in Italy and promotes a culture of peace, solidarity, and respect for human rights. The organisation has a humanitarian mandate, namely the assertion of the right to health as a fundamental human right enshrined in both the Italian Constitution and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The NGO is currently managing humanitarian projects in seven countries (Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Iraq, Italy, Sierra Leone, Sudan, DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-20

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and Uganda). In Italy, its Programma Italia has been active since 2006 in areas where the basic health and social needs of vulnerable communities of Italians and migrants, and/​or refugees, and/​or people applying for international protection are not met (Bellardinelli 2017). Services are provided through mobile units and outpatient clinics, in which the health personnel are supported by cultural mediators. The latter play a pivotal role in conducting language and cultural mediation, interpreting, social orientation, and information tasks addressed to migrant patients in their interactions with the organisation’s medical staff and/​or with authorities (Emergency 2022c). Cultural mediators are employed by Emergency for its Programma Italia projects only. The chapter first gives an overview of scholarly research in the context of humanitarian interpreting. Studies have variously investigated aspects as diverse as interpreters’ roles, practices, processes, and training, to name but a few. It further reports on the methodology used for the case study, showing how data was collected and processed. It eventually presents and discusses the findings of the study, which do not claim for overall representativeness of the entire Italian situation, nor for scalability, and which account for the challenges faced by interpreters as aid workers, especially within the context of a pandemic. Looking at future prospects, the final section outlines several possible interdisciplinary research avenues, especially in the field of training.

Research context Humanitarian interpreting is an umbrella term covering various areas of research, which has been conducted since the beginning of the 2000s by Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) researchers to investigate the role and practices of interpreters and cultural mediators working in war and post-​conflict settings, and in humanitarian emergencies. In the wake of the cultural turn of the 1990s, initiated by Bassnett and Lefevere’s seminal work on translation, history, and culture (Bassnett and Lefevere 1990), research has started to explore translation and interpreting as socially situated activities to investigate the factors influencing interpreters’ and translators’ work in various contexts. The focus of investigation has gradually broadened to include “text embedded within its network of both source and target cultural signs” (ibid., 11–​12), prompting many scholars to focus on translation and interpretation as activities set in a specific social and cultural context.3 The cultural turn has gone hand in hand with a social turn, with scholarly research devoted to the social settings and scenarios in which translation and interpreting take place (Pöchhacker 2016). Humanitarian interpreting practices and contexts have made no exception, with several studies (e.g., Baker 2010; Ruiz Rosendo and Persaud 2016; Ruiz Rosendo and Barea Muñoz 2017) highlighting that interpreters serve as active players and all-​round aid workers in all scenarios involving conflict, violence and war, and health crises. The following definition of “humanitarian interpreting” by Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche (2018, 423) is probably the first ever drawn up that has attempted to highlight the salient features of a form of interpretation that straddles several fields: Humanitarian interpreters work in conflict or post-​conflict settings, or amongst populations displaced by conflict; their work environment falls within the legal framework of IHL [International Humanitarian Law] and International Refugee Law; they are exposed to human suffering because of the mandate of the organisations they work for and the settings in which their interpreting services are required: detention visits, interviews with victims of conflict, refugee status determination interviews, etc.; [and] the beneficiaries of their 234

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services often fall in the category of “protected persons” according to IHL; humanitarian interpreters play a role in enabling beneficiaries to access their rights. Research on humanitarian interpreting has also explored the relationship between migration and translation from ethnographic and sociolinguistic perspectives (Inghilleri 2017), as well as translation’s role as a form of intercultural communication in contexts of migration (Cronin 2000). Subjects of analysis were furthermore the link between translation, travel, and migration (Polezzi 2006), and the link between language practices emerging from migration and translation (Polezzi 2012). Other research focused on the role of interpreters working in conflict areas for the military (Inghilleri 2010; Ruiz Rosendo 2020), and on complex scenarios related to conflict, migration, and displacements (Blommaert 2001; Pöllabauer 2004). Studies on translation and interpreting in the context of non-​ governmental organisations (NGOs) have focused on the language and translation practices at Amnesty International (Tesseur 2018); the language practices of Caritas Switzerland, and the Fédération genevoise de coopération (Delgado Luchner 2018); the role of cultural differences in the language and cultural mediation practices at an Italian NGO (Radicioni 2019); and the analysis of translation practices at Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) and Translators Without Borders (TWB) to investigate communication (Montalt 2020). Research has furthermore analysed the way in which positionality affects interpreter-​ mediated interactions in humanitarian emergencies (Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche 2018; Todorova 2016, 2017). Research on training programmes specifically tailored for interpreters working in the broader humanitarian context includes the design of a training curriculum and handbook within the context of asylum hearings (Bergunde and Pöllabauer 2019), the study of pedagogical tools for humanitarian interpreters working in ethically challenging situations (Delgado Luchner and Kherbiche 2019), and the analysis of a training programme for UN staff interpreters on field missions (Ruiz Rosendo, Barghout, and Martin 2021). Communities of practice in the field of training have been analysed in the context of military training and capacity-​building missions (Ruiz Rosendo 2022) and among the cultural mediators working for an Italian NGO in a highly degraded and migration-​intense area in southern Italy (Radicioni and Ruiz Rosendo 2022a). The relevance of culture and cultural differences for interpreters active in humanitarian contexts have also been analysed (Souza 2016; Hale 2017). Baraldi (2014, 18) has referred to Pöchhacker’s (2008) concept of contractual mediation as the “resolution of (intercultural) conflicts, i.e., the facilitation of cross-​cultural understanding and communication beyond language demarcation”. In his analysis of migrants’ agency and institutional support, Baraldi (2018, 15) has stressed that “the [contracted] mediator actively contributes to the social construction of migrants’ problems and to the enhancement of possible solutions thereof by extending institutional support, showing active listening, and reducing the risk of conflicts”, emphasising “the meaning of culture and intercultural mediation in these interactions” (ibid., 15). This is also highlighted by Radicioni’s (2019) study, showing that cultural differences between migrant patients and health personnel are better overcome if cultural mediators and interpreters share the same culture of the migrants they support. These studies suggest that interpreters play a major role in helping beneficiaries access their rights, thus echoing the definition of humanitarian interpreting by Delgado Luchner and Kerbiche (2018) mentioned earlier. Research on humanitarian interpreting lies at the intersection of disaster science, crisis communication, and crisis translation. Studies have focused on the role of language as crises occur within multilingual and multicultural societies (Cadwell 2014; Cadwell and O’Brien 2016; O’Brien and Cadwell 2017) and may lead to displacement and migration (O’Brien and Federici 2019). 235

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Research has stressed interpreters’ pivotal role in providing humanitarian aid to populations hit by a crisis by enabling “crisis communication”, performing “crisis translation”, and favouring trust to help counter the profound cascading effects of a crisis (Pescaroli and Alexander 2016). In these settings, interpreters and translators must act swiftly in “all forms of communication in extreme conditions, be they conflicts, disasters, emergencies, or crisis” (Federici 2016, 2). While translation is key for disaster management, it needs to receive more attention in research focusing on crisis contexts and has been under-​researched so far (Federici et al. 2019). The EU-​ funded INTERACT project on translation in crisis scenarios has stressed the need for multilingual information in crisis situations to be clear, timely, and accurate. Similar conclusions emerge from the project The Listening Zones of NGOs: Languages and Cultural Knowledge in Development Programmes,4 implemented from 2015 to 2018 with the aim to investigate languages’ role in the policies and practices of NGOs and how language/​ cultural mediation, including translation/​ interpreting, are provided. Furthermore, the research project entitled Translation as Empowerment: Translation as a Contributor to Human Rights in the Global South,5 which ran from 2019 to 2021 and analysed the critical role of translation in establishing an equal, two-​way dialogue between NGOs and their beneficiaries, considered translation, in written and oral form, as a contributor to communities’ empowerment and focused on language rights as a part of the human rights agenda. Fewer studies have investigated the language, communication, and translation/​interpreting practices implemented by authorities and humanitarian organisations dealing with emergency situations, natural disasters, or health crises. Wang (2019) investigated crisis communication during the COVID-​19 emergency in Wuhan. Other authors have stressed the importance of translation in facilitating communication between populations and emergency responders after natural disasters, such as earthquakes (Munro 2013; Cadwell 2019). A study by Radicioni and Ruiz Rosendo (2022b) has illustrated the measures adopted by the NGO Emergency in its outpatient clinics in Italy to adapt to the challenges imposed by the COVID-​19 pandemic, thus illustrating the impact of a health emergency on the work of interpreters working in challenging humanitarian contexts. The same NGO is the subject of this contribution and provides an example of interpretation in emergency contexts as a form of humanitarian aid. The methodology adopted for this study is described in the next section.

Research methodology This contribution originates from an ongoing qualitative research project on the cultural mediators of the Italian medical NGO Emergency in the complex migration setting of Castel Volturno (hereinafter CV). This southern Italian town north of Naples is characterised by the highest number of migrants in Italy, most of whom are Nigerian and Ghanaian (Caritas and Fondazione Migrantes 2017), urban degradation, illegal housing and businesses, environmental pollution, and the presence of local and Nigerian organised crime. The patients treated in CV are mostly men working in agriculture or the building sector and sex workers, primarily of Nigerian origin (Emergency 2022b). Before addressing the methodology and data analysis, I will first briefly describe the organisation, its mandate, and activities. The study is an inductive qualitative analysis, whose research questions consist, first, in investigating the working context of the cultural mediators hired by Emergency in the migration-​intense area of CV; and second, in analysing the impact of said context on the work carried out by these cultural mediators. Ethnography was chosen as the preferred methodology as, according to Risku (2017, 309), “[i]‌n ethnographic research, the factors being studied are 236

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not defined precisely a priori, but are instead identified throughout empirical research”. In this study, the research questions were formulated before the investigation, with generalisations being achieved through induction and theory being generated based on the data within the case and subsequently checked through ethnographic methods. More specifically, case study research was conducted, as the aim was to conduct empirical research, focusing on the cultural mediators employed at the CV outpatient clinic, and investigating their working practices in their natural setting. Ethnography explores the nature of social phenomena and investigates small numbers of cases in depth and detail (Hammersley and Atkinson 2019) in their naturally occurring settings, as the phenomenon investigated can be entirely grasped by “examining contemporary events [where] the relevant behaviours cannot be manipulated” (Yin 2018, 11). Therefore, case study research appeared to be the most adequate to analyse the research context, in which language and mediation practices are influenced by the specific culture of the parties involved in the interactions and of the same NGO. Participants in the study were recruited with the support of Programma Italia’s secretariat. Being an area with a high density of migrants, the CV site was chosen for the investigation due to the higher likelihood that the CV cultural mediators are significantly active in dyadic and triadic interactions. Seven cultural mediators (CMs, four male and three female) participated in the study, including the mediators currently employed at the CV clinic and the ones who used to work there in the past and are currently involved in other projects, with no exclusion criteria applied. Before the outbreak of the COVID-​19 pandemic, out of the seven CMs participating in the study, four were working at the CV outpatient clinic (two Italian male, one Nigerian female, and one Romanian female, with one CM serving as the clinic coordinator). Those who were not working in CV had all previously worked with the mobile unit or at the outpatient clinic. They included one Italian female currently working at the NGO’s headquarters in Milan, one Nigerian male now active in Polistena, Calabria region, and one Italian male now serving as the mobile unit coordinator of Programma Italia. All three CMs had previously worked in CV for a long period of time, specifically from 2015 to 2017 (Italian female CM) and from 2013 with the mobile unit to 2015 during the first months of activity of the outpatient clinic (Nigerian male and Italian male CMs). After the pandemic, out of the four CMs previously working in CV, two continued working at the outpatient clinic, specifically the clinic coordinator and the Nigerian CM, while one CM was moved to the Ponticelli (Naples) outpatient clinic of the organisation and the Romanian CM terminated her contract with the NGO. The interviewees were aged between 40 and 49 and had educational backgrounds and qualifications in areas other than language mediation or translation/​interpreting (political science, economics, cultural heritage). The Nigerian and Romanian mediators received a formal qualification in cultural mediation (900-​hour course in intercultural mediation). All of them had worked for NGOs (MSF, Save the Children, local NGOs) and the public sector (local health companies, prisons, etc.) before joining Emergency. They spoke Italian, English, French, Romanian, and some Nigerian languages (Pidgin English, Broken English, Esan, Bini). Given the qualitative nature of the study and its ethical challenges, prior to data collection, the project was authorised by the Ethics Committee of the university with which the researcher is currently affiliated. Data collection, storage, and management procedures were described in the consent forms administered to participants. The cultural mediators participating in the study are referred to in this chapter as M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, and M7; their names are not indicated for reasons of confidentiality. Data were collected from participants in different ways and at various moments: e-​mails, written and oral conversations, and documents provided by the outpatient clinic’s coordinator and Programma Italia’s secretariat throughout the study; written semi-​structured interviews in 237

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autumn 2018; fieldnotes of an observational visit to CV in August 2019; and video-​recorded semi-​ structured interviews with study participants in 2020 and 2021. Five observational periods at the CV outpatient clinic were originally scheduled between May 2020 and February 2021 to take fieldnotes and observe the dyadic and triadic encounters involving cultural mediators. However, the outbreak of the COVID-​19 pandemic imposed a thorough revision of the research design. During the lockdown, access to all Emergency outpatient clinics, including CV, was restricted to guarantee the safety of both staff and patients, introducing changes in the way operations are conducted and implementing coping mechanisms to face the health emergency. Following the revision of the study research design, data collection continued through unstructured recorded video interviews, which took place from July 2020 to May 2021. The video interviews were integrated with the data indicated previously and other sources, i.e., internal documentation, screenshots of the software used within Programma Italia to track patients and mediators’ activities, material developed by the cultural mediators to face the health emergency, WhatsApp messages sent to lists of migrant patients to spread health-​related crisis information, videos, etc. Data triangulation was eventually conducted to corroborate research results, contribute to the trustworthiness of the research process, and provide a more holistic view of the investigated context (Aguilar-​Solano 2020). While the overall empirical work of this study relies on data from various sources, the findings presented here mainly draw on the recorded video interviews organised during the period of the health emergency. The semi-​structured video interviews covered various topics; specifically they were aimed at ascertaining personal information about the interviewees (country of origin, age, education, previous work experience, experience working as a CM for Emergency and other clients, languages known and working languages), work context and conditions, tasks and role (before and after the COVID-​19 pandemic), ethics, training (both received by the organisation and expected training), cultural aspects, as well as psychological and emotional implications of CMs’ work in a complex humanitarian scenario. In conducting this study, reflexivity has also been considered a major strategy for quality control in qualitative research, as it has helped identify possible biases and subjective judgements. In this respect, the researcher is an Italian civilian, more specifically an interpreter who has since 2008 provided conference interpreting services to the NGO investigated. The data management software AtlasTI was used to enable data organisation and analysis, summary into themes and subsequent development of narratives concerning cultural mediators’ working practices, challenges, and needs. The results gathered are presented in the next section.

Findings and discussion The results of the study cover various aspects, all of which point towards Emergency’s cultural mediators working and acting first and foremost as humanitarian workers. Their language, cultural mediation, and interpreting activities are to be framed within the overall humanitarian objectives of the NGO they work for, i.e., guaranteeing the right to health of the most vulnerable, including migrants, as an inalienable right of the individual. The study first highlighted that all cultural mediators working for Emergency at the mobile and outpatient clinics of Programma Italia carry out a wide variety of tasks. These include, but are not limited to: welcoming patients and/​or health and social service users; providing them with language and cultural mediation prior to and during the medical examination and in compiling medical files at the outpatient clinic; accompanying patients who need hospital treatment to public health facilities

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and hospitals and assisting them with reception and admission procedures; liaising with the local authorities and the Italian Health System; informing patients about their rights; providing healthcare education; carrying out health and social service orientation activities and enabling people to access care or assistance and helping them access the Italian Health System; supporting the computerised management of data; and contributing to the management of certain administrative or logistical aspects of the projects. These tasks are carried out in all Programma Italia outpatient clinics, including CV, and have continued since the outbreak of the COVID-​19 pandemic. However, they had to be adapted to the new situation to safeguard both patients and staff. Furthermore, new tasks have been taken on, as detailed later, forced by the new circumstances. The results of the interviews and triangulated data stressed the need for training at various levels. It emerged from all video-​recorded interviews that the only training provided by Emergency to its cultural mediators is on legal and administrative issues. These topics are reportedly deemed relevant by the NGO in view of the social orientation and information activity that mediators provide to migrants, and/​or refugees, and/​or asylum seekers, which should rest on a solid knowledge of national and local norms and regulations. According to virtually all interviewees, this type of training is considered fundamental, as it enables Emergency’s cultural mediators to support the migrants and asylum seekers looking for assistance at the outpatient clinic in CV and precisely to help them claim their right to health. M6: The training that […] we provide [to cultural mediators] is mainly legal training, so once a year we meet with lawyers […], immigration experts, and we go through the new regulations, we discuss specific cases, so the training is really legal-​administrative. (my translation) R.: […] Did you receive specific training to perform your duties as a cultural mediator? M3: For my part, previously yes, with Emergency no [in the field of cultural mediation]. R.: What kind of training did you receive with Emergency once you were hired? M3: As for training on legal aspects, e.g., on regulations and norms, we had information meetings with expert lawyers […], and that was more on technical-​regulatory issues, let’s say, not on the mediator’s activity. [This training on administrative-​legal issues] is fundamental […] and is standard for everyone, then there are differences from region to region with respect to this, but the system is the same, […] although there are administrative practices that may change at the regional level. (my translation) Regarding training on aspects other than legal and administrative issues, the study showed that despite mediators’ pivotal role within the organisation, they have never received any training in interpreting, cultural issues, or humanitarian aid provided by the NGO. Emergency recruits cultural mediators based on their command of the working languages and ability to mediate between cultures, with language requirements changing from project to project based on local needs; however, not all of these, especially languages of lesser diffusion, are tested when the mediator is hired. The cultural mediators themselves consider this a major shortcoming, as they believe that well-​trained linguistic and interpreting/​language transfer skills are decisive in their work. R: M5:

[…] Did Emergency provide you with training in cultural mediation, or in other areas, and if so, on what topics? And in what areas did Emergency not provide training? Yes, they did provide training. But their training was more related to legal aspects and then there was the comparison with those who were senior mediators. However, mediation 239

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strategies and techniques were not really addressed because legal and administrative issues were probably deemed necessary for mediators to implement the knowledge related to the normative part and how one can access to the Italian Health System, etc. And then there wasn’t any training on how to deal with emotions and the psychological aspects of our job. (my translation) R.: Is there any training or in-​depth study of cultural issues [provided by Emergency]? […] I don’t know, cultural anthropology? Or training in cultural mediation? […] M6: No, no. (my translation) The organisation does not provide any training on interpreting or cultural mediation for its cultural mediators, even though the cultural mediators interviewed are called upon to perform interpreting and linguistic-​cultural mediation tasks in dyadic and triadic contexts. The absence of training in these areas is also associated with the fact that the mediators interviewed all have degrees in disciplines other than interpretation or cultural mediation (political sciences, economics, cultural heritage). Two of the seven cultural mediators interviewed, specifically the Nigerian and the Romanian CMs, have taken courses in intercultural mediation organised by the non-​profit-​making association active in the social sector at Italian and European level CIDIS6 and the Department of Family, Social Policy, and Labour of the Region Sicily. The courses both lasted 900 hours and issued accredited qualifications. The first course was carried out by the Nigerian mediator as part of her work for MSF, prior to her employment at Emergency, while the second was attended by the Romanian mediator on her own initiative. Both courses were not followed within the framework of the regular training activities organised by Emergency. It emerged from the study that the cultural mediators appeared to be genuinely surprised to discover that there was a wide scope of potential training they could acquire in such areas. They had intuitively begun to understand that well-​trained interpreting/​language transfer skills are decisive in their work, and the lack of said training can represent a major shortcoming. The study furthermore highlighted the significant role attributed by Emergency to its cultural mediators in consideration of their cultural skills and ability to overcome cross-​cultural differences in communication. It is not by coincidence that these language and cultural brokers are termed mediatori culturali, i.e., cultural mediators. The phrase is the one used by Emergency to refer to its language professionals and is indicated in the job announcements for such positions. It underlines the cultural component inherent in their function and the greater importance the mediators attach to their role as cultural brokers compared to their language mediation activity. The often-​cited and commonly endorsed definition of cultural competence as the “set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals that enable that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-​cultural situations” (Cross et al. 1989, 13) is particularly relevant here. The interviewees deemed cultural competence to be of the utmost importance, particularly given the contexts where Emergency operates. Here, the complexity of the humanitarian scenario is enhanced by the various roles and settings where interpretation occurs, since these settings can rapidly change and force language and mediation professionals to shift from health to legal, administrative, and social domains. It emerged from the video interviews that the cultural mediators working for Emergency take on several roles and are active participants in the communicative encounter. They do this to empower vulnerable individuals, and their cultural and ethical contribution is often necessary to this end. According to Todorova (2020, 76), “the interpreter can assist in creating empowerment for the vulnerable party during the mediation process by providing cultural knowledge, and by being a strong advocate for 240

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the refugees when needed”. This accurately describes the role of Emergency’s cultural mediators in the complex humanitarian settings in which they operate (Radicioni 2021, 234). According to the interviewees, cultural differences can potentially hinder effective communication. All mediators stressed the difficulty of mediating between migrant patients and Emergency health professionals, as they must deal with non-​Western patients’ intimate, sometimes pantheistic, and spiritual view of medicine and the body and the need to convey the concepts of Western healthcare. The challenge of overcoming said cultural differences can impact their activity and potentially hamper an effective transfer of meaning. Study participants stressed the close correlation between the ability to successfully mediate between different cultures on the one hand and the possibility of guaranteeing effective care, compliance with treatment, and proper transfer of basic health and social information to migrants on the other. They highlighted that being able to mediate between extremely distant views of medicine, healthcare, and corporeity is a way to empower vulnerable subjects and help affirm the right to health as a basic right of the individual while accomplishing the humanitarian mandate of the organisation. This is in line with the concept of “intercultural medicine” first formulated by Quaranta and Ricca (2012). The term refers to the set of linguistic and practical processes aimed at promoting the adoption of clinical protocols and a positive approach to treatment for migrants, to ultimately contribute to respecting their rights. Intercultural medicine presupposes that a given health treatment is planned, conducted, and communicated with the use of language and cultural mediation that can coordinate and establish a common ground with the system of values and beliefs of patients. Only in this way is it possible to facilitate prevention and establish the necessary collaboration between health professionals and migrant patients so that the latter trust the mediators, understand the treatment, and are willing to accept it. The results of the study have shown that, despite the challenges represented by the need to mediate between distant cultures and the important role cultural mediators play within the organisation, Emergency does not provide them with any training in cultural mediation. It furthermore emerged from the study that training on cultural mediation, intercultural medicine, and ethnopsychiatry is deemed of paramount importance by mediators and is often undertaken by them at their own initiative. The findings of the study also highlighted that the cultural mediators participating in this research are not trained on how to handle the emotions associated with having to mediate challenging and sensitive content and prevent possible psychological burnout and the risk of vicarious trauma. Training on these aspects and the possibility of resorting to psychological counselling are even more important, as mediators are reportedly impacted by the emotional and psychological burden posed by their work, and each of them has necessarily envisaged their own way of coping with it. Mediators’ coping mechanisms vary depending on everyone’s personality and experience. They are often learnt from peers and developed both individually and collectively, with advice being sought by referring to the clinic or programme coordinator when in need. The study furthermore stressed the absence of training on ethical issues, with the cultural mediators not being aware of the ethical principles guiding their language and cultural brokering activities and not being able to distinguish between the ethical principles of the interpreting profession and the ones of the organisation they work for. The absence of specific training on several aspects illustrated earlier helps explain the lack of a specific code of ethics to guide mediators’ language and cultural mediation activities, although the organisation does have one code that applies to all its staff members. All cultural mediators interviewed were asked whether they observed a code of ethics either related to their profession as cultural mediators or a code of ethics of the organisation they work for. Interview data suggest that all interviewees were not aware of the ethical rules that should guide the work of interpreters and cultural mediators. However, most of 241

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them referred to Emergency’s ethical values, like impartiality, do no harm, and confidentiality, although not everyone was aware that the NGO has a code of conduct, and stressed instead their individual ethical values. In particular, the outpatient clinic coordinator, himself a cultural mediator and a participant in the study, and the Senegalese interviewee, explicitly mentioned the ethical and humanitarian principles guiding the work of Emergency as their reference for ethical values in their daily work: R:

Are there any ethical standards that you observe in your work as a mediator […], be they your own ethical standards, or the ethical standards of your profession, or […] the ones suggested to you by Emergency when they hired you […]? M7: Absolutely. Emergency cultivates a culture of equality, of respect for rights, of respect for the value of the human being. These are things that, of course, they suggest to us, and through the behaviour of the aid workers I realised that in the association this code of ethics is a fact, it is reality, it’s something you live every day. For example, respect for the person regardless of his or her social, ethnic, racial affiliation, etc., etc., is something evident. (my translation) Cultural mediators’ actions and decisions at work are implicitly compliant with and inspired by the organisation’s code of ethics, as if the ethical principles of the NGO they work for were tacitly transferred to and embraced by the mediators, who then implement them in their daily work. This is in line with Angelelli’s (2004) view that interpreters’ work should be considered in the context of an institution and that their role is conditioned by the principles and rules of this institution as a result. Most cultural mediators stressed the need of not being judgemental, as this is implicitly related to the essential principle of impartiality enshrined in the code of ethics of Emergency and of other humanitarian organisations. R:

[…] Is there a personal code of ethics that you follow as a mediator in carrying out your activities, or a code of ethics of your profession, and/​or […] of Emergency […]? M3: […] we give ourselves the organisation’s code of ethics, it’s Emergency’s code of ethics. And in my opinion the main issue is not to be judgmental and to try […], not to have prejudices, because there is always a risk of being biased. (my translation) Despite the widespread lack of training on various aspects, all study participants showed that they have developed their own learning dynamics enabling them to perform their tasks in a complex and constantly changing context. A general finding that emerged from the study was, indeed, the identification of a Community of Practice (CoP) among the cultural mediators working in the CV outpatient clinic of Emergency. Even if the organisation has the mandate to centrally define the tasks assigned to cultural mediators, the latter are organised as a CoP. They are ultimately the ones who can decide what tasks to implement, how to implement them and whether to perform modified or additional tasks once they start working based on the situation and the challenges they face. R: M5:

[…] Did you receive special training in cultural mediation? I started in Polistena before Castel Volturno and I did the handover with a mediator I went to replace, so I learnt from her and from colleagues in the field. (my translation) 242

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Within this CoP, cultural mediators seek advice and learn from peers, tasks are assigned according to the skills and predispositions of individual mediators, and the absence of specific training is often compensated by learning by doing. For example, African mediators almost always interpret within encounters involving patients sharing their gender and origin, whereas the other mediators deal with social and information service provision in dyadic interactions to a larger extent and work in triadic encounters only when needed: M3:

I ask the patient what’s going on, but I need more information to understand well (…) Talking to the [Nigerian] patient (…), I need to understand from him where he comes from, what documents he has, where he lives and where he lived before (…) If I understand that he needs to see a doctor, I call my Nigerian colleague and they translate for the doctor, (…) but I am also involved, because I talked to the patient before and if I then have to accompany him to a hospital, I can observe, because after all I am not a doctor, but I need to know. (my translation) While the study participants repeatedly expressed the need for more training on various aspects, learning by doing within their CoP helped them realise where training is most needed and, thus, anticipate training aspects that the organisation should consider when deciding on future training options. The existence of a CoP was clearly shown during the COVID-​19 health emergency, which marked a watershed in the NGO’s activities and imposed a reorganisation of the work normally conducted by cultural mediators. During the COVID-​19 health crisis, cultural mediators showed high flexibility and adaptability in their work. While continuing to provide migrants with healthcare and social guidance services and to perform their language, interpreting, and language mediation tasks, cultural mediators started new activities and initiatives with an enhanced focus on communication. This was needed given the complex humanitarian scenario of CV, where numerous foreigners live in poverty and precarious dwellings and are constantly faced with the risk of not always understanding and implementing COVID-​19 protective measures. The focus of Emergency’s COVID-​19 communication strategy in CV, and more generally within Programma Italia, was on dispelling the fake news that had started circulating about the disease within the local population and convincing people to stay at home and leave their homes only if strictly necessary, especially to be cautious in the selection of their mode of transportation. Cultural mediators have played a central role in said strategy. This consisted in the creation of WhatsApp groups to communicate with patients in an easy and immediate way, enabling them to reach 600 contacts with about 3,000 text and WhatsApp messages sent to patients registered in the outpatient clinic database as early as May 2020. They also set up a call centre dealing with social and health-​related issues, receiving hundreds of calls, especially in the first weeks of April 2020. The text and WhatsApp targeted messages were sent to vulnerable groups of the population, above all migrants, informing them about safety and social distancing rules, behavioural norms to observe as regards mobility, and the need to stay at home, and referring them to the competent public health services. Furthermore, a video in Pidgin English was created by the cultural mediators working in CV to provide correct information to non-​Italian speakers and make sure that minimum safety standards are respected. Pidgin English was chosen as the language of the video to reach as many people as possible, as this lingua franca is spoken and understood by the two largest communities present in CV, i.e., the Nigerian and Ghanaian communities. The video was disseminated on YouTube, Facebook, and other communication channels, where it obtained thousands of views.7 It was, furthermore, shown by various social groups managed by Nigerian communities living in Italy. 243

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The flexibility shown by Emergency’s cultural mediators in CV in taking on new tasks and adapting old ones to the new circumstances imposed by the health emergency is to be considered within the general context of the NGO’s mandate of free healthcare provision and the need to help migrants access the right to health. In this respect, cultural mediation and interpreting are viewed by participants in the study as instrumental to humanitarian aid provision and cultural mediators consider themselves as aid workers.

Conclusion The aim of this contribution is to enrich current research on humanitarian interpretation, specifically highlighting the contribution of cultural mediators to the delivery of aid to vulnerable population groups in complex humanitarian scenarios. The study showed that in all the activities of the NGO before and after the COVID-​19 health emergency, cultural mediators were pivotal and served as actual aid workers to promote migrants’ right to health as a fundamental right of the individual. Their experience, and that of the NGO, is indeed first and foremost of cultural mediators as actual aid workers who support the target population in communicating effectively and, thus, earn their trust with the overall aim of guaranteeing beneficiaries’ rights. Their work is seen as a tool to achieve the organisation’s humanitarian mandate of empowering vulnerable migrants and an expression thereof. This further corroborates the results of the previously mentioned projects, The Listening Zones of NGOs and Translation as Empowerment, which demonstrate the role of translation and mediation in establishing equitable access to human rights. Cultural mediators are seen, and see themselves, as aid workers essentially due to the complex context in which they work and due to the fact that study participants identify completely with the NGO’s principles and values. This is because both cultural mediators and the NGO hiring them are often unaware that interpreting is a profession which requires adequate training. Training appears paramount to developing the necessary language, interpreting, and cultural skills and the ability to discern between the ethical principles of interpreting and those of the organisation they work for, which do not always coincide with ensuing implications for the role of cultural mediators in challenging contexts. The research conducted has some inherent limitations. The exploratory nature of the case study and the impossibility of accessing the facility due to the pandemic meant that little data was collected onsite and that cultural mediators could be observed in their dyadic and triadic interactions with migrant patients only to a limited extent. The findings presented here thus rely more on what interviewees have told the researcher rather than on what they do in practice. Furthermore, this contribution does not claim to be representative of the whole Italian situation. However, it represents further evidence that cultural interpretation and mediation in humanitarian and crisis contexts should be seen as a form of aid provision in line with the values and objectives of NGOs and humanitarian organisations. Considering all that has been discussed in this chapter, possible future directions for research include interdisciplinary investigations at the intersection between crisis communication, humanitarian action, especially of NGOs and international NGOs, and the role of translation, cultural mediation, and humanitarian interpreting in complex and ever-​changing scenarios. In addition, more research should be devoted to training and skills development programmes that are specifically tailored to interpreters and cultural mediators working in challenging humanitarian contexts. Given the diverse and multifaceted nature that such training should cover, and the need for it to address the specificities and peculiarities of local contexts, such training could also include guided

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self-​learning solutions according to the needs of the context and the individual interpreters and cultural mediators involved. Such a hypothesis would be justified by the fact that cultural mediators, as this contribution shows, operate within a CoP, learning individually or drawing lessons from their peers. It would also be motivated by the difficulty of generalising such specific training and customising it to very specific contexts.

Notes 1 The definition has been provided in 2021 by Humanitarian Coalition, an alliance of Canadian charities providing emergency relief during a humanitarian crisis (Humanitarian Coalition 2021). 2 Scholarly research has variously and extensively dealt with the difference and overlapping between interpretation and (inter)cultural mediation, with researchers stressing the need to consider interpreting and cultural mediation as distinct disciplines and interpreters and cultural mediators playing separate roles (Martín and Phelan 2010; Pokorn and Mikolič Južnič 2020), part of a continuum (Aguirre Fernández Bravo 2019), or overlapping at different degrees (Hsieh 2016). Other scholars have highlighted the unclear and confusing boundaries of the two professions (Garzone and Rudvin 2003; Pöchhacker 2016; Rudvin and Tomassini 2008), especially in certain countries like France, Italy, and parts of Belgium and Germany where the two terms are used interchangeably and the role boundaries are unclear, especially to outsiders (Rudvin and Spinzi 2014; Wang 2017). Furthermore, work has been carried out on the interactional features of interpreting/​mediating conversations (Baraldi 2014; Baraldi 2018; Baraldi and Gavioli 2007; Hale 2017). While acknowledging the debate on the difference/​overlap between interpretation and (inter)cultural mediation in the literature, this contribution focuses on Emergency’s cultural mediators, whose role and tasks are assigned to them by the same NGO, vary flexibly depending on the context, and are learnt from peers. Equally, their denomination as “cultural mediators” is the one chosen by Emergency to refer to the language and cultural intermediaries it hires for its Italian projects, who carry out both cultural mediation and interpreting tasks. 3 A conference organised in 2011 by Mona Baker and Luis Pérez-​Gonzalez literally covered “Translation and Interpreting as Socially Situated. Activities: Research Prospects and Challenges”, with research by said organisers but also Ji-​Hae Kang, Moira Inghilleri, Catherine Baker, and Brian Mossop. Focus of conference papers included construction of multiple identities in translation, translation as a co-​creational practice in global media, the limits of interpreters’ duties, and risks experienced by self-​employed interpreters in Bosnia-​ Herzegovina (www.acade​mia.edu/​1682​989/​Translation_​and_​Interpreting_​as_​ Socially_​Situated_​Activities_​Resear​ch_​P​rosp​ects​_​and​_​Cha​llen​ges). 4 The Listening Zones of NGOs: Languages and Cultural Knowledge in Development Programmes (2015–​ 2018), funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), principal investigators: Hilary Footitt and Dr Angela Crack. For more information, see www.int​rac.org/​proje​cts/​listen​ing-​zones-​ ngos/​. 5 Translation as Empowerment: Translation as a contributor to human rights in the Global South (2019–​ 2021), funded through the CAROLINE Co-​Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme from the Irish Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-​Curie Actions. For more information, see https://​sites.goo​gle. com/​view/​tran​slat​ion-​as-​empo​werm​ent. 6 “Cidis Onlus is a non-​profit organization working to guarantee equal rights and opportunities for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and to promote Italy as a multicultural society.” See www.vai-​proj​ect.eu/​ cidis-​onlus/​ 7 The video in Pidgin English released on YouTube and Facebook can be viewed at the following pages respectively: www.yout​ube.com/​watch?v=​oZ1q​VhxT​RZQ and www.faceb​ook.com/​watch/​?v=​5694​4099​ 6989​991.

Further reading O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico M. Federici (Eds). 2022. Translating crises. London: Bloomsbury Academic. This volume explores the challenges and demands involved in translating crises and considers various perspectives to reflect the complex and multifaceted nature of crisis communication.

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Maura Radicioni Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Marija Todorova (Eds.). 2022. Interpreter training in conflict and post-​conflict scenarios. A comparative framework. London: Palgrave. Considering the situated nature of interpreting in conflict and post-​conflict scenarios, this volume focuses on the need for specialised training on ethical, cultural, and professional issues. Tesseur, Wine. 2023. Translation as social justice. Translation policies and practices in non-​governmental organisations. London: Routledge. This volume analyses the translation policies and practices of international non-​governmental organisations (INGOs) as a powerful tool for INGOs to guarantee equal access to information, dialogue, and political representation. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Marija Todorova (Eds.). 2021. Interpreting conflict. A comparative framework. London: Palgrave. This book focuses on the role of different types of interpreters in conflict and humanitarian scenarios, drawing together research from various interdisciplinary backgrounds for a fuller picture of the factors at play.

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Interpreting as a form of humanitarian aid provision Delgado Luchner, Carmen, and Leïla Kherbiche. 2018. ‘Without fear or favour?: The positionality of ICRC and UNHCR interpreters in the humanitarian field’. Target, 30 (3): 415–​438. Delgado Luchner, Carmen, and Leïla Kherbiche. 2019. ‘Ethics training for humanitarian interpreters working in conflict and post-​conflict settings’. Journal of War & Cultural Studies, 12 (3): 251–​267. Emergency. 2022a. COVID-​19 response. Website. https://​en.emerge​ncy.it/​what-​we-​do/​COVID-​19-​outbr​eak/​. Emergency. 2022b. CV outpatient clinic. Website. https://​en.emerge​ncy.it/​proje​cts/​italy-​cas​tel-​voltu​rno-​ cli​nic/​. Emergency. 2022c. Cultural mediator. Website. https://​en.emerge​ncy.it/​job-​descr​ipti​ons/​cultu​ral-​media​tor/​. Federici, Federico M. 2016. ‘Introduction: A state of emergency for crisis communication’. In Mediating emergencies and conflicts. Frontline translating and interpreting, edited by Federico M. Federici, 1–​29. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Federici, Federico M., Sharon O’Brien, Patrick Cadwell, Jay Marlowe, Brian Gerber, and Olga Davis. 2019. INTERACT recommendations on crisis communication policies. Website. https://​relief​web.int/​rep​ort/​ world/​intern​atio​nal-​netw​ork-​cri​sis-​tran​slat​ion-​reco​mmen​dati​ons-​polic​ies. Garzone, Giuliana, and Mette Rudvin. 2003. Domain-​specific English and language mediation in professional and institutional settings. Milano: Arcipelago. Hale, Sandra B. 2017. ‘Interpreting culture. Dealing with cross-​ cultural issues in court interpreting’. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 22 (3): 321–​331. Hammersley, Martyn, and Paul Atkinson. 2019. Ethnography: Principles in practice. Fourth edition. New York: Routledge. Hsieh, Elaine. 2016. Bilingual health communication: Working with interpreters in cross-​cultural care. New York/​London: Routledge. Humanitarian Coalition. 2021. What is a humanitarian emergency? Website. www.humani​tari​anco​alit​ion.ca/​ what-​is-​a-​human​itar​ian-​emerge​ncy. Inghilleri, Moira. 2010. ‘You don’t make war without knowing why’. The Translator, 16 (2): 175–​196. Inghilleri, Moira. 2017. Translation and migration. New perspectives in translation and interpreting studies. London and New York: Routledge. Martín, Mayte C., and Mary Phelan. 2010. ‘Interpreters and cultural mediators–​Different but complementary roles’. Translocations, 6 (1). PDF File. https://​doras.dcu.ie/​16481/​1/​Marti​n_​an​d_​Ph​elan​_​Tra​nslo​cati​ ons.pdf. Montalt, V. 2020. ‘Medical translation in crisis situations’. In Intercultural crisis communication translation, interpreting and languages in local crises, edited by F. M. Federici and C. Declercq, 105–​126. London: Bloomsbury. Munro, Robert. 2013. ‘Crowdsourcing and the crisis-​affected community: Lessons learned and looking forward from mission 4636’. Journal of Information Retrieval, 16: 210–​266. National Research Council. 2001. Demographic assessment techniques in complex humanitarian emergencies: Summary of a workshop. Website. www.nap.edu/​cata​log/​10482.html O’Brien, S., and Patrick Cadwell. 2017. ‘Translation facilitates comprehension of health-​related crisis information: Kenya as an example’. Journal of Specialised Translation, 28: 23–​51. O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico M. Federici. 2019. ‘Crisis translation: Considering language needs in multilingual disaster settings’. Disaster Prevention & Management, 29 (2): 129–​143. Pescaroli, Gianluca, and David E. Alexander. 2016. ‘Critical infrastructure, panarchies and the vulnerability paths of cascading disasters’. Natural Hazards, 82: 175–​192. Pöchhacker, Franz. 2008. ‘Interpreting as mediation’. In Crossing borders in community interpreting. Definitions and dilemmas, edited by Carmen Valero-​ Garces and Anne Martin, 9–​ 26. Amsterdam/​ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Pöchhacker, Franz. 2016. Introducing interpreting studies. Second edition. London: Routledge. Pokorn, Nike K., and Tamara Mikolič Južnič. 2020. ‘Community interpreters versus intercultural mediators: Is it really all about ethics?’ Translation and Interpreting Studies, 15 (1): 80–​107. Polezzi, Loredana. 2006. ‘Translation, travel, migration’. The Translator, 12 (2): 169–​ 188. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. Polezzi, Loredana. 2012. ‘Translation and migration’. Translation Studies, 5 (3): 345–​356. Abingdon: Routledge. Pöllabauer, Sonja. 2004. ‘Interpreting in asylum hearings. Issues of role, responsibility, and power’. Interpreting, 6 (2): 143–​180.

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Maura Radicioni Quaranta, Ivo, and Mario Ricca. 2012. Malati fuori luogo. Medicina interculturale. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore. Radicioni, Maura. 2019. ‘Cultural differences in interpreter-​mediated medical encounters in complex humanitarian settings: The case of Emergency ONG’. In Handbook of research on medical interpreting, edited by Effrosynni Fragkou, and Izabel Souza, 165–​187. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Radicioni, Maura. 2021. ‘Interpreter-​mediated encounters in complex humanitarian settings: Language and cultural mediation at emergency ONG Onlus’. In Interpreting conflict: A comparative framework, edited by Marija Todorova and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo, 229–​249. London: Palgrave. Radicioni, Maura, and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo. 2022a. ‘Learning dynamics between cultural mediators in humanitarian healthcare: A case study’. JosTrans–​The Journal of Specialised Translation, 37: 139–​159. Radicioni, Maura, and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo. 2022b. ‘Interpreting in times of COVID-​19: Cultural mediation as a means of effective multilingual communication’. In Translation in times of cascading crises, edited by Federico Federici and Sharon O’Brien, 237–​252. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Risku, Hannah. 2017. ‘Ethnographies of Translation and Situated Cognition’. In The Handbook of Translation and Cognition, edited by John W. Schwieter and Aline Ferreira, 290–​310. Hoboken: Wiley-​Blackwell. Rudvin, Mette, and Cinzia Spinzi. 2014. ‘Setting the borders for terminological usage of ‘language mediation’ in English and Italian. A discussion of the repercussions of terminology on the practice, self-​perception and role of language mediators in Italy’. Lingue, Culture, Mediazione, 1 (1): 57–​79. Rudvin, Mette, and Elena Tomassini. 2008. ‘Migration, ideology and the interpreter-​mediator. The role of the language mediator in educational and medical settings in Italy’. In Crossing borders in community interpreting. definitions and dilemmas, edited by Carmen Valero-​Garcés and Anne Martin, 245–​266. Amsterdam/​Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2020. ‘Interpreting for the Afghanistan Spanish Force’. War & Society, 39 (1): 42–​57. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2022. ‘Interpreting for the military: Creating communities of practice’. JosTrans, 37: 16–​34. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Clementina Persaud. 2016. ‘Interpreting in conflict zones throughout history’. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series: Themes in Translation Studies, 15: 1–​35. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, and Manuel Barea Muñoz. 2017. ‘Towards a typology of interpreters in war-​related scenarios in the Middle East’. Translation Spaces, 6 (2): 182–​208. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía, Alma Barghout, and Conor H. Martin. 2021. ‘Interpreting on UN field missions: A training programme’. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 15 (4): 450–​467. Souza, Isabel. 2016. Intercultural mediation in healthcare: From the professional medical interpreters’ perspective. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris Publishing. Tesseur, Wine. 2018. ‘Researching translation and interpreting in non-​ governmental organisations’. Translation Spaces, 7 (1): 1–​19. Todorova, Marija. 2016. ‘Interpreting conflict mediation in Kosovo and Macedonia’. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 15: 227–​240. Todorova, Marija. 2017. ‘Interpreting at the border: «Shuttle Interpreting» for the UNHCR’. Clina, 3 (2): 115–​129. Todorova, Marija. 2020. ‘Interpreting for refugees: Lessons learnt from the field’. In Interpreting in legal and healthcare settings. Perspectives on research and training, edited by Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke H.M. Crezee, 63–​82. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Wang, Caiwen. 2017. ‘Interpreters =​Cultural Mediators?’ TranslatoLogica: A Journal of Translation, Language, and Literature, 1: 93–​114. Wang, Peng. 2019. ‘Translation in the COVID-​19 health emergency in Wuhan. A crisis manager’s perspective’. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization, 6 (2): 86–​107. Yin, Robert K. 2018. Case study research and applications: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

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17 INTERPRETERS AND LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE IN GALICIAN NGDOS Situation, demand, and training needs Maribel Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, David Casado-Neira, Silvia Pérez Freire, and Luzia Oca González

Introduction Ever since the beginning of the 21 century, Spain has evolved from being a predominant source of migration to a country that today receives immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees (Oso, Villares, and Golías 2007; Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, Galanes, and Gómez 2008; DePalma, and Pérez-​Caramés 2017). This is also the case of the autonomous region of Galicia (NW Spain)1. Most immigrants, particularly refugees and asylum seekers, escape from war, famine, abuse, persecution, organised crime, poverty, etc. Many do not speak or understand Spanish or any other official language in Spain (Catalan, Galician or Basque), and need language assistance to understand and be understood. This increases vulnerability when they face a great deal of administrative bureaucracy in a language they do not understand, which hinders access to state welfare benefits and protection of their most basic rights. The first assistance that immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees receive is usually from Non-​ Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and in particular from Non-​Governmental Development Cooperation Organisations (hereinafter referred to as NGDOs), which offer a variety of services, including linguistic assistance during the reception and application process for asylum/​refugee status, as well as during adaption to the host country (in cases of gender-​based violence, human trafficking, asylum seeking, family mediation, institutionalised minors or psychological therapy). Such services are key to facilitating communication and need continuous updating and improvement of multicultural and multilingual assistance due to the constant changes in the settings and demands associated with migration flows. Unfortunately, since 2015, Spanish legislation only covers the right to translation and interpretation in police and court settings2. Like the rest of Spain, Galicia is now the destination of many immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers from different countries; therefore, the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) is implementing measures to deal with this new reality. One such action is the funding of the “Linguistic Mediation for Development Cooperation”3 project (MELINCO n.d.) whose objectives include: (i) ascertaining the communication challenges that arise in contexts involving migrants, st

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-21

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refugees and asylum seekers who do not speak the language of the host country, and (ii) providing solutions and resources to improve such communication. Spain is divided into seventeen autonomous regions and two autonomous cities, each having its own guidelines and policies concerning interpretation in NGDOs. Implemented as an action-​ based research project in Galicia, MELINCO sought to detect the linguistic and cultural barriers that exist between the Galician NGDO staff and the assisted migrants, by studying the most usual communicative processes in these settings and the potential violation of linguistic rights of those assisted. The Galician NGDOs participating in the project conduct programmes to assist vulnerable persons such as asylum/​refugee seekers, and victims of extreme poverty, gender-​based violence and human trafficking. Therefore, we can safely confirm that the demand for interpretation is inherent to the activity performed by these NGDOs. Unfortunately, the NGDO staff have poor knowledge about interpreter-​mediated communication, and more importantly, interpreters do not receive any training on objectives, actions and tools used in social programmes, thus leading to serious consequences during the assistance process. MELINCO was thus conceived to detect and improve the communication skills of interpreters, translators, NGDO workers and volunteers for migrant assistance, in cooperation with other service providers from fields like health, police, legal, etc. (social workers, legal personnel, educators, etc.). Researchers first identified the interpreters’ training needs for the provision of professional linguistic mediation, which was achieved through two research instruments: a focus group (Ibáñez 1985, 2003) and a survey (Hale and Napier 2013) targeted at NGDOs and translators/​interpreters working in these settings. This chapter analyses and summarises the results of the focus group and the survey of translators and interpreters, with special emphasis on the latter. The aim is to define the general skills that interpreters need to perform better when working for NGDOs and to identify their specific training needs.

Research context The SOS-​VICS4 project (Del-​Pozo-​Triviño et al. 2014b; Del-​Pozo-​Triviño et al. 2015; Del-​Pozo-​ Triviño and Fernandes 2018b) reported that one of the consequences derived from communication problems and deficiencies is that they often lead to human rights violations. This situation is aggravated in police and judicial settings where poor communication can have a serious impact on the legal situation of the person (Ortega 2011; Del-​Pozo-​Triviño 2016; Blasco and Del-​Pozo-​ Triviño 2015), particularly relevant when working with vulnerable groups (Foulquié-​Rubio, Vargas-​Urpi, and Fernández 2018; Del-​Pozo-​Triviño and Fernandes 2018a). Justice and equal opportunities for all immigrants in Spain/​Galicia can be ensured by focusing not only on the human rights perspective of individuals not speaking the host country’s language but also on the different challenges faced by institutions that provide assistance, such as the NGDOs. This is the challenge that both social actors and the academic community need to overcome, in order to create conditions that enable humankind to live in dignity and in the many plural forms of life. Thus, intercultural translation, construed as the interaction between the different stakeholders becomes an essential requisite for the future of all human beings, to configure new forms of subjectivity and social relations geared towards overcoming current humanitarian shortfalls. (Samaniego 2012, 111, translation by authors)

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Communication challenges faced by those who do not speak the language of the host country when seeking NGDO assistance services are mainly due to the combination of three factors: absence of language assistance, lack of awareness of the need for professional interpretation and poor working conditions of interpreters. Language occupies a secondary position in the overall assistance process and is considered a mere instrument. Therefore full communication is not considered a priority if partial communication can somehow be attained, for instance, by using simplified language, gestures/​drawings, untrained interpreters or by using general computer-​assisted translation (CAT) tools, etc. Professional interpretation is not available in all cases and is mainly sought in situations with serious legal or health implications (court cases, medical or psychological care, etc.). Interpreters’ working conditions are often poor, defined by job insecurity and low rates, which may compromise the proper practice of their profession and possible ongoing training. A previous study had analysed the current situation of linguistic service provision in NGOs in Spain (Foulquié-​Rubio, Vargas-​Urpi, and Fernández 2018). However, the focus of our study has been narrowed from a general overview to the analysis of how service provision in development cooperation could be improved through specific training in multicultural and multilingual communication by: (i) raising NGDO awareness on the importance of using interpreters trained on the essential aspects of development cooperation and human rights to guarantee linguistic rights, (ii) ensuring proper working conditions and (iii) identifying possible cases of rights violation during assistance provision. NGDOs are often unaware that inadequate communication between those assisted and the professionals assisting them leads to mutual mistrust, stereotyping (Marey-​Castro and Del-​Pozo-​ Triviño 2020) and failure to understand the complexity of the different situations. Interpreting in these contexts often involves different subjects, such as the person(s) assisted, the interpreter, the mediator (in this case, the NGDOs) and the support services providers (doctor, psychologist, lawyer, etc.). The interpreter is often involved in situations that require skills other than linguistic ones, which can range from emotion management (cognitive distortions resulting from not having training in basic social work deontological issues), to knowledge of the applicable legislation (prior information necessary to understand the legal implications), behavioural guidelines in specific contexts and even cultural issues (e.g. refusal by the person assisted to accept an interpreter of a certain gender), among others. Moreover, both NGDOs and service providers (social workers, legal personnel, educators, etc.) must be made aware of the job needs and demands of interpreters, such as the need for separate space, turn-​taking and prior provision of basic information of the case. Training should therefore be provided to all professionals involved and at all levels so that quality assistance, free of harm and victimisation, can be provided (Borja and Del-​Pozo-​Triviño 2018). Interpreters must know the essential aspects of development cooperation and be aware of situations that may endanger human rights, especially extremely delicate situations (e.g. human trafficking, sexual exploitation, asylum seeking, etc.). While it is true that some interpreters have the required training, most working in these settings do not have the necessary professional qualifications despite having linguistic competence (ad hoc interpreters) (Boéri 2012). This leads us to highlight the importance of identifying the inherent deficiencies during professional practice, involving not only interpreters but also service provider entities. Earlier research highlighted the need for provision of professional interpreting services in this field due to: (i) lack of knowledge of foreign languages by service providers (Del-​Pozo-​Triviño et al. 2014a, 21–​27, 34) and (ii) limited number of interpreters available for the most common languages spoken by immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers (Casado-​Neira 2015, 120). 251

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This chapter therefore seeks to: (i) define the general skills interpreters need to work best with NGDOs, and (ii) identify the training needs specific to this area, which in many cases coincide with the general demands for interpretation in vulnerability contexts (León 2018). Moreover, proposals intended to improve interpreter training should not only analyse the specific work context but also diagnose entailing experiences, characteristics and contextual demands, which warrants the need for research into these aspects.

Research methodology The specificity of the target group analysed in the present study has conditioned our research pool and the number of cases; just 99 NGDOs operating in Galicia (Cooperación Galega n.d.), 22 of which had employed (professional and ad hoc) interpreters at some stage in the past years. Although the number of interpreters with work experience in NGDOs is likewise small, this situation facilitated access to all targeted service provider entities and interpreters, and helped create a true picture of this specific reality. A mixed methodology was used to identify the particularities of interpreting for NGDOs. This approach explores the tasks performed by interpreters in these contexts, through self-​assessment and perceptions of their job. Information was collected using two techniques: a survey and a focus group (Del-​Pozo-​Triviño et al. 2020). The online survey5 collected detailed information on the profile and professional practice of the interpreters (n=​16) during 2019. It included qualifications, specific training provided/​received, prior professional experience in specific and/​or general contexts, languages interpreted and linguistic competence, languages demanded by NGDOs, presence/​absence of communication protocols, type of documents translated, quality evaluation during professional practice (cultural equivalences, emotion management, specific terminology, etc.) and assessment of working conditions (rates, short notice and urgency, meeting venue conditions). For the table data an index (i) was calculated, where “i” is a score that enables us to immediately visualise the results of frequency band bundling, degree of agreement, importance, etc., on a 0–​10 scale, with 10 as the highest value. It is calculated by assigning a fixed value to each of the 5 degrees of the Likert scale (in this case: 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10) that correspond to low–​high grading, divided by the number of item responses. Interpreters for the survey were selected from a list of sworn translators and interpreters published by the Ministry of External Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación 2021), and from the contacts provided by professional associations (mainly the Galician Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters, AGPTI) and the NGDOs. The sample included both professional interpreters with specific training and accreditation, as well as ad hoc interpreters, with work experience in Galician NGDO contexts. The focus group (n=​8) was comprised of eight individuals who provide interpreting services to Galician NGDOs. Participants were advanced to a brief thematic script to prepare for the 77-​ minute face-​to-​face meeting that was recorded and fully transcribed for later analysis. The criteria used for selecting focus group participants was the same as that used for the survey participants. The focus group discussion contributed to ascertaining how interpreters perceived their profession; experiences lived during practice, and their shared opinions. Data obtained through the survey and the focus group is presented in the next section. The two different techniques were combined to gain a better understanding of the specific social reality (García, Ibáñez, and Alvira 1993; Mateo and García 1993) of the interpreters who work for NGDOs in Galicia. 252

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Discussion Even though some participants in the study have both a translation and an interpreting profile, only data related to interpreting in NGDO contexts has been analysed here. The initial situation of interpreters was first established by taking into account qualifications, any recent specific interpreting-​related training and their working languages. Another aspect considered was work frequency, which indicates the actual use of interpreters by Galician NGDOs and whether these are professional or ad hoc interpreters. Most professional interpreters were found to be freelancers. The data is completed with years of interpreting experience, the frequency of the different types of interpreting requested and their training demands. Surveyed interpreters are referred to as “Surv-​ I”, and focus group participants as “Foc-​I”. The following paragraphs present and discuss the quantitative information obtained from Surv-​ I, summarised in tables, which is then followed by the relevant qualitative information (thoughts, beliefs and feelings), obtained from Foc-​I. Literal extracts in Spanish, with their English translation, from the Foc-​I are included as examples.

Initial training Of the sixteen surveyed interpreters (Table 17.1), ten have Translation and Interpreting degree qualifications and two of these even have specific Masters’ degrees in Translation. The remaining six are from different fields and may/​may not have higher education. Of these, two did not provide any information, implying they do not have any relevant training, two do have degrees but not in Interpretation (or Translation), while another two have degrees in a foreign language (English) but in the trade and education fields. Moreover, eleven of the Surv-​I participants (one Spanish Philology graduate and ten Translation and Interpreting graduates) have sworn translator and interpreter accreditations. According to the Foc-​I information, the eight participating interpreters were ad hoc interpreters who had accessed interpretation by chance as amateurs, without any specific prior interpreter training. Foc-​I6: Foc-​I6:

I had a friend who studied translation & interpretation in Romania, and I used to call and ask her: Silvina, how do I do this? Look, how can I do that? And she sent me some notes from her courses. yo tenía una amiga que estudió traducción e interpretación en Rumanía y que la llamaba y le preguntaba: Silvina ¿cómo hago eso? mira ¿cómo hago lo otro? y ella me mandaba alguna nota de sus cursos.

Table 17.1 Educational qualifications of participants surveyed BA in Translation and Interpreting BA in Translation and Interpreting +​Master’s degree in Institutional Translation BA in Translation and Interpreting +​Master’s degree in Translation BA in Spanish Philology +​Master’s degree in International Trade BA in Bilingual Primary Education BA in Nursing BA in Library Science Unknown/​NA

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Foc-​I3: Foc-​I3:

I am an Arabic interpreter, and as I said earlier, I do not have any real training, I mean no degree, etc. but, have tried to be quite professional in all stages by always searching for information on the Internet, anything really. soy interprete de árabe, como hemos hablado antes, yo sin verdaderamente formación real quiero decir que no hice la carrera ni nada pero, intenté en todos los pasos ser lo más profesional posible, buscando información siempre en internet, cualquier cosa.

Recent specific training in interpreting Of the Surv-​I participants that acquired posterior interpreting knowledge and skills through continued education (Table 17.2), only four stated they took some kind of course in the last twelve months (about 80 hours), but eleven did not. In terms of course content, two did a telephone interpreting course which qualified them to provide interpreting services for the company that organised the course, while one took a course on updates in Spanish legislation linked to legal translation and interpretation. Furthermore, four had recently attended some kind of refresher course: legal issues combined with translation (1), general course (1) and course on employability (2). Only a small proportion of participants had taken refresher training, either due to poor limited work prospects or due to unawareness about training. Two Foc-​I participants mentioned that training offered by one sector company was highly valuable, since it enabled them to provide better professional service, as it focused on aspects not addressed by previous training. This in turn reflects the importance and need for training the entire group of interpreters in order to include those aspects. Foc-​I3: Foc-​I3: Foc-​I9:

Foc-​I9:

I did a course organised by the company Voze. hice un curso con la empresa Voze. I am working for Voze now, and as my colleague mentioned earlier, the Company organised a training course that I loved, a short one, very few hours, and in fact I went to Madrid for the course and then attended a meeting in which we talked more of the same. pues ahora trabajo para Voze también, con lo cual como decía compañera aquí antes, pues nos hicieron un curso de formación, que me encantó, que era muy breve digamos, que eran de pocas horas, yo de hecho fui a Madrid, luego estuve en una reunión, también estuvimos hablando de lo mismo, que dieron muchas pinceladas.

Working languages The Surv-​I results show that most participants have language skills in English (seven out of thirteen) while others have knowledge of French (three) and Russian (three). Moreover, there are Table 17.2 Recent specific training–​in the past twelve months Yes No Others Unknown/​NA COURSES TAKEN: telephone interpretation (2), legal translation and interpreting–​updates in Spanish legislation (1), economic and financial translation (1)

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7 3 3 6

interpreters (six) with other language skills (Portuguese, Arabic or Romanian, among others). All of them are potential working languages (see Table 17.3). If we look at the language combinations, we observe that most interpreters (nine) master only one language (four English, two Russian, one Arabic, one French and one Romanian). The A two-​ language combination is recorded in two cases (English +​other, and Russian +​other). There were two cases with three language combinations, wherein the most common languages are English and French plus a third working language. The most frequently interpreted and translated languages among the Foc-​I participants were Arabic, Russian, English, French, Bulgarian, Romanian and Portuguese. Given their origin, it would be safe to consider them as native speakers of languages other than Spanish, English or French. Foc-​I7: Foc-​I7: Foc-​I8: Foc-​I8:

I’m Irina, I’m Russian and I’ve been here for 21 years exactly. I have little translation experience. I received a call from Aston one day in August to translate some text into Russian. Soy Irina, soy rusa, llevo aquí 21 años recién cumplidos. Tengo poca experiencia de traducir, un día me llamaron en agosto desde Aston para traducir al ruso. I’m Ilda, I’m Lebanese and I interpret from Arabic to Spanish. I’ve been living here for 5 years. I studied Journalism and am doing a Master’s degree in international studies at the University of Santiago. Soy Ilda, soy del Líbano, soy intérprete de árabe-​castellano, llevo aquí 5 años, bueno, yo estudié periodismo, estoy haciendo un máster de estudios internacionales en la universidad de Santiago.

How many NGDOs have you interpreted for and how often? NGDOs do not have specialised interpreters to resolve communication needs in languages their staff cannot handle. Despite growing demand, the fact is that NGDOs hire very few professional interpreters mainly due to lack of funding. Hence, they often use machine translation or simple language formats (signs, pictograms, etc.) to get by (Del-​Pozo-​Triviño and Fernandes 2018a). This clearly indicates that their communicative needs are not resolved professionally and in a competent manner. Despite the recent migratory emergency in Europe, which resulted in a growing demand for interpreters due to the high number of immigrants requiring assistance (Amnesty International 2020: 74–​75), professional interpreters are seldom hired by NGDOs and hence job offers are quite limited (Table 17.4). Thus, twelve Surv-​I participants said they had worked with less than five NGDOs throughout their entire career, one had worked for five to nine years, while two had worked for more than ten. Nine Surv-​I participants performed thirteen assignments distributed irregularly throughout the year (Table 17.5). This would correspond to approximately one action per month, however their 255

Maribel Del-Pozo-Triviño et al. Table 17.4 Number of NGDOs worked for throughout the career so far 20 Unknown/​NA

12 1 2 0 0 1

Table 17.5 Frequency of interpretation work In the last month In the last 6 months In the last 12 months

4 5 4

distribution was inconsistent: four assignments in the last month, five in the previous six months and four in the last twelve months. This means that only two interpreters had always interpreted, whereas the rest only interpreted once (two interpreted in one month, three in six months, and two in twelve months). There is not a clear correlation between interpretation experience and frequency of interpretation work. This indicates discontinuous and limited work possibilities despite the high demand for multilingual communication. Of the nine participants who worked during the past year, three were sworn translators (two also had interpreting qualifications), while the remaining six were not, and did not have any relevant higher education training in this field. To sum up, very few professional interpreters with specific training get hired, while those without specific training or officially recognised skills are the ones entrusted to interpret most in this field. The following selected testimonies from Foc-​I are seen as indicative: Foc-​I9: Foc-​I9: Foc-​I4: Foc-​I4:

I’ve been working for a while, for more than a year now, and given the nature of the programmes there, a person enters there and can be there for up to two years. Yo trabajo desde hace tiempo ya, desde hace más de un año, y con lo cual, claro los programas ahí, son que entra una persona y duran hasta dos años. There are few Bulgarians and I am seldom called. Búlgaros son muy pocos y muy pocas veces me llaman.

Years of interpreting experience As mentioned earlier, interpreting for NGDOs is an occasional activity for many interpreters and hence cannot be performed on a full-​time basis, which means that this activity is complemented with other jobs. Most respondents (n=​6) stated having ten to fourteen years of experience, three were above this range (two with over twenty years of experience) and there were four with less than ten years of experience (Table 17.6). The occasional, fluctuating nature of the demand for these services makes it difficult to establish any pattern for the accumulation of practical experience in this specific field. The distribution is symptomatic upon data comparison with recent jobs (Table 17.5), i.e. there is no correlation between experience and work frequency. In any case, the low correlation observed 256

Interpreters and language assistance in Galician NGDOs Table 17.6 Years of interpreting experience Years of experience

Number of respondents

Number of assignments in the last year

20 Unknown/​NA

3 1 6 1 2 3

3 1 3 0 2 0

Table 17.7 Years of experience with NGDOs 20 Unknown/​NA

11 1 2 0 0 2

between experience and work during the past year is of relevance, precisely in the slot with the highest concentration of experienced persons. Despite having ten to fourteen years of interpreting experience, such experience does not include work with NGDOs, hence direct experience with NGDOs seems to be a rather recent trend (Table 17.4). Most experience (n=​11) in this field lies in the under five year range, with one case in the five to nine year range and two cases in the 10–​14 year range (Table 17.7). Even though the data are related to both translation and interpreting experience, there seems to be a clear recent trend towards the use of professional interpreters in these settings, which coincides with the trend indicated by the frequency data. These are some testimonies from Foc-​I about years living in the host country and working as interpreters: Foc-​I4: Foc-​I4: Foc-​I2: Foc-​I2:

I’m Bulgarian by birth and have lived here for almost 30 years. I’m a Bulgarian translator, who studied in Cuba and worked in Bulgaria as a tourist guide in Spanish and Russian, after which I came to Madrid. Soy búlgara de nacimiento, llevo aquí casi 30 años, pero soy traductora de Bulgaria, de estudiar el castellano en Cuba y en Bulgaria trabajé como guía turístico, en castellano y ruso, y después vine a Madrid. Ok, I’m from Syria, a refugee living here since 3 years. Vale, soy de Siria, refugiado aquí desde hace 3 años.

Interpretation modalities Interpretation is practised in three different modalities: face-​to-​face, telephone and videoconferencing (Table 17.8). Face-​to-​face is the most popular modality because NGDOs usually seek professional help only in cases of particular relevance (police interrogations, legal processes or medical 257

Maribel Del-Pozo-Triviño et al. Table 17.8 Frequency of interpretation modality

Face-​to-​face interpretation Telephone interpretation Videoconference interpretation

Always

Almost always

Sometimes

Almost never

Never

Index

4 0 0

1 1 0

1 2 1

1 0 0

1 3 4

6.9 2.9 1.0

situations). To date, face-​to-​face interpretation has been carried out onsite (i=​6.9). Although telephone interpreting is gaining importance, it clearly lags far behind the face-​to-​face modality (i=​2.9). This is partly because telephone interpretation is offered by enterprises that interpreters work for but does not account for most of their interpreting work. Likewise, videoconference interpreting, an alternative to face-​to-​face interpreting, is a lot less used than the other two modalities (i=​1.0). However, even though the conventional face-​to-​face (physical presence) modality is to date the most demanded by NGDOs, social distancing requirements due to COVID-​19 have also led to the development of new tools, media and training demands that need further research. Participants in the Foc-​I also spoke about the different modalities and expressed their preference for face-​to-​face interpreting. Foc-​I3: Foc-​I3: Foc-​I9: Foc-​I9:

And other things, like for example, in Voze, one has two options: telephone interpretation or face-​to-​face interpretation. Y otras cosas que por ejemplo, en Voze, tienes dos opciones, puedes tener la interpretación telefónica o puedes tener presencial. Interpreting in a booth is one thing, but talking to someone in person is another thing. Una cabina es una cosa, pero estar aquí presente y hablar a una persona es otra cosa.

Degree of importance for training Data from the previous section indicate that the practice followed until now is direct contact between the parties in a face-​to-​face environment. When asked about the importance of aspects other than just knowledge of working languages for training (Table 17.9), we observe a variety of factors linked to improvement in the technical capacities needed for mastering a language, and many other usually ignored aspects or those that occupy a secondary role in official training. Even though the three interpretation modalities share a common corpus of essential skills and knowledge required for good performance, they do have individual specific needs and demands. When asked to assess important aspects, IT tools (i=​4.3) were considered as less significant, since they are not considered relevant for interpreting. However, if the use of IT resources is not restricted to just videoconference interpretation and encompasses activities such as sourcing supporting documents, information management or terminology consultation, its importance increases when compared to other aspects. Specific training in interpretation, which should be considered as a fundamental aspect for any further training and even for professional practice, was considered as the second least important factor (i=​6.9). Its rating is positive, despite scoring lower than other abilities directly related to interpretation. This may be due to the fact that such training is taken for granted or that the factors that condition the practice of interpretation are perceived as independent from trained abilities. 258

Interpreters and language assistance in Galician NGDOs Table 17.9 Degree of importance for training

Specific terminology Cultural equivalences Professional conduct Emotion management Interpreting techniques Knowledge of development cooperation Specific training in interpreting IT tools

Very high

High

Medium

Low

None

Index

3 2 2 1 1 1 0 0

2 3 3 3 2 3 3 2

0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

9.0 7.9 7.9 7.5 7.5 7.5 6.9 4.3

On the subject of the present study (working with NGDOs), knowledge of development cooperation is considered to be of high importance (i=​7.5). The use of instrumental interpretation techniques, such as note-​taking or summarising, is considered relevant (i=​7.5), together with knowledge of cultural equivalences (i=​7.9), which, although given high importance, stands second to the knowledge of specific terminology (i=​9.0). This highlights the particular challenges of each interpreting modality, where demands are determined by the subject matter and the origin of the person assisted. Two competences of special interest, professional conduct (i=​7.9) and emotion management (i=​7.5), share a similar rating. Professional conduct is of top relevance in relation to the protection of fundamental rights, since any default may cause revictimisation of the person assisted. Emotion management during the intervention can protect both the professional interpreter and the person assisted, thus making it especially relevant to the psychological impact of the parties involved and performing a good interpreting job. The potential training demands cover a wider spectrum of abilities ranging from the more technical aspects linked with linguistic competence (e.g. specific terminology) to those of interaction skills (e.g. emotion management or professional conduct). The former relates to training in language competence, while the latter are applicable to the general interpretation and translation praxis. Foc-​I participants also expressed their wish to have more (specialised) training. Foc-​I6: Foc-​I6: Foc-​I3: Foc-​I3:

I’d like to continue with the training. A mí me gustaría seguir con la formación. As an interpreter, I’d like to receive more training on some aspects of certain sessions. A mí, como interprete, me gustaría tener una formación anterior sobre algunos temas de las unas sesiones.

Conclusion This chapter presents an indicative snapshot of the reality concerning interpretation in Galician NGDOs. It is not a comparison between the situation in Galicia and the rest of Spain. Our research indicates that one of the biggest limitations on interpreting services is the lack of coordination between the Galician service providers and the different regional administrations. We believe that action in this area could produce a positive impact in other areas that also call for structural changes. 259

Maribel Del-Pozo-Triviño et al.

In the Galician context, court and police are the most common settings in which interpreters provide services to NGDOs. Such interventions are mostly connected with cases of gender-​based violence, human trafficking, asylum seeking, family mediation (institutionalised minors) and psychological assessment. The work of the NGDOs is aimed at restoring immigrants’ rights violated in their country of origin, and at times during assistance provision in the host country. Their overall objective is to minimise any perceived damage and repair consequences as best as possible by restoring people’s autonomy and freedom. One of the most used tools is social accompaniment where the goal is to first generate trust between the person assisted and the NGDO, prior to processing any application and/​or documentation. Therefore, establishing oral communication via an interpreter, use of specific terminology and application of professional conduct can best benefit social intervention in these situations. The absence of basic training for interpreters linked to objectives, actions and tools used in social programmes, as well as the lack of knowledge about interpreter-​mediated communication on the part of the NGDOs, can produce disastrous consequences on social intervention. These can be easily addressed by creating professional meeting spaces (by including interpreters in the NGDO’s permanent task force) and/​or organising training workshops for each type of assignment to discuss the key points for adequately contextualising relevant cases. NGDOs hire professional and non-​professional interpreters only in very specific situations (court cases, serious medical cases or police investigations), i.e. whenever the communicative situation cannot be resolved in-​house. In most other scenarios, the problem is addressed unprofessionally or by using the limited resources available, thus hampering proper communication. Use of non-​professional interpreters in settings with vulnerable groups is yet another added problem. The factors that structurally limit the provision of quality interpretation services in NGDOs are threefold: Firstly, there is a lack of resources and services are usually urgent. Secondly, service providers do not give due importance to the negative impact of deficient communications; they are usually unaware of the negative consequences of miscommunication. And thirdly, conditions essential to performing quality interpretation are not taken into consideration. These essential requirements include providing the interpreter with information about the assignment (topic, sex of the person assisted, problems arising from international conflicts, etc.). Specific training programmes targeted at NGDOs should be created to raise awareness on migrants/​ refugees/​ asylum seekers’ right to linguistic assistance and on providing proper working conditions for interpreters to guarantee professional and reliable communications. Such programmes should emphasise the relevance of interpretation and the need to implement operating protocols to guarantee professional action by all stakeholders. Most importantly, these initiatives should highlight the need for hiring qualified professional interpreters. Given that the present interpreter training offer is distant from the reality in these workplace settings, changes should be introduced in training curricula to include not only linguistics skills (specific terminology, interpretation techniques and specific training in interpretation), but also competences related to cultural issues, emotion management and knowledge of development cooperation. These could be addressed as part of a specific follow-​up training, after academic qualifications are obtained. Academia would therefore need to reflect on curricular contents and other initiatives to facilitate such training, both for interpreters and other service providers (social workers, legal personnel, educators, etc.) assisting persons who do not speak the language of the host country. Such follow-​up training would surely improve their professional skills and competences. The responsibility to make this training a reality lies with all parties involved –​ NGDOs, interpreters and academia –​and should go beyond any lines established by political or institutional authorities. 260

Interpreters and language assistance in Galician NGDOs

This study of the social reality of interpreters working with Galician NGDOs has clearly revealed a lack of mutual awareness of the basic requirements and conditions essential for providing quality interpretation. Interpreters lacked basic knowledge on social intervention and social services, while NGDOs lacked information on interpreter-​mediated communications. The critical minimum quality requirements are taken for granted by NGDOs, service providers and interpreters during professional practice. Many of these are circumstantial (public administration does not provide enough resources to address emergencies) while others are directly related to the type of NGDO intervention, where resource scarcity and urgency prevail. The serious structural deficiencies imply that it would be very difficult to provide good quality services, as reflected in the opinion of the NGDOs participating in our study and summarised as “we do what we can”. The fundamental translation and interpretation services received by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are one of the weakest services provided by both the public administration and the NGDOs. Moreover, effective communication (free of misunderstandings, by offering reliable information about the case) is not considered a priority if partial communication can somehow be attained, implying that any type of solution is good and acceptable. This mindset essentially means renouncing quality, based on the notion that success lies in providing the interpretation service rather than taking into account the conditions for proper service provision. This observation is consistent with the social intervention reality in emergencies where scant or non-​existent resources are used, when perhaps no intervention would have been the best path to follow because the underlying problem gets transferred to other instances. The study indicates that NGDOs have few economic resources to cater to a growing demand from immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and interpreters have inadequate training for language assistance provision in NGDOs. We might therefore be faced with a “pre-​citizenship” and “infantilised” migrant community (the etymology of the word infant: in-​fans, one who does not speak or is unable to express oneself; Taylor 1929) wherein basic communication is used to tackle complex needs. This implies that full social recognition is taken for granted and consequently, “half communication” responds to the consideration of “half citizenship”.

Notes 1 Population around 2.7 million. 2 Basic Law 5/​2015, of 27 April 2015, modifying the Criminal Procedure Code and Basic Law 6/​1985, of 1 July 1985, of the Judiciary, transposing Directive 2010/​64/​EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings and Directive 2012/​13/​EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2012 on the right to information in criminal proceedings. 3 MELINCO is the Galician acronym for Mediación lingüística para a cooperación ao desenvolvemento (“Linguistic Mediation for Development Cooperation”). 4 SOS-​VICS is an acronym based on the name of the project “Speak out for Support”. 5 The survey was accessible in the Jotform.com form builder platform.

Further reading Bámbaren-​Call, Ana Maria, Marjory Bancroft, Nora Goodfriend-​Koven, Karen Hanscom, Nataly Kelly, Virginia Lewis, Cynthia Roat, Liliya Robinson, and Lourdes Rubio-​Fitzpatrick. 2012. Interpreting compassion: A needs assessment report on interpreting for survivors of torture, war trauma and sexual violence. Columbia: The Voice of Love. A (gender perspective) interpreter training manual for interpreting survivors of torture, war trauma and sexual violence, with special attention to displaced migrants and refugees.

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Maribel Del-Pozo-Triviño et al. Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, Maribel, David Casado-​Neira, Silvia Pérez-​Freire, and Luzia Oca González. 2022. ‘Traducir e interpretar en la cooperación al desarrollo: Proyecto MELINCO’. In Traducción e interpretación en entornos institucionales: Enseñanza y práctica de la profesión desde perspectivas sociales e innovadoras, edited by Adelina Gómez and Raquel Martínez Motos, 61–​85. Oxford: Peter Lang. A complete overview of the MELINCO research project. Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, Maribel, and Doris Fernandes del Pozo. 2018. ‘Situación de la traducción y la interpretación en los servicios públicos de Galicia (2006–​2016)’. In Panorama de la Traducción y la Interpretación en los servicios públicos españoles: una década de cambios, retos y oportunidades, edited by A. Isabel Foulquié-​Rubio, Mireia Vargas-​Urpi, and Magdalena Fernández P ​ érez, 99–​118. Granada: Comares. This chapter presents the situation and evolution of translation and interpreting services in the public services in Galicia from 2006 to 2016. Shackman, Jane. 1984. The right to be understood: A handbook on working with, employing and training community interpreters. Cambridge: National Extension College. A general work on community interpreting, in which empathy and integrity are described as milestones, that complement the linguistic and cultural competence of an interpreter.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Xunta de Galicia, Spain (Grant Number: PR 815A 2019/​6).

References Amnesty International. 2020. Europe: Human rights Europe–​Review of 2019. London: Amnesty International. Website. www.amne​sty.org/​en/​docume​nts/​eur01/​2098/​2020/​en/​. Blasco Mayor, María Jesús, and Maribel Del-​Pozo-​Triviño. 2015. ‘La interpretación judicial en España en un momento de cambio’. MonTI, 7: 9–​40. http://​hdl.han​dle.net/​10045/​52537. Boéri, Julie. 2012. ‘Ad hoc interpreting at the crossways between natural, professional, novice and expert interpreting’. In Interpreting Brian Harris. Recent developments in natural translation and in interpreting studies, edited by María A. Jiménez Ivars and María J. Blasco Mayor, 117–​132. Bern: Peter Lang. Borja Albi, Anabel, and Maribel Del-​ Pozo-​ Triviño. 2018. ‘Diálogo multidisciplinar en violencia de género: Profesionales de la justicia e intérpretes’. Revista de Llengua i Dret, 69: 103–​118. http://dx.doi.org/10.2436/rld.i69.2018.3040. Casado-​Neira, David. 2015. ‘La atención a las mujeres víctimas de violencia de género no castellano-​ hablantes: percepción de necesidades en los ámbitos sanitario, policial, judicial y psico-​social’. In Construir puentes de comunicación en el ámbito de la violencia de género, edited by Maribel Del-​Pozo-​ Triviño, Carmen Toledano Buendía, David Casado-​Neira, and Doris Fernandes del Pozo, 113–​124. Granada: Comares. Cooperación Galega. n.d. ‘Entidades inscritas en la sección A-​ONGD’. Cooperación Galega. Website. https://​ coop​erac​ion.xunta.gal/​gl/​axen​tes-​inscri​tos/​a. Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, Maribel. 2016. ‘El derecho de las personas acusadas y víctimas a entender y ser entendidas recogido en la legislación internacional y española’. In Traducir e Interpretar lo público, edited by Óscar Ferreirto Vázquez, 121–​128. Granada: Comares. Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, Maribel, and Doris Fernandes del Pozo. 2018a. ‘Situación de la traducción y la]interpretación en los servicios públicos de Galicia (2006–​2016)’. In Panorama de la Traducción y la Interpretación en los servicios públicos españoles: una década de cambios, retos y oportunidades, edited by Isabel A. Foulquié-​Rubio, Mireia Vargas-​Urpi, and Magdalena Fernández-​Pérez, 99–​118. Granada: Comares. Del-​ Pozo-​ Triviño, Maribel, and Doris Fernandes del Pozo. 2018b. ‘What public-​ service agents think interpreters should know to work with gender violence victims. The Speak Out for Support (SOS-​VICS) project’. Sendebar, 29: 9–​33. http://dx.doi.org/10.30827/sendebar.v29i0.6735. Del-​Pozo-​Triviño, Maribel, Iolanda Galanes Santos, and Elisa Gómez López. 2008. ‘Galicia: ¿tierra de emigrantes o de inmigrantes? Panorama actual y características distintivas de la traducción e interpretación en los servicios públicos en la comunidad gallega’. In Investigación y práctica en traducción e

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18 INTERPRETERS AS CATALYSTS FOR TRANSLATION IN REFUGEE CRISES Creating a sense of community and belonging in migrant reception Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña

Introduction In today’s highly globalised, multicultural societies, where people coexist in super-​diverse spaces (Vertovec 2007) where contexts of crisis are often encountered, interpreters act as catalysts for translation and integration in social emergency settings, especially in migrant reception centres1. As cultural mediators (Taft 1981), interpreters create bridges between “us” and “the others” and become an essential tool for migrants in familiarising themselves with a new reality. Paradoxically, while it is widely recognised that interpreting is a site of conflict, the prevailing view of the role of interpreters is still that of “neutral” mediators (Salama-​Carr 2007, 1). Given that research in intercultural interactions and multilingual communication in emergencies, disasters, and crises should draw from practical experiences in the field (Federici and Declercq 2020, 1), this chapter aims to provide a deeper understanding of the role played by interpreters in migration scenarios, with a particular focus on the impact that the interpreting services (or absence thereof) can have on migrants. This was studied in the context of the 2018 influx of migrants into Spain, where the right to a competent interpretation clashed with practice and went unnoticed in many cases, given the significant difficulties faced by both state and non-​state centres in the reception process. Nonetheless, such entities, among which there were Catholic Church organisations, aimed to build spaces where migrants felt welcome and integrated. (Christian values, including a sense of duty towards the vulnerable, are deeply rooted in Spain, given its traditional Catholic background.) Within this framework, the interpreter becomes a facilitator who helps migrants find meaning and legitimacy in the host country. This chapter seeks to address the following questions: Which role do interpreters play in migration settings? Do migrants receive appropriate interpreting assistance? Can the absence of interpreters impact migrants’ feelings of belonging in the host communities? And, according to interpretation users, what is the most suitable role for an interpreter in these contexts?

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DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-22

Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises

We will first lay out the legal and theoretical frameworks used as the basis for conceiving a questionnaire completed by both migrants and reception centre volunteers in Spain. Our results will then be presented to contribute to a better understanding of the interpreter’s role expected by users in crisis contexts.

Research context To address interpreting services in contexts of crisis, especially in migration scenarios, the research context can be framed from two different perspectives. The first section covers the legal framework to understand migration scenarios and the legal right to interpreting services in this context. The second section encompasses the theoretical background which defines how the interpreting services are meant to be in these situations.

Legal framework In the context of migratory fluxes, migrants face the struggle of unfamiliarity and lack of knowledge of the society and culture surrounding them upon arrival to their destination. To connect with the host community, migrants require access to a competent interpreting service, especially if the motive behind their displacement is asylum-​seeking. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations (UDHR) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union capture the right of asylum as a human right. This was further developed in the Convention relating to the status of refugees of 1951, indicating that refugees cannot be discriminated against due to race, religion, or country of origin (United Nations General Assembly 1951). As an intrinsic part of being human and their nationality, language cannot be held as the grounds of possible prejudice towards asylum seekers and refugees. In the context of asylum-​seeking, the concession of the refugee status essentially depends on the migrants’ narration of their experienced persecution. Thus, the right to a competent interpreting service for migrants to fully express themselves becomes a vital aspect of the asylum procedure. At a European legal level, Directive 2013/​33/​EU on international protection notes that the EU Member States shall ensure that the information provided to asylum applicants is in a language they understand (European Union 2013a). Moreover, Directive 2013/​32/​EU on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection reflects that the applicants should be granted interpreting services to communicate correctly with the authorities. The directive further specifies that interpreters must be competent (European Union 2013b). Clearly, the importance of appropriate communication and competent interpretation is captured in this regulatory background. Nonetheless, there are few specifications on how such interpreting services should be conducted, and other relevant legislation does not even acknowledge interpretation as a right. Despite the possible lack of legislation, if logic is applied, most human and migrant rights necessarily entail a right to interpreting services, as otherwise such rights cannot be adequately fulfilled.

Theoretical framework Besides linguistic and cultural brokering, the most visible aspect of their task, two other dimensions are pivotal to mediation in interpreting contexts (Pöchhacker 2008): contractual mediation (facilitating communication in contexts of crisis, including power imbalance) and cognitive mediation (mediating understanding, participation, and narratives). Since the relations between

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micro-​interactional and macro-​structural elements (that is, between the text itself and its given context) are fundamental to interpreted interactions (Inghilleri 2003), interpreters must consider three different pragmatic levels of information (Austin 1962): what is said (locutionary act), what is intended (illocutionary act), and what should be said to attain a specific result (perlocutionary act), since interpreters’ renditions should be communication-​oriented, rather than text-​oriented (Baraldi and Gavioli 2015, 249). Therefore, professionalism, skill, and expertise must ensure effectiveness in interpreter-​mediated contexts. The surveys designed for this study are based on two theoretical underpinnings that are arguably useful for professional interpreters to better understand, reflect upon, and strategically plan their role in the sensitive communicative interactions in crisis contexts: communicative distance management strategies and the interpreter’s role continuum model. First, communicative distance management in dialogue interpreting can be defined as the set of strategies by which interpreters inevitably position themselves towards primary interlocutors concerning a series of contextual and interactional aspects. They can be particularly helpful for analysing the interactions in bi-​or multilingual crisis contexts, where interpreters work for vulnerable users such as migrants. Our literature review reveals at least nine factors related to communicative distance management that interpreters should carefully consider beforehand to minimise potential problems. (1) Physical distance has to do with the spatial distribution of the interlocutors and interpreters, as their position is intimately connected to non-​verbal communication cues that make them perceive each other as being with one another (Wadensjö 2001, 82–​83). The triangular arrangement is the optimum configuration (Gentile, Ozolins, and Vasilakakos 1996, 18) and the most observed (Pöchhacker 2012, 59) since it constitutes a visual statement of the interpreter’s neutral positioning. (2) Time distance refers to the interpreting technique(s) used by the interpreter during the communicative interaction: the extension of interventions, conversation flow, or memory or note-​ taking constraints can make the interpreter consciously choose to alternate consecutive with or without notes and whispered interpreting to regulate distance with original renditions (Collados Aís, Fernández Sánchez, and de Manuel Jerez 2001, 67). (3) Interactive distance is the implicit or explicit coordination of communication, allowing interpreters to exercise their agency as co-​participants (Angelelli 2012, 253) through strategies such as managing how information is segmented, regulating speaking turns and dialogic balance, or requesting the designation of a spokesperson within a group of interlocutors. Interpreters “actively distribute opportunities to participate, by giving voice to participants’ stories and (re-​) authoring the current story as a story of cooperation” (Baraldi 2012, 298). (4) Semantic distance can be understood as the degree to which the reproduction of the original utterance is literal. Interpreters may use different strategies to modulate their semantic distance to the original, as per Wadensjö (1998, 104–​110). They may choose to prioritise pragmatic equivalence, maintaining the same or similar illocutionary force as the original (Hale 2001, 48). (5) Grammatical distance determines the “never-​ending debate” (Valero Garcés 2008, 176) of whether interpreters choose the first or third grammatical person of the singular when conveying a message. Just as speakers do (Tebble 1999, 190), interpreters can regulate their tenor: the first person creates the illusion of more direct exchange, fostering empathy and clarity, whereas the third person facilitates coordinating communication and adding explanations. (6) Linguistic/​cultural distance refers to how interpreters bridge the cultural communities of both parties in communication to ensure inclusive, “culturally competent care” (Angelelli 2012, 266), considering that they might feel closer to the interlocutor with whom they share a linguistic and cultural background. Besides, modulating the interpreter’s degree of involvement when 266

Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises Table 18.1 Communicative distance management in dialogue interpreting Communicative distance

Definition

Physical distance Time distance

Spatial distribution of interlocutors and interpreters Interpreting technique(s) used by the interpreter during the communicative interaction Implicit or explicit coordination of communication Degree to which the reproduction of the original utterance is literal Whether the interpreter chooses the first or third grammatical person of the singular How interpreters bridge the cultural communities of both parties

Interactive distance Semantic distance Grammatical distance Linguistic/​cultural distance Emotional distance Power distance Professional distance

Need for the interpreter to set boundaries for their involvement with interlocutors Compensating (or not) for the potential imbalance between the two (groups of) interlocutors How the interpreter sets limits for their role that abide by ethical principles and professional codes of conduct

migrants have limited proficiency in the host country’s language and try to communicate directly whenever possible (Meyer 2012) is also key since code-​switching is a salient feature of mediated interactions in many migratory contexts (Anderson 2012). (7) Emotional distance is related to the need for the interpreter to set boundaries to their involvement with interlocutors, particularly with those most vulnerable and highly dependent on assistance. In particularly challenging contexts, the disempowered party might see the interpreter as their only liaison with the system and the rest of the world, which makes the latter carry a heavy responsibility burden (Brennan 1999, 244). (8) Power distance (Hofstede 2022) has to do with the potential imbalance between the two (groups of) interlocutors and whether (and when) the interpreter should mediate to compensate for it. It is related to the social distance between interlocutors (Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Roca Urgorri 2017), as well as to linguistic politeness (Mason and Stewart 2001, 51) and the management of face-​threatening acts. (9) Professional distance translates into how the interpreter sets limits for their role that abide by ethical principles and professional codes of conduct. It is related to the institutional and professional constraints that govern the interpreter’s role at a functional level (Pöchhacker 2012, 66–​67). While all of these distances are relevant, when discussing interpreting in the context of refugee crises, physical, linguistic/​cultural, emotional, power, and professional distance become particularly vital for successful communication: institutions value linear, transparent discourse, but the exile and hardship experiences described by refugees often shake their expressive abilities, even in their mother tongue (Venuti 2000, 487). The second theoretical element that the present study builds upon is that of the interpreter’s role continuum model (Aguirre Fernández Bravo 2019), a non-​prescriptive tool for interpreters and users to reflect upon role expectations and explore the different mediation possibilities that a given context can require or even allow. As shown in Table 18.2, the general mediation continuum that runs along the opposite poles of “conduit” vs. “advocate” interpreter is made up of nine subscales that can be understood as mediation parameters that interpreters can use to modulate their degree of involvement in different aspects, namely the interpreter’s: (1) role in Jakobson’s (1960) classic 267

Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña Table 18.2 Parameters used to modulate the interpreter’s degree of mediation Conduit interpreter

Parameters

Advocate interpreter

Non-​person

Interpreter’s role in Jakobson’s communication model View of communication Management of cultural elements Power relation balancing Interpreter’s visibility Social scope of the interpreter’s role Communicative coordination Notion of fidelity Grammatical identification with speakers

Participant, third-​party

Monologic Monocultural Gatekeeper Invisible Individual Translator Lexicographical/​literal fidelity First person

Dialogic Multicultural Key to the door Visible Group member Translator and coordinator Functional fidelity Third person

communication model; (2) view of communication; (3) management of cultural elements; (4) balancing of power relations; (5) visibility; (6) role social scope; (7) communicative coordination; (8) notion of fidelity; and (9) grammatical identification with speakers. Analysing these distances and subscales in the migratory context will allow us to describe the prominent roles most usually played by interpreters who mediate with migrants and understand what the users and workers who assist them would expect or prefer and see whether the two perspectives match or not.

Research methodology Scope Interpreters who work with refugees in humanitarian situations come from diverse educational backgrounds: sometimes they are former refugees themselves, others are hired for their linguistic and cultural skills, and regardless of whether they are trained or not, they are expected to perform duties in situations that are neither clearly defined nor explained in formal or informal training (Todorova 2020, 167–​168). To understand the relevance of the interpreter’s role in migratory scenarios, our theoretical framework was put into practice in the context of the 2018 influx of immigrants into Spain. According to Martín-​Ruel (2021, 257), while in the European Union (EU) the tendency in recent years was for asylum applications to decrease, in Spain, the opposite occurred: there was a continuous increase, with numbers rising by 48% between 2017 and 2018; by 2018, Spain quickly became the fifth EU country in volume of asylum applications. As per the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR 2021), the latest report on global trends points out that in 2020, because of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and/​or events seriously disturbing public order (e.g., climate change), 82.4 million people were forcibly displaced (about 48 million being internally displaced people). Approximately 4.1 million were asylum seekers and 26.4 million were granted refugee status. The refugees were mainly from Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Myanmar (around 68% of refugees), and the main host countries were Turkey, Colombia, Pakistan, Uganda, and Germany (around 35% of refugees were hosted there) (UNHCR 2021). From the total of migrants registered by UNHCR, twelve million were living in Europe. In 2021, 632,300 asylum applications were housed in the EU, 34% more than in the same period of 268

Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises

2020 but 10% below pre-​COVID levels. The applicants came mainly from Venezuela, Georgia, Colombia, Albania, and Moldova, and most of them applied in Germany, France, and Spain. Of the total applications issued, 39% of applicants received a positive result, either refugee status, subsidiary protection status, or humanitarian status (European Commission 2021).

Surveys Two surveys were conducted to explore the reality migrants faced when arriving to Spain, specifically regarding the interpreting services at the different reception centres. Surveys inquired potential users about their expectations of the interpreters’ role. The limited scope of the investigation entailed narrowing down the potential interviewees to those migrants that arrived through the southern border, often illegally, and who were hosted in reception centres managed by Catholic Church institutions, which we chose to narrow down a sample as homogeneous as possible. Government agencies and other reception organisations were excluded from the research mainly due to time and scope restrictions. In fact, throughout the research phase, we often lacked information on centre management and interpreting services, given that there were not many open sources to consult data and figures, as well as the general absence of interpreters in these centres. Nonetheless, the information gathered from the research and surveys contributed to understanding the importance of interpreters in migration centres to welcome and host migrants, transmitting a sense of community and belonging. The case study performed in Spain could be applied to other migrant scenarios to shed light on interpreting service in crisis contexts. This section elaborates on the research methodology. To analyse the situation of interpreting services at migrant reception centres in Spain and examine whether and how the right to an interpreter was ensured, we surveyed both migrants that had arrived in Spain and the workers and volunteers that hosted them in Church reception centres. Surveys were prepared based on the legal and theoretical frameworks detailed earlier, aiming to identify the most common interpreter role experienced and inquire whether it was the one they expected and/​or needed. The survey for migrants contained 24 questions, divided into two sections. The first ten questions were general inquiries to distinguish the migrants’ profile. The surveys were anonymous, but these questions (including, but not limited to, gender, age, nationality, reasons behind movement, asylum-​related and reception centres-​related aspects) helped define the migratory situation. In the second part of the survey, the questions were specifically about the interpreting services at reception centres. First, migrants were asked about the presence or absence of interpreters in these centres, the type of interpreters, the assistance provided, etc. Second, migrants were asked more specifically about their opinion on the interpreting services to assess their perception of the interpreter’s role, using Likert-​scale-​like questions. From 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree), migrants expressed their opinion on which type of interpreter they preferred: conduit, mediator, or advocate. Statements like “the presence of the interpreter has made me feel more uncomfortable” were to be voted on, according to their experience. These types of statements were conducive to observe whether migrants prefer interpreters that were closer, more reachable, who made them feel more comfortable (advocate side of the spectrum), or those interpreters that were more distant or seemed more detached (conduit role). The survey for workers and volunteers at Church migrant reception centres was drafted similarly. It included 24 questions. Again, the first part consisted of generic profiling questions, where workers were also asked about their duties and responsibilities at the centres. The second part was related to the interpreting services to know their opinion on the interpreter’s role. 269

Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña

Since the scope of the research was limited to Church reception centres, the surveys were distributed to several migrants hosted in Madrid’s parishes and Catholic Church institutions. Given the reduced capacity of those facilities, the access to a sample was narrow, and it was not possible to conduct specific recruitment based on the migrants’ profile. The surveys were distributed on paper to each migrant in three reception centres. Although the questions were initially drafted in Spanish, given the general unfamiliarity with the language, they were also translated into French and English, taking into account the migrants’ language skills. While responding to the questions, some still struggled to comprehend, as these were not their mother tongues (they spoke local minority languages). Moreover, some inquiries had to be orally explained for them to grasp the whole meaning, given the differences between the spoken and written language, which some did not master. To disseminate the form among workers or volunteers of Church organisations, directors of five organisations of the Board for Hospitality2 were contacted. Between two and three weeks after the surveys were distributed, 36 migrant responses were finally obtained, and 42 worker/​volunteer responses were received.

Discussion Based on the legal and theoretical frameworks discussed previously, this section develops an analysis of refugees’ perceptions of the support offered to them by interpreters in the context of the 2018 migratory crisis in Spain.

Migrants’ survey Out of the 36 survey respondents, 94.4% were men, mostly between 18 and 25 years old (47.2%) who came mainly from Guinea Conakry (39.3%), Cameroon (17.9%), and Morocco (17.9%), thus predominantly speaking French, English, and Arabic. Of all respondents, the majority accessed Spain via Andalusian cities (66.7%), followed by Madrid (13.9%), Melilla (8.3%), and Ceuta (5.6%). As for the reasons alleged for fleeing, political reasons clearly stood up (40.6%), followed by conflict or war (34.4%), prosecution for ethnic (25%) or religious reasons (18.8%). At the time of the survey, 2.9% had barely been in Spain for two weeks, whereas 14.3% reported a month, 25.7% between two and three months, 22.9% between four and six months, 22.9% between seven months and a year, and 11.4% indicated that they were in Spain for over two years. More than half of the surveyed migrants (55.6%) had applied for asylum: 5% received a negative response, 15% obtained a favourable answer, whereas the majority (80%) were still waiting for a decision. Some migrants mentioned that they had recently applied, while others had been waiting for a response for up to eleven months. Although the survey was presented to the respondents as an independent research study, given the complex situation they were facing, the fact that migrants may have been less critical when asked about the asylum procedure must be taken into consideration.

Perception of reception centres and access to interpreting services When questioned about the reception centres they stayed in across Spain, in general, migrants were unaware of the institutions behind the management of such facilities: 41.2% mentioned police premises, 17.6% pointed to the temporary stay centres for migrants (Centro de Estancia Temporal 270

Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises

de Inmigrantes, CETI), and another 17.6% named foreign offices. Only 32.4% referred to Church centres, despite all of them filling in the surveys in these institutions. This lack of awareness therefore should be considered when interpreting results. It seemed that no one had explained to the migrants where they were upon arrival at the centres. Regarding the interpreting services offered, 50% of migrants indicated that there were always interpreters in the different NGOs and Church institutions, as well as at the border. On the other hand, 21.9% mentioned that there were interpreters at times, while 18.8% noticed their absence and 9.4% were unaware of their presence. Although it is significantly positive that half of them stated that interpreters were available, in 45.2% of the cases, these were believed to be workers or volunteers, while only 16.1% were believed to be actually professional interpreters. Furthermore, 41.7% of the sample explained that they had received assistance from interpreters when applying for asylum. Considering that 55.6% of the interviewees had applied, the interpreting services largely covered the migrants’ needs during this procedure. On the other hand, only 25% highlighted access to interpreting services at the border, and another 25% commented that the relevant information was explained to them in their language (yet not necessarily by professional interpreters).

Perception of the interpreting services and the interpreter’s role Most respondents considered language a barrier to the asylum application process (71.4% strongly agreed) and stressed that they would have liked to always have an interpreter available (73.5% strongly agreed). As to whether they had felt accompanied during the reception process, opinions varied considerably: 37.9% felt totally accompanied, while 31% did not. When asked whether the presence of an interpreter had favoured such a feeling of accompaniment, 39.4% strongly agreed, but 27.3% strongly disagreed. Although almost 80% said that the presence of the interpreter had made them feel more comfortable, 40% reported that they had not been able to express themselves fully in their language, and 55% mentioned that the interpreter was not very familiar with their language and culture. More specifically, when asked if the interpreter had personally helped them with their situation, 44.4% answered that the interpreter had merely interpreted (thus acting as a conduit interpreter). In comparison, 36.1% mentioned receiving additional help from the (mediator) interpreter. Half of the respondents would have preferred the interpreter to mediate more and advocate for them. However, 30% disagreed with this more mediating role, an interestingly high figure (an answer that could potentially have been influenced by the migrants’ asylum application status). It should also be noted that 40% preferred a professional interpreter rather than another migrant fluent in their language: migrants seem to demand a quality interpretation. Before the surveys were conducted, it was expected that a greater number of migrants would prefer the model of a mediating interpreter, who would defend their interests, and an ad hoc interpreter, that is, a friend, family member, or fellow migrant who would make them feel more comfortable and secure. This idea is shared by many of the surveyed workers and volunteers (see the following section), but migrants thought differently: as shown by their responses, summarised in Table 18.3, they wanted a professional interpreter who could help them with the language. It is unclear whether they preferred an advocate or conduit interpreter, as opinions varied widely. Our data shows that respondents felt more comfortable and accompanied if an interpreter helped them. Nonetheless, they stressed that this interpreting service must be adequate and complete: if the interpreter does not have competent training and intercultural competence, it can negatively affect the migrant’s situation, who may feel frustrated because, even with the presence 271

Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña Table 18.3 Migrants’ responses to Likert-​scale-​like questions on the interpreter’s role Migrants’ survey: Responses on the interpreter’s role Statement

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Indifferent

Agree

Strongly agree

Language is an obstacle to the asylum application procedure I would have liked to always have an interpreter so that I could understand everything I felt accompanied throughout the welcoming process in Spain I felt accompanied and listened to thanks to the interpreters I have been able to fully express myself in my language The interpreter knew my language and culture perfectly well The presence of the interpreter has made me feel more comfortable Outside of the interpreting service, the interpreter has personally helped me with my situation I would have liked the interpreter to mediate more and defend me I would rather be helped by another migrant who knows my language than by an interpreter

3.6%

0%

17.9%

7.1%

71.4%

5.9%

0%

11.8%

8.8%

73.5%

31%

10.3%

17.2%

3.4%

37.9%

27.3%

0%

18.2%

15.2%

39.4%

40%

3.3%

10%

55.6%

11.1%

13.9%

6.7%

40%

5.6%

8.3%

19.4%

2.8%

5.6%

22.2%

55.6%

44.4%

2.8%

5.6%

11.1%

36.1%

30%

6.7%

40%

6.7%

10% 6.7%

3.3%

50%

6.7%

40%

of an interpreter, they do not really manage to communicate their needs. Therefore, hiring both linguistic-and culturally-trained professional interpreters would be best.

Reception centres’ workers and volunteers survey Concerning the second questionnaire, addressed to the various Church entities in contact with migrants, of the 42 people who responded, covering a wide age range, 42.9% were men and 57.1% were women. The vast majority were Spanish (around 90%), while the remaining 10% were Guinean, Senegalese, Lebanese, and Mexican. Approximately half of the participants had been working with migrants for one to five years (51.2%), 19.5% for one year or less, 12.2% for five to ten years, 12.2% for ten to 20 years, and a minority (4.9%) for more than 20 years.

Perception of the communication with migrants and access to interpreting services All workers and volunteers were fluent in Spanish, 76.2% spoke English, 47.6% spoke French, 4.8% spoke Arabic, and 4.8% spoke other minority languages (one person spoke Pular and another Wolof). Over 57% of workers had performed some type of interpretation or translation for migrants, despite 92.7% of them not being professional interpreters or translators. Given that 272

Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises

most migrants came from French-​or Arabic-​speaking countries, the fact that not even half of the volunteers spoke these languages was consistent with the general feeling of migrants (as 40% indicated that they had not been able to fully express themselves and 55% said that the interpreter was not very familiar with their language and culture) that communication was impaired, especially in Arabic. Interestingly, 34.1% of respondents expressed that migrants understood them when speaking in Spanish, which happened in cases where migrants had already been living in Spain for some time. Besides, only 29.3% of the surveyed workers indicated that they were able to communicate with migrants in their native language. In comparison, 29.3% mentioned that migrants struggled to understand their Spanish, and 7.3% pointed out that they resorted to non-​verbal language to communicate with migrants. Only 29.3% were able to communicate in the migrants’ mother tongue, although 47.6% reported speaking French, so it would appear that volunteer interpreters were not proficient enough in French in many cases. A large majority (88.1%) pointed to the added difficulty of different accents and cultures, suggesting that the language barrier clearly identified by migrants also affected those who hosted them. Despite the lack of interpreting services available at the centres, all interviewees believed that it was important for migrants to have access to these services, to overcome the language barrier. They stressed that interpreters should be available at borders, in reception centres, and during the asylum application. However, this need does not seem to be met in the centres where they collaborate: some 36.6% indicated that there were no interpreters, 29.3% stated that there were sometimes interpreters (but not professional ones), and 31.7% reported that there were always interpreters (but not professional ones). Only 2.4% reported that professional interpreters were sometimes present.

Perception of the interpreting services and the interpreter’s role The work of the interpreter is not only demanded by migrants, but also by the workers who assist them daily: 60% of the interviewees indicated that they would have liked to always have an interpreter to be able to understand the entire conversation. However, surprisingly, 15% stated that they disagreed with having an interpreter, and 25% were indifferent, even though 92.9% indicated that all reception centres should have a team of interpreters. The presence of an interpreter to escort migrants was signalled as essential by 71.4% of participants, and 80.9% confirmed that, without an interpreter, migrants cannot fully express themselves. These statements are in line with migrants’ responses: the majority (80%) of the surveyed migrants expressed that they felt more comfortable due to the presence of an interpreter. Regarding the interpreter’s role, when asked whether this professional should sit closer to the migrant to provide greater confidence, 41.5% said they completely agreed, 29.3% agreed, and 19.5% were indifferent. The remaining 9.7% disagreed. In view of these responses, interviewees seemingly preferred an advocate interpreter balancing the power relations in the communicative act. On the other hand, 16.7% strongly agreed that another migrant or worker used to being with migrants would be more effective than an interpreter, whereas 40.5% agreed with this statement, 33.3% were indifferent, and 9.5% disagreed. These responses were consistent with their perception of the professionalism of interpreters: only 26.2% strongly agreed that interpreters should be professional, 23.8% agreed, 33.3% were indifferent to the statement, and 16.7% disagreed. Although workers thought interpreting services were essential, they did not consider professional interpreters that important. In line with their preference for an advocate interpreter, they prioritised the presence of another migrant or worker over the interpreter, as they believed it was 273

Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña Table 18.4 Workers’ responses to Likert-​scale-​like questions on the interpreter’s role Workers and volunteers’ survey: Responses on the interpreter’s role Statement

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Indifferent

Agree

Strongly agree

Language is a barrier when hosting migrants, both for workers and migrants themselves. I would have liked to always have an interpreter so that I could understand everything The presence of an interpreter is necessary to accompany migrants Interpreters should sit closer to migrants than to civil servants, to give them a greater sense of trust Without an interpreter migrants cannot fully express themselves All reception centres should have interpreting services Interpreters should be professionals Another migrant or worker accustomed to being with migrants helps more in these cases than the interpreter because migrants feel more comfortable The interpreter should be personally involved in the cases (even outside of the interpreting service itself) and assist in as many aspects as possible Interpreters should mediate and defend the migrant’s interests

0.0%

2.4%

9.5%

23.8%

64.3%

0.0%

15%

25%

27.5%

32.5%

0%

7.1%

21.4%

33.3%

38.1%

0%

9.8%

19.5%

29.3%

41.5%

2.4%

2.4%

14.3%

35.7%

45.2%

0%

0%

7.1%

26.2%

66.7%

2.4% 4.8%

14.3% 4.8%

33.3% 33.3%

23.8% 40.5%

26.2% 16.7%

19%

16.7%

28.6%

21.4%

14.3%

9.5%

21.4%

21.4%

26.2%

21.4%

more beneficial. However, it should be noted that this perception of the workers differed from that of migrants, as the latter did not show a unanimous response in favour of assistance by another migrant, with a large number preferring a professional interpreter. Finally, concerning interpreters’ involvement, the opinions of surveyed workers varied widely. There was no preference as to whether interpreters should be personally involved in the cases, nor did they clearly position themselves in favour of the interpreter mediating and defending the interests of migrants. Therefore, based on all the information gathered in Table 18.4, the figures suggest that, although interviewees did not prefer a conduit interpreter, there was neither a strong preference for an advocate interpreter. Nonetheless, they defended that the interpreter should mediate to the best of his or her ability. They supported the interpreter in facilitating the migrant’s situation to some extent, being that key to the door, but maintaining certain limits to avoid the migrant’s overconfidence in the interpreter (emotional distance) and the loss of the impartiality inherent to the interpreter’s task. Perhaps this lack of inclination can be due to the general unawareness of what an interpreter can, must, and should do in different scenarios. 274

Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises

Conclusion Throughout our study, a lack of awareness of the interpreters’ role was noticed. Many of the workers and volunteers interviewed considered that the presence of interpreters at reception centres could be beneficial both for them and for migrants. In fact, most of them criticised the scarcity of professional interpreters. However, paradoxically, workers also believed that the reception centres were functioning correctly, and that they could get by just fine with what was available. Ad hoc interpreting was considered enough, thus settling for the lesser evil. It is important to note that interpreters do not only perform linguistic duties: migrants need to feel listened to, understood, and sheltered. Based on our study, and supported by the theoretical framework, proficient professional interpreters are better prepared to assist migrants in their reception process, by acting as intercultural mediators with expertise in ethical principles and interpreting techniques, bridging cultural distance by applying mediation strategies rather than merely rendering a source message into a target language when necessary. As part of our research, it was also observed that for the sake of migrants’ emotional stability, it is vital that they can express themselves while feeling reassured, which, in turn, helps the host country better understand their needs. In line with the foregoing, according to interpretation users, the role of advocate interpreter seems preferable as it allows for an enhanced understanding between migrants and public officials and promotes empathy among them. It is necessary to find the proper balance between the conduit and advocate interpreter models: a visible interpreter can help the migrant feel comforted and more prone to communicate, but interpreters must also set certain boundaries to their task to avoid excessive dependency and/​or vulnerability, and here is where the expertise of a professionally trained interpreter can make a real difference in managing physical, professional, and emotional distances, so as to remain as neutral as possible to ensure the best possible performance. While the limited number of migrants available responded to the questions, some encountered difficulties when completing the survey as they were not familiar with the languages or, at least, in writing: a situation that shows migrants’ need for interpreting services. Despite the limited scope of our study and the lack of information and awareness about interpreting services that we often encountered, the results of this survey highlight the importance of having a competent interpreting service in migrant reception to respond to migrants’ needs. Migrants need to be able to fully express themselves in their native languages to overcome the barrier of unfamiliarity and connect with the host community to get access to its social capital (Bourdieu 1980). In this sense, a more standardised presence of professionally trained interpreters in refugee crisis contexts could potentially facilitate a deeper, faster generation of a sense of belonging in newcomers, which, in turn, could foster more culturally and linguistically diverse communities, thus contributing to preventing acculturation and integration problems. Our study, which takes on other research regarding the role of interpreters, proposes new insights on this character as well, especially in crisis contexts and migration settings, which can contribute to the related discussions. We hope that this work can lead to further research on interpreting services in migrant reception centres, raising awareness among State and private agencies involved and ensuring quality interpreting services to assist migrants.

Notes 1 When referring to migrant reception centres, the term “migrant” is used to describe those people that have moved from one place to another, whether within a country or across borders, and for numerous reasons. This umbrella term comprehends concepts like asylum seekers and refugees (those who have already been granted the asylum after submitting an application and going through the necessary procedure).

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Elena Aguirre Fernández Bravo and Laura Paíno Peña 2 The Board of Hospitality is a Catholic institution created in 2015 by Madrid’s cardinal, H.E. Carlos Osoro, to host the most vulnerable migrants arriving in Spain. The board comprises several organisations whose mission is to assist migrants, namely Pueblos Unidos (part of the Jesuit Migrant Service), SERCADE (Capuchin Service for Development), Justice and Peace, Cáritas Madrid, and the local Church official delegations/​parishes focused on migrants.

Further reading Baker, Mona. 2006. Translation and conflict. A narrative account. London: Routledge. In this book, Baker argues that translators and interpreters participate in circulating as well as resisting the narratives that create the intellectual and moral environment for violent conflict and social tensions. Todorova, Marija, and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo. 2021. Interpreting conflict. A comparative framework. Cham: Palgrave McMillan. https://​doi.org/​10.1007/​978-​3-​030-​66909-​6 This paper provides an overview of relevant research in the area of interpreting in conflict zones, with a special focus on working with refugees. CEAR (Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado). 2019. Executive summary 2019 Report: Refugees in Spain and Europe. PDF File. www.cear.es/​wp-​cont​ent/​uplo​ads/​2019/​07/​Execut​ive-​Summ​ary-​2019-​Rep​ ort.pdf. This document, published by the Spanish Refugees Aid Commission in 2019, analyses the migration reality in Spain during 2018, the year our study was conducted.

References Aguirre Fernández Bravo, Elena. 2019. ‘Interpreter role (self-​)perception: A model and an assessment tool’. Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, 71: 62–​72. https://​doi.org/​10.2436/​rld. i71.2019.3258. Aguirre Fernández Bravo, Elena, and Ana M. Roca Urgorri. 2017. ‘Social distance and the role of the dialogue interpreter’. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 75: 89–​101. Anderson, Laurie. 2012. ‘Code-​ switching and coordination in interpreter-​ mediated interaction’. In Participation in coordinating dialogue interpreting, edited by Claudio Baraldi and Laura Gavioli, 115–​ 148. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Angelelli, Claudia V. 2012. ‘Challenges in interpreters’ coordination in the construction of pain’. In Coordinating participation in dialogue interpreting, edited by Claudio Baraldi and Laura Gavioli, 251–​ 268. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Austin, John L. 1962. How to do things with words. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Baraldi, Claudio. 2012. ‘Interpreting as dialogic mediation. The relevance of expansions’. In Coordinating participation in dialogue interpreting, edited by Claudio Baraldi and Laura Gavioli, 297–​326. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Baraldi, Claudio, and Laura Gavioli. 2015. ‘Mediation’. In Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies, edited by Franz Pöchhacker, 247–​249. London: Routledge. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1980. Le sens pratique. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit. Brennan, Mary. 1999. ‘Signs of injustice’. The Translator, 5 (2): 221–​246. Collados Aís, Ángela, María M. Fernández Sánchez, and Jesús de Manuel Jerez. 2001. ‘La interpretación bilateral: características, situaciones comunicativas y modalidades’. In Manual de interpretación bilateral, edited by Ángela Collados Aís and María Manuela Fernández Sánchez, 61–​77. Granada: Comares. European Commission. 2021. Statistics on migration to Europe. Overall figures of immigrants in European society. Website. https://​ec.eur​opa.eu/​info/​strat​egy/​pri​orit​ies-​2019-​2024/​promot​ing-​our-​europ​ean-​way-​ life/​sta​tist​ics-​migrat​ion-​europe​_​en. European Union. 2013a. Directive 2013/​33/​EU of the European Parliament and Council of 26 June 2013 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast). Directive 2013/​ 33/​EU. Website. https://​eur-​lex.eur​opa.eu/​legal-​cont​ent/​EN/​TXT/​?uri=​celex%3A32013L0033 European Union. 2013b. Directive 2013/​32/​EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection. Directive 2013/​32/​ EU. https://​eur-​lex.eur​opa.eu/​legal-​cont​ent/​en/​TXT/​?uri=​celex%3A32013L0032.

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Interpreters as catalysts for translation in refugee crises Federici, Federico M., and Christophe Declercq (Eds.). 2020. Intercultural crisis communication. Translation, interpreting and languages in local crises. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Gentile, Adolfo, Uldis Ozolins, and Mary Vasilakakos. 1996. Liaison interpreting. A handbook. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. Hale, Sandra. 2001. ‘How are courtroom questions interpreted? An analysis of Spanish interpreters’ practices’. In Triadic exchanges. Studies in dialogue interpreting, edited by Ian Mason, 21–​50. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. Hofstede, Geert. 2022. Hofstede insights. Country comparison. Accessed July 8, 2022. Website. www. hofst​ede-​insig​hts.com/​coun​try-​com​pari​son/​the-​usa/​#:~:text=​Power%20distance%20is%20defined%20 as,much%20as%20by%20the%20leaders. Inghilleri, Moira. 2003. ‘Habitus, field and discourse. Interpreting as a socially situated activity’. Target, 15 (2): 243–​268. Jakobson, Roman. 1960. ‘Closing statement: Linguistics and Poetics’. In Style in language, edited by Thomas A. Sebeok, 350–​377. New York: The Technology Press of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Martín-​Ruel, Estela. 2021. ‘Andalusia, the principal gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees arriving by sea: Access to the right to interpreting services in reception entities for international asylum seekers’. In Interpreting conflict. A comparative framework, edited by Marija Todorova and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo, 251–​271. Cham: Palgrave McMillan. Mason, Ian, and Miranda Stewart. 2001. ‘Interactional pragmatics, face and the dialogue interpreter’. In Triadic exchanges. Studies in dialogue interpreting, edited by Ian Mason, 51–​70. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. Meyer, Bernd. 2012. ‘Ad hoc interpreting for partially language-​proficient patients’. In Coordinating participation in dialogue interpreting, edited by Claudio Baraldi and Laura Gavioli, 99–​113. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pöchhacker, Franz. 2008. ‘Interpreting as mediation’. In Crossing borders in community interpreting: Definitions and dilemmas, edited by Carmen Valero Garcés and Anne Martin, 9–​26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pöchhacker, Franz. 2012. ‘Interpreting participation. Conceptual analysis and illustration of the interpreter’s role in interaction’. In Coordinating participation in dialogue interpreting, edited by Claudio Baraldi and Laura Gavioli, 45–​69. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Salama-​Carr, Myriam. 2007. Translating and interpreting conflict. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Taft, Ronald. 1981. ‘The mediating person: Bridges between cultures’. In The role and personality of the mediator, edited by Stephen Bochner, 53–​88. Cambridge: Schenkman. Tebble, Helen. 1999. ‘The tenor of consultant physicians. Implications for medical interpreting’. The Translator, 5 (2): 179–​200. Todorova, Marija. 2020. ‘Interpreting for refugees: Empathy and activism’. In Intercultural crisis communication. Translation, interpreting and languages in local crises, edited by Federico M. Federici and Christophe Declercq, 153–​171. London: Bloomsbury Academic. UNHCR. 2021. Global trends: Forced displacement in 2020. Website. www.unhcr.org/​60b638​e37/​unhcr-​glo​ bal-​tre​nds-​2020. United Nations General Assembly. 1951. Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Accessed August 30, 2023. Website. www.ohchr.org/​en/​inst​rume​nts-​mec​hani​sms/​inst​rume​nts/​con​vent​ion-​relat​ing-​sta​tus-​ refug​ees. Valero Garcés, Carmen. 2008. ‘Hospital interpreting practice in the classroom and the workplace’. In Crossing borders in community interpreting: Definitions and dilemmas, edited by Carmen Valero Garcés and Anne Martin, 165–​185. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Venuti, Lawrence. 2000. ‘Translation, community, utopia’. In The translation studies reader, edited by Lawrence Venuti, 468–​509. London: Routledge. Vertovec, Steven. 2007. ‘Super-​diversity and its implications’. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30 (6): 1024–​1054. Wadensjö, Cecilia. 1998. Interpreting as interaction. London: Longman. Wadensjö, Cecilia. 2001. ‘Interpreting in crisis. The interpreter’s position in therapeutic encounters’. In Triadic exchanges. Studies in dialogue interpreting, edited by Ian Mason, 71–​86. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

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19 AGENTS AND COLLABORATION IN HUMANITARIAN INTERPRETING/​T RANSLATION Carmen Valero-​Garcés

Introduction Pandemics such as COVID-19, armed conflicts, natural disasters or migration have health, social, economic and environmental consequences which countries try to address with institutional measures at both the local and global level. Any form of migration since the turn of the century has taken on unprecedented proportions. As Rabbi Hugo Gryn indicated that the 20th century already was characterised by refugees (Kushner 2006, 1), the 21st century is so even more in terms of scope of displacement, with about 60% taking place in the second decade of the 21st century. Displacement has become a global challenge to which no existing international body (UN or EU) has provided a solution or answer beyond politically or economically interested proposals. UNHCR is just one of the many organisations aiming to alleviate the situation but sometimes it might be a bit too concerned about its own imagery of the saviour. Civil society (NGOs, aid organisations or international aid organisations) is increasingly calling for more inclusive solutions (OECD 2020) and advocates addressing this challenge as a demand for social justice aimed at all countries in order to build a cosmopolitan society in which no one will be excluded (Monzó-​Nebot and Wallace 2020:14). Attention is also called to the fact that the protagonists of the global order are not only states and the different forms of political organisation (international, national, regional or local), but also the emerging civil society committed to the task of defending universal interests. In this globalised world, there are significant differences in the responses to the challenges of multilingualism in humanitarian crises by both institutions and stakeholders, and NGOs. The main focus of this chapter is based on the analysis of actions carried out by two different bodies–​ Administration and NGOs–​to see if they go in the same direction in the consideration of the role(s) of translators and interpreters (Tr&In). First, this contribution to the handbook will contextualise the research by briefly reviewing the importance of Tr&In in crisis situations in this globalised world. Attention will be given to the open debate about the ethical performance of these communicators which enable connections between migrants and the Administration to have access to services. Second, the methodological framework will be presented. It is based on two main elements: a) philosophical arguments for the construction of a fair society that helps to achieve the UN Agenda 20301 and the sustainable development objectives (SDOs), and b) concepts taken

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from the management of crisis situations to improve quality and accountability. This interdisciplinary approach will allow a critical analysis of some ethical elements or issues that should play a fundamental role in the path towards a more cosmopolitan ethics that influences the actions of Tr&In. Data come from comparing some actions carried on, on the one hand, by the institutions and stakeholders, and, on the other hand, by international organisations and NGOs. Viewing these actions through the lenses of quality management in humanitarian logistics in the path to a more cosmopolitan society will provide arguments to discuss the consideration of the role of the third link in the communication chain–​the Tr&In–​who participate (or should participate)–​in humanitarian crises. It will also provide evidence of the fact that, although declarations and legislation may seem necessary and urgent, this alone does not guarantee that change will happen.

Research context In crisis environments in a globalised world, the presence of Tr&In is necessary. Many professional and non-​professional Tr&In are involved in facilitating communication. The debate on the ethical performance of these communicators remains open as shown by the rising number of publications (Valero-​Garcés and Vitalaru 2014; Monzó-​Nebot and Wallace 2020; Phelan et al. 2020). Other topics studied include non-​professional practices in healthcare (Ozolins 2014; Aguilar-​Solano 2015), their impact on participants (Hale, Goodman-​Delahunty, and Martschuk 2018), child intermediation and its implications (Antonini et al. 2017; Gustafsson, Norström, and Höglund 2019) or local interpreters in conflict zones (Valero-​Garcés 2019; Todorova and Ruiz Rosendo 2021), among others. These works offer avenues to explore the ethics of translation and interpreting (T&I) in a new light and to delve deeper with interdisciplinary studies on the role of professional and non-​professional volunteers and non-​professionals, their motivations, their personal ethics and their adherence or alignment with institutional policies, codes of conduct or good practice guidelines. In the EU context, multilingualism is restricted by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Council of Europe 1992), which explicitly states that “regional or minority languages” means languages that are: traditionally used in a given territory of a state by the nationals of that state, but does not include the languages of immigrants, which are most frequent in times of crisis. However, this growing multilingual and multicultural complexity has brought with it new challenges and consequences. Some of the most relevant are the need for institutions to hire professional Tr&In in an increasingly wide range of languages, but also the use of non-​ professional Tr&In, the need to revisit codes of ethics and guides of good practice, as well as the urgent design of adequate training programmes (Valero-​Garcés 2019). The significant differences in the responses to the challenges of multilingualism in humanitarian crises by institutions and NGOs indicate that declarations and legislation are necessary and urgent, but this alone does not guarantee that change will happen and Tr&In will get the recognition other acting agents already have (judges, doctor or social workers). The current war in Ukraine is a case in point. The EU is providing an unprecedented response to the Ukrainian exodus following the outbreak of war. The European Directive on Temporary Protection, activated on 4 March 2022 for the first time since it was drafted 20 years ago, determines and makes unique the solidarity response of its EU partners, including Spain, which will serve as an example in this study. After the outbreak of war, many EU governments reacted swiftly with the deployment of reception resources, express procedures, reception centres, information telephones and daily announcements committed to the welfare of those fleeing war at the gates of the EU, including a 279

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call for professional Tr&In and/​or ad hoc volunteers and bilinguals to help with communication (EU Migration and Home Affairs 2022). In the case of Spain, this is not the first migration challenge faced by Spain’s government and society. Despite the pandemic, the country still faced an ongoing refugee situation (Valero-​Garcés 2023). Answers to communication problems have been different if comparing solutions given by the government or by civil society.

Research methodology The methodological framework of this study consists of a critical analysis of ethical elements or issues that play a fundamental role in the path towards a more cosmopolitan ethics that influences the actions of Tr&In. It is based on an interdisciplinary approach grounded on philosophical arguments (Barber 2004; Bauman 2013; Cortina 2013, 2021) for the construction of a more cosmopolitan society, and concepts taken from management quality in humanitarian logistics (Larson 2014). Cortina (2021), from a philosophical perspective, speaks of the need to move a step forward towards a more cosmopolitan ethic that includes respect for dignity and compassion for vulnerable beings. In her analysis of today’s society, she distinguishes two sectors, the social and the economic. In the social sector, following Cortina, solidarity and civic organisations such as the so-​called NGOs (Red Cross, Amnesty International, Médecins du Monde, Translators Without Borders and many others) are included. They have a universal commitment and sometimes with global influence beyond the states. Many have agencies in different parts of the world or go to places that need help. They have earned with their efficient work a respect that transcends the borders of countries. They work at a global level with states and companies, achieving credibility and greater trust while maintaining their independence. These NGOs are, as Cortina points out, an element to be taken into account in constructing this cosmopolitan society and developing a global ethic (2021). They work with languages and cultures, and it is often the aid workers themselves who take on the role of volunteer Tr&In, without specific training but with a great deal of experience in handling humanitarian crises (Pirola 2019). As for business and financial organisations, their global influence is often undeniable because they are at the origin of globalisation. They also have their global ethical commitments and principles, which include protecting and respecting the good of “their” community and thus favouring only one part of society to the exclusion of another part of society, which are often the most vulnerable. In this sense, there are voices that criticise their lack of commitment to becoming agents of global justice. For example, at the Ibero-​American Summit held in Andorra in April 2021, in the midst of the pandemic (less than 10% of the population had been vaccinated) (El País 2021), and contrary to what happened in the Great Recession of 2008, organisations such as the G20 or the UN Security Council did not attend (Fundación Carolina 2021; López 2021). Alongside Cortina, there are other voices (Bauman 2013; Barber 2004; Brauer 2018; Nussbaum 2020; Rawls 2009) that denounce the fact that Western ethics focuses only on reason while forgetting to assume that vulnerability is also part of society itself. Thus, Western society is moving away from the concept of duty of care, so deeply rooted in the Christian faith, towards more secular societies. These philosophers agree that one of the greatest evils of globalisation is the justification of the principle of maximising profit at all costs, without betting on mutual benefit. This leads Cortina to conclude that Western society, even though it considers itself democratic, is based on a utilitarian ethic that only seeks economic profit. The system of subcontracting or outsourcing of T&I services by administrations (EU or state level), or the complaints that we often see in the press 280

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about the performance of interpreters sent by T&I companies subcontracted by the institutions, are some examples that will be explained later on. This attitude allows for the exclusion of a number of people, whatever they may be (Cortina (2021, 34), instead of moving from excluding models to more inclusive ones already recognised in international treaties (UN, Human Rights) and in the actions of an emerging civil society committed to the task of defending universal interests (Monzó-​ Nebot 2019). In fact, we are used to seeing that, after a disaster or during a war, governments and humanitarian agencies respond, racing against the clock to save lives and ease suffering. Service quality, including timely delivery but also effective communication, can mean the difference between life and death. Management studies typically relate to a variety of tools and techniques to support process management improvement, most of which originated in the commercial sector. Larson (2014, 21) distinguishes between the economic and the humanitarian sector and establishes some differences when comparing commercial logistics versus humanitarian logistics as seen in Table 19.1 (Larson 2014, 21). In Larson’s own words, while “time is money” to the business logician, time is life (or death) to the humanitarian. Humanitarians seek social impact rather than profit, though they must be flexible and responsive to unpredictable events, as well as efficient and able to maximise the reach of scarce services. In humanitarian logistics, resources come from donors and the aim is to benefit as many beneficiaries as possible, while in commercial actions, funds come from clients and the aim is to serve those clients. In both cases, more effective delivery can save the day; but in the case of humanitarian actions “greater efficiency means serving more people in need” (Larson 2014, 22). The starting point of our study is the consideration that the Administration (official bodies and institutions) identifies more with commercial process management, while NGOs identify with humanitarian process management. Compared to business logisticians, humanitarians face greater challenges in working with diverse groups of stakeholders, including beneficiaries, donors, implementing partners, host governments, militaries, suppliers, etc. Further, coordination of many different aid agencies, suppliers and local and regional actors–​all with their own ways of operating and unique missions and cultures–​are required. Combining all these efforts in multilingual and multicultural circumstances in crisis situations makes necessary the use of communication strategies (translators, interpreters, mediators). This research is based on the application of process management principles to the provision of linguistic services in specific multilingual encounters. Data come from the analysis of examples of the actions of the different agents involved in contexts in which the third link in the chain–​Tr&In–​ participates (or should participate). The aim is to draw attention to the fact that the great diversity of contexts, the immediacy of the response required and the variety of languages and cultures that converge in today’s societies make it necessary to review the role of the interpreter and translator

Table 19.1 Commercial logistics versus humanitarian logistics Aspect Purpose Context Perspectives People served Source of funds Workforce

Commercial Economic profit Uninterrupted “Time is money” Paying customers Paying customers Paid staff

Humanitarian Social impact Interrupted Time is life (or death) Beneficiaries Donors Volunteers; staff

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in order to strengthen the idea that both are key players in the creation of a fairer and more democratic society.

Discussion Taking into account the methodological framework established earlier, a critical analysis of some actions carried out, on the one hand by the Administration (official bodies and institutions), and on the other hand, by NGOs in Spain, will follow.

Actions by the Administration In Spain, immigration procedures are handled in person at the immigration offices. Previous research (Acuyo Verdejo 2009; Sabaté Dalmau, Garrido Sardà, and Codó Olsina 2017, FITISPos n.d.) shows that service providers recognise both linguistic and cultural communication problems, lack of knowledge of both Spanish and other languages as lingua franca (English-​French) and, in general, lack of translation and interpreting services (Codó Olsina 2008; Acuyo Verdejo 2009; Foulquié et al 2018; Fernández de Casadevante 2021, 47–​48). Research (Sanz Moreno 2018; Valero-​Garcés and Monzón 2018; Foulquié et al. 2018) also indicates a lack of knowledge of the role of Tr&In by civil servants or other agents involved in managing migration in a multilingual context. Regarding the institutional resources that the Administration makes available to immigrants, Ruiz-​Cortés (2019, 229–​232) identified that the Immigration Portal of the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration (hereafter the Ministry) makes available to immigrants different digital resources related to migration procedures in Spain (application forms, information leaflets). Three trends that continued in 2022 were observed: 1) not all documents related to the same non-​citizen procedure are translated; 2) in those cases in which it is decided to translate, the languages into which the resources are made available on the ministry’s website are unequal; 3) the texts that benefit most from translation are the procedures related to Law 14/​2013 (Ley 14 2013) supporting entrepreneurs and their internationalisation (commonly known as the Entrepreneurs’ Law), a law that allows large fortunes to invest in Spain (Ruiz-​Cortés 2019). This marked disparity in the use of translation seems to suggest that, although the ministry is aware that translation favours migrants’ understanding of foreigners’ procedures, its language policies only favour those migrants that bring in more revenue for the public funds (that of the investors in the entrepreneurs’ law). As for oral communication, the scarce or non-​existent multilingual language planning in communication between the Administration and the administered do not always facilitate overcoming language barriers in a satisfactory manner, which means that, on many occasions, migrant users have to resort to spontaneous non-​professional interpretation (friends, relatives, etc.) (Foulquié et al. 2018, 3–​6), given that the model used by the government of subcontracting to language service provision companies does not always meet the expectations of providing or solving communication problems effectively. Thus, the communication process management chosen by institutions indicates a certain lack of sensitivity towards collaboration between the different professionals that need to work together (Corsellis 2008; Valero-​Garcés 2019). This form of management also indicates a lack of recognition of Tr&In in different settings (hospitals, courts, schools) (Sanz Moreno 2018, Ortega Herráez,

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and Blasco Mayor 2018). The use of “bilinguals”–​even children–​to accompany their mothers to the doctor and act as interpreters–​or friends or people with no knowledge of languages or the subject matter who assist in court cases–​indicates lack of respect for languages, especially lesser-​used languages or languages of lesser diffusion (LLD). These are examples of malpractice that have been observed but have yet to be remedied. In sum, financial cuts in Tr&In services and privatisation and outsourcing to external agencies show who the interlocutors are and what their objectives are: the economic benefit or welfare of a “majority” is maximised and the most vulnerable are excluded while solidarity is claimed. As a consequence, acceptance of these practices becomes legitimised by local and global decision makers, and standardised through the use of a code of ethics developed to cover their needs. A look at the committees that draw up ethical codes and good practice guides shows that they are usually professional Tr&In already working for institutions or freelance Tr&In, and Tr&In trainers, but there is hardly any trace of other professions. As an example, see Libro blanco de la traducción e interpretación institucional (White Paper on Institutional Translation and Interpreting) (WPITI from here onwards) (RITAP 2011). The White Paper was developed as a joint project–​as announced in the foreword–​of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAEC), the European Commission, the Directorate-​General for Translation and Representation of the European Commission in Spain, the Network of Interpreters and Translators for the Public Administration (RITAP) and the Professional Association of Court and Sworn Interpreters and Translators (APTIJ). A chapter is devoted to the code of ethics and good practices. However, a more detailed analysis of these principles may lead us to the conclusion that the aim is to protect the profession or actions of the Tr&In. Other professionals from different fields (doctors, lawyers, social workers) with whom they collaborate daily do not have a voice or do not participate, nor do the users. In the same vein, Tr&In do not have a voice in the code of ethics or guideline of good practice of these professionals with whom they cooperate on almost a daily basis in multilingual humanitarian crisis. The code of ethics of the White Paper (WPITI) does not include allusions to crisis and conflict situations, neither to the use of LLDs. These languages of lesser diffusion are quite common (e.g. interpreting during the rescue of immigrants) and Tr&In have to work in situations where it is difficult to maintain the principle of fidelity and neutrality as defined in the code of ethics of the WPITI. These factors are not contemplated. This can be considered a sign of lack of interprofessional cooperation and a call for working harder in universalising good cooperation practices on the route to a more cosmopolitan ethics. Such an attitude to managing communication reflects the “official” idea that people living in a foreign country are responsible for communicating with the authorities. This idea is generally supported by those in power to limit their access to public services. It also reveals a certain degree of ethnocentrism (Cruz Pérez et al. 2018) and ignorance since the language spoken in everyday life is not the same as that of legal or medical jargon, where a high linguistic register and technical expressions are used, and whose comprehension is made difficult by the stressful situation experienced by suspects and patients. Coming back to elements that characterised commercial versus humanitarian logistics, Administration seems to be closer to commercial logistics as they are looking for economic profit, offering an uninterrupted service based on the idea that “time is money”, and the source of funds are the customers–​citizens’ duties. Besides, the Administration serves these citizens and the funds are managed by paid staff which might guarantee a better control of the funds, regularity and quality.

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Actions by NGOs As for civil society, there are emerging initiatives by NGOs, such as Médecins du Monde (MDM) (Pirola 2019), Translators Without Borders (TWB) (Sottile 2019) or by teams of professionals in emergency situations (Sutherlin 2019; Federici and O’Brien 2019) for which collaboration between different professionals is the key to their effectiveness and part of their international recognition beyond states. Examples that maximise the benefit of all parties, even at the cost of departing from the prescriptive or normative principles recommended by the ethical codes, are also provided by NGOs like CEAR, the Spanish Commission for Refugees (De las Heras Navarro 2021) or by Aguilar Solano (2015). These initiatives show a socially progressive stance in which Tr&In in public services are taken into account as socially engaged citizens by claiming a more interactive role, and in which empathy and compassion become an integral part of the role they should play. This attitude takes us to some questions about communication management and the recognition of Tr&In performance in crisis situations when compared with the Administration. Some examples of good practice beyond the codes or recommendations already mentioned are found in actions by Salud entre Culturas, ACCEM (Asociación Comisión Católica Española de Migración) or Red Acoge. They developed materials in LLD to help during the pandemic (Álvaro Aranda 2020); UNHCR created micro-​talks on YouTube to respond to the doubts and concerns raised by the public about refugees (UNHCR 2022). These NGOs recognise the fundamental role of cooperation. They act by resolving linguistic and cultural barriers, along with the reciprocal recognition of all the professionals involved (architects, doctors, social workers, teachers, interpreters, engineers). The main objective is communication, as defined by Sottile from TWB (Sottile 2019): the fundamental issue is to eliminate the language gap that hinders humanitarian efforts and access to information. Sottile draws attention to the current dissociation between practices and the goals to be achieved. The international aid worker Farias (2021) also points out that what matters is to save lives, to help. In her interview, she denounces the lack of sensitivity and action on the part of governments and institutions, which leave people to die at sea or in refugee camps, without doing anything, exonerating themselves because they said they are unable to do anything else within the law, when the smallest detail can help. These examples indicate that civil initiatives from NGOs and humanitarian organisations tend to adopt a less fragmented approach and seek a common policy beyond the decisions of states (Sottile 2019). When talking about the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean sea on the first days of the COVID-​19 lockdown, Farias also emphasised that sometimes having resources is not enough. What is really difficult is when setting up an operation, a choice has to be made between those who will be saved and those who will not be, and effective communication plays an important role. The complexity of contexts and situations is so diverse that the solutions are also diverse. In a society in which the media broadcast daily images of people in refugee camps, boats with migrants rescued as a last resort and international aid workers who have to act as Tr&In or “bilingual” migrants are common. These practices are not questioned in crisis times, and are gradually legitimised in our consciences (Federici and O’Brien 2019). They are not leading yet to a policy of universalising good cooperation practices. Coming back to the table of elements that characterised commercial logistics versus humanitarian as explained before, we see that NGOs’ communication management are closer to humanitarian logistics. They are looking for social impact; they work in times of crisis to save lives, and their funds depend on different donors, which suggests a more complex control and regularity 284

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of the funds. The management of these resources might rely at large on volunteers instead of paid staff. All this might have an impact on the quality of the service as seen from a utilitarian perspective; however, the main focus is on helping a larger number of beneficiaries, even though this attitude might imply much duplication of effort and little standardisation of procedures in the humanitarian sector than in the institutional.

Conclusion Humanitarian action is often a multilingual effort in which translation and interpreting play a critical role in ensuring effective communication. The great diversity of contexts, the immediacy of the response required and the variety of languages and cultures that converge in today’s societies allow a variety of answers. Based on the idea of philosophical arguments about building a cosmopolitan society and concepts taken from humanitarian logistics, the critical analysis of some actions carried out, on the one hand, by the institutions and stakeholders, and, on the other hand, by international organisations and NGOs have proved significant differences in the responses to the challenges of multilingualism and the recognition of translators and interpreters as members of the multilingual staff. The starting point of the chapter was based on the idea that the official institutions and stakeholders identify more with commercial process management, while NGOs identify with humanitarian process management. These different attitudes have consequences and prove that declarations and regulations, although necessary and urgent, are not enough when communication is a crucial factor in a multilingual humanitarian crisis. As claimed by a part of society, the revision of the role(s) of the interpreter and translator is a requisite in order to strengthen the idea that both are key players in the creation of a fairer and more democratic society based on cosmopolitan ethics. The study carried out so far leads us to the following conclusions: the prevailing philosophy in many institutional spheres is rather to maximise profit at all costs without thinking about mutual support between the institutions and the users and intermediaries (many being the interpreters and translators who help these users). Meanwhile, in civil society, there are voices from NGOs and associations dedicated to international cooperation that denounce the lack of compromise by governments in solving communication challenges, and opt for a more humanitarian approach where translators and interpreters are part of the crisis team with the mission favouring effective communication in a race to save lives. In contrast with institutional work–​which favours standardisation, duplication of effort, bureaucratic processes with multiple hand-​off reviews and approvals, high cost and often poor quality in managing multilingual communication–​NGOs’ work is complex, unpredictable and intensely people-​oriented. Much of the decision-​making favours local autonomy over centralisation. Further, there is non-​profit motive; and many Tr&In, and other members of the team, are often volunteers with flexible roles dedicated to helping people, not making money. This research is in line with existing literature on social justice and the acceptance that civil society is increasingly calling for more inclusive solutions (OECD 2020). There is a demand for social justice aimed at all countries in order to build a cosmopolitan society in which no one will be excluded. More and more attention is being paid to the fact that the protagonists of the world order are not only states and various forms of political organisation, but also the emerging civil society committed to the task of defending universal interests. A good example is the EU-​funded 285

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project Co-​VAL, a project that aims to find new ways of examining the co-​creation of value and its integration in order to transform public administration services and processes (CO-​VAL n.d.).2 As the coordinator of the CO-​VAL project, Rubalcaba Bermejo recognised in an interview that in order to improve public administrations many things need to be done, but a very important one is to move from the mindset of doing policy and work in the public sector “for” citizens, which is certainly necessary, to doing policy and work in the public sector “with” citizens, which is an additional step (UAH.Esnoticia 2023). In sum, the analyses conducted–​with the limitations–​indicate that there are differences between the Administration and NGOs in consideration of what is ethical and its implementation in relation to the role of the Tr&In. This suggests the need for more synergies between the three sectors: institutional, social and economic. Open questions for reflection and future research could be: Who are the interlocutors who make decisions about how to manage communication? Who intervenes in decisions about how budgets and resources are made available to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers? Who draws up codes and guidelines for good practice? Is an interprofessional team involved? Are they inclusive? Do they all participate as active agents?

Notes 1 See www.un.org/​sus​tain​able​deve​lopm​ent/​es/​deve​lopm​ent-​age​nda/​. 2 See https://​cor​dis.eur​opa.eu/​proj​ect/​id/​770​356.

Further reading Krystallidou, Demi, Carmen Bylund, and Patrick Pype. 2020. ‘The professional interpreter’s effect on empathic communication in medical consultations: A qualitative analysis of interaction’. Patient Educ Couns, 103 (3): 521–​529. DOI: 10.1016/​j.pec.2019.09.027. The article compares patient-​initiated empathic opportunities (EOs) and doctors’ responses as expressed by patients and doctors and as rendered by interpreters. Results indicate that about 50% were not rendered by the interpreter, which might influence the doctors’ actions. Interpreters require skills to detect patient cues, assess them correctly, render them completely and in an appropriate manner. Delgado Luchner, Carmen, and Leila Kherbiche. 2019. ‘Ethics training for humanitarian interpreters working in conflict and post-​conflict settings’. Journal of War & Cultural Studies, 12 (3): 251–​267. The article describes some ethical dilemmas, and pedagogical tools to better equip humanitarian interpreters. The methodological framework is based on a hybrid set of ethical principles derived simultaneously from codes of ethics for interpreters and International Humanitarian Law. Monzó-​Nebot, Esther, and Melisa Wallace. 2020. ‘New societies, new values, new demands. Mapping non-​ professional interpreting and translation, remapping translation and interpreting ethics’. Translation and Interpreting Studies, 15 (1): 1–​14. The article reviews the rather marginal role of non-​professional interpreting and translation (NPIT) in the evolution of interpreting and translation studies (ITS) against the surge of interest in this persistent form of translation and interpreting. It also offers cues to study NPIT to answer basic questions as to what is right and wrong in translation and interpreting.

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20 INTERPRETING AND POSITIONALITY IN CONFLICT-​ AFFECTED SOCIETIES OF RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR Abellia Anggi Wardani and Tengku Shahpur

Introduction Voice matters as much as what it represents. In this chapter, we identify how positionality is reflected in interpreted conversations about violence experienced by segments of Rakhine society using critical discourse analysis (CDA) (Van Dijk 2007; Fairclough 2003). In qualitative research, voice becomes narrative and entails the complexity of representation, positionality, and power (Ali 2015). Voice is also part of the meaning-​making process, which relates to the concept of discourse analysis, described as the study of talk and texts (Wetherell, Taylor, and Yates 2001). When specifically employed, such as in a conflict setting where the situation requires the involvement of various actors possessing varying degrees of power and diverse backgrounds, the production of meaning is influenced by the positionality of those involved and influences the produced narrative. Theoretically, this chapter will bridge the understanding of positionality resulting from research in crisis settings and the dialectic relation between theory and practice of interpreting and translation. Since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, Myanmar–​then Burma–​has been at civil war. Tensions between majority and minority groups were fuelled by incomplete nation-​building and policies of “Burmanisation”, the extraction of resources from ethnic states. This created a situation of unequal development and social division. The case of Rakhine, a state in Myanmar on the western coast formerly known as Arakan, provides an important avenue to understand the power dynamics between communities in conflict. This chapter focuses on unpacking the production of violence-​related narratives by analysing discussions involving ethnic minority and majority groups speaking Arakanese and Burmese when interpreted in English by translators during Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and through transcription notes that took place from September 2021 to November 2021. It uses the case study of Rohingya and Rakhine groups, historically engaged in communal conflicts, and will be guided by theoretical concepts of positionality, which will be discussed further in the research context. This is followed by the research method that will use a two-​level discourse analysis of transcripts of four FGDs on violent incidents in Rakhine State from September–​November 2021. Proceeding this, a discussion section of the findings is followed by the conclusion and suggested further reading.

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DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-24

Interpreting and positionality in conflict-affected societies

Research context Language, culture, and positionality have the power to shape interactions between informants and interviewers. Navigating cultural and linguistic differences to communicate effectively and understand the context of the research setting is important. The researcher’s positionality, such as cultural background, is also a factor that may influence perspectives or outcomes. This research takes a two-​pronged approach: the intertwined relation of language and culture in regard to positionality, which will be explained further in the following sections.

Rakhine State: language and culture Since the assassination in 1947 of General Aung San by the Tatmadaw, the Burmese/​Myanmar military, the country has been characterised by instability and military rule. The ongoing internal armed conflict has been fuelled by a variety of factors, with interethnic tensions between the dominant Bamar group and other ethnic groups within the country being a primary cause (Maizland 2022). Rakhine State is home to several different ethnic groups, with the predominantly Buddhist Rakhine and the Muslim Rohingya being the most sizeable ones. The state has faced many challenges. In a recent report, Rakhine State is considered one of the least developed areas in Myanmar with an estimated 43.5% of the Rakhine population living below the poverty line compared to the national average of 25.6% (MIMU 2022). Furthermore, the rivalry between the Arakan Army (the military wing of the United League for Arakan established in 2012) and the national military government has created instability through protracted conflict. Unfortunately, this is not isolated but widespread across the country, as since 2016, eleven out of fourteen of Myanmar’s states have been affected by active or latent subnational conflict (Morel 2016). Vogt (2018) further explains that as the ethnic groups become more segmented, the likelihood of violent intergroup conflict increases. As can be seen in Rakhine State and Myanmar overall, these culturally and linguistically diverse groups reside in distinct sub-​societies and independent social systems within the same political entity. The official language of Myanmar is Burmese or Bamar, a Sino-​Tibetan language that is part of the Lolo-​Burmese grouping (Benedict 1984). Although related to Burmese, the language of Rakhine State, Arakanese, is considered a dialect. Arakanese has a high mutual intelligibility with Burmese, utilising the same script, for example. However, another major language spoken in Rakhine State, Rohingya, is an Indo-​Aryan language belonging to the Bengali-​Assamese branch, which has a high mutual intelligibility with Bangladeshi, and therefore differs greatly from Arakanese and Burmese (Pandey 2012). Similarly, the English language, which is often used by foreign actors in Myanmar, itself an Indo-​European language of west Germanic origins, is structurally different from Burmese: Arakanese on the one hand, and Rohingya on the other hand. The differences between those sets of languages (Burmese/​Bamar-​Arakanese, Rohingya, English) can be the ground for misunderstandings that often cause confusion. The Burmese and Arakanese languages have many similarities, with most of their vocabulary being mutually intelligible. However, Arakanese has borrowed words from Bengali, Hindi, and English. Grammatically both languages are subject-​object-​verb, similar to Rohingya. However, Arakanese and Burmese are tonal languages. This therefore makes for, in the case of Rakhine State, a complex balance of linguistic equality and harmony that is neglected in favour of Burmese language supremacy, a policy enacted by the Myanmar military. In addition, when it comes to conducting research in Rakhine State, issues such as perceived power imbalance and positionality between different ethnic groups and research teams are clear and affect research processes (Carling,

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Erdal, and Ezzati 2014). Often, minorities are afraid to speak about sensitive issues despite the growing evidence of stronger social cohesion in Rakhine society; tension and distrust, as much as suppressed and omitted, are still in the air.

Positionality: understanding majority and minority group relation in a research setting Positionality refers to a collection of characteristics that affect both substantive and practical aspects of the research process in the field, from questions, data collection, analysis, and writing to how findings are received (Carling, Erdal, and Ezzati 2014). It is a concept that has become increasingly more important in discussions centred around anthropology and postcolonial studies. Identity of a researcher in the field is complex and varies according to circumstances, time, people, and space (Ali 2015). Positionality, as a concept, aims to put researchers in a more central position as a part of the social world they study and to understand their influence on the research process, while treating research as a political and socially conscious act (Ellis, Adams, and Bochner 2011). Positionality can affect interactions between those who provide information and researchers, creating insider–​outsider divides. These divides are made during encounters between the two groups and can be based on appearances such as clothing, facial features, but also names. There is also the perception of the outsider, usually the researcher, of having an affiliation with authority or powerful institutions that can create feelings of either insecurity or assistance with the informants (Carling, Erdal, and Ezzati 2014). During conflict, positionality plays a significant role by accentuating the differences in political, social, and economic differences between actors. Cromwell and Tadevosyan (2021) argue that positionality is an essential consideration for conflict resolution practitioners because of the multitude of ways it constrains possibilities but also because of the advantages it presents. It recognises the influences and impact that personal background, traits, motivations, and ideology have on research methods (Mellinger 2020). The literature illustrates the perception of the interviewee of the researcher’s ethnic background and language capabilities, which affect the flow and quality of information that the interviewee provides. Furthermore, the perceived positionality of the researcher may dictate the level of trust granted to the researcher, which is particularly important in conflict settings. As language is dialectically intertwined with the element of social life (Fairclough 2003), language also influences the (re)construction of a society once torn apart by conflict (Wardani 2020). In a discourse setting, positionality can influence representation, a concept aiming to understand how meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture (Hall 1997). The meaning is delivered through the use of language in a communicative process to illustrate the certain meaning of an object to another person or people. However, the remaining question is to understand how power relations play out between minority and majority groups having different positions in the society convened in one research-​ induced setting. Therefore, to better understand positionality in a research setting, this chapter will incorporate CDA as a tool to understand power, especially linguistically (Wodak and Meyer 2009), which will be elaborated upon further in the methodology section. The application of power influences a society’s beliefs, values, ideologies, and norms, and with the utilisation of CDA, the researcher will be able to uncover unspoken power relations in discourse (Van Dijk 2007). CDA–​ being a tool that analyses language to find the connections between words, meaning-​making, and social events or aspects–​will help the research team achieve the research objective, which will be elaborated on in the next subsection. 292

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Research methodology The chapter aims to provide a continuous process of how violence-​related narratives were produced in a research setting by communities bearing different positions in society. The time frame of data collection occurred from September 2021 to November 2021 within a larger data collection project that began in November 2020 and will continue to March 2023. The question this research project seeks to answer is how interpreting and translation affect conversations about conflict in Rakhine. In general, we divided this methodology section into three stages: interpreting, transcript and translation, and textual analysis. The corpus of this research is a set of four FGD transcripts translated to Burmese and English from their original languages of Rohingya and Rakhine. The texts provide discussion of two thematic issues such as torture and movement restrictions for minority groups in Rakhine State. The remaining issues were more general as the discussion was based on a weekly project meeting. We began with observing the interactions happening throughout the FGD meetings and took part in the meaning-​making process through the interpreting process during the meetings. Our background as English speakers influenced how the meetings were carried out and the extent to which the discussion was presented. Subsequently, to capture the details of the interaction, the recordings were then transcribed into Rakhine and Rohingya. The transcripts were then translated into Burmese and English. Translation, as defined by Munday, Pinto, and Blakesley (2016), is the process of transferring text written in one or several (source) languages–​in this case: Rakhine and Rohingya–​into text in one or several other (target) languages–​in this case: Burmese and English. The translations were done separately from each other by a Buddhist majority individual, which was then verified by a Muslim Rohingya living in Rakhine and a Muslim Rohingya residing in Yangon and a Buddhist Burmese living in Yangon. As part of the limitation of the research, we acknowledge that in the process of translating the transcripts, the loss in nuance and meaning was inevitable. While the positionality between researcher and informant is debated, translators and interpreters are equally important factors (Bourke 2014). The common factor is that translation is the transfer of thoughts from different languages, whether written or oral. While translation is defined as a transferal of information between different languages, interpreting can be understood as an activity of translation that is done immediately. Throughout this subsection, we laid out each step undertaken to conduct CDA as both theory and practice while incorporating interpreting and translation as an important tool to carry out research in the crisis setting of Rakhine State.

Interpreting in a crisis setting As previously mentioned, the corpus of this research was based on four FGDs held between September and November 2021 as part of a research project on Data-​based Approach to Conflict Management and Mitigation. The four FGDs focused on a variety of topics, for example, from general meetings to discussing weekly issues, and specific topics such as arrests and torture. Generally, the FGDs had between eight–​ten participants with an equal representation of ethnic groups: Kaman, Rohingya, and Arakanese. Participants were given training on research methods, human rights, and listening methodologies as they are key to our research work for our Rakhine violence monitoring project. Only one of the four FGDs had the majority and minority groups separated, while the remaining FGDs were conducted with persons present from both groups. For this study, informants comprised the majority Arakanese and minority Rohingya ethnicities. We identified indications of self-​censorship challenges between minority and majority groups,

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which necessitated separating them during FGDs. Although the research team was mostly composed of locals from the minority community, there was the challenge of balancing the insider–​ outsider issue, for example: class, education, and other distinct variables. According to Ali (2015), the challenge in this type of research is maintaining a level of distance between the researcher and informant when they share the same cultural context, which can be further complicated by the presence of a foreigner who may influence informants who are inclined to appease. The complexity is further increased by using a translator or interpreter to facilitate the discussions. For instance, during FGDs, it is typical for informants to stay quiet or to appease the researcher when they display signals through body language. This can happen when the researcher nods, which can be perceived as a prompt to expand on a particular topic instead of as a sign of engagement. It is crucial to understand how the concept of positionality influences how informants and translators communicate when discussing violent incidents. Given the complexity of the research context in which the study was conducted with informants comprising different ethnicities and the presence of a foreign researcher and a local research team, the role of the interpreter was crucial in facilitating communication between the researcher and informants. To delve deeper into the challenges of maintaining distance between researchers and informants in the same cultural context and the complexities of using an interpreter during discussions, it is important to understand the concept of positionality and the immediacy of translation in such contexts. Pöchhacker (2004) states that interpreting is regarded as a translational activity performed “here and now” for the benefit of those engaging in communication across language barriers. Consequently, the distinction between translation and interpreting lies in the immediacy of the translation process. When conducting our FGDs, the interpreter often had to not only translate ideas between researchers and informants but also explain cultural expressions which expressed a single idea that had no equivalent in English. As individuals, interpreters have a personal history and ambivalent positions to public narratives about conflict and sometimes with personal relations on both sides.1 In our case, this was manifested during FGDs during this research project when informants would remain silent for extended periods, which was interpreted as distrust. This was obvious when discussions would focus on racial inequality or the Arakan Army (AA), with the interpreters being from the minority group and informants from the majority. Although interpreters maintained their neutrality, it was challenging to have productive discussions on sensitive topics. Although this challenge was not entirely overcome during the project due to persisting inter-​communal tensions, consistent interaction did provide solutions most of the time. Throughout the FGD meetings, we observed that the interpreters, in this way, played a mediatory role among conflicting local parties. Moreover, as mediums between different parties that speak different languages, interpreters were expected, though not requested, to have the power to shape discussions by tone, vocabulary selection that was neutral or non-​inflammatory, and other means. However, at this stage, we started to notice their potential power in a political discussion.

Transcript and translation The subsequent stage in our methodology comprises the processes of transcription and translation. During conflict, the translator’s position as a medium is multifunctional. Declercq and Walker (2016) explain that the translator is a cultural broker and occasionally an actor that must take on the role of the speaker to convey the message through tone or action. This illustrated the translator’s role as a cultural broker that had the power to clarify or opacify. The recordings were transcribed by two Rohingyas residing in Rakhine State and who were part of the research project. 294

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These transcripts were then translated into Burmese and English by a Rohingya who resided in Rakhine State but who was not part of the project. It was important to have an outsider translate the transcripts in an attempt to reduce bias and mitigate context interpreting referred from the FGD meetings. The following step was to verify the translation, which was done by three Rohingyas (two of them lived in Rakhine, and one lived in Yangon) and a Burma residing in Yangon–​all of whom work for our organisation and are a part of our project. The choice to employ translators and analysts from diverse backgrounds to understand the situation in a conflict setting is in line with Baker’s (2010) argument that identities or loyalties in war tend to be fluid and translators need to be aware of that. In addition, Declercq and Walker (2016) highlight the otherness factor that creates mistrust, using the example of the First World War and the use of Belgian interpreters in Britain or of multilingual Europeans in America, who were distrusted due to their foreignness. This also applied to the process of interpreting, transcription, and translation for this project since the corpus comprises subjects that were both sensitive and multifunctional.

Textual analysis Although textual analysis is key to understanding the impact of interpreting in the process of conflict discourse, it does have its limitations. Textual analysis on its own could not replace the other forms of social science research and its value therefore lies in its ability to support or supplement other methods (Fairclough 2003). The decision to take on CDA among other approaches to discourse analysis, such as conversation analysis or sociolinguistics, was due to the complexity and intertwined relation between the text, interactions, and social analyses. In addition, with the aim to understand the positionality among minority and majority groups in a research setting, there is a requirement to understand how a language is involved in social relations of power and domination. Furthermore, CDA complements the stages of this research as instead of starting with texts, we begin with observing potential issues of bias in interpreting and the power dynamics between minority and majority groups when discussing violence-​related issues. To this point, as argued by Fairclough (2003), employing CDA is useful for discerning relations between language and other elements in social life. The CDA as a method requires three steps of analysis which is represented as linguistic/​semiotic analysis of text or micro analysis; interdiscursive analysis of interaction or meso-​analysis; and social analysis of interaction or macro analysis (Fairclough 2003). As the first step, the micro analysis of the text captures the whole-​text organisation as a combination of clauses and words. Later in the process, these differentiations are found useful when identifying violence-​related topics at the individual level because choice of words and meaning-​making processes differ between minority and majority. Once the micro analysis is done, the macro analysis aims to unveil the multifaceted nature of a text representing the world, social relations, social identities, and cultural values. In light of this, we elected to forego a meso level analysis and instead concentrate on examining how the micro and macro analyses were influenced by the interpreting and translation processes of the texts. This decision was made as the central inquiry of this research project is to understand the impact of interpreting and translation on conversations about conflict in Rakhine. As illustrated in the literature review, positionality in research can create a power imbalance among informants, researchers, and interpreters. Therefore, to understand how these things affect the outcome of findings from discussions, it will be necessary to analyse translated texts that were captured during FGDs. The analysis process began by analysing the choice of interpreted words related to violent incident categories based on the Violent Incidents Monitoring System (VIMS) 295

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developed by The Asia Foundation (Morel 2016): for example, words such as “torture”, “forced displacement”, and “arrest”. This step was followed by analysing findings to understand the impact of interpreting and mediation in the process of cultural negotiation on positionality and power relations among minority and majority ethnicities, here Rakhine and Rohingya. CDA was used when analysing the textual data and is an appropriate methodology for several reasons. For one, CDA is a qualitative analytical approach that investigates the ways discourse creates and maintains social inequalities (Wodak and Meyer 2009). CDA uncovers implicit power relations that are due to power abuse and inequality, implicit in discourse (Mullet 2018): for example, the narratives, espoused by Myanmar military elites, used to maintain oppression and contribute to the continued discrimination of certain communities.

Discussion This research employed one of the four approaches of discourse known as sociocultural discourse (Taylor 2001), which looks for patterns within much larger contexts such as those referred to as “society” or “culture”, more specifically the people living in Rakhine State. Here the interest is in how language is important as part of wider processes and activities, such as investigating patterns in the labelling and classification of incidents that are considered an act of violence in society. The aim was to identify patterns of language and related practices and to show how these constitute aspects of society and the people within it. The use of certain vocabulary is an important part of the analysis which allows for the evaluation of what the discourse is doing and what is being understood implicitly, which is why a textual analysis is important in this regard (Jørgensen and Phillips 2002). This approach improves the basic form of discourse analysis because it involves the study of power and resistance, contests, and struggles. In this section, we outline how CDA plays an integral part in the analysis of this research as it not only illustrates how power and ideology permeate through language but also the cultural and situational context that will influence the translation process. Being a highly volatile situation with multiple ethnic identities that have a perceived hierarchy in Rakhine society, CDA and its application will bring to light these dynamics through the analysis of the power of language. In addition, CDA goes beyond the traditional concerns of sociology and conventional linguistics by examining the relationship between language and power struggles in society. To examine the meaning-​making process, interpretations of texts need to focus on how texts impact particular areas of social life. Furthermore, to understand the casual and ideological effects of texts, textual analysis would have to be framed within other types of analyses and link it from the micro analysis to macro (Fairclough 2003).

Micro level: linguistic analysis of texts Clause combination Utilising a textual analysis approach, we analysed the translated transcripts of the discussion to gain insight into how the discourse surrounding violence was perceived by individuals from both majority and minority backgrounds. The following is a summary of outcomes: in the translated transcription of the discussion on torture in August 2021, the reviewer from a minority background (Rminor) identified 24 words or clauses whereas the reviewer with majority background (Rmajor) identified 29 instances. Conversely, in the translated transcription of the discussion on 296

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the movement restrictions from October 2021, Rminor identified 21 words and clauses related to violence. On the other hand, Rmajor identified only sixteen instances, indicating a difference of five words or clauses. Meanwhile, for the weekly meetings, comprising a mixed group, from 3 and 13 November 2021, there was a greater difference, for example, in the translated transcription of the first meeting, Rminor identified seven words or phrase while Rmajor identified 21 instances. In the translated transcripts of the second meeting, Rminor identified only eleven words or clauses, significantly fewer than Rmajor, who identified 67 instances. To illustrate the different choices from Rmajor and Rminor, the following sections will provide comparative clause combinations from the translated transcripts. The linguistic analysis is done in two levels. First, we determined the relevance of the clause combination to the violence-​related words from the VIMS as mentioned previously. Second, two reviewers, one with a majority background and one with a minority background, selected these specific clause combinations. The comparative clause combinations will illustrate how the local research team chose specific violent words from local languages into English highlighting the consistency. The goal was to examine the potential variations in understanding of violence-​related words between minority and majority groups, considering their positionalities in relation to the issues at hand and in society as a whole. These excerpts set out to demonstrate how language is used as a form of social control by critically investigating aspects of societal disparities and inequalities as they are expressed, constituted, and legitimised by language use, and by reflecting on the way language reinforces such inequalities on a day-​to-​day basis. Among the majority groups–​The topic of torture as discussed among (only) Rakhine participants. In what follows, we provide two extracts from an FGD on torture, to which only Buddhist Rakhine participants participated. Extract [1]‌was chosen by Rmajor and extract [2] by Rminor: [1]‌ “Yes, it is happening. There are intense checking during the transportations. Military patrols the downtown and checks those whom they doubt” [2]‌ “in Min Bya, the case of COVID-​19 is decreased, people are doing their work normally. There are enlargement of military power and military patrols around.” From these extracts, both reviewers consider the words “military” and “military patrols” as indications of possible torture. This is likely inferred because the Myanmar military has consistently over time been the perpetrators of torture. The Rminor concerned more about the “enlargement” as part of the sentence than the military patrols in general. In contrast to Rmajor who selected sentences containing “checking” and “checks”, the notion of torture is portrayed as a general narrative of what may occur to an individual who is apprehended by the military and potentially subjected to torture if deemed guilty. The comparison of these two contrasting perspectives demonstrates that the reviewer from the minority group tends to have a more thorough understanding of the situation, including the potential consequences, due to the established narratives the Rminor may have encountered throughout their life as part of a minority group. Among the minority groups–​ The topic of torture as discussed among (only) the Rohingya participants. Next, we provide two extracts from a FGD on torture, to which only Muslim Rohingya persons participated. Extract [1]‌was chosen by Rmajor and extract [2] by Rminor: 297

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[1]‌ “Yes, they do target communities and specific minorities. They arrested an administrator and tortured him to death without any research”. [2] “There is no rule of law for Rohingya people; they are never treated equally when it comes to law and politics. When a Rohingya is arrested then they really don’t care about the law and do whatever they wish”. A cursory examination of the transcripts reveals variations in the level of detail provided in the explanations of torture-​related incidents in Rakhine. As observed from this extract, Rmajor primarily focused on the specific case of an administrator who was tortured, which ultimately resulted in his death. Meanwhile, the Rminor chose a more specific case that happened to the minority group, in this case the Rohingya. The Rminor also decided to choose a more specific problem that the Rohingya currently have to face such as “no rule of law”, “never treated equally”, “law and politics”, and “arrested”. The choices made by Rminor could be underlined by a narrative that has been produced around that discourse. Even though Rminor was only asked to identify the clause combination from the transcripts, the choices of words show the deeper issue that the Rohingya minority is going through. Between local communities and research brokers. The following excerpts were taken from a weekly meeting where the researcher and interpreters were trying to learn more about a battle that occurred in Maungdaw. Extract [1]‌was chosen by Rmajor and extract [2] by Rminor: [1]‌ “even before the battle of Maungdaw, a battle occurred at the ends of Kyay Sin Bridge in Min Ba. At one side of the bridge, troops of the AA were deployed and at the next side, Myanmar military were on the way to capture AA. None of them stepped back.” [2] “it happened at the rural side of Myog U, he was arrested by a group of normally dressed people, saying that he is linked with People’s Defence Forces” When talking about a battle, the nuance of understanding between Rmajor and Rminor became less visible. As “battle” is considered more of a common violent incident, regardless of whether it happened directly or indirectly to them, the word has a general meaning understood by most people. The interesting point here is that the Rmajor chose the clause combination that shows a complex explanation of the battle. As shown in the previous excerpts, the sentences contain most words that refer to violence, such as “a battle”, “troops”, “deployed”, “military”, “capture”, and “AA”. Meanwhile, the Rminor chose a shorter sentence with specific nuance to the case, with fewer indicative words on violence such as “arrested” and “People’s Defence Forces”. This indicates that the word “battle” has become a common word in his surrounding, in the sense that it became less special compared to more specific violence such as “torture” as discussed previously.

Macro level: ethnic identity, language, and power The macro level analysis focuses on examining the way text and talk are used to legitimise abuse of power, discrimination, and inequality in Rakhine State. As mentioned previously, voice represents the use of language to deliver or communicate something with meaning to other people (Hall 1997), it functions also to produce meaning. A narrative then becomes very fluid as it shapes and is reshaped by power dynamics among its actors. Meanwhile, power and positionality are interconnected concepts when conducting research work in the Rakhine State. Power is everywhere 298

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and comes from many places. It is neither an agency nor a structure. Instead, it is a meta-​power that encompasses society and is always changing (Foucault 1998). The openness with which the FGDs were discussed was also influenced by the trust that was established and developed between the research team and those involved. Apart from that, distrust caused by positionality in research could also be mitigated by a closer physical resemblance; religion, identity, culture, and language play a role in closing the divide (Carling, Erdal, and Ezzati 2014). Investigating the constructive effects of language amounts to investigating causal relations between language and perception (Fairclough 2003). In war, the role of an interpreter can be utilised by authorities to create vague understandings of discussions to keep the public ignorant. Their positionality can affect an interviewee’s perception, as Baker (2010) explains, under the oppressive backdrop of war, the translator’s identity is scrutinised. Understanding the practices of power and where it can be found helps to identify power relations in more detailed ways (Foucault 1980). More specifically, power regarding research is a complex process that includes various participants, informants, researchers, the community, and the social context. The differences in power between these groups are due to positionalities and continue from the unequal relationships through exchange and exploitation and to the representation of the analysis and findings (Wolf 1996). However, throughout the data collection process we found the opposite treatment: the culture and racial background of the interviewers can affect how much information interviewees wish to discuss. Westerners are often seen as neutral; however, interviewers from other Southeast Asian countries, particularly those that are seen to be Muslim identified either through name or appearance, can influence the outcome. For example, the majority ethnic group has been found to be less open, often responding with short sentence and provided answers based on consensus made between themselves after the question asked during the FGD led by the researcher bearing a Muslim name and stereotyped Muslim appearance with beard and South Asian look. In the micro analysis section earlier, it was evident that the two layers of textual analysis provide a more nuanced understanding of the structural violence faced by the minority group in Rakhine by choice of clause combinations to express certain topics. This relates to the issue concerning the ethnic identity that Rohingya have been denied for decades. Ethnic identity is one of the most significant types of identity. The interplay of conflict and identity polarisation generates vicious conflict circles and can lead to the hardening or polarisation of pre-​existing identities. The concept of ethnic identity and its relationship with conflict in the literature presents several arguments, for example: primordialism and instrumentalism. Primordialism asserts that ethnic identity is rooted in the collective experiences of the people while instrumentalism states that it arose from ad hoc supplements to political strategies (Ashmore, Jussim, and Wilder 2001). Postcolonial movements in literary studies, however, ask “who has the right to identify whom?”, arguing that ethnocentrism was deeply embedded in western scholarship when dealing with non-​ western people (Ashmore, Jussim, and Wilder 2001). This is particularly relevant to the Rakhine context, and Myanmar more broadly, as the categorisation of different ethnic groups in the country is a hangover of British colonialism and the basis of the conflict (Ferguson 2015). That being the case, there are disagreements in the literature about the cause of ethnic identity conflict. One being the perceived property of the relationship between two or more groups, or relational and situational and thus dependent on the social encounter and therefore not something that is inherent (Ashmore, Jussim, and Wilder 2001).

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“A Military (Tatmadaw) soldier was slaughtered by Muslims in a village nearby in Buthidaung. The soldier was killed by ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) with the help of the villagers. When the Military found out, they surrounded the village and arrested 13 people… 11 were released and two remain arrested.” (An excerpt from a participant with majority background) A Rohingya participant responded: “the community perception on this case is that they don’t care what happens to us. They are not taking responsibility for protecting the lives and property of the Rohingya [sic].” (An excerpt from a participant with minority background) From the excerpts earlier, the response from the Rohingya participants illustrated the depth of the structural violence and physical violence that have impacted their community for generations since their citizenship was revoked in the 1980s. It shows an indifferent response to the ongoing violent incidents in the mixed ethnicity village of Buthidaung in Rakhine State. The ARSA, claiming to be the protector of the Rohingya, did not receive a positive image from the people of their origin. This shows that the Rohingya community had to be the victim of diverse armed groups bearing diverse interests which were unlikely to be related to the betterment of the Rohingya people. This analysis indicates the application of CDA in analysing power imbalance between differing groups in Rakhine and illuminates social and ideological underpinnings. Baker (2020) argues that CDA shows the extent to which translators’ decisions at the micro-​linguistic level impact the social and ideological context of text production. It can illustrate cultural models and situated meanings of how speakers and writers give language meaning within contexts. While cultural models are an explanatory theory connected to words distributed within a social group, it helps to explain why words have different situated meanings for specific social and cultural groups (Gee 2001). In our research we found that implementing CDA through micro level analysis from text organisation supported by the macro level analysis through observation can provide our understanding on the meaning-​making process in the context of interactions in a crisis setting.

Conclusion Reflecting back on the dilemma that drove this research, “what to translate and what not to translate”, this chapter was able to shed light on how positionality played a role in research setting that required the process of interpreting and translation. In parallel, the question this research project sought to answer is how interpreting and translation affect conversations about conflict in Rakhine. In doing so, variables such as positionality and majority-​minority power dynamics were investigated. To achieve this, the corpus of this research was taken from the transcript of four FGDs held in August and November of 2021. After following a set of methods in translating from the languages of participants (Rohingya and Rakhine) to Burmese and then to English, the findings were analysed to understand the impact of interpreting in the process of cultural negotiation on positionality utilising CDA as a method. Following the methodology section and discussions, this chapter shows that power and identity maintain a common thread throughout the interpreting and translation process in conflict. The use of CDA as a research method investigates discursive ideological positioning and exposes these thoughts in communication. By employing CDA, this chapter contributed to examining the relationship between language and power struggles in society. As communication is one instrument of power and control over society, CDA allows understanding on how powerful speakers or groups 300

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employ certain discursive structures, which was found useful to understand the tacit knowledge that participants of the FGD meetings shared. As previously discussed in the methodology section, the translated transcripts were then analysed by reviewers from two contrasting backgrounds, one from the majority group and one from the minority group who are living in the conflict setting and the capital city of Myanmar, separately. What emerged was that both reviewers read and interpreted the texts differently. For example, the translated transcripts related to movement restrictions had more highlights of words and phrases from Rminor compared to Rmajor. One explanation is that Rminor being a Rohingya recognises the structural violence that the Myanmar government perpetuates through movement restrictions on minorities. The findings also illustrated that during FGDs, minorities were not as oppressed or restricted during conversations as originally thought. It is clear from the textual analysis that if given the space, minorities in Rakhine will not hesitate to discuss sensitive issues. This was especially apparent when discussing torture, movement restriction, and arrests. It is likely that because they are most targeted by authorities and experience these forms of violence, they express their opinions without hesitation. Additionally, it could be deduced that as the majority ethnic group does not experience these forms of violence regularly, they remain quiet. Moreover, the power imbalance may not necessarily be due to the number of majority-​minority participants but by the context and topic of discussion. It is possible, therefore, that power imbalance between majority-​minority ethnic groups in the Rakhine research setting due to positionality can be mitigated by providing a safe space cultivated through consistent interaction with the research team. Furthermore, the power imbalance resulting from different positions in a society can be shifted when topics of discussion that most affect the minority group are discussed. This chapter identified that the discussion served two functions: a space for them to express their challenges with the hope of change; and as a form of therapy and group validation. When reflecting on the limitations in the process of doing CDA, the composition of the people involved can determine the interpretation of the text and the level of validity and reliability. Even if the research team was to use every step of the CDA process, the interpretation and analysis will still be different depending on the people involved due to the language ability as well as the cultural and racial background of all those involved. The problem is the potential loss of meaning through the translation process; it limits the depth of the interpretation of understanding and the narrative of the discourse because meaning and nuance can be lost. Balancing bias is an important factor as well considering that bias helps the research team understand the problem, therefore it needs to be acknowledged rather than suppressed. Additionally, more research is needed on this limitation to understand how positionality involving communities with unequal position in societies is needed to understand whether CDA is sufficient to uncovering the meaning-​making process. Moreover, further research as to how the configuration of researchers from the Southeast Asian region affects the process as well is a potential area of exploration.

Note 1 See for instance Tălpaș (2016) and de Jong (2022) for the case of the Afghan interpreters.

Further reading Mullet, Diana R. 2018. ‘A general critical discourse analysis framework for educational research.’ Journal of Advanced Academics, 29 (2): 116–​142.

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Abellia Anggi Wardani and Tengku Shahpur This article introduces researchers to general Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) frameworks. The explanation is divided into the methodological characteristics, philosophical underpinnings, and key principles and concepts of CDA. Cromwell, Alexander, and Margarita Tadevosyan. 2021. ‘Deconstructing positionality in conflict resolution: Reflections from first-​person action research in Pakistan and the South Caucasus’. Action Research, 19 (1): 37–​55. This article investigates the role of first-​person action research in uncovering how positionality influences conflict resolution practice. The authors argue that first-​person action research highlights the fluidity of positionality and the benefits of building insider relationships. Declercq, Christophe, and Walker, Julian. 2016. Languages and the First World War: Communicating in a transnational war. London: Palgrave Macmillan. This book examines language change and documentation during the First World War. Discussing all aspects of communication during a transnational war including languages at the front line, interpretation, and parallels between languages. Baker, Mona. 2010. ‘Interpreters and translators in the war zone: Narrated and narrators.’ The Translator, 16 (2): 197–​222. This article looks at various aspects of the role and positioning of translators and interpreters in war and how they themselves participate in elaborating the range of public narratives of conflict that are invisible, subtle, but significant. Vogt, Manuel. 2018. ‘Ethnic stratification and the equilibrium of inequality: Ethnic conflict in postcolonial states.’ International Organization, 72 (1): 105–​137. This article examines the legacies of long-​term European colonialism and the effects of ethnic cleavage types on ethnic group mobilisation. The author compares colonial settler states with decolonised states and argues that the former is less prone to violence due to less societal segmentation and more hierarchy.

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21 VACCINATION NARRATIVES IN A MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY On intercultural communication and trust Tanya Escudero and Jekaterina Maadla

Introduction The health crisis caused by COVID-​19 has clearly revealed (Uusküla et al. 2022, 155; Eesmaa 2021) that the problems arising from communication with ethnolinguistic minorities on essential matters, such as those related to the pandemic, have repercussions for society as a whole. In this sense, it has become evident that there is a need for a crisis communication plan that includes the entire population, not only by providing information in the languages used by different communities within the society, either as a mother tongue or as a lingua franca, but also by identifying the best channels and strategies to reach those target populations. In a distinctly multilingual and multicultural society such as Estonia, not taking these diversities into account can lead to serious problems during a health crisis. In Estonia, although Estonian is the only official language, Russian is spoken by an ethnolinguistic minority that makes up a third of the population. In addition, English is used as a lingua franca by a smaller segment of the population. This variety may raise questions about the availability of information, its accessibility, its effectiveness and the public’s trust in the official sources. Regarding the latter, the last COVID-​19 survey reports provided by the Estonian Secretary of State (Riigikantselei 2022) show that trust in the state institutions is almost 20% lower among ethnolinguistic minorities than among Estonians. Health inequity within the Russian-​speaking ethnolinguistic minority has been a national problem for a long time (Lai and Leinsalu 2015) and statistics show that non-​Estonians have had a 40% lower acceptance of the vaccine, and that this gap has been relatively stable since September 2021 (Riigikantselei 2022), with vaccination rates being the lowest in regions where the percentage of the Russian-​speaking population is higher (Republic of Estonia Health Board 2021). The aim of this chapter is to study the narratives related to vaccination in Estonia that can be found among Russian and Estonian speakers on the Republic of Estonia’s Health Board (Terviseamet) Facebook page in order to understand to what extent intercultural communication practices in Estonia during the COVID-​19 crisis have an impact on how the population has reacted to the information provided and what other factors might have influenced these reactions, paying particular attention to issues of trust. However, it is important to note that the narratives studied 304

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-25

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on the Health Board’s Facebook page may not necessarily represent the sentiments of the general population, but rather provide insights into some of the views present among it.

Research context The need for communication with linguistic minorities during the COVID-​19 pandemic has triggered the interest of researchers in translation and intercultural communication. For instance, the project Communicating COVID-​19 translation and trust in Ireland’s response to the pandemic focused on understanding “the maturity level of translation as risk communication in the COVID-​19 pandemic in Ireland and its role in behaviour change among diverse language communities” (O’Brien, Cadwell, and Zajdel 2021). In a similar vein, the report “Enhancing COVID-​19 public health communication for culturally and linguistically diverse communities: An Australian interview study with community representatives” (Karidakis et al. 2022) aimed at studying the strategies employed by culturally and linguistically diverse community organisations to improve communication about COVID-​19, as well as identifying gaps and challenges during this communication effort. Such studies have been undertaken throughout the globe, focusing on the particular needs and situations of specific regions, such as China (Wang 2019) or Greece (Lees 2021). Regarding communication during the pandemic, one issue that deserves particular attention is the multilingual provision of information related to vaccination. The EU agency European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned in 2021 that there was “emerging evidence of low COVID-​19 vaccination rates in some migrant and ethnic minority groups in the EU/​EEA” (ECDC 2021, 1). Among others, one of the solutions proposed in this report is to develop strategies that “include culturally and linguistically tailored and targeted public health messaging, co-​designed with affected communities, translated into key migrant languages and effectively disseminated” (ibid). In this context, the British Academy-​funded STRIVE project (Sustainable Translations to Reduce Inequalities and Vaccination Hesitancy) aimed at studying the “linguistic and cultural barriers that may prevent migrants from getting vaccinated against COVID-​19” while understanding how translation can help overcome such barriers, based on the lessons learned from the COVID-​19 vaccination campaign in Italy1. Although these studies and projects can help to understand how certain communication practices might influence the population, the evolution of the pandemic has varied across countries. Also, linguistic and cultural landscapes differ in each region, as do the historical events that are still relevant today and underlying intercultural challenges. It is, therefore, necessary to pay attention to the particular conditions in each region for understanding the reception and impact of translation practices. In Estonia, however, research on translation or intercultural communication during the crisis is very limited, despite the fact that there were evident communication issues, and underlying factors such as distrust of government, illustrated by some criticisms from institutional representatives and public figures. In this regard, the project “Improving communication with migrants for crisis preparedness: lessons learned from COVID-​19”, hosted by Tallinn University and led by Tanya Escudero, studies the intercultural communication practices implemented in Estonia during the pandemic crisis. Its aim is to map the obstacles to communication in non-​ official languages in Estonia, Finland and Latvia, identify good practices and provide guidelines that can provide a rapid response to future emergency situations2. At the beginning of 2021, the Estonian government’s main concern was the vaccination campaign. However, despite the provision of information, in the first half of 2021, it became clear that interest towards vaccination among the risk groups was lower than anticipated. On the other hand, the distribution of vaccines in regions with predominantly Russian-​speaking populations did not 305

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reach the initial target set by the government (Kook 2021; Wright 2021a), and the situation did not improve in the following months, with some counties, such as Ida-​Viru on the Russian border, reaching barely 55% (Republic of Estonia Health Board 2021). At the national level, the target was not met either; in September 2021 Estonia missed the 70% vaccination rate that the European Union had set as the target earlier that year (Wright 2021b). These data raised substantial criticism regarding the government’s crisis communication, such as that by President Alar Karis, admitting that the government had fallen short in its communication efforts and that messages were not clear enough for the communities they were intended to reach (Whyte 2021). Also, psychologist and scholar Andero Uusberg pointed out that the abundance of information as well as the sometimes contradictory content were not facilitating uptake of the vaccination programme (Vasli 2021). Moreover, others made reference to communication with Russian speakers in particular. Communication expert Raul Rebane urged for a massive vaccination and protective mask campaign aimed at the Russian-​ speaking community as early as March 2021 (Rebane 2021), while Jevgeni Ossinovski, a former minister of Health and Labour, called for the establishment of a separate unit within the communication department for targeting Russian speakers, as this was where the least effort had been made and where more could be achieved (Ossinovski 2021). The lack of communication channels to reach out to Russian speakers in Estonia has also been mentioned as a major challenge (Vaino and Whyte 2021), especially given the conflicting messages coming from the Russian Federation communication sources to which Russian speakers in Estonia often turn to for information. The fact that Russian-​speaking3 Estonians turn to Russian resources for their information should come as no surprise. Not only is the direct vicinity of the Russian Federation an important factor, but there is also a legacy of affiliation with Russian identity and subsequently a distance towards Estonian authority. According to the report by The National Institute for Health Development in the spring of 2020, the degree of trust in Estonian official information channels and healthcare professionals among Estonian and non-​Estonian speakers was quite similar (69% and 66% of respondents). However, among Estonian respondents, the level of trust in Estonian National Broadcasting Channels was 27% higher than among non-​ Estonians, while 41% of the latter group acknowledged using and trusting Russian Federation TV and radio channels and portals. This shift in aligning oneself with specific other media for information purposes is not exclusive to the Russian-​speaking minority. One-​third of non-​ Estonian-​speaking respondents used and trusted TV and radio channels from other foreign countries, not including Russia (Tervise Arengu Instituut 2021). Unfortunately, research on the reception and impact of the information by different segments of the population in Estonia is mainly lacking, although it is essential to be able to adapt communication strategies in the event of an emergency. In this regard, it has been observed that “in recent processes of health communication, social media have emerged as propellers of networked information flows rather than as instruments of top-​down information transmission” (van Dijk and Alinejad 2022, 26). Social media, therefore, serves as a research tool, as it can help us understand how the population has reacted to the information provided–​in this case in relation to vaccination in Estonia–​and provide further insight into the reasons for these reactions. Some of these reactions may not be feasible to observe through other research methods such as interviews or focus groups, where the presence of the researcher could potentially influence the participants’ responses. However, the presence of bots and unknown number of unique users must be taken into account. Additionally, it should be considered that the users of the Health Board’s Facebook page may not necessarily be representative of the wider Estonian society.

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Research methodology To achieve the goal mentioned earlier, we will analyse the comments written in Estonian and Russian as replies to the posts that were disseminated in two languages at the same time as parallel posts by the Republic of Estonia’s Health Board (Terviseamet) on their Facebook account. Terviseamet is the main agency of the Ministry of Social Affairs, responsible for, among other things, surveillance, prevention and control of communicable diseases and risk analysis in epidemiology4. Its website is officially in Estonian, Russian and English, and the Board also has social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter/X, YouTube and Instagram, with its Facebook page being the most active and participative. Although the website offers information in three different languages, the main flow of the Facebook page is in Estonian, with a few posts published in Russian and occasional posts in English. While the posts in Estonian cover a wide range of topics (statistics about new cases, measures, public gatherings, technical problems on their website, etc.), Russian posts are practically limited to promoting the vaccination campaign. The number of posts published in Russian during 2021 was rather low (Figure 21.1). Although it increased during the beginning of the vaccination campaign, it declined after May, except for the month of August; in the last two months of the year, all posts were published only in Estonian. We have selected three of the months of 2021 with the highest number of posts in Russian: April and May, when vaccination started to become accessible to the general population; and August, when, despite the availability and accessibility of vaccines, vaccination rates increased very slowly. Since for some of these posts, the comments are disabled (six out of 26 posts), we have worked with 20 posts in each of the two languages and their comments, which amount to 2605. First, we will include a quantitative analysis of the number of comments, shares and reactions to the same posts published in Estonian and Russian. The data reflected throughout this study corresponds to the number of comments and reactions, not users. Therefore, several comments may have been made by the same user. Additionally, we must be careful in this step, as the reactions can be easily misinterpreted. For example, an angry reaction (angry emoticon) to a news item about police intervention in an area where restriction measures were not followed could show disapproval of the public’s failure to comply with the rules, of the police who intervened (if this is perceived as a violation of people’s freedom) or of the government’s actions in relation to the restrictions, among other plausible alternatives. Second, we will conduct a manual qualitative analysis in which we will examine the different public narratives (Baker 2014, 161) constructed by different groups in relation to the vaccination campaign in Estonia, with the focus on negative or positive perceptions of the process, arguments in support or opposition and reasons for trust or mistrust in the information provided. Third, we will study how different narratives and reactions might relate to major events or information provided by governmental institutions and the media (such as mass vaccination campaigns) by comparing the results of our previous analysis with the timeline of main events regarding the pandemic in Estonia.

Discussion COVID timeline in Estonia The coronavirus pandemic officially started in Estonia on 27 February 2020, when Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik spoke during a morning TV programme about the first confirmed case of COVID-​19 in Estonia (Vasli 2020). The information was later confirmed during a government

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308 Figure 21.1 Number of posts in Russian and Estonian on Terviseamet Facebook page

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press conference which became one of the official channels for disseminating information about the coronavirus pandemic. On 12 March 2020, Estonia declared an emergency situation in force until May 2020. Although the number of cases during most of 2020 was not severe, as was the case in other European countries, by the end of the year the situation deteriorated significantly5. In November 2020, the rule of wearing masks in public rooms and the 2+​2 rule was introduced, and from December 2020 onwards, schools were closed in Estonia (Kook, Sarv, and Nael 2020). While the vaccines seemed to bring hope to many parts of the world, in Estonia, the uptake was not as high as desired. The first vaccine was administered on 27 December 2020 in the Ida-​Viru region to a doctor from the COVID department, and larger batches of vaccines arrived in Estonia in February 2021. The government announced a decision to vaccinate risk groups and frontline workers first. By March 2021, the number of patients in hospitals was critical and Estonia topped the world rankings in terms of relative infection rate. Despite the accessibility of vaccines to most of the population already in May 2021, the acceptance was rather low. Already at the beginning of the vaccination period, it became clear that interest in vaccination in the pre-​selected risk groups was lower than expected, and in September the regional distribution of vaccines to the Russian-​speaking regions did not meet its initial target. During the following months, the number of vaccine recipients increased very slightly.

Posts and reactions on Terviseamet’s Facebook page in April and May Although April was the month with the highest number of posts published in Russian, these did not reach 14% of the total for the whole period6. During these two months, the posts in Russian were mostly limited to translations of some news published in Estonian related to the vaccination campaign, but also videos with similar background messages addressed to two different audiences, Estonian and Russian speakers, that were published once again three days later. Posts in both languages were generally published only a few hours apart. Despite the small number of posts in this language, the engagement of Russian speakers was relatively high, considering that comments were disabled for two of the seventeen items. Although the vaccine narratives in many cases coincide in the languages we are discussing, there are some differences in these parallel posts on which we will focus.

On the (in)efficacy of COVID vaccines The most attention in May and April focused on a video in Estonian with Russian subtitles on why parents should vaccinate their children. There were two separate posts, one in Estonian (1179 reactions, 283 comments) and one in Russian (238 reactions, 90 comments). The percentage of emoticons expressing anger at this particular post was the highest within the observed period, i.e., 20% for the Russian post. The Estonian post also elicited negative reactions, but only 3% of the total number of reactions to this particular post. The Russian-​language narratives referred to the USSR’s “life-​saving” vaccines versus the useless COVID vaccines as organised by the Estonian government, sometimes claiming that they are not necessary at all, as the pandemic is a hoax (eight of the comments analysed in this period followed this narrative). Comments in Estonian did not include positive reminiscences about the Soviet vaccination programme, however, there were people who admitted to having been vaccinated in their childhood, although they made some statements (in Estonian) against this particular vaccine against Coronavirus, such as “I am not against vaccination, but I am against being 309

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310 Figure 21.2 Number of comments and reactions to parallel posts in April and May

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a lab rat”. The discussion also included the lack of information on the deaths of those vaccinated against the coronavirus, and this statement was repeated on ten occasions throughout the observed period. This was also highlighted as a differentiating factor between effective vaccination against polio, measles, etc., and ineffective vaccination against coronavirus.

On Western vaccines versus Sputnik Sputnik V, the vaccine for COVID-​19 developed in Russia, was mentioned in the Estonian comments 23 times, three of them with positive connotations, but the majority (eight comments) referring to the desire of Ida-​Viru residents (predominantly Russian-​speaking) to be vaccinated with Sputnik, “which never arrives”, as a reason for low vaccination rates. Sputnik is also mentioned as a freedom-​of-​choice option in both Estonian and Russian narratives. Among the 23 comments in Russian, we can also find two strands: against and in favour of Sputnik. On the one hand, some users mention the difference in reporting vaccination-​related deaths in Europe and Russia, suggesting that Russia does not provide objective information (to support this argument, the same users rely on global and national media and institutions, the Estonian Prime Minister or even relatives). On the other hand, some users argue about the alleged false information on Sputnik’s negative side effects and low efficacy in Slovenia and Argentina. Advocacy for Sputnik is stronger among Russian speakers in the data sample. Two comments were made in Estonian regarding the willingness to use the Sputnik vaccine, compared to ten comments made in Russian. However, the Russian narrative on the issue often includes responses questioning the effectiveness of the Sputnik vaccine, suggesting a lack of evidence to support its efficacy. On 8 April, Terviseamet published a post informing about the speech in Russian that was to take place a few days later to inform the population about the vaccination. In response to this post, which was the most shared and commented on in April (with 85 shares and 227 comments), there is also a discussion about the ineffectiveness of Western vaccines and the preference for the Russian vaccine, with one of the users claiming that “through Russian-​language propaganda, people are forced to poison themselves with Western medicines” and that “the Russian language text does not change Western shit into Sputnik”. Other Russian-​speaking users also mentioned that Russian speakers understand that they are being deceived, and claimed that this kind of information should not be in Russian, but in “inaccessible language spoken by the public officials”–​referring to Estonian.

On the vaccination campaign as propaganda In April, Terviseamet launched the “Thank you, Dad” and “Thank you, Mom” campaigns, in which Estonian celebrities–​two actors, a TV presenter and a rapper–​thanked their parents for vaccinating their children for protecting their health. The videos targeted different language groups: two videos in Russian and two in Estonian were published in separate posts where the description was written in the language used in the promoted video. The subsequent comments in Russian and Estonian were very different. The comments in Russian were mostly negative. Out of a total of 67 comments on the campaign, none expressed approval, and a striking 45 angry emoticons were included in the 231 reactions. In contrast, for other posts, the number of “angry” emoticons was typically fewer than ten. Commenters used words like “propaganda” and “idiots” to describe the individuals featured in the video, and some pointed out that it was the state’s responsibility to administer vaccinations rather than leaving it to 311

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individual mothers. It is worth noting that comments made in Estonian were less negative, with only six “angry” emoticons out of 215 reactions. In Estonian comments, propaganda is generally associated with the information coming from the Russian Federation, referred to as “enemy of death”, “sweet neighbour” and “foreign forces”, although the Estonian state and anti-​vaccine propaganda are also present.

On the quality of communication When it comes to comments related to the communication during the pandemic, Estonian speakers mainly mention the lack of clarity of messages, e.g., regarding self-​isolation measures, vaccination appointments or mistakes in the posts related to the number of doses administered. Russian speakers, on the other hand, sometimes mention the use of the Russian language to disseminate messages as a propaganda weapon or criticise the lack of information in their language. Some users commented on the post published on 9 April in Estonian wondering why it had taken so long to communicate to the Russian-​speaking population, and one suggested that communication could be improved by making parallel posts in Russian and Estonian. It is worth noting that, despite numerous questions from Russian speakers in these posts addressed to Terviseamet regarding the composition of the vaccines, side effects, statistical data, etc., Terviseamet did not provide any answers to these questions, although it did engage in communication with some comments in Estonian.

Posts and reactions on Terviseamet’s Facebook page in August In August, Terviseamet published nine parallel posts in Russian and Estonian, all of them regarding vaccination, i.e., information about vaccination points, celebrations for reaching a certain number of people vaccinated and campaign videos. For four of them, however, the comments were disabled and, therefore, not included in the analysis. Although the number of reactions to these posts is higher in Estonian, Russian speakers comment and share the posts more actively, considering the number of Russian speakers in the country. Regarding the narratives that can be found in this period, there are some common ones, such as the inefficacy of vaccines. The arguments, however, have changed from the previous period, and the main reasoning is that those who are vaccinated are still getting infected and transmitting the virus as well. This type of narrative is common in both Russian and Estonian comments. Russian-​speakers’ advocacy of the Sputnik vaccine is also still present, but not as frequent as in April and May. Other common topics in both languages are the unreliability of the information (especially in the two posts celebrating the number of vaccinated), the indignation over the fact that the vaccinated can move freely (thanks to the COVID pass), even though they can still spread the virus, and the continued refusal to be vaccinated.

On the side effects of vaccines It is common in the comments in both languages to condemn vaccines for their side effects and the vaccine is often called “poison” by both Estonian and Russian speakers, e.g. “This so-​called vaccine contains more poison than the virus itself” and “Let them inject themselves with this poison […] and watch and wait for the consequences”. Among the comments in Russian, it is more

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313 Figure 21.3 Number of comments and reactions to parallel posts in August

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frequent than among those in Estonian to find personal stories of friends, family or neighbours who, after having been vaccinated, had serious side effects and needed treatment or even died.

On Terviseamet’s insistence on vaccination campaigns This is a very frequent topic in both languages, as the vaccination campaign was running for months, with daily posts. Reactions range from insults to the Terviseamet and the government to simple assertions that those who have been willing to get vaccinated already did and that people should be free to choose. The reactions, however, are blunter in the comments to the post published on 2 August, which includes a video featuring three public figures in Estonian society: Kersti Kaljulaid, at that time President of the Republic of Estonia; Anne Veski, a famous Estonian singer who has recorded in Estonian and Russian; and Arkadi Popov, Chief Medical Officer of the Estonian Health Board’s crisis team, promoted by the government as a spokesperson with the Russian-​speaking community. As responses to this post, accusations of promoting propaganda aimed at Terviseamet and the celebrities who lend their image to the campaign are frequent in both languages, with the latter receiving insults such as “pathetic frauds” and being repeatedly asked how much they have been paid to act as public relations agents. The comments in Russian, however, focus on the figure of Popov. For several users, his appearance in this campaign is a disappointment and a way of using his image to advertise the vaccines; and the whole campaign in which he appears is reminiscent of the USSR.

On the use of the Russian language only when it suits the government’s purposes The video mentioned before was recorded in both languages for the two parallel posts. In one of them, therefore, the then president, Kersti Kaljulaid, can be seen encouraging the population in Russian to get vaccinated, which has provoked reactions of surprise and mockery in the comments, such as “No, she has started speaking in Russian, it seems that she is really in a pickle…”, “Our ‘mother’ is speaking Russian”, “Started speaking in Russian for the sake of vaccination? No need!…” and “Comrade President, have you forgotten that we are in the age of Estonian?”. These reactions among the Russian-​speaking users in our corpus sample reflect their mistrust of the authorities’ attempts to speak to them in Russian in some cases and to “punish” or evade the use of Russian in others. For example, there is a system of fines for teachers in schools and kindergartens with Russian as the language of instruction for not mastering Estonian to the required level (Tamm 2008), and for a long time, even the President’s speeches on New Year’s Eve were not subtitled or translated into Russian.

Conclusion As mentioned, comments were deactivated for the only two English posts published during this period. In recent years in Estonia, there has been a growing demand for English as a lingua franca due to the recent migration of populations from around the globe to supply skilled workers in fields such as IT or research, as well as the call for international students. However, this demand has not been met, including in terms of communication on pandemic-​related matters. Negative narratives about vaccination can be found in both Estonian and Russian, which is perhaps not surprising in social media, where negativity enjoys a rather wiser diffusion (Fine and Hunt 2021). On the other hand, the situation during the pandemic (number of cases, hospitalisations 314

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and deaths) was never as critical in Estonia during the first and second waves as it was in other countries (such as Spain, Italy or the UK), nor were the measures and restrictions, therefore, as pronounced. This may also have contributed to the fact that the population of Estonia did not see the seriousness of the situation and the need for vaccines as strongly. Data show that vaccine reluctance is fairly high in Estonia, particularly in non-​Estonian communities, in particular the Russian-​speaking minority. Political and media spheres have pointed to a lack of communication with these communities. However, this is a complex case, not only because Estonian society is clearly multilingual and multicultural, but also because of the conflictive and sensitive historical context in the country and the high level of fragmentation between Estonian and Russian-​speaking communities. Russian language communication has not received the necessary attention in the posts published by Terviseamet, despite the large number of speakers in Estonia. This, in combination with the underlying problems of segregation of the Russian-​speaking minority, has led to the emergence of distinct public narratives among this group. Particularly noteworthy are criticisms of the government’s hypocrisy in using the Russian language when it serves its purposes, as is the case with vaccination campaign videos. Mistrust of Estonian political leaders and high-​ranking Estonian officials, who since regaining independence have been changing their discourse by addressing the general public in Estonian or Russian, is very evident in the previously mentioned criticisms. Resentment may also be caused by the fact that the Russian-​speaking population does not encounter Estonian politicians and high-​ranking officials speaking to them in Russian or with the help of interpreters in the Russian-​language Estonian media in relation to everyday problems. Even when attempts have been made to disseminate critically important information in Russian, the result has been sometimes questionable, e.g., on 25 March 2020, the government sent a text message to the population in Estonian and Russian to declare a state of emergency, however, the text in Russian contained half as much information as the Estonian text along with several abbreviations. After this case, which attracted the attention of the community and the media, the quality of state-​translated COVID-​related information became significantly higher. Another narrative observed is the criticism of Western propaganda and vaccines and the call for Sputnik V. Messages in defence of Sputnik come from the Russian media, as well as from informal exchanges with family and friends (we have also seen how some of the anti-​vaccine narratives are based on personal cases, acquaintances, etc.). The COVID surveys mentioned in this chapter also show, as expected, that it is more common among non-​Estonians to turn to foreign sources for information regarding the pandemic. In addition, criticism of the AstraZeneca vaccine and its side effects in the Estonian media has most likely reinforced the distrust of vaccines. The issue of lack of trust in the Estonian authorities and the media is something that was already tangible before this pandemic, but has been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. When a segment of the population does not trust the messages coming from the government, disseminating information in several languages cannot overcome such an obstacle, even less so when attention to minority languages is provided only at critical moments when the rest of the population is affected. In this respect, during a health crisis, and when trust issues are manifest, communication strategies need to be reviewed, especially if they are based entirely on top-​down communication (Escudero et al. 2022). The use of new strategies and channels, in which part of society is addressed and reached through other institutions and actors functioning as mediators, can improve communication. However, it cannot substitute for a long-​term strategy to overcome the linguistic polarisation and dichotomy between overt (monolingual) and covert (multilingual) language policy that has been consolidated for decades. 315

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The research we have presented in this chapter must be seen in the context of its limitations. First, any generalisations from the case study data must be approached with caution. Second, the data used for this study has been retrieved from social media where not only the existence of bots is a factor to be considered but also the fact that we do not know the number of unique users. Finally, we must consider that the users of this page do not necessarily constitute a representative sample of Estonian society and the narratives found may be typical of a small group of this society. Nevertheless, there is scope for more ambitious research that considers the reception of information in different languages in Estonia (including English, which is used as a lingua franca by a growing part of the population), not only in relation to a crisis, but on other important day-​to-​day issues. Such studies would help to better understand the weaknesses and strengths of communication with linguistic minorities, and would serve as a basis for developing communication strategies to support trust in the government and authorities when an emergency occurs.

Notes 1 More information about the STRIVE project, hosted by University College London and led by Federico M. Federici, can be found at www.str​ivep​roj.com/​. 2 More information about this project, led by Tanya Escudero, can be found at https://​crisis​tran​slat​ion. tlu.ee/​. 3 The term ‘Russian speaker’ is used here to describe, or in some cases replace, the term ethnic Russian, since some Slavic minorities (including Ukrainians, Poles and Belarusians) adopted Russian as their mother tongue or lingua franca. The term ‘Russian speaking’ is also used in politics, legislation and news in the Baltic region (Apolevič and Kuzborska-​Pacha 2022, 333). 4 During the first wave of the pandemic the crisis website of the Government of Estonia, kriis.ee, was created to deal exclusively with issues related to the pandemic. This website provides information on the number of cases, hospitalisations and vaccinations per day, collects information on measures and restrictions, vaccination points, etc. It also has a Q&A section fed by questions asked by the population on the State helpline (1247). Currently, it is also being used to provide information on the Ukrainian refugee crisis, and includes information in Ukrainian on accommodation, social services, access to labour market or studies, and so on. 5 All the data regarding COVID infections and vaccination rates were retrieved from the Estonian Health Board website: www.terv​isea​met.ee/​en/​coro​navi​rus/​coro​navi​rus-​data​set. 6 In addition, there was one post published in English in May, stating that “Uninsured people and foreigners living in Estonia can get vaccinated against COVID-​19 free of charge”. The comments to this post were disabled.

Further reading Valentini, Chiara, Øyvind Ihlen, and Ralph Tench. 2022. ‘A question of trust. Exploring trust concepts, experiences and early observations from Europe’. In Strategic communication in a global crisis. National and international responses to the COVID-​19 pandemic, edited by Ralph Tench, Juan Meng and Ángeles Moreno, 15–​31. London: Routledge. This chapter delves into the issue of trust during health crises and how it affects people’s ability to follow public health rules and guidelines. It also includes a discussion of trust at the micro, meso and macro levels, and includes examples in Europe during the COVID-​19 pandemic. Lee, Tong King, and Dingkun Wang (Eds.). 2022. Translation and social media communication in the age of the pandemic. New York: Routledge. This volume examines the link between translation and social media during the COVID-​19 crisis. Special attention should be paid to “Translating knowledge, establishing trust. The role of social media in communicating the COVID-​19 pandemic in the Netherlands” (van Dijk and Alinejad 2022), as well as to “Parallel pandemic spaces: Translation, trust and social media” (O’Brien, Cadwell and Lokot 2022).

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Vaccination narratives in a multilingual society Vihalemm, Triin, and Veronika Kalmus. 2009. ‘Cultural differentiation of the Russian minority’. Journal of Baltic Studies, 40 (1): 95–​119. This article can assist in understanding the situation of the Russian ethno-​linguistic minority in Estonia, and the challenges faced by both the ethnic majority and the minority in “developing strategies to overcome the Soviet (colonial) past and to re-​socialize into the new, transformational society”.

References Apolevič Jolanta, and Kuzborska-​Pacha Elżbieta. 2022. ‘Legal protection of national minorities in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland: Current issues’. In Legal protection of vulnerable groups in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland: Trends and perspectives, edited by Agnė Limantė and Dovilė Pūraitė-​Andrikienė, 329–​368. Cham: Springer. Baker, Mona. 2014. ‘Translation as re-​narration’. In Translation: A multidisciplinary approach, edited by Julian House, 158–​177. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control). 2021. Reducing COVID-​19 transmission and strengthening vaccine uptake among migrant populations in the EU/​EEA. PDF File. www.ecdc.eur​opa. eu/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​docume​nts/​COVID-​19-​reduc​ing-​trans​miss​ion-​and-​streng​then​ing-​vacc​ine-​upt​ake-​in-​ migra​nts.pdf. Eesmaa, Mari. 2021. ‘Sotsiaalministeerium hakkab Sputniku vaktsiini soovijaid ümber veenma’, Delfi. Website. www.delfi.ee/​artik​kel/​92523​421/​video-​sotsi​aalm​inis​teer​ium-​hak​kab-​sputn​iku-​vaktsi​ini-​soovij​ aid-​umber-​vee​nma. Escudero, Tanya, Jekaterina Maadla, Mari-​Liis Jakobson, and Ivan Polynin. 2022. Communication with linguistic minorities in Estonia during the COVID-​19 pandemic: Lessons learned. Tallinn University. Fine, Jeffrey A. and Megan F. Hunt. 2021. ‘Negativity and elite message diffusion on social media’. Political Behavior. Available at: https://​doi.org/​10.1007/​s11​109-​021-​09740-​8. Karidakis, Maria, Robyn Woodward-​Kron, Riccardo Amorati, Bei Hu, Anthony Pym, and John Hajek. 2022. ‘Enhancing COVID-​19 public health communication for culturally and linguistically diverse communities: An Australian interview study with community representatives’. Qualitative Health Communication, 1 (1): 61–​83. https://​doi.org/​10.7146/​qhc.v1i1.127​258. Kook, Urmet. 2021. ‘Vaktsineerimistalgud kukkusid Ida-​Virumaal läbi’, ERR. Website. www.err.ee/​160​8167​ 311/​vakts​inee​rimi​stal​gud-​kukku​sid-​ida-​virum​aal-​labi. Kook, Urmet, Hannes Sarv, and Merili Nael. 2020. ‘Valitsus paneb uuest nädalast kõik koolid alates 1. klassist kinni, erandkorras säilib kaugõpe’. ERR. Website. www.err.ee/​1201​306/​valit​sus-​paneb-​uuest-​nadal​ast-​ koik-​koo​lid-​ala​tes-​1-​klassi​stki​nni-​eran​dkor​ras-​sai​lib-​kau​gop. Lai, Taavi, and Mall Leinsalu. 2015. Trends and inequalities in mortality of noncommunicable diseases. Case study for Estonia, World Health Organisation. PDF File. www.euro.who.int/​_​_​d​ata/​ass​ets/​pdf_​f​ile/​0020/​ 316​154/​Tre​nds-​inequ​alit​ies-​mortal​ity-​NCD-​case-​study-​Esto​nia.pdf. Lees, Cristopher. 2021. ‘ “Please wear mask!” COVID-​19 in the translation landscape of Thessaloniki: a cross-​disciplinary approach to the English translations of Greek public notices’. The Translator, 28 (3): 344–​365. O’Brien, Sharon, Patrick Cadwell, and Alicja Zajdel. 2021. Communicating COVID-​19. Translation and trust in Ireland’s response to the pandemic. Dublin City University. PDF File. www.dcu.ie/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​inl​ ine-​files/​COVID_​re​port​_​com​pres​sed.pdf. O’Brien, Sharon, Patrick Cadwell, and Tetyana Lokot. 2022. ‘Parallel pandemic spaces: Translation, trust and social media’. In Translation and social media communication in the age of the pandemic, edited by Tong King Lee and Dingkun Wang, 62–​77. Taylor & Francis. Ossinovski, Jevgeni. 2021. ‘Евгений Осиновский: пять предложений, как ускорить вакцинацию’. ERR. Website. https://​rus.err.ee/​160​8367​956/​evge​nij-​osi​novs​kij-​pjat-​predl​ozhe​nij-​kak-​usko​rit-​vakc​inac​iju. Rebane, Raul. 2021. ‘Raul Rebane: Five proposals for the coronavirus crisis’. ERR. Website. https://​news.err. ee/​160​8133​702/​raul-​reb​ane-​five-​propos​als-​for-​the-​coro​navi​rus-​cri​sis. Republic of Estonia Health Board. 2021. ‘Coronavirus dataset’. Website. www.terv​isea​met.ee/​en/​coro​navi​ rus-​data​set.https://​www.terv​isea​met.ee/​en/​coro​navi​rus-​data​set Riigikantselei. 2022. ‘COVID-​19 teemalise küsitluse raportid’. Website. https://​rii​gika​ntse​lei.ee/​uurin​gud. Tamm, Merike. 2008. ‘Vene lasteaedade õpetajad ei oska eesti keelt’. Postimees. Website. www.postim​ees.ee/​ 38710/​vene-​last​eaed​ade-​opeta​jad-​ei-​oska-​eesti-​keelt.

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Tanya Escudero and Jekaterina Maadla Tervise Arengu Instituut. 2021. Teadlikkus koroonaviirusest ja seotud hoiakud Eestis: rahvastikupõhine küsitlusuuring. COVID-​19 kiiruuring. PDF File. www.tai.ee/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​2021-​11/​COVID_​rapo​rt_​ 2​021.pdf. Uusküla, Anneli, Ruth Kalda, Mihkel Solvak, Mikl Jürisson, Meelis Käärik, Krista Fischer, Aime Keis, Uku Raudvere, Jaak Vilo, Heidi Peterson, Ene Käärik, Mait Metspalu, Tuuli Jürgenson, Lili Milani, Liis Kolberg, Ene-​Margit Tiit, and Kristjan Vassil. 2022. ‘The 1st year of the COVID-​19 epidemic in Estonia: a population-​based nationwide sequential/​consecutive cross-​sectional study’. Public Health, 205: 150–​156. Vaino, Roberta, and Andrew Whyte. 2021. ‘MEP: Russian populace not sufficiently informed about COVID-​ 19 vaccines’. ERR. Website https://​news.err.ee/​160​8126​421/​mep-​russ​ian-​popul​ace-​not-​suffi​cien​tly-​infor​ med-​about-​COVID-​19-​vacci​nes. van Dijk, José, and Donya Alinejad. 2022. ‘Translating knowledge, establishing trust. The role of social media in communicating the COVID-​ 19 pandemic in the Netherlands’. In Translation and social media communication in the age of the pandemic, edited by Tong King Lee and Dinkun Wang, 26–​43. New York: Routledge. Vasli, Karoliina. 2020. ‘OtdeblogiI, videod ja fotod’. Delfi. Website. www.delfi.ee/​artik​kel/​89063​523/​otsebl​ ogi-​vid​eod-​ja-​fotod-​lux-​expres​site​gevj​uht-​koroo​navi​irus​ega-​nakatu​nut-​soi​duta​nud-​buss-​poru​tas-​edasi- ​ pet​erbu​ribu​ssij​uht-​aga-​soi​tis-​teise-​buss​iga-​hommi​kul-​riiga. Vasli, Karoliina. 2021. ‘Psühholoog Andero Uusberg koroona vastu vaktsineerimisest: mõistetav, et inimesed kõhklevad’. Delfi. Website. www.delfi.ee/​artik​kel/​92602​331/​erisa​ade-​psu​hhol​oog-​and​ero-​uusb​erg-​koro​ ona-​vastu-​vaktsi​neer​imis​est-​moiste​tav-​et-​inime​sed-​kohkle​vad. Wang, Peng. 2019. ‘Translation in the COVID-​19 health emergency in Wuhan. A crisis manager’s perspective’. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization, 6 (2): 86–​107. Whyte, Andrew. 2021. ‘President: The government should have done much better in managing pandemic’. ERR. Website. https://​news.err.ee/​160​8393​848/​presid​ent-​the-​gov​ernm​ent-​sho​uld-​have-​done-​much-​bet​ ter-​in-​manag​ing-​pande​mic. Wright, Helen. 2021a. ‘Vaccination rates still low in south Estonia’. ERR. Website. https://​news.err.ee/​160​ 8361​707/​vacc​inat​ion-​rates-​still-​low-​in-​south-​esto​nia. Wright, Helen. 2021b. ‘Estonia to miss September’s 70 percent vaccination rate target’. ERR. Website. https://​ news.err.ee/​160​8332​960/​esto​nia-​to-​miss-​septem​ber-​s-​70-​perc​ent-​vacc​inat​ion-​rate-​tar​get.

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PART IV

Language strategies and solutions

22 EXPLORING THE ACCURACY AND APPROPRIATENESS OF THE TRANSLATION OF IMPORTANT GOVERNMENT INFORMATION FOR SAMOAN-​ SPEAKING COMMUNITIES IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA DURING THE COVID-​1 9 CRISIS Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee

Introduction Both Aotearoa (the Māori language name for New Zealand) and its nearest neighbour, Australia, are increasingly multicultural, with interpreting services catering to over 160 languages in Aotearoa New Zealand and to over 260 languages in Australia. Translation and Interpreting (T&I) educators from both countries follow the same codes of ethics (Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators [AUSIT] 2012; NZSTI 2013) and T&I educators work together closely by exchanging information on teaching and learning, since they both prepare their students for the same accreditation tests. The nature of the SARS-​Cov-​2 pandemic, which spread around the world in 2020, meant that COVID-​19 information needed to be urgently translated into the many community languages used in Aotearoa NZ and Australia. Access to accurate translations of essential information is a fundamental human right in times of crisis. However, news from the state of Victoria, in Australia, showed that important health information was not getting through to people from non-​English-​speaking communities, resulting in higher levels of infections in those communities (Grey 2020). In Australia, anecdotal evidence from translators suggests that some state health authorities required that such information be machine translated into several languages, with a human translator then carrying out a post-​edit, all within 24 hours (Multicultural Health Communication Service n.d.).

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-27

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Both Australia and Aotearoa NZ have sizable Samoan-​speaking communities. The focus of this chapter will be on translations of NZ and Australian government information into a language (in this case, Samoan) where health terminology is not as developed as in English, and the translator needs to unpack meaning, rephrase and simplify to facilitate communication of urgent health messages to ensure its cultural and linguistic appropriateness and hence acceptability for the Samoan reader. The meaning of the concept takes shape when we discuss individual examples. Even though the chapter will focus on an analysis of issues in a sample of the English to Samoan crisis translation of COVID-​19-​related information, our findings may apply to the crisis translation for migrants and refugees who have not had the opportunity to complete schooling in their first language (Burn et al. 2014). In the case of Samoan, the language has a lack of medical vocabulary, leading to a need for translators to unpack complex terms in informal everyday language. In the case of refugee languages, translators may need to unpack certain medical terms, because readers may not have acquired (health) literacy and may not be familiar with established medical terms. We will start by outlining the research context before moving to the methodology and a discussion of the findings. We will conclude with some recommendations for an approach to crisis translation that involves the communities as important stakeholders, both in terms of content, dissemination and preferred form of communication. This chapter contains examples of incorrect, inaccurate, confusing and inappropriate translations taken from English to Samoan translations of COVID-​19-​related information. The authors have been unable to ascertain whether any of the translations were the work of unpaid Volunteer Information Facilitators or the work of qualified translators.

Research context The research context comprises the Samoan population of Aotearoa NZ and Australia and the provision of COVID-​19-​related information by governments and health authorities in both countries. Information on translator training and/​or accreditation in both countries is also provided, as this specifies crucial information on who produced the Samoan translations we analyse.

Samoan population of Aotearoa NZ and Australia At the time of writing (October 2022), the population of Aotearoa NZ was estimated to be just over 5 million people. From the 1950s onwards, large numbers of Samoans started to migrate from their native Samoan Islands, Polynesia, to New Zealand (Anae 2015; Cumberland 1962; Fairbairn 1961), looking for work and better opportunities for their children. Samoans continue to migrate to Aotearoa NZ, with 1100 Samoans granted a residency permit every year since 2002 (Anae 2015). According to Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ 2018), the Samoan ethnic group comprised 182,721 people in 2018, making up 4.8% of the resident 2018 population. Given that 13% of Samoans had been in Aotearoa NZ for five to nine years since they arrived in Aotearoa NZ, they may still prefer to read official information in their native language. Some of the older Samoan people may have originally come to Aotearoa NZ with little English and may not have developed significant proficiency in English over many years of working mainly in manual jobs (cf. Crezee 2008). The population of Australia was just over 26 million at the time of writing (Worldometers 2020). The 2016 Australian Census showed that over 75,000 people claimed Samoan ancestry, making them the largest group of people claiming Pacific Islands ancestry in Australia. Most Samoans for whom COVID-​19-​related communication was intended had arrived in either Australia or Aotearoa NZ to work as manual labourers in the years prior to the pandemic. In both 322

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countries, both their educational achievement statistics lag behind those of the European and Asian ethnic groups (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021; Stats NZ 2018). Information from several government sources in both countries shows that health outcomes are lowest among Māori and Pacific peoples (Ministry for Pacific Peoples 2021; Ministry of Health 2022d; Queensland Health 2009), and this is associated with several social determinants, including low levels of health literacy. These issues escalated during the pandemic–​a time of crisis that had an enormous impact. High numbers of COVID cases were recorded in areas where there are many people with low income and low health literacy, including speakers of Samoan.

Translator and interpreter education in Aotearoa NZ Receiving significant numbers of migrants for whom English is not the preferred language of medical care (Crezee and Roat 2019) brings with it the need to provide language access services. Although the New Zealand government established a Translation Service early on, in 1949 (Ridgeway, 2023), it took a series of medical misadventures in which members of minority language speakers were disadvantaged (Cartwright 1988; Coney and Bunkle 2020) for the language access rights of minority language speakers to be really recognised in Aotearoa NZ. In Australia, the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) was established in 1977 and translator and interpreter education soon followed (Taibi, Ozolins, and Maximous 2021). Translators in Australia must be accredited by NAATI or possess credentialling if there is no testing for a particular language. Accredited and credentialled translators must provide evidence of ongoing practice and professional development every three years, in order to maintain their credentialling/​accreditation. In Aotearoa NZ, the Translation Service of the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) utilises the services of Samoan language specialists.

COVID-​19 pandemic and crisis translation The COVID-​19 pandemic crisis brought with it the need to urgently translate health information for speakers of minority languages, so as to enable the latter to keep themselves safe, prevent infection, recognise symptoms in addition to information about vaccination. COVID-​19-​related information was translated into different community languages selected on the demand for language access services. Translations were also made available in printed form at vaccination centres and family doctor practices nationwide, and in digital form on the Ministry of Health website. Some of these languages included Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Samoan, Tongan, Tuvaluan, Vietnamese, Hindi and Urdu.1 In early July 2020 the New Zealand Office of Ethnic Communities2 announced on its Facebook page that it intended to set up a “Multilingual Information Network”. The office asked members of different ethnic communities to contribute to the communication of government information as “Volunteer Information Facilitators”. These volunteers were asked to not only translate information, but also set up their own processes to test the accuracy of these translations and disseminate the verified Information to their communities, all within 24 hours of receiving the English source texts (STs). In addition, the volunteers were asked to provide the Office of Ethnic Communities with feedback on the challenges their communities were facing–​all of this in a completely unpaid capacity (Community Languages Information Network 2020). The Facebook post resulted in an angry response from Joris De Bres, the country’s former Race Relations Conciliator. On 13 July 2020 he wrote: 323

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Many people from ethnic communities have experienced being called on by their employer to provide translation or interpreting skills without any financial recognition. (…). But for a government agency responsible for promoting the well-being of ethnic communities to use volunteers from those communities to carry out its core function–​namely, communication with those communities–​is novel to say the least. (De Bres 2020) De Bres (2020) also brought up the irony of the Office of Ethnic Communities (OEC) being part of the Department of Internal Affairs, which has a professional translation services with “highly skilled linguists” and “an extensive database of freelance translators” as well as international quality standard accreditation. De Bres, Susan Warren3 and the second author engaged with the Office of Ethnic Communities to question this approach. Soon after, the OEC announced that all community translation of important OEC information would be undertaken by paid language specialists and freelance translators working for the government’s own Translation Service in Wellington. The Translation Service translated information for the Ministry of Health (MOH) websites. Languages were chosen based on feedback from communities and on statistics around which languages are most used and requested for government services. The focus for translation was on the languages of communities that requested/​needed government services rather than any kind of assessment of the overall size or importance of a language.

Community translation In this chapter the authors follow Taibi and Ozolins’s (2016, 8) definition of community translation as “[t]‌ranslation in and for communities”. As a service offered at a national or local level, community translation aims “to ensure that members of multilingual societies have access to information and active participation” (Ibid.). The aspect of active participation is very important. Community translation fulfils a social function in that it aims to ensure equal access to public service information. Community translation of health information may be said to empower members of minority communities to take the actions necessary to maintain good health (Teng 2019). This became particularly evident during the COVID-​19 pandemic, when it became crucial that information on signs and symptoms of COVID-​19, actions to be taken to avoid infection and curtail further spread, and information on the efficacy of vaccines were disseminated among different minority language communities in an accurate and efficient manner.

Crisis translation for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities Like elsewhere in the world, the increased movement of migrants and refugees into countries such as Aotearoa NZ and Australia since 1945 has resulted in a growing interest in ensuring members of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities have equal access to health information–​mediated by interpreters and translators. As an example, Khatri and Assefa (2022) describe barriers experienced by CALD populations accessing the universal healthcare system in Australia, while Ortega and colleagues describe the link between language access barriers and health equity in the United States during the first year of the COVID-​19 pandemic (Ortega et al. 2020). O’Brien and Federici (2020) define the term crisis translation as “a specific form of

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communication that overlaps with principles of risk communication as much as with principles of emergency planning and management” (130).

Crisis translation of health information Piller, Zhang, and Li (2020, 504) describe the COVID-​19 pandemic as “a mass communication challenge”, citing O’Brien and colleagues (2018; O’Brien and Federici 2020) when they write: “However, the existence of multilingual messages alone does not guarantee that these messages are of sufficient quality.” Scholars argue that the quality of multilingual crisis communication can be evaluated along the following four dimensions: the 4-​A standard of availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability (O’Brien et al. 2018; Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020). In relation to the third dimension of acceptability, Piller and colleagues ask: “Are provisions in place to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of multilingual crisis information?” (2020, 509). This chapter will focus on the acceptability and accuracy of English to Samoan translations of COVID-​ 19-​related information in Aotearoa NZ and Australia. With regard to crisis translation of COVID-​19-​related information, in Australia some authorities favoured a combination of machine translation and post-​editing by human translators, according to Taibi (2022), which led to ongoing discussions as reflected on a special webpage dedicated to the topic.4 We may assume that the post-​editing by human translators may have included checking for cultural and linguistic appropriateness. In Aotearoa NZ, all translations were carried out and edited by human actors, where we may assume some level of checking of both accuracy and cultural and linguistic appropriateness. This chapter discusses examples of Samoan translations found on both Aotearoa NZ and Australian official websites, which were either not accurate, or not culturally and linguistically appropriate.

Health literacy of translators and end-​users Health information is written by scientists and health professionals and should therefore be translated by individuals with a very strong understanding of not only the relevant health-​related topic but also all aspects such as anatomy, physiology and pathology, in order to ensure information is understood and conveyed accurately. There has been a dearth of studies to date focusing on the health literacy of translators. Research should also focus on the health literacy of the recipients of mediated health communications: this is important as it is linked to the possible need for language service providers such as interpreters to unpack the message (Burn and Wong Soon 2020; Crezee and Wong Soon 2023; Magill 2017). The authors argue that translators need to possess health literacy themselves, while also being aware of varying levels of health literacy among members of their target readership. Fleary, Joseph, and Pappagianopoulos (2018, 117) defined health literacy as “the extent to which individuals attain, manage, and understand health information and apply that information in health decision-​making”, and this has proven even more important during the COVID-​19 pandemic (Abdel-​Latif 2020). Many authors have described the relationship between poor health literacy and poor health outcomes. It is essential that crisis translation of health information takes account of the health literacy of the target readers (Burn and Crezee 2020; Crezee and Tupou Gordon 2019), their expected level of health literacy and their preferred mode (written or spoken) and channels of dissemination (e.g. Taibi, Liamputtong, and Polonsky 2019). In Australia, Yussuf and Walden (2021) commented that Victoria was the only state to record the ethnicity of people receiving the COVID-​19 vaccinations, which would arguably have been one way to

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gauge the success of getting information on the benefits of vaccination through to specific ethnic communities.

Pragmatic equivalence When engaged in crisis translation, it is essential that translators strive to maintain the illocutionary intent of the ST, but in a socially and linguistically appropriate manner for their target audience. They would want to achieve pragmatic equivalence, translating in such a manner that the illocutionary force and illocutionary intent of the ST or source discourse are maintained (Crezee and Roat 2019; Crezee, Teng, and Burn 2017; Hale 2014; Teng 2019).

Research methodology With insight into the new SARS-​ Cov-​ 2 rapidly evolving and changing, state and national governments in Aotearoa NZ and Australia faced the absolute need to ensure vital information reached all of their ethnic communities after the pandemic was declared in February 2020. Piller, Zhang, and Li (2020) discussed the dimensions of availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability. This chapter will address the third dimension of acceptability, which involves ensuring “the accuracy and appropriateness of multilingual crisis information” (Piller, Zhang, and Li 2020, 509) in this case in the Samoan language. This language has been chosen because Samoan speakers have poorer health outcomes than the general population in both Australia and Aotearoa NZ. The fact that Samoan has a very limited health/​medical lexicon means it is essential to unpack medical concepts to ensure that the Samoan target audience has access to information they can understand. In this section, we will provide excerpts of translations which have been published on the websites of different health organisations for analysis and critique. The first author has included the English original STs and their original translations into Samoan before providing her suggested Samoan translations of the same English STs and discussions of her suggested translations. The main research question is, therefore, whether the Samoan translations found on official Australian and New Zealand websites meet the acceptability standard. We will do this by looking at the criterion of cultural and linguistic appropriateness. The data sample consisted of English STs and Samoan target texts (TTs) of translations (i.e.) of COVID-​19 information published online by authorities in Australia and Aotearoa NZ from soon after the pandemic was announced in early 2020 right up until March 2022. These English STs and Samoan TTs were collected from both Australian and Aotearoa NZ websites providing official information on COVID-​19. The data analysed focused on a comparative analysis of English STs and Samoan TTs, focusing on pragmatic equivalence, cultural appropriateness, ambiguities and features specific to the Samoan language. The lead author selected examples that she considered to be representative of issues she also commonly identifies when asked to review translations from English to Samoan, particularly health-​related translations. These issues included: lack of cultural sensitivity, inaccuracies, omission of information and failure to achieve pragmatic equivalence. In the examples, the terminology under consideration will be presented in bold italics.

Discussion This section comprises a discussion of the findings of a comparative analysis of the six English STs and their six Samoan translations as they appeared on various official government or health 326

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authority websites. Examples were chosen if the Samoan translations included instances of inaccuracy and cultural and linguistic inappropriateness. The source websites have been added in a footnote. Some tables comprise several examples, and these have been numbered for ease of reading.

Discussion of the ambiguous and culturally inappropriate translation choices Table 22.1 covers several instances of ambiguous and culturally inappropriate translation choices. The ST and its Samoan translation were retrieved from the Australian Government Department of Health website. The text was information on “Be COVIDSAFE” and focused on the need for the public to wear facemasks. In Example 1a, ufimata is an ambiguous and culturally inappropriate translation choice used to refer to mask. It is a very unfortunate choice because of its strong connotation with death. Ufimata is made from two root words, (i.e.) ufi is cover/​lid, but in this context, ufi means cover (noun), while the word mata refers to eyes in this context. In traditional Samoan language and culture, the ufimata is a siapo (smaller tapa cloth) that is used to cover the face of the deceased. The word ufimata is self-​explanatory in Samoan, (i.e.) ufi is cover, and mata is face. Consultation with Samoan elders in Samoa and Aotearoa NZ revealed that over the years the ufimata has been used to refer to a shroud or coffin cover for the deceased (Lilomaiava-​Doktor 2016). This example is one of the most common issues that the first author comes across when reviewing translations from English to Samoan. Many translators use Samoan concepts that are commonly used in everyday life but seem unaware that most of these concepts are inappropriately used in their Samoan translations, because they are used in the wrong context. Ufimata is one of these examples. At the time of the COVID-​19 pandemic where many ‘āiga5 had lost their loved ones because of the pandemic, it was culturally inappropriate and insensitive to use a word associated with covering the face of a deceased person at a time when people all over the world were worried about catching the potentially deadly SARS-​Cov 2 virus. It was important to ensure that the language used in translations of COVID-​19 prevention materials for the Samoan community did not contain words or phrases with negative connotations, particularly those related to death. This helped to mitigate any potential negative psychological impact on members of the community and increased the effectiveness of the materials in promoting protective behaviors. The first author recommends using ufifofoga or talifofoga as correct translations for mask or facemask in the Samoan language, where both equivalents can be used interchangeably. Talifofoga comes from two words combined, which is similar to ufifofoga (ufi–​cover, fofoga–​face); tali is cover (in this context we mean to cover or protective cover/​layer), while fofoga is face. Fofoga also refers to mouth, nose and eyes. Interestingly, when the lead author checked the links in the note at the end of this sentence, they were broken, but had been replaced by new links associated with websites where the culturally inappropriate term ufimata had been replaced by the term suggested by the lead author.6 The links themselves, however, still contain the incorrect term ufimata. Example 1b involves yet another example that relates to incorrect equivalents being used in the Samoan translation, in this case fa‘asao fa‘aeteete. The original translation for fa‘asao fa‘aeteete means careful protection/​be careful to protect which does not state the meaning of the ST terms, i.e. extra precaution. It should be translated to puipuiga fa‘aopoopo, with puipuiga being the pragmatic equivalent for protection, and fa‘aopoopo meaning extra or added. In ­example 1c, the English COVID-​19 is again used in the Samoan translation, when in fact Samoans in Samoa, Australia and Aotearoa NZ commonly use KOVITI-​19. Example 1c also 327

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Table 22.1 Several instances of ambiguous and culturally inappropriate translation choices English source text (ST) Example 1a Do I Need To Wear a Mask?

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extra precaution Example 1c COVID-​19 areas Example 1d Check your local state and territory advice about mask recommendations and requirements. If you are in a situation where physical distancing is difficult such as on public transport, you may choose to wear a mask.

Comments

Suggested Samoan translations with back translations in italics

E Mana’omia Ona Ou Faia se Ufimata? Back translation–​Do I Need To Wear a Facemask?

Ufimata–​the term ufimata used in this translation is ambiguous.

E Mana‘omia ona Ou Faia se Ufifofoga?

O ufimata o se fa‘asao fa‘aeteete e puipui ai mai le COVID-​19 i eria o lo‘o pipisi ai le siama. Back translation: Facemasks are careful protection/​ precaution to protect against COVID-​19 in areas where the virus is spreading.

Ufimata–​refer to previous comment

fa‘asao fa‘aeteete Back translation: careful protection/​precaution

O ufifofoga o se puipuiga fa‘aopoopo e puipui ai mai le KOVITI-​19 i nofoaga o lo‘o pipisi ai le siama/​ vairusi i le komiuniti. Back translation: Facemasks are an extra protection/​ precaution to protect against COVID-​19 in areas where the virus is spreading in the community/​ community transmission. puipuiga fa‘aopoopo Back translation: extra precaution/​protection

KOVITI-​19 eria

KOVITI-​19 Back translation: COVID-​19 nofoaga Back translation–​areas

Siaki fautuaga mai lau setete ma le teritori e uiga i ufimata fa’atonuina ma mana’omia. Afai o e i se tulaga e mana’omia le nofo vavamamao ae faigata e pei o luga o fela’ua’iga lautele, e mafai ona e filifili e fa’aaogaina se ufimata. Back translation: Check your state and territory advice about facemask recommendations and requirements. If you are in a situation where physical distancing is needed but difficult such as on public transport, you may choose to wear a facemask.

Australian Government Department of Health (2020a, 2020b)

Omission of words in the TT, incorrect equivalents and pronouns, and the incorrect use of the apostrophe instead of the glottal stop.

Siaki fautuaga mai lou setete fa‘alotoifale ma le teritori e uiga i ufifofoga fa‘atonuina ma mana‘omia. Afai o ‘e i se tulaga e faigata ai ona taumamao ma le isi tagata e pei o luga o auala o femalagaa‘iga lautele, e ono mafai ona ‘e filifili e fa‘aaogāina se ufifofoga. Back translation: Check your local state and territory advice about mask recommendations and requirements. If you are in a situation where social distancing is difficult such as on public transport, you may choose to wear a mask.

Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee

Example 1b Masks are an extra precaution to protect against COVID-​19 in areas with community transmission.

Samoan target text (TT)

Translating important government information for Samoan-speakers

comprises eria as another incorrect loan word derived from the English word–​area, where Samoan has its own equivalent, as shown in Table 22.1. There are also instances in Table 22.1 where translators apparently found it difficult to identify a correct and appropriate equivalent in Samoan. The Samoan translation of local state in Example 1d is one such instance. Here the translator borrowed the term setete from the English ST word state, and setete is correct as it refers to a local governing body. However, the ST says local state, while the Samoan translation only has the word setete, meaning state. The first author would speculate that perhaps the translator felt that it was not necessary to repeat the same equivalent for the two words used in the ST. However, she would argue that it is very important not to omit any information as the ST specifies which state the ST is referring to. Table 22.1 shows the suggested translation and its back translation in English. Example 1d offers another instance of an incorrect equivalent being used in the TT, namely fela’uaiga lautele, which is used to refer to public transport. This equivalent is ambiguous because it can refer to the public transport of cargo. The correct equivalent to use in this context is ala o femalagaa‘iga lautele. This is back translated as ways/​means of public travelling, which is appropriate to describe when people are involved, as people should not be equated to inanimate cargo. Finally, the translator has used apostrophes instead of the correct diacritics used to indicate glottal stops. This occurs in many translations into Samoan, even in the translations that are presented on official governmental websites and websites of others.

Discussion of ambiguities in the Samoan translation 3 Example 2a again has COVID-​19, instead of the KOVITI-​19, and tagata immunocompromised which back translates to immunocompromised people, but which maintains an English medical term, which very few native speakers of English would be able to paraphrase correctly. Unfortunately, this type of inaccuracy is a common problem the lead author has identified as a frequent reviewer of translations from English to Samoan. It is confusing for readers when English words are not paraphrased or unpacked in the Samoan language or unpacked so they can understand the information provided. In the Samoan language it would be appropriate to unpack the word immunocompromised and translate it into Samoan as ua faigata ona latou tete‘eina lava fa‘ama‘i (back translation–​people whose body’s immune systems are having difficulty in protecting themselves from diseases), or tagata ua faigata ona latou tete‘eina lava fa‘ama‘i (Back translation is people who find it difficult to self-​protect themselves from diseases). In the second back translation of immunocompromised, self-​protect themselves from diseases is used, which in this context refers to the person’s physical immunity against diseases. Another issue with e­ xample 2a concerns COVID-​19 tui, where the English acronym is placed before the Samoan word tui (vaccine) to explain the type of vaccine. This has resulted in a grammatically incorrect sentence structure (i.e. COVID-​19 tui) and should have been written tui o le COVID-​19. However, Samoans have borrowed KOVITI-​19 from the English COVID-​19 (as explained in the previous example). In fact, the translation should have read tui o le KOVITI-​19 which back translates as COVID-​19 vaccine(s). This is also evident in the translation of COVID-​19 vaccine booster doses, where the original translation has COVID-​19 tui booster fuataga. Similar to the previous examples, English terms are used in the Samoan translation when there are in fact equivalents available in the Samoan language. We believe there are three options (see ­example 2c) for translating the COVID-​19 vaccine booster doses into the Samoan language. Firstly, it can be translated as Tui fa‘aopoopo lona tolu o le KOVITI-​19 (back translation–​Third added/​boosted COVID-​19 vaccine). A second option would be to translate it as Fuataga Fa‘aopoopo lona tolu o le 329

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tui o le KOVITI-​19 (back translation–​Third booster dose of the COVID-​19 vaccine). A third option would have been to translate it as Fuataga lona tolu o le tui o le KOVITI-​19 (Back translation–​ Third dose of the COVID-​19 vaccine). This would have been easily understood as, at the time the translations were published, the booster dose was the third vaccine and in the target language, translators can use the number three to refer to the booster shot. Incorrect prepositions and verbs were also used in the translations in Table 22.2, which offers further explanations. The incorrect use of verbs and prepositions and so on can change the meaning of the Samoan translation. It is very important for the translator to use the correct prepositions and verbs, etc., to maintain the meaning of the ST while adhering to the grammatical rules of the target language.

Discussion of inaccuracies and ambiguities in the Samoan translations In Example 3a, the translation contains unnecessary additions and omissions, including the addition of Tago laia meaning Then touch it/​feel it which is an unnecessary addition to the TT. There is also the omission of the word swab which can be translated as vavae ōlo. This can be back translated to cotton swab (cotton–​vavae, swab–​ōlo), adding ōlo after vavae to avoid ambiguity. In Samoan, vavae can also mean “break to share something”. The suggested translation explains what or how cotton is used in this context, in this case with reference to swab. Ōlo (rub) in this context is used to describe the vavae as it refers to swab especially with reference to a COVID-​19 swab test. Similarly, there is the unnecessary addition of tago lou lima (feel/​touch your hand) in the TT. Translators should keep their translations straightforward and avoid unnecessary additions. Example 3b has pogaiisu as an incorrect term for nostrils. The Samoan word pogaiisu refers to either the lower or upper cartilage of the nose, which means that the meaning is incorrect. The correct Samoan equivalent for nostrils is pūisu. In Example 3c, Filiki is used to mean flick as a loan translation from English, when it should have been translated as fitifiti in Samoan. This is another common feature of translations reviewed by the lead author. It is almost as if the translators are rushing by introducing loan words instead of finding appropriate Samoan equivalents, which can be confusing for the readers. Many of these loan words she encounters in her work as a reviewer are not commonly used in the community but only by a handful of people. While it is true that there is a lack of Samoan equivalents, this is not an excuse to introduce new loan words that most readers of the target language are not familiar with.

Discussion of inaccuracies in the Samoan translations In Example 4a, the Samoan translation is presented in question form while the last part of the ST has been omitted in the TT. Additionally, the ST meaning has changed in the translation. In the TT, breastfeeding has been translated as Fafagaina o susu? which back translates as feeding of milk. This has changed the meaning of the ST since the TT no longer refers to breastfeeding. Moreover, in Samoan, the translation can mean “a mother is eating to produce breastmilk in order to breastfeed”, which again differs in meaning from the ST. The translations suggested by the lead author provide the following alternatives for translating the ST into Samoan. Firstly, Ou te mai‘to poo fa‘asusu ia te a‘u la‘u tama, or secondly, Ou te to poo o‘u fa‘asusuina lava la‘u tama. The back translations are: I am pregnant or I am breastfeeding my child. It is very important to note that my child is added in the TT to complete the meaning of the sentence and avoid ambiguity. If we say “o‘u fa‘asusuina”, it can mean the person is feeding milk but the subject of the sentence is missing. It can also mean the subject is adding milk in (to something). 330

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Table 22.2 Examples of ambiguities in the Samoan translation English source text (ST)

Comments

Suggested Samoan translations with back translations in italics

COVID-​19 tui fuataga lona tolu mo tagata immunocompromised Back translation: COVID-​19 vaccine third doses for people immunocompromised

Use of English terminologies: COVID-​19, instead of the KOVITI-​ 19, and tagata immunocompromised which back translates to immunocompromised people.

O le tui fuataga Iona lona o le KOVITI-​19 mo tagata ua faigata ona tete‘e e ō latou tino o fa‘ama‘i Back translation: The COVID-​19 vaccine third doses for people whose body’s immune system are having difficulty in protecting themselves from diseases) Or, Tui fuataga lona tolu o le KOVITI-​19 mo tagata ua faigata ona latou tele ‘eina lava fa‘ama‘i Back translation: COVID-​19 vaccine third doses for people whose find it difficult to self-​protect themselves from diseases (i.e.) latou te te‘eina lava (self-​protect) is referring to their own immune system

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However, immunocompromised is an English word which should be unpacked because there is no Samoan equivalent. Also, the translation should not have COVID-​19 tui, which has an English word before the Samoan word to explain what type of vaccine (tui) we are talking about. Example 2b Australia’s immunisation O tagata ua i ai le tomai experts, the Australian fa‘apitoa o tui i Ausetalia, Technical Advisory Group le Australian Technical on Immunisation (ATAGI) Advisory Group on recommends a third dose of Immunisation (ATAGI) ua COVID-​19 vaccine for people fautuaina le fuataga lona tolu over 5 years o le COVID-​19 tui mo tagata ova atu ma

Incorrect verb used (i.e.) i ai instead of iai and omission of prepositions in this section ( i.e.) ua to refer to for in the TT (e.g.) for people over 5 years...)

O tagata atamamai/​e iai le tomai fa‘apitoa i tui puipui i Ausetalia, o le Kulupu Faufautua Fa‘atekonolosi o Tui Puipui i Ausetalia (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI)) ua fautuaina le fuataga lona tolu o le tui o le KOVITI-​19 mo tagata ua sili atu ma le 5 tausaga le matutua ua ōgaōga ma faigata ona tete‘eina fa‘ama‘i ua maualalo tulaga o le puipuiga o le tino mai siama nai lo le faitau aofa‘i o tagata (Continued)

Translating important government information for Samoan-speakers

Example 2a COVID-​19 vaccine third doses for immunocompromised people

Samoan target text (TT)

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Table 22.2 (Continued) English source text (ST)

Samoan target text (TT)

332 Australian Government Department of Health (2023, n.d.)

Suggested Samoan translations with back translations in italics

Unpacking of medical concepts Back translation: Experts in immunisation in being too wordy in TT, and using Australia, the Australian Technical Advisory of English words instead of Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) recommends unpacking/​translating into the target a third dose of the COVID-​19 vaccine for language. people over the age of 5 years whose immune systems are severely compromised have lower levels of immunity (body natural antigen protection) than the rest of the population. Use of English concepts in the TT when target language equivalents are available.

Tui fa’aopoopo lona tolu o le KOVITI-​19 Back translation: Third added COVID-​19 vaccine Or Fuataga Fa‘aopoopo lona tolu o le tui o le KOVITI-​19 Back translation: Third booster dose of the COVID-​19 vaccine Or Fuataga lona tolu o le tui o le KOVITI-​19 Back translation: Third dose of the COVID-​19 vaccine.

Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee

of age who are severely le 5 tausaga ua severely immunocompromised. immunocompromised. People who are severely O tagata ua ogaoga immunocompromised have immunocompromised ua lower levels of immunity than maualato tulaga o le tete‘e the rest of the population. atu o le tino i siama nai lo isi tagata o le faitau aofa‘i o tagata Example 2c COVID-​19 vaccine booster COVID-​19 tui booster fuataga doses

Comments

Translating important government information for Samoan-speakers Table 22.3 Examples of inaccuracies and ambiguities in the Samoan translations English source text (ST) Example 3a Insert the swab into one of your nostrils up to 2–​3cm from the edge of the nostril.

Example 3b

Samoan target text (TT)

Comments

Unnecessary additions and Togo laia e momono i le omissions pogaiisu e tasi pe ā ma le 2–​3cm le mamao i totonu mai fafo o le pogaiisu. Back translation: Then feel/​touch to insert inside one of the lower/​upper cartilage of the nose up to 2–​3cm distance inside from the outside of the lower/​upper cartilage of the nose. Pogaiisu Back translation: lower or upper cartilage of the nose

Example 3c Mix thoroughly Tago lou lima e filiki le by flicking the pito i lalo o le fagu e bottom of the faafilogia lelei ai. tube.

Suggested Samoan translations with back translations Momono le vavae ōlo i se tasi o ou pūisu pe ā ma le 2–​3cm le mamao i totonu mai le pito i fafo o le pūisu. Back translation: Insert the swab into one of your nostrils up to 2–​3cm from the edge of the nostril.

Incorrect equivalent used in the translation, which should read pūisu instead of pogaiisu which refers to either the lower or upper cartilage Addition of tago lou lima Fitifiti le pito i lalo o le Filiki has been used to mean fagu e fa‘afilogia lelei ai. flick which is a loaned word Back translation: Flick the from the English concept. bottom of the tube to mix Flick should be translated to it thoroughly fitifiti in the target language

Ministry of Health (2022b); Unite against Covid-​19 (2023)

This can change the meaning of the ST and this is one example of an instance where translators need additions in their translations which are necessary to avoid any misunderstanding of the meaning of the ST from the target reader’s perspective. If my child is not added in this section, the sentence will sound grammatically incomplete in this context. Also, in Example 4a, breastfeeding is translated as mothers who have given birth, which is incorrect. Health professionals in Samoa and New Zealand who were consulted by the lead author as to their view on the translations in Example 4a advised to refrain from using ma‘ito to mean pregnant, and instead use to or fafine tō/​fafine totō.7 This is because ma‘ito is made up of two words, (i.e.) ma‘i–​sick/​illness, and to/​tō–​pregnant. The Ministry of Health in Samoa is discouraging the use of ma‘ito because being pregnant is not an illness (Lualua Tele‘a, Lelevaga, and Jackson 2022). It is very important for any Samoan translator to seek advice from and consult with Samoan elders and professionals in respective areas (e.g.) health, so that translators know the correct concepts to use and any linguistic changes that may be unwittingly introduced if they are not careful. Here the lead author has provided examples where translators need to unpack the concepts in order to 333

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avoid any problems that may result in culturally insensitive translations. Also, the authors agree with the elders and health professionals in Samoa and Aotearoa NZ that pregnancy is not an illness as referred to ma‘ito (ma‘i–​sick/​illness, tō–​pregnant) in the Samoan language. However, the first author believes that the richness of the Samoan language would be affected if the term ma‘itaga, another term for pregnancy/​being pregnant, were to be discouraged from being used. Ma‘itaga–​ ma‘i (sick/​illness), taga8–​sac/​sack (in this context i.e. pregnancy). Taga refers to the placenta in the womb, which is also known as fanua. Fanua also means the land. In the fa‘aSamoa (Samoan culture), Samoans are connected to the land, and from birth to the day of burial, (i.e.) a Samoan is borne from the land (birth) only to return to it upon death9, hence the saying to the afterbirth placenta–​e tanu le fanua o le pepe (i.e.) the baby’s placenta is buried (in the land of her/​his ‘āiga/​ extended family). This type of consultation is pivotal for the professional and personal development of translators working into heritage languages such as Samoan. The translation issues in Example 4b have been explained in Table 22.4.

Discussion of further inaccuracies in the Samoan translation. The incorrect translation of the ST in Table 22.5 has resulted in a change in meaning. In the TT, due is translated as taunuu i le taimi (back translation–​It is due time for your booster injection when in 3 months since your second dose of the medication of the COVID-​19, or: The time for your booster has arrived since 3 months you have had your second dose of the medication of the COVID-​19). Suggested translations have been provided to show that Samoan translation sounds distorted and confusing when compared to the ST. This is just one example of such distorted meaning in the TT.

Discussion of examples of failure to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the Samoan translation Table 22.6 offers yet another instance of an incorrect and ambiguous translation in the TT where inflammation of the heart has been translated into Samoan as mu ai o le fatu (back translation–​ the heart is burnt or heart burn). Mu ai o le fatu (Heart burn/​heartburn) can be mistaken for the condition referred to as heartburn, where reflux of stomach acid into the gullet leads to a burning sensation behind the breastbone. This is a totally incorrect translation of inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) in the ST. Additionally, any professional translator should know that it is important to unpack technical terms where the target language has no equivalent. In this case both myocarditis and pericarditis should have been unpacked in the Samoan translation. While both conditions refer to inflammation involving the heart, the translator should still unpack both for the benefit of the reader(s). The lead author suggests unpacking myocarditis and pericarditis as fulafula mūmū le maso o le fatu ma fulafula mūmū le ‘afu‘afu si‘omia o le fatu. These medical terms refer to different parts of the heart that are affected, so it is a must for the translator to unpack them and relay them correctly in the TT. It is also the job of professional translators to make sure that translations provide readers with equal access to important information, instead of creating confusion. Also, translators cannot assume that our readers would do their own research on medical terms, as they may be low (health) literate and as Crezee (2013) stated, looking up information on the internet can be like taking a drink from a fire hydrant. Again, translators into heritage languages, which do not have a large health lexicon in particular, play a pivotal role in providing easily accessible information, while maintaining the meaning of the ST. It is only then that readers are well informed when it comes to important health information in a crisis, and it is only then that crisis translation is aligned with health equity and equal access. 334

Translating important government information for Samoan-speakers Table 22.4  Examples of inaccuracies in the Samoan translations English source text (ST) Example 4a I’m pregnant or breastfeeding. Can I have the COVID-19 vaccine?

Samoan target text (TT)

Comments

Suggested Samoan translations with back translation

Ma’ito? Fafagaina o susu?

TT is in a question structure and omission of the last part of the ST in the translation. Also, the ST meaning is changed in the target translation

Ou to mai‘to poo fa‘asusu ia to a‘u la‘u tama. E mafai ona fai lo‘u tui o le KOVITI-19? Or Ou to to poo o‘u fa‘asusuina la‘u tama. E mafai ona fai lo‘u tui o le KOVITI–19?

Back translation: Pregnant? Feeding of milk?

Example 4b New Zealand O lo’o fa’aaogama e Niu Sila le is using the tui puipui o le Pfizer. O lea tui Medsafe sa fa’amaonia e Medsafe, o se approved Pfizer fa’alapotopotoga fa’apitoa a vaccine le ofisa o le soifua maloloina I Niu Sila

TT is in two sentences instead of one, which is unnecessary, and there are many Back translation: unnecessary New Zealand is using the Pfizer additions vaccine. This vaccine is throughout this approved by Medsafe, a health section of the specialised organisation in TT. New Zealand Omissions of information (e.g.) breastfeeding

Back translation: I am pregnant or I am breastfeeding my child. Can I have the COVID-19 vaccine? Nb: “my child” is added in the TT to complete the meaning of the sentence and avoid ambiguity. If we say “o‘u fa‘assusuina”, it can mean the person is feeding milk but missing the subject in the sentence. The sentence will sound grammatically incomplete in this context. O lo‘o fa‘aaogaina i Niu Sila le tui puipui o le Pfizer, ua fa‘amaoniaina e le Medsafe, o le pulega a le Soifua Maloloina e patin o i le saogalemu o fualaau, vailaau ma meafaigaluega fa‘alesoifua maloloina. Back translation: New Zealand is using the Pfizer vaccine, which Medsafe has approved, the Ministry of Health authority that is responsible for the safety regulation of medicines and medical devices. (Continued)

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Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee Table 22.4 (Continued) English source text (ST)

Samoan target text (TT)

Comments

Suggested Samoan translations with back translation

Pfizer vaccine is safe to get if you are pregnant or breastfeeding

E sefe ma aogā leiei le tui puipui o le Pfizer mo tinā o e ma itaga po’o e failele

E saogaiemu le tui o le Pfizer mo oe a‘o e to/ma‘itaga poo e fa‘asusuina ia te oe o lau tama

Back translation: It is safe and a very good Pfizer vaccine for mothers who are pregnant or nursing mothers NB: failele/nursing mother(s) only refers to mothers who have just given birth in this context and until the mother is strong enough and usually up to when the baby is less than 2 years old. The term failele/nursing mother cannot be used to include mothers who are breastfeeding their 2–4(5)-year-old children

Back translation: The Pfizer vaccine is safe for you if you are pregnant or breastfeeding your child 1.

Results from the large number of pregnant women from around the world shows that COVID-19 vaccines are safe

I fa‘amaumauga a le lalolagi, o lo’o fa’ailoa ai le aogā ma le tāua o lenei tui puipui (Koviti-19) mo fafine uma o ma’itaga

O fa‘amaumauga mai le to‘atele o fafine totō/ ma‘itaga i le lalolagi, o lo‘o fa‘ailoa mai ai e saogalemu lava tui puipui o le KOVITI-19

Back translation: Information from around the world, is showing the benefits and the importance of this vaccine (COVID-19) for all the mothers who are pregnant

Back translation: Infomation/results from pregnant women around the world, shows that COVID-19 vaccines are safe

If you get COVID19 while you’re pregnant you are at more risk of getting sick

Afai e te maua i le fa’ama’i o le Koviti-19 a’o e ma’itaga, o le a telē se afaina e a’afia ai oe I ma’i

Afai e te maua i le KOVITI-19 a‘o ‘e ma‘itaga, o le ‘a telē se tulaga lamatia e te maua ai i ma‘i Back translation: If you get COVID-19 while pregnant, you have a higher risk of getting infected with illnesses/a higher risk of getting sick

Back translation: If you get the COVID-19 illness while you are pregnant you will be greatly disadvantaged that will affect you with illnesses

(Counties Manukau Health, n.d.)

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Translating important government information for Samoan-speakers Table 22.5 Inaccuracies in the Samoan translations English source text (ST)

Samoan target text (TT)

Comments

Suggested Samoan translations with back translations

You are due for a booster 3 months after your second dose of a COVID-​19 vaccine

Ua taunuu i le taimi o lou tui faaopoopo (booster) ina ua 3 masina talu mai lou tuipuipui Iona lua o le vailaau mo le COVID-​19 Back translations: It is time for your booster injection is due when in 3 months since your second dose of the medication of the COVID-​19. Or The time for your booster has arrived since 3 months you have had your second dose of the medication of the COVID-​19.

Incorrect translation of the ST and (e.g.) due being translated to taunuu i le taimi vailaau–​ vaccine, which is incorrect.

O lou tui fa‘aopoopo e faia lea pe ‘a 3 masina talu ona maē‘a le fuataga lona lua o lou tui o le KOVITI-​19. Back translation: You will do your booster injection 3 months since you last finished (done) your second dose of the COVID-​19 vaccine. Or E fai lou tui fa‘aopoopo i le 3 masina pe ‘a ‘uma le fuataga lona lua o lou tuipuipui o le KOVITI-​19. Back translation: Your booster shot will be due in 3 months after your second dose of the COVID-​19 vaccine.

NSW Health (2021a, 2021b)

Table 22.6 Examples of failure to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the Samoan translation English source text (ST)

Samoan target text (TT)

Some side E iai nisi o aafiaga e sili effects are atu ona ogaoga ae e more serious seāseā, e pei o le tigaina but very pe a ilitata le tino po rare, like a o le mu ai o le fatu severe allergic (Myocarditis ma le reaction or an pericarditis). inflammation Back translation: of the heart Some side effects are (Myocarditis more serious but very and rare, like a severe pericarditis). allergic reaction or the heart is burnt/​heart burn (Myocarditis and pericarditis).

Comments

Suggested Samoan translations with back translations

Incorrect translation E iai nisi o aafiaga e sili atu ona and ambiguous ōgaōga ‘ae e seāseā, e pei o le meaning in the TT tīgāina pe ‘a ilitata le tino po‘o (i.e.) inflammation le fulafula ma (le) mūmū o le of the heart. fatu (fulafula mūmū le maso Medical jargons o le fatu ma fulafula mūmū need to be unpacked le ‘afu‘afu si‘omia o le fatul and translated (myocarditis and pericarditis) into the TT (e.g.) Back translation: myocarditis and Some side effects are more pericarditis serious but very rare, like a severe allergic reaction or the redness and swelling of the heart (inflammation) (swelling and redness of the muscle of the heart and swelling and redness irritation of the thin layers surrounding the heart/​ myocarditis and pericarditis)

Ministry of Health (2022a, 2022c)

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Conclusion This chapter has discussed crisis translation in the context of official Samoan translations provided on Australian and New Zealand government websites. The lead author’s analysis uncovered a range of errors, all of which might impact the acceptability and cultural and linguistic appropriateness of translation choices, ranging from inaccuracies (omissions, unnecessary additions) to ambiguities and culturally insensitive lexical choices, such as the use of a word that refers to a special cloth used to cover the faces of the dead when referring to potentially life-​saving facemasks. While we are not sure whether some of the early Samoan translations which appeared on New Zealand websites were done by unqualified volunteers, recruited by the Office of Ethnic Communities, we know that translations for the Ministry of Health (post-​July 2020) were most likely done by the translators at the government’s Translation service. We can be fairly certain that all Samoan translations for Australian government websites were done by translators with NAATI credentialing since NAATI credentialing or certification has been a compulsory criterion in Australia for many years now. NAATI did not introduce certification tests –​ which involves testing interpreting and/​or translation competence –​for Samoan until 2022, so the Samoan translators who produced the translations we looked at here may not have held NAATI certification. In addition, Samoan translators may well have completed all or most of their schooling away from Samoa, which means they are not used to the use of the Samoan language in a range of official domains, and are not immediately aware of cultural and linguistic inappropriacy impacting on the acceptability of the translations they produce. A near lifetime of immersion in a predominantly English-​language environment in all settings outside of the home and friendship domain (Fishman 2001) may contribute to this inability to recognise and produce culturally and linguistically appropriate Samoan in health and other settings. We are not sure to what extent translators involved in both countries had completed specific health translator education, which should cover anatomy, physiology and pathology (Crezee 2013), and this need, as well as good practice, became all the more evident when it came to crisis translation of COVID-​19-​related information disseminated by health authorities. Our analysis also shows that translators need to ask members of the target communities in question to review and test their translations, and, more importantly, health professionals working in Samoa. It also shows that crisis translation of health-​related information requires translators to be very health literate. This is again true for all translators, but particularly for those who are translating health information into languages with limited medical vocabulary, such as Samoan. Overall, the approach to crisis translation needs a collaborative approach including working with (health) authorities, expert translators and members of the target readership. This includes the need to explore the nature and needs of the intended readership in terms of (health) literacy and the need to seek the most efficient and effective manner of dissemination. In the case of Samoan, disseminating via Radio Samoa would be the most effective manner, for instance, with all interviews posted on Facebook as audiovisual recordings. The acceptability of translations into community languages will affect how communities receive information and what trust they place in it. If translations do not reach the threshold of acceptability, recipients may feel that they may be subject to misinformation, which in itself may lead to a lack of trust in information disseminated by the government. Therefore, essential access to correct culturally and linguistically appropriate material is not only a matter of policy and practice but also of dissemination, reception and perception. Clearly, input from the end-​users of multilingual crisis communications is essential to determine what their needs and preferences are and how 338

Translating important government information for Samoan-speakers

they can be catered for. Languages and communities vary, and it is important for health authorities to produce translated messages that cater for language, literacy and socio-​cultural variations. Our findings could be extrapolated to a number of other community languages, especially where the speakers of those languages have not had (many years of) schooling in their home language, or have been predominantly engaged in manual jobs. This would also include languages spoken by migrant workers in the EU, who came to their new country with little or very basic education, and who are now elderly. Even though their heritage language might have ample equivalents for specialist medical and legal terms, these might not make sense to the average elderly migrant worker (Crezee and Wong Soon 2023).

Notes 1 Here is a complete list of languages in which COVID-​19-​related materials were translated according to information received from the DIA Translation Service: Te reo Māori, New Zealand Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Cook Islands Māori, Farsi, Fijian, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Kiribas, Korean, Niuean, Punjabi, Rotuman, Samoan, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Tokelauan, Tongan, Tuvaluan, Urdu and Vietnamese. 2 This office comes under the auspices of the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs and ensures government policies are communicated to members of different ethnic communities. 3 Susan Warren is Chief Executive of COMET Auckland, see: https://​cometa​uckl​and.org.nz/​ 4 www.mhcs.hea​lth.nsw.gov.au/​media-​cen​tre/​for​ums/​forum-​4 5 ‘āiga–​family, in the Samoan context, it can either be nuclear family, but it is always used to refer to extended families. 6 Broken link–​ www.hea​lth.gov.au/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​docume​nts/​2020/​08/​coro​navi​rus-​COVID-​19-​e-​mana-​ omia-​ona-​ou-​faia-​se-​ufim​ata-​do-​i-​need-​to-​wear-​a-​mask.pdf 7 To or tō or totō–​can be written with or without a macron on the “o”. In this context, we can differentiate that it is referring to pregnant/​pregnancy as the ST is stating pregnant. Toto can also mean blood if written without a macron. 8 Taga (in ma‘itaga)–​“sack” which refers to the placenta, it looks like a “sack” which the baby is enclosed in. 9 Samoan saying at the burial, “e te toe fo‘i i le ‘ele‘ele” (you shall return to the land/​earth). This is also a connection to the Samoan Christian beliefs.

Further reading Crezee, Ineke, and Hoy Neng Wong Soon. 2023. ‘Speak my language! The importance role of community translation in the promotion of health literacy’. In Current issues in community translation, edited by Erika Gonzalez, Katarzyna Stachowiak-​Szymczak, and Despina Amanatidou, 101–​141. London and New York: Routledge. https://​dx.doi.org/​10.4324/​97810​3247​333-​6 This book chapter explores some of the issues involved in community translation of health information, together with recommendations for practice. Crezee, Ineke, and Mele Tupou Gordon. 2019. ‘Cross-​cultural and cross-​linguistic access to the healthcare system: Case studies from Seattle and Auckland’. In Multicultural health translation, interpreting and communication, edited by Meng Ji, Mustapha Taibi, and Ineke Crezee, 3–​24. London and New York: Routledge. This book chapter describes language and culture-​concordant health initiatives among the Tongan-​speaking community in Auckland, New Zealand, and Somali and Spanish-​speaking families at Seattle Children’s Hospital in the US. Crezee, Ineke, and Cynthia E. Roat. 2019. ‘Bilingual patient navigator or healthcare interpreter: What’s the difference and why does it matter?’ Cogent Medicine, 6 (1): 181087776. This study describes the Bilingual Patient Navigator Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital, comparing the Navigator’s role to that of the professional interpreters also provided by the hospital. Critical differences

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Hoy Neng Wong Soon and Ineke Crezee were found to be the navigator’s freedom to build trust with a patient’s family over time, to point out missed inferences, to restate physician speech into plain language, among others. Taibi, Mustapha, and Uldis Ozolins. 2016. Community translation. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. This book discusses the specific context, characteristics and needs of translation in and for communities. Traditional classifications in the fields of discourse and genre are of limited use to the field of translation studies, as they overlook the social functions of translation. Instead, this book argues for a classification that cuts across traditional lines, based on the social dimensions of translation and the relationships between text producers and audiences. Taibi, Mustapha, Pranee Liamputtong, and Michael Polonsky. 2019. ‘Impact of translated health information on CALD older people’s health literacy: A pilot study’. In Multicultural health translation, interpreting and communication, 138–​158. London and New York: Routledge. Effective dissemination of healthcare knowledge is essential for enhanced health literacy, especially for older members of the migrant communities who bear increasing health burdens. The pilot study described here suggests that the revised community-​based translation communicated knowledge and enhanced intentions to act better than the existing translation. The audio version of information increased knowledge and had a similar effect on intentions to act as the written revised translation.

Acknowledgements Namulau‘ulu Filipo Reupena, Cultural Advisor, Safotulafai, Samoa Namulau‘ulu Au‘apaau Tavita Leaumoana, Cultural Advisor, Manono, Sapapalii, Samoa Tupa‘i Gese Lealaitafea, Cultural Advisor, Sala‘ilua, Palauli (Samoa), Auckland, Aotearoa NZ Ta‘ala Logomai Feterika Lualua Tele‘a, Senior Nurse Specialist, MT2 Clinical, Samoa Perive Lelevaga, Principal/​Coordinator, National Sexual Reproductive Health, Samoa Margaret Tuala-​Lauese, Clinical Nurse Specialist Palliative Care, CMH, Leauva‘a (Samoa), Auckland, Aotearoa NZ Moelagi Leilani Jackson, Tausisoifua/​Nurse, Safua (Samoa), Auckland, Aotearoa NZ Papali‘i Tulua Leaumoana, Manono (Samoa), Auckland, NZ Pauli Fituafe Iosefo Wong Soon, Salelologa, Samoa

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23 LOCALISED TERMINOLOGY FOR COVID-​1 9 COMMUNICATION Use of vaccine-​related terminology in Arabic-​speaking countries Sonia Halimi, Razieh Azari, and Mariem Harbaoui

Introduction Following the COVID-​19 outbreak–​which is an alarming “public health emergency of international concern” (WHO 2021a)–​public interest in vaccination grew, resulting in the rapid circulation of vaccination-​related information, particularly through social media, such as Facebook and Instagram. Terminological content referring to scientific concepts (i.e. inactivated viral vaccine, vaccine prioritisation, etc.), quickly took hold at country and global levels, to describe all facets related to vaccination. However, it was not clear to what extent the WHO official terminology was being used by governments and authorities and how this was disseminated to local populations, for instance via social media. The present study focuses on terminology in Arabic used in COVID-​19 vaccination-​campaign messages delivered across a group of Arabic-​speaking countries, namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its objective is twofold: first, to investigate the extent of overlap between international health resources produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and official vaccination-​related content developed by each of the four countries; and second, to review whether or not health-​related terminology in the context of COVID-​19 was marked by variations between those countries as well as by versions used on social media. After a brief review of the literature to establish the concept of communication in emergency situations, an overview of official campaigns related to COVID-​19 and Arabic web-​based health information is given. The general question is then set, followed by the definition of the concept of localisation that stems from the analysis of terminological contents in this study. Research questions are then presented (first section of the chapter). While analysing a corpus of terms related to the WHO and the selected countries separately, we study how the COVID-​19 vaccination terminology was used in the specific country contexts in light of the WHO campaigning contents (second section). The third section then highlights the results related to COVID-​19 vaccination terminology at the WHO

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DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-28

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international level, as well as the country-​specific level, and the communication strategies used in the case of terminological localisation.

Research context The following section sets the scene for the current study through reviewing available studies on terminological localisation in crisis settings, the role that translation plays during crises, and the ways the COVID-​19 pandemic and its vaccination terminology used by the WHO is disseminated through Health Ministry websites and social media platforms specifically in Arabic-​speaking countries.

Terminological localisation in crisis settings The delivery of emergency medical care and emergency medicine is related to the acute phases of all types of disease and injury (Arnold and Corte 2003). An emergency situation is understood in the present study as an unexpected situation that creates high levels of uncertainty (Seeger, Sellnow, and Ulmer 2003) and serious risks to health, and threatens communication because of time constraints and operational variation (Maniya and McGreevy 2020). Research findings highlight significant issues that render communication in emergency situations “complex, nuanced and fragile” (Pun et al. 2015, 1). Crisis situations can lead to emergencies where urgent assistance is needed. In such a crisis-​related emergency the risk factor is aggravated too by difficulties in communication due to language barriers (Kagawa-​Singer and Kassim-​Lakha 2003; Priebe et al. 2011). In crisis situations where information is delivered to responders in a different language and culture, researchers report that incompatible concepts, absence of linguistic correspondents and social barriers hamper information transmission to target or local populations (Bolton and Weiss 2001). Translation during crises has been proven to be a determinant in making relevant information accessible to target communities, specifically when content falls within the health sector (O’Brien and Cadwell 2017; O’Brien et al. 2018; Federici et al. 2019). With the COVID-​19 pandemic, the WHO (2020b) underlined the need for the development of COVID-​19 communication strategies as a key element in giving people the best chance at understanding critical information. Because populations are at risk of misunderstanding when educational materials are delivered in a language that is not understood by them (WHO 2020b), the WHO recommended community engagement by involving key media and other communication channels and “existing community influencers (e.g. community leaders, religious leaders, health workers, traditional healers, etc.) and networks (e.g. women’s groups, community health volunteers, unions, social mobilizers for polio, malaria, HIV)” (WHO 2020a, 2). The educational material can comprise pamphlets with visual forms, printed leaflets, videos, online explainers, etc. which disseminate health education messages. These materials are aimed not only at informing people but also at presenting protective measures to limit transmission.

COVID-​19 vaccination terminology in specific Arabic-​speaking countries In the selected Arab countries whose COVID-​19-​related terminology is examined in this study, digital technologies were widely used for outbreak communication during the pandemic. Health Ministry websites and social media platforms (Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok) were employed to raise awareness and distribute health education materials (Hassounah, 345

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Raheel, and Alhefzi 2020). Digital technologies were also used by authorities to produce public information on protection against COVID-​19 through SMS direct messaging, social media, and educational videos in multiple languages for the general public (Al Khal, Al-​Kaabi, and Checketts 2020). After the COVID-​19 pandemic outbreak, global society is again facing the challenge of communication on COVID-​19 vaccination. Large-​scale campaigns have been launched by the WHO to inform the public about COVID-​ 19 vaccine development, access, safety and use in English and translated in official languages, including Arabic. In that regard, a series of explainers (WHO 2021b) was published on the organisation’s website in addition to COVAX, the latest vaccine news, etc. On the basis of its strategic communication framework (accessible, actionable, credible and trusted, relevant, timely and understandable communication) (WHO 2020b), the organisation stood for providing easy-​to-​ understand information by using plain language, multiple languages and visual information (WHO principle of understandable communication) (WHO 2020b). In country-​specific contexts, vaccination-​related material was disseminated through various channels, including Health Ministry websites, social media and YouTube. Large amounts of information were presented through multimodal means using images and videos to ensure further dissemination. The general interest of the present study has arisen with the observation of significant production of COVID-​19-​related information on Health Ministry websites and social media after the crisis outbreak and during the vaccination campaigns. The analysis of that content was deemed important to see to what extent Arabic online COVID-​19-​related content delivered by respective official health bodies during the vaccination launch was consistent with the WHO COVID-​19 content. This is particularly important when the few studies that assessed Arabic web-​based health information reported a lack of accuracy and quality (Al Huziah et al. 2010; Alhajj et al. 2020; Kittana, Hattab, and Hasasnah 2020). Indeed, health content in Arabic is increasingly developing on the web through different types of sources ranging from personal blogs and medical associations to governmental and educational websites (Al Huziah et al. 2010; Alnemary et al. 2017). This web-​based information may be delivered in Arabic-​speaking countries (Al Huziah et al. 2010), in Arabic as the prime language or made available by international organisations where Arabic is an official language, such as the WHO or its regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean, one of the WHO’s six regional offices around the world, whose services extend to the 22 countries and territories in the Middle East, North Africa, Horn of Africa and Central Asia (EMRO 2021). At the international level too, Arabic may be used by governmental agencies as an additional language to provide health information, through health translation directories, such as the Australian Health Translations, or by medical centres providing international services, such as the US Mayo Clinic. The previously cited studies assessed websites in Arabic with medical information in general (Al Huziah et al. 2010) and specific information on diseases such as autism (Alnemary et al. 2017), type 2 diabetes (Kittana, Hattab, and Hasasnah 2020) or denture hygiene (Alhajj et al. 2020). The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks and the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HORNcode) were inter alia used for the assessment of the quality of the included websites. They showed that most of those websites were not of suitable quality. As far as the COVID-​19 pandemic is concerned, a recent study showed that web-​based Arabic health information on COVID-​19 was poor in terms of quality and readability (Halboub et al. 2021). None of the previous studies examined the validity of terminology in web-​based medical content. As medical texts include a high number of terms and semantically non-​transparent expressions (Karwacka 2018), this study is interested in examining if the COVID-​19 Arabic terminological contents delivered through websites and social media were adjusted, changed or localised to reach 346

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target populations. It is documented that medical terminology includes the following features: precisely elaborated and internationally standardised terms and a quickly developing clinical terminology that reflects a certain terminological chaos because of the need to rapidly name new devices, diseases or symptoms (Džuganová 2018, 14). It is then interesting to see how the rapidly developing terminology around the fast pandemic was dealt with in country contexts. At the outbreak of the crisis, Wang (2019) already showed that the pandemic hastened the need for medical professionals to localise public health educational materials in various languages to ensure the delivery of reliable and timely information. Bowker’s study (2020) showed that although the situation was global, regional variations and regional linguistic preferences in crisis communication were important in Canada. Against this backdrop, the present study focused on the vaccination phase to investigate whether official local bodies tend to ‘localise’ terminological content to reach local populations or use only WHO terms in Arabic. The word ‘localise’ refers, in this study, to the act of adapting online content in relation to the globalisation of communication for health in the context of COVID-​19. Thereby, it falls within the scope of linguistic and cultural adaptation of content–​whether oral or written, digitalised or not–​to local contexts. It is then used in its broad sense as “the process of adapting anything to a target locale” (Clark et al. 2006, 45). Through this lens, localised terminological content is meant to be as original as possible so that “receivers do not need to be implicitly aware that they are interacting with a translated text” (Jiménez-​Crespo 2009, 68). With the current coronavirus crisis, it is also relevant to examine Arabic online COVID-​19 terminology delivered by official websites, as terminology plays a major role in the localisation process (Warburton 2001; Quirion 2004; Bowker 2020). Based on the objectives stated in the introduction, the following research questions guided the present study: 1. Which Arabic terms are used in the official websites of the countries under study in the context of the production, administration, distribution and safety of the COVID-​19 vaccination? 2. To what extent do they overlap with the WHO pre-​existing terms in Arabic? 3. Do country-​specific contexts drive terminological preferences? 4. How is the usage of these terms mirrored in social media of the selected Arab countries?

Research methodology To answer the research questions, the WHO and the selected countries’ official websites were used as the reference for the Arabic COVID-​19 vaccination terminology. On this basis, the WHO website material consisted of parallel texts, including English source texts and their translations in Arabic. The selected terminology from the WHO website was later mapped against terminology used in the Health Ministry websites of the selected countries. Social media in the countries under study were also used to ensure optimal outreach. A corpus was built using the previously mentioned sources of information. A cross-​sectional quantitative analysis was conducted to examine the consistency of nationally distributed COVID-​19 vaccination-​related material and WHO material in terms of terminological content. Data was collected from the WHO’s official website and the selected Arab countries’ Health Ministry websites and social media, at the same time, namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the UAE, which were chosen because their websites were available and functional. For the WHO terminology, the extraction was carried out from a corpus of parallel texts composed of English source texts and their translations in Arabic. As for the terminology related 347

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to the countries under study, appropriate term candidate units were extracted from Arabic comparable texts. The key criterion by which countries were selected was the availability of data at the beginning of their national vaccination campaigns which started on different dates. In this study, the scope of social media extended to Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube only. In this study, the other social media applications, such as TikTok and Snapchat, were not used due to their lack of availability in all considered countries and technical limitations. Data was collected manually starting from 1 February, 2021 and covered material produced up to mid-​April 2021. Descriptive analysis was also conducted to measure consistency, overlap and variation levels in terminology. In the present study, overlap means a total terminological similarity of the COVID-​19 Arabic terms used at the country level in relation to vaccination with the terminology as established by the WHO. Where terminological similarity is noted, it refers to terms that are semantically, and also lexically, similar; in other words, terms that are related to the same concept by sharing attribute values, and having the same grammatical nature (Condamines 1994). In order to answer the aforementioned research questions, a corpus was established and analysed.

Corpus To achieve the objectives of the study, the WHO’s official website ‘COVID-​19 Vaccines’ dedicated to COVID-​19 vaccination was consulted between the beginning of February and the end of March 2021. The website in English consists of several subsections including ‘COVAX’, ‘Latest vaccine news’, ‘Vaccines Explained series’, ‘Publications’, etc. To focus on the subject matter, the ‘COVID-​19 Vaccines’ section and subsections were selected and investigated thoroughly to collect all news, information, texts and documents–​i.e. content relevant to COVID-​19 vaccination–​in order to create the study corpus. The corpus consisted of 384,982 word tokens and 12,208 word types. As the corpus is not aimed at constructing terminology products, the volume is large enough to verify the stated objectives. Similarly, the method of term detection and analysis is also sufficient to compare the selected web-​based health contents and thus verify the objectives of this study.

Term detection The study draws on the approach of textual terminology according to which the term is defined according to the place it has in a corpus (Bourigault and Slodzian 1999; L’Homme 2006). From this perspective, the term is considered a lexical unit which refers to a meaning standardised by discursive practices (Roche 2007). It brings light to different views of the textual approach, summarised in Pelletier’s work (2012). On this basis, term identification is carried out firstly through automatic detection, using AntConc (Anthony 2020). Drawing on the frequency calculation method, the place of occurrences in the corpus was analysed. The corpus analytical tool AntConc 3.5.9. was used to determine the most frequent occurrences. Following this, the most used terms, up to 100 utterances, were selected. For term detection, the approach of term frequencies was used to filter term candidates that consisted of single, dual or multi-​word units. To give a terminological status to occurrences, we applied the first list produced through frequency calculation to a series of specific linguistic forms. The linguistic approach was limited to selecting patterns on the basis of noun phrases which are likely to be terminological

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units. Examples of linguistic patterns are: Noun; Noun+​Noun; Noun+​Noun+​Noun; Adjective+​ Noun; Adjective+​Noun+​Noun; Adjective+​Noun+​Preposition+​Noun, etc. The delimited field was exclusively related to categories of the specific themes defined by the WHO in its vaccination campaigns, namely production, safety, distribution and administration of the COVID-​19 vaccine. Each terminological category refers to a particular theme-​related material from which relevant terms were extracted. Examples of each theme are illustrated in Table 23.1. English terms are selected as the source and the Arabic as their translation provided by the WHO. In order to extract terms related to the previously mentioned themes, collocations of the selected units were generated via AntConc using a span of one word to the right and left, and a minimum collocate frequency of ten, for each selected term. Then, collocates of each selected term were checked based on the context they appeared in to exclude irrelevant phrases such as ‘vaccine is’. The association of linguistic forms and the terminological units, which have autonomous meaning in the delimited field of COVID-​19 vaccination, permitted to set the terminological status of the selected units in the first list. Terminological units were then selected on the basis of their semantic autonomy and specialised meaning (L’Homme 2006) in relation to the specific field of COVID-​19 vaccination. As a result of this process, a list of the most frequent terms related to the defined themes–​ production, safety, distribution and administration of COVID-​19 vaccine–​was set. It consisted of 345 English terms in our corpus. The next step was to identify the corresponding Arabic text from the list of translations available on the WHO’s official website. For the 345 English terms, 316 Arabic terms were identified.

Table 23.1 Examples of term categorisation according to theme specificity Production

Safety

Distribution

Administration

vaccine manufacturer risk factor ‫مصنّع اللقاح‬ ‫عامل خطورة‬ (transliteration: muṣanni‘ (transliteration: ‘āmil al-​liqāḥ) khuṭūrah)

equitable distribution of vaccines ‫التوزيع المنصف للقاحات‬ (transliteration: al-​ tawzī‘ al-​munṣif li-​al-​liqāḥāt)

vaccination site ‫موقع التطعيم‬ (transliteration: mawqi‘ al-​taṭ‘īm)

vaccine research ‫البحث عن لقاح‬ (transliteration: al baḥth ‘an liqāḥ)

risk-​benefit assessment ‫​الفوائد‬-‫تقييم المخاطر‬ (transliteration: taqyīm al-​makhāṭir-​al-​fawāʾid)

vaccine delivery ‫توريد اللقاح‬ (transliteration: tawrīd al-​liqāḥ)

vaccine recipient ‫متلقي اللقاح‬ (transliteration: mutalaqqī al-​liqāḥ)

vaccine vial ‫قارورة اللقاح‬ (transliteration: qārūrat al-​liqāḥ)

monitoring ‫رصد‬ (transliteration: raṣd)

supply chain ‫سلسلة اإلمداد‬ (transliteration: silsilat al-​imdād)

immune response ‫استجابة مناعية‬ (transliteration: istijābah manā‘īyah)

clinical trial ‫تجربة سريرية‬ (transliteration: tajribah sarīrīyah)

safety concern ‫شاغل متعلق بالمأمونية‬ (transliteration: shāghil muta‘alliq bi-​al-​ maʾmūnīyah)

mass vaccination campaign ‫حملة التطعيم الجماعي‬ (transliteration: ḥamlat al-​taṭ‘īm al-​jamā‘ī)

health care provider ‫مقدم الرعاية الصحية‬ (transliteration: muqaddim al-​ri‘āyah al-​ṣiḥḥīyah)

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In order to assess the country-​specific COVID-​19 vaccination-​related content developed by the Arab countries under study, the Health Ministry official websites and social media of each country, namely Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X and YouTube, were investigated to identify if any of the corresponding 316 Arabic terms had been used. The official websites and available social media were also investigated separately to see whether the official bodies tended to use the same terminological contents across all media and to check the rate of any potential localisation of the campaign material.

Discussion Health Ministry official websites and their available social media material in the countries under study were analysed to identify the Arabic COVID-​19 vaccination-​related terms that refer to the Arabic and English vaccination terms used on the WHO’s website.

WHO COVID-​19 vaccination terminology in a country-​specific context Not all of the available Arabic WHO content was included in all of the national communication campaigns by the studied countries. Figure 23.1 illustrates the size of the corpus of the terms used in each country in percentage. As the data reveals for each country, over half (60%) of the concepts used by the WHO website in describing the themes of vaccine production, administration, distribution and safety were not part of the communication material in the selected countries.

Figure 23.1 Percentage of terminological content found on the selected countries’ websites and social media in relation to the WHO’s concepts of vaccination production, administration, distribution and safety

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Localised terminology for COVID-19 communication

Terms such as ‘COVID-​19 transmission’, ‘COVID-​19 pandemic’, ‘fight against COVID-​19’, ‘vaccine prioritisation’, ‘vaccine availability’, ‘COVID-​19 test’, ‘public health’, etc., selected on the previously described linguistic approach, were 100% covered by the Arabic campaign material of the four countries as a whole. In this context, 100% coverage means that for one given term there has been at least one corresponding term in every country-​specific context, regardless of whether the corresponding term is similar to the Arabic term used by the WHO. However, terms such as ‘candidate vaccine’ and ‘vaccine vial’, which denote a detailed level of description of vaccination that most likely refers to the production theme, appeared in campaign materials from just two out of the four national authorities considered in this chapter. Furthermore, terms relating to distribution, such as ‘regulatory authority’, ‘priority target groups’, ‘available supply’ and ‘limited supply’, occurred once across the country-​specific Arabic material. Similar observations were made for the safety phase of vaccination campaigns. Only one occurrence was recorded in the country-​specific Arabic material for each of the following terms: ‘safety data’, ‘safety monitoring’, ‘safety concerns’, ‘safety issues’ and ‘quality assessment’. One reason that might explain the WHO’s vaccination campaign material not being completely covered by the respective country-​specific resources is the urgency with which the vaccination campaign material was deployed at a national level. The country-​specific discourse was still focusing on channels of transmission for COVID-​19, precautionary and protective measures, and the importance of vaccination. Vaccine distribution and safety are notions that were not relayed by all official channels during the time period considered in this study. This could be explained by delays in vaccine delivery like in the case of Tunisia, where vaccines were administered for the first time in March 2021 (Presidency of the Government 2021), whereas vaccination campaigns started in September 2020 in the UAE (Suliman et al. 2021) and in December 2020 in Qatar and Saudi Arabia (Ministry of Public Health 2020b; Assiri et al. 2021;).

Overlap between the WHO and country-​level terminologies To investigate whether there was an overlap between the COVID-​19 vaccination-​related contents in Arabic produced by the WHO and the selected countries, the collected terms of each country’s Health Ministry website were mapped against corresponding units provided by the WHO’s official website in Arabic. The sum of the resulting numbers was calculated to illustrate the overlap extent in the selected countries and to check the rate of any attempt to localise the WHO terminological content. Figure 23.2 shows the overlap between the COVID-​19 vaccination-​related terms in Arabic produced by the WHO and the official websites in the countries under study. Overall, there was a 53% overlap between the COVID-​19 vaccination-​related terms of the selected countries’ websites and their corresponding units provided by the WHO’s official website in Arabic. In several instances, it was noticed that the overlapping stems from the fact that these terms are commonly used across the countries under study, for example ‘vaccine development’, ‘vaccine delivery’, ‘vaccine storage’, ‘vaccine doses’ and ‘vaccine effectiveness’. The terminology is established as no ambiguity exists in its use at the local level. Regarding the lack of overlap in terms used in the vaccination campaigns, it is reasonable to consider the use of varied terminology as a result of attempts to localise language choices, as shown in the following sections.

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Sonia Halimi, Razieh Azari, and Mariem Harbaoui

Figure 23.2 Overlap between the COVID-​19 vaccination-​related terms in Arabic produced by the WHO and the official websites in the countries under study

Variations between the WHO and country-​level terminologies Some key WHO terms were likely adapted to fit the understanding of the target locale. For instance, the term ‘inactivated viral vaccine’ corresponds to the Arabic term ‫( لقاح الفيروس المعطل‬transliteration: liqāḥ al-​fayrūs al-​muʿaṭṭal), as established and used by the WHO on its website. However, the only two Health Ministry websites, namely those of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which mentioned this concept provided paraphrasing, expressed as (1) ‫لقاح ال يحتوي على الفيروس الحي‬ (transliteration: liqāḥ lā yaḥtawī ʿalá al-​fayrūs al-​ḥayy, literal translation: vaccine which does not contain a live virus), and (2) ‫( لقاح الفيروس غير النشط‬transliteration: liqāḥ alfayrūs ghayr an-​nashiṭ, literal translation: vaccine of the non-​active virus). The term does not appear on the websites of other Health Ministries. In addition to paraphrasing, other approaches used to adapt the WHO terminological content were noticed through explanation by word addition and word substitution, and the use of common words. The following examples illustrate the approaches that were observed in this study. a. Paraphrasing • health care workers =​> WHO term: ‫( عاملو الرعاية الصحية‬transliteration: ʿāmilū ar-​riʿāyah aṣ-​ṣiḥīyah) =​> Term from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health website: ‫( كوادر الرعاية الصحية‬transliteration: kawādir ar-​riʿāyah aṣ-​ṣiḥīyah, literal translation: health care personnel) (Ministry of Public Health 2020a) • COVID-​19 related deaths =​> WHO term: ‫الوفيات المرتبطة بكوفيد‬-​19 (transliteration: al-​wafayāt al-​murtabiṭah bi-​COVID-​19)

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=​> Term from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health website: ‫( الوفاة نتيجة اإلصابة بالفيروس‬transliteration: al-​wafāt natījat al-​iṣābah bi-​al-​fayrūs, literal translation: death as a result of infection with the virus) (Ministry of Public Health 2021b) b. Explanation by word addition • Infection prevention =​> WHO term: ‫( الوقاية من العدوى‬transliteration: al-​wiqāyah min al-​ʿadwá) =​> Term from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health website: ‫( الوقاية من اإلصابة بالعدوى‬transliteration: al-​wiqāyah min al-​iṣābah bi-​al-​ʿadwá, literal translation: prevention of infection transmission) (Ministry of Health 2020) c. Word substitution • Vaccine availability =​> WHO term: ‫( إتاحة اللقاح‬transliteration: itāḥat al-​liqāḥ) =​> Term from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health website: ‫( توفر اللقاح‬transliteration: tawaffur al-​liqāḥ, literal translation: vaccine ready for use) (Ministry of Health n.d.) • COVID-​19 outbreak =​> WHO term: ‫فاشية كوفيد‬-​19 (transliteration: fāshiyat COVID-​19) =​> Term from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health website: ‫تفشي فيروس كوفيد‬-​19 (transliteration: tafashshī fayrūs COVID-​19, literal translation: spread of the COVID-​19 virus) (Ministry of Public Health n.d.) =​> Term from UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention website: ‫انتشار جائحة كوفيد‬-​19 (transliteration: intishār jāʾiḥat COVID-​19, literal translation: prevalence of the COVID-​ 19 pandemic) (Ministry of Health and Prevention n.d.) d. Use of common words • Disease severity =​> WHO term: ‫( وخامة المرض‬transliteration: wakhāmat al-​maraḍ) =​> Term from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health website: ‫( شدة المرض‬transliteration: shiddat al-​maraḍ, literal translation: intensity of the disease) (Ministry of Public Health 2021a) • Community transmission =​> WHO term: ‫( سراية مجتمعية‬transliteration: sirāyah mujtamaʿīyah) =​> Term from Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health website: ‫( العدوى في المجتمع‬transliteration: al-​ʿadwá fī al-​mujtamaʿ, literal translation: infection within the community) (Ministry of Public Health 2021a) It is worth mentioning that the lack of overlap of the local terminological content with WHO terminology does not mean information loss. Variations in terminology reflect attempts to adapt the COVID-​19 terminological content to local designations using specific communication strategies and complement it with audio and video formats.

Overlap and variations between official websites and social media terminologies To investigate whether the selected countries tend to use the same and consistent terms related to COVID-​19 vaccination across all media, websites and social media, the collected terms of each country’s social media were mapped against their corresponding units on the country’s website and the rate of any localisation at the country level was calculated. According to Figure 23.3, there was a 67% consistency and approximately a 33% inconsistency in using the terms across all media. The results showed a similar trend across the countries under study. Similar to the lack of overlap between the WHO and official websites’ vaccination-​ related terms, variation in social media content, when compared to the terminology used on the given website, does not entail a change in the meaning of the described concepts. It could be

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Figure 23.3 Overlap of the COVID-​19 vaccination-​related terms across all media of the selected countries

argued that terminological variations are sometimes caused by extralinguistic factors related to characteristics of social media posts, such as the length of a video or the character limit in a post. For instance, a detailed Facebook post by the Health Ministry’s account providing an in-​depth explanation could be up to 63,206 characters long (Zote 2021). A short video on Instagram featuring a health expert addressing the public could be presented in dialectal Arabic, as it is aimed to reach the general population (Sahni and Sharma 2020). This variation could also be attributed to communication strategies designed to reach the social media audience. The evolution of social media “stimulated a shift of the communication equation from a top-​down, expert-​to-​consumer approach to a nonhierarchical, dialog-​based strategy” (Albalawi and Sixsmith 2015, 2). Chen and Wang (2021) argue that social media has several advantages over other media outlets when used for disseminating health information. In the context of an ongoing pandemic, government and health professionals must embrace and make plans for the use of social media and make them work for the general population (Sahni and Sharma 2020). In the present study, a number of approaches dealing with terminology were identified in official social media contents. Similarly, the Health Ministries’ social media vaccination-​corpus turned to (1) the use of common words in a number of cases. It also demonstrated a tendency toward (2) simplification by word reduction, (3) the use of colloquial language and (4) recourse to foreign language (in this case, French terms in the Tunisian context). These approaches are illustrated in the following examples: a. Use of common words • Available supply =​> WHO term: ‫( اإلمدادات المتوفرة‬transliteration: al-​imdādāt al-​mutawaffirah) =​> Term from Tunisian Ministry of Health’s Facebook page: ‫( الكميات المتوفرة‬transliteration: al-​kimmīyāt al mutawaffirah, literal translation: available quantities) (Ministère de la santé 2021a)

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Localised terminology for COVID-19 communication

b. Simplification by word reduction • Pfizer-​ BioNTech vaccine =​ > WHO term: ‫​بيونتك‬-‫( لقاح فايزر‬transliteration: liqāḥ Pfizer-​BioNTech) =​> Term from Tunisian Ministry of Health’s Twitter/X page: ‫( تلقيح فايزر‬transliteration: talqīḥ Pfizer, literal translation: Pfizer vaccine) (Ministère de la santé 2021c) c. Use of colloquial language • Immunocompromised person =​> WHO term: ‫( األشخاص الذين يعانون من نقص المناعة‬transliteration: al-​ashkhāṣ alladhīna yuʿānūna min nuqṣ al-​manāʿah) =​> Term from Tunisian Ministry of Health’s Facebook page: ‫إلي مناعتهم ضعيفة‬ ّ (transliteration: illī manāʿithom ḍʿīfah, literal translation: Those whose immunity is weak) (Ministère de la santé 2021b) d. Recourse to foreign language • Risk-​benefit =​> WHO term: ‫​الفوائد‬-‫( المخاطر‬transliteration: al-​makhāṭir-​al-​fawāʾid) =​> Term from Tunisian Ministry of Health’s Facebook page: risque-​bénéfice ‫يعني الفائدة‬ ‫( واألعراض الجانبية‬transliteration: ris-​que bénéfi-​ce yaʿnī al-​fāʾidah wa-​al-​aʿrāḍ al-​jānibīyah, literal translation: risk-​benefit which means benefit and side effects) (Ministère de la santé 2021d)

Conclusion In order to manage the COVID-​19 emergency situation, vaccines were rapidly developed in the four countries under study, that is Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was then imperative to develop relevant educational material as campaigns for people to take the vaccine started to disseminate information throughout the world. Under the present study, we examined whether there was an overlap between the WHO COVID-​19 vaccination and the vaccination-​related terminology of the selected Arab countries, on both official websites and social media. Our findings showed a significant overlap with the Arabic terminology generated by both the WHO and the official websites of each country’s Health Ministry. With the emergency of the situation, ready-​to-​use foreign terms or colloquial language could have been extensively used to reach a large proportion of people. The use of WHO terminology implies that each national vaccination campaign finds this terminology effective. It also means that the COVID-​19-​related terms employed in the country-​specific contexts comply with the standardised health terminology of the WHO. Clearly the selected official Arabic websites deliberately rely on the WHO communication material in health emergency crises and can be considered as reliable sources for COVID-​19 vaccination information for their respective target audiences. From a language perspective, the overlap between the WHO standardised terminology and local terminological contents showed that no terms were coined by borrowing from other languages. The Arabic COVID-​19 vaccination terminology investigated in this study did not resort to loanwords, showing that this terminology can respond to Arabic scientific communication needs. The cases where terminological variations were observed between the WHO terminology and local usage reflected attempts to localise the COVID-​19 terminology for clarity and accessibility. Localised terms could be classified into four categories, namely (1) paraphrasing, (2) explanation by word addition, (3) word substitution and (4) the use of common words. These approaches to terminology as a result of communication strategies could be used to localise other health-​related content. When comparing social media content about vaccination with official websites, the results showed terminological consistency across websites and social media in the selected Arab countries.

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However, additional communication strategies were observed in social media when disseminating information on the COVID-​19 vaccination. They include simplification by word reduction, use of colloquial language and recourse to foreign language. Future research should focus on the dissemination of COVID-​19 vaccination information through the WHO’s social media in parallel with social media content in the selected Arab countries. It might also be interesting to analyse the frameworks for communication strategies used in localising public health material, in the context of COVID-​19, across the selected countries and other Arabic-​speaking contexts.

Further reading Bowker, Lynne, and Frédéric Blain. 2022. ‘When French becomes Canadian French: The curious case of localizing COVID-​19 terms with Microsoft Translator’. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization, 9 (1): 1–​37. https://​doi.org/​10.1075/​jial.22007.bow. This paper contributes to the understanding of machine translation’s role in localising the terminology of a health crisis when productivity speed is vital. Olimat, Sameer Naser. 2020. ‘COVID-​19 pandemic: Euphemism and dysphemism in Jordanian Arabic’. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 20 (3): 268–​290. http://​jou​rnal​arti​cle.ukm.my/​15733/​1/​ 39186-​135​068-​1-​PB.pdf. Accessed 27 August 2023. This paper studies the use of euphemism and dysphemism during the COVID-​19 pandemic. It investigates the ‘pandemic discourse’, and contributes to the understanding of euphemistic and dysphemistic tendencies in the Jordanian society during a health crisis. Meng, Ji, and Sara Laviosa (Eds.). 2021. The Oxford handbook of translation and social practices. First edition. Oxford University Press. https://​acade​mic.oup.com/​edi​ted-​vol​ume/​35470. Accessed 27 August 2023. This handbook demonstrates the social significance of translation studies in providing practical solutions to emerging social challenges. Twenty-​nine chapters cover numerous languages and apply translation studies methods to many social and natural sciences fields ranging from healthcare to immigration.

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24 OMISSION AND ADDITION DURING CRISIS INTERPRETING A study on the Rohingya displacement Mohammad Harun Or Rashid

Introduction When interpreters are engaged in a conversation to perform an interpreting task, they sometimes drop lexical and pragmatic information from the source language; likewise, they also tend to add varied types of information in the target language, which are primarily absent in the source language. In interpreting studies, such deliberate or inadvertent drops and adds are known as omissions and additions. Although there might be a plethora of literature on crisis interpreting (Filmer and Federici 2018; Al-​Shehari 2019; Ruiz Rosendo 2021a, 2021b; Ali, Alhassan, and Burma 2019; Anazawa, Ishikawa, and Kiuchi 2012), often being multifaceted, crisis interpreting research hardly deals with the nature, types, and reason of omission and addition in crisis settings (including humanitarian crisis grounds such as refugee, migration, relief operations, etc.). Moreover, research has yet to address the omissions and additions issues in the crisis interpreting. To address such lacuna, this chapter covers one of the crisis hotspots in the contemporary world—​the interpreting situation in Rohingya camps aiming to respond to Rohingya displacement (see the Rohingya crisis subsection for further details). These refugee camps also host many professional and ad hoc interpreters engaged as language mediators representing different governmental, non-​governmental, and international organisations. This chapter therefore addresses the current practices of such interpreters and related stakeholders, documenting and measuring the nature and types of lexical-​pragmatical omissions and additions which occurred during interpreting. This chapter also reports on several linguistic and non-​linguistic reasons, assuming these motivations might work behind such actions. This inductive qualitative inquiry, following ethnographic/​biographic-​styled interviews, has gathered data pertinent to the omission-​addition issue that occurred in humanitarian interpreting settings, opening a newer and broader window in the field of migration/​refugee-​centric interpreting studies. This chapter is subdivided into four major sections. The ‘Research context’ section focuses on areas of crisis interpreting, exploring the complexities that arose due to interpreters’ skill sets and interpreting narratives. It continues by focusing on the relevant literature showing the dilemma of omission and addition in varied interpreting fields. It provides substantial pertinent literature where omission and addition are perceived as errors or strategies. Finally, this section clarifies the 360

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-29

Omission and addition during crisis interpreting

crisis interpreting contexts—​the Rohingya displacement crisis—​formulating the primary research questions. The ‘Resarch methodology’ section begins with reviewing and outlining the common methodological practice of varied crisis interpreting fields. Then, it argues in favour of selecting interviewing as the research tool—​detailing the data collection, extraction, and analysis process. The third section (‘Discussion’) starts with a discussion of some key concepts extracted from the thematic analysis of the research data. Then, this section attempts to provide the nature and type of lexical-​pragmatic omissions and additions that occurred in crisis-​related interpreting settings. In a consecutive attempt, it further explains the linguistic and extra-​linguistic reasons behind omission and addition found in this qualitative inquiry. The last section (‘Conclusion’) sums up the significant findings that have exposed a non-​coloured (non-​distorted) version of the Rohingya crisis—​ providing critical insight into the domain of crisis interpreting.

Research context Related studies on additions and omissions Recent academic research has demonstrated a growing interest in interpreting in emergency and crisis settings (Filmer and Federici 2018; Al-​Shehari 2019; Ruiz Rosendo 2021a, 2021b; Ali, Alhassan, and Burma 2019; Anazawa, Ishikawa, and Kiuchi 2012). Researchers have also listed literature reviews in their articles and chapters pertaining to varied interpretations of crisis contexts, humanitarian interpreting such as disaster and relief interpreting, or migration and refugee interpreting, but also conflict contexts such as military interpreting and peacekeeping (Muñoz 2021; Federici 2021; Ruiz Rosendo 2021a; Baigorri-​Jalón 2015). Current crisis interpreting becomes more complex for the many multilingual, multicultural, and translational scenarios it occurs in, but also for the narratives that the interpreting (or translation) produces due to the multiparty involvements such as humanitarian organisations and other NGOs. Furthermore, based on available studies and recent media reports on contemporary crises and conflicts, Baker (2010) explained how interpreters can reshape the narrative perspective of conflicts. She posits that interpreters play “a significant role in shaping the narratives” (ibid., 217). Since crisis interpreting is a form of “communication mediated by professional and ad hoc linguists” (O’Brien and Federici 2019, 130), their produced communications sometimes aggravate aspects of the crisis due to the different versions of narratives. For example, a group of researchers revealed that US President Trump’s peace initiative on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, termed ‘the deal of the century’, received much controversy because the BBC’s English source texts raise doubts about the credibility and success of Trump’s peace plan (Allawzi et al. 2022). These researchers argued that translators of the target texts used omissions, additions, and other techniques and strategies to frame narratives absent in the source materials (ibid). As a result of such types of complexities, omissions and additions got prominence in academic research. The researchers on interpreting studies considered omission-​addition either as strategy or as error in their research. Guo Yijun examined former Chinese Premier Zhu’s debut press conference as a case study (Yijun 2015) and observed that the interpreter adopted three interpreting strategies: addition, omission, and correction. He further showed that these manipulated strategies were used to clarify the politically aware standpoints. In interpreting-​related research, omissions and additions were considered errors in varied contexts. Daniel Gile studied US President Obama’s inaugural speech broadcast by TV stations in French, German, and Japanese in search of errors and omissions in the recordings and the transcripts (Gile 2011). He showed that omissions of source-​speech micro-​units in the Japanese 361

Mohammad Harun Or Rashid

renderings are more prevalent than in the German or French renderings. Glenn Flores and his associate researchers conducted a quantitative study to determine the potential clinical consequences of errors in medical interpretation (Flores et al. 2003) and showed that omission (52%), false fluency (16%), substitution (13%), editorialisation (10%), and addition (8%) are the common types of errors in medical interpretation. Following this very same category, Anazawa, Ishikawa, and Kiuchi (2012) conducted a quantitative study in a simulated medical context and reported five types of errors (addition, false fluency, omission, substitution, and editorialisation) made by twenty Japanese–​English interpreters. They also showed that omission and addition are the two significant interpretation errors, and the former occurred most frequently. Henri Barik’s seminal work discussed various types of omissions and additions as errors encountered in simultaneous interpretation (Barik 1971). The literature showcases omissions to be looked upon as flaws. Yet, accuracy of meaning is crucial for crisis interpreting; otherwise, narratives will be flawed, and this might create problems for many parties involved in the respective crisis. Although literature partially or largely building on translation and interpreting studies have addressed omission and addition, this chapter focuses on those processes during interpreting. However, more attention should be paid in crisis interpreting studies to these phenomena. Therefore, this study attempts to expand research into this existing issue by analysing adding and dropping linguistic elements and categorising the reasons or motivations for such addition and omission in crisis interpreting; in particular, more so in the setting of the Rohingya displacement crisis.

The Rohingya crisis as the research case The historic Rohingya crisis started when hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically minor group, moved to Bangladesh from Myanmar to escape persecution, violence, and brutality, forming one of the largest refugee camps in the world (Sahana, Jahangir, and Anisujjaman 2019; Riley et al. 2017; Siddiquee 2020; Yasmin and Akther 2020; Shohel 2022; Sakib and Ananna 2021). Basically, the Rohingyas are a Muslim minority group native to Burma’s Arakan state (currently known as the Rakhine state of Myanmar). It is argued that the traders from the Persian and Arab worlds who arrived in the area around the eighth century (Kaveri 2022) or the early seventeenth century (Narnolia and Kumar 2022) are thought to have become the ancestors of Rohingya. This linguistic issue later impacted on the political landscapes of this region, resulting in a series of migrations and displacements. Researchers like Kingston and Seibert Hanson, in their article, opined that language issues worked behind the Rohingya persecution and displacement (Kingston and Seibert Hanson 2022). They analysed the linguistic scenarios along with their arguments. The Rohingya speak the language with the same name—​the Rohingya language which belongs to the Indo-​European family of languages. This language has a substantial similarity with Hindi/​ Urdu, even a partial similarity with the Chittagong dialect of Bangladesh, whereas it (the Rohingya language) is largely foreign to Myanmar’s Burmese speakers. Moreover, the Rohingya language is forbidden in public schools, and classes are taught in Burmese, which Rohingya students frequently find difficult to comprehend. This difference ultimately fuels acquisitions about nationality, resulting in a series of persecution, and subsequent displacement. They also explicitly commented on the Rohingya language and its speakers: Just as there are many factors working against the vitality of the Rohingya people, there are many factors working against the continuing vitality of the Rohingya language. Most likely 362

Omission and addition during crisis interpreting

due to a history of continuous displacement and the dispersal of its speakers, Rohingya has remained primarily an oral language despite attempts to create a system of literacy. When communities of speakers are dispersed and unsettled, they are less able to produce a cohesive literature. The fact that Rohingya has multiple writing systems also possibly contributes to its detriment as a robust written language while confirming its linguistic status as a viable language. (Kingston and Seibert Hanson 2022, 295) These writing systems are still in development stages: Hanifi Rohingya script, based on Arabic, Burmese, and Latin scripts; and Rohingyalish based on Roman script. As a result, the language proficiency and communication skills of the users of such languages remained limited and incohesive. However, the language landscape of these camps is complex—​the Rohingyas cannot fully participate in the multilingual camps’ societies. In this regard, Rahman, Shindaini, and Husain (2022) reported that Rohingya children have faced varied types of language barriers inside the camp areas. They also revealed that children’s poor language proficiencies are linked to the complex education and language policies of the camps (ibid.). In this regard, Translators Without Borders (TWB) published a three-​part report, “Misunderstanding +​misinformation =​mistrust’, mentioning the language barriers of Rohingya communities encountered in the camps (Translators Without Borders 2019). Kingston and Seibert Hanson (2022) illustrate how a number of language complexities prevailed in the Rohingya camps, stating that “language is once again an obstacle to rights protection and recognition” (296). Their illustrations pertinent to camps’ language complexities include that limited language skills create barriers for the provision of aid, the misinterpreting deepens family problems, the dialect spoken by early comers now differs from the newcomers, and governments’ language policies and initiatives intensify complications for the school goers. Verena Hölzl, a journalist formerly based in Yangon, also reported the language and communication barriers prevailing in Rohingya camps (Hölzl 2020). This camp(s) also hosts a respectable number of professional and ad hoc interpreters representing different government, non-​government, and international organisations. Their interactions with Rohingya create a multilingual atmosphere, opening a wider window for multilingual and crisis-​related research.

Research methodology The general objective of this study is to examine why and how interpreters—​working inside the Rohingya camps or associated with the Rohingya crisis—​add, drop, or omit the linguistic elements during interpreter-​mediated encounters. It also plans to document the reasons and motivations of such actions (addition and omission), exploring the interpreting experience from the interpreters and the stakeholders. Hence, this inductive study seeks the answers to the following questions: What lexical and pragmatic elements (such as words, phrases, markers, contexts, etc.) are omitted and added by the interpreters? Why do such omissions or additions occur? The quest for the answers to these questions also leads to exploring the interpreting and linguistic scenarios of Rohingya camps which have predominantly enriched the discussion section. However, this book chapter did not discuss the perception and reception of the interpreted narratives with a view to focusing on the types and reasons of the omission-​addition during crisis interpreting. In order to address the underlying research questions, the current study adopts a qualitative method with semi-​structured interviews. Qualitative data collection for such type of research is not new; it is a common practice in crisis interpreting research. Khaled Al-​Shehari conducted 363

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semi-​structured interviews with little-​trained interpreters who aid humanitarian personnel working at international organisations in Yemen (Al-​Shehari 2019). Lucía Ruiz Rosendo interviewed military personnel and the local interpreters to explore the first-​hand experience that they faced during crisis interpreting in Afghanistan (Ruiz Rosendo 2021b). Manuel Barea Muñoz’s study interviewed eleven local trained interpreters and staffers who worked in the field for international organisations in the framework of the Israeli–​Palestinian conflict (Muñoz 2021). Ali, Alhassan, and Burma (2019) conducted semi-​structured, face-​to-​face interviews to investigate the interpreters’ challenges in conflict zones, in the UN peacekeeping missions operated in Darfur, Sudan. On this ground, Catherine Baker opined that ‘semi-​structured’ and ‘biographical’ interview forms are well suited to languages and conflict research (Baker 2019, 165). The interview has the inherited power to capture such details that match the research objectives. She further provided a substantial argument for interview research since it provides “apparent record of previously unknown information and personal experience, and contingent product of memory” (Baker 2019, 160). That is why this research collected qualitative data from the interpreting experience of twenty-​three interpreters who have facilitated interpreting tasks with Rohingya people living in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. The interpreters worked inside the Rohingya refugee camps making interactions at different engagement points like help desks, medical camps, internal visits, official meetings, donor visits, etc. Prior to starting the final data collection (interviewing the interpreters), six participants were interviewed as part of the piloting, of whom three were stakeholders (government officers, NGO personnel) and three were professional and ad hoc interpreters. This small set of respondents was interviewed using cell phones and the outcome of these interviews confirms that the research instruments as a whole function well. The final data collection relied primarily on semi-​structured interviews maintaining a snowball sampling method to bring up the underlying practical issues exclusively targeted for this research (aligned with chapter objectives). The appendix provides information about the interpreters’ backgrounds and individual interview procedure. There were twenty-​three interpreters of which sixteen were professional and seven were ad hoc interpreters. Four of the professional interpreters worked in the interpreting service-​providing agencies. A number of professional interpreters worked in the international NGOs (n=​9) and in the national NGOs (n=​3) as the in-​house interpreters. However, at present, these in-​house interpreters perform interpreting tasks on a regular basis holding the different official designations such as field service managers, data entry operators, field animators, and IT assistant, etc. The rest of the six interpreters came from a different national NGO (n=​1), international NGOs (n=​2), and government organisations (n=​3); they conducted interpreting tasks on an ad hoc basis. In this research, interviews were conducted in Banga and English (where relevant) in one-​on-​ one sessions, ranging in length from ten to twenty-​four minutes. The interviews were conducted both in situ and technology-​mediated (cell phone and WhatsApp). Most of the interview sessions (n=​15) were recorded with prior permission while some of them (n=​8) skipped recording due to privacy preferences of the interviewees, and therefore memos (notations) were kept during these interviews. The subsequent phase involves the transcription and translation of the data taken from these recordings. In order to harmonise the transcription with the notations, the notes were translated and organised accordingly. The interview transcriptions contained a number of foreign and newly formed words which were mostly translated by the respective interpreters during the interview sessions. In this case, the researcher asked the interpreters to explain the meaning of such words used in the interview. However, a very limited number of Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu words were 364

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translated in consultation with the relevant dictionaries. Where needed, interview data were restructured according to the structure of the questionnaire. Data from three interviewees (INT 5, INT 10, and INT 11) were entirely discarded in this stage since they appeared to be either uninteresting or irrelevant in terms of questionnaire and research objectives. Subsequently, in order to identify and reveal experiences, stories, and statements of the interpreters and their stakeholders, this research adopted inductive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006, 2022), one of the major qualitative research approaches. As such, interview data were coded and categorised using MAXQDA software (VERBI Software 2021) to extract the underlying themes. The themes that emerged have been presented in the discussion section. A table with features of the respective interviewee and accompanying interview has been included in the appendix.

Discussion The interpreters who worked in the response and crisis environment shared various real-​time experiences in the interviews. In addition to their experiences, they expressed their opinions on how and why omission and addition have been used as interpreting strategies in various situations. Six major themes were elicited from those views and experiences by using thematic analysis: (1) the interpreting scenario at Rohingya camps, (2) the linguistic scenario at Rohingya camps, (3) three types of omission, (4) the reasons for omission, (5) three types of addition, and (6) the reasons for addition.

The interpreting scenario at Rohingya camps The work of interpreters started from the beginning of the recent Rohingya influx in 2017. From the very beginning, when the displacement was ongoing, the NGOs involved in the Rohingya response recruited interpreters from the local host community (in this case Chittagong region) in Bangladesh. One professional interpreter who has been working from the very beginning of the influx commented that “NGOs and INGOs recruited interpreters and animators from the local host communities. Firstly, I worked as a freelance interpreter, now I work in an international NGO” (INT 16). Since then, interpreters have been an integral part of the Rohingya response. In light of the Rohingya interpreting experience, one professional interpreter from an interpreting service provider made the following observation: At present (in 2022), the number of professional interpreters with the designation of ‘interpreters’ is limited in a broader sense. Those who once worked as the dedicated interpreters at the beginning of the Rohingya response are now employed in varied positions (such as field officer, gender officer, IT assistant etc) in different national and international organisations. Even the core officials of such organisations (mid-​level managers and decision makers) are also involved with the interpreting tasks on the ad hoc basis due to a lack of funding. As a result, the number of dedicated interpreters—​dealing with the Rohingya crisis—​in both national and international organisations has decreased significantly. (INT 6) Even the allocation of the resources pertinent to interpreting tasks in the Rohingya camp is quite uneven. INT 6 also highlighted that limited recruitment of professional interpreters broadens the working scope of ad hoc interpreters. He explained: 365

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Currently, a few interpreters are working in the health sector of Rohingya camps. For instance, only two interpreters are allocated for ten doctors. When the two interpreters worked with two doctors, the rest of the eight doctors received no dedicated interpreters. In such cases, cleaners and security guards have been acting as ad hoc interpreters to overcome this shortage of coverage. (INT 6) One of the interpreters acknowledged that the training on interpreting activities was extremely limited in the initial stage of the recent Rohingya influx in 2017. He mentioned, “I started interpreting without any prior training; in fact, there was no such scope at all. As I can remember, WFP (World Food Programme) recruited interpreters without thinking much; they recruited those who they found disengaged elsewhere” (INT 6). However, another interpreter explicitly mentioned the current training initiatives. He mentioned “I received training on the Rohingya language arranged by UNICEF and the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC). I learned the common words and basic sentence patterns from the Rohingya language teachers” (INT 20). One of the professional interpreters from an interpreting service provider highlighted their initiative on language and interpreting training. Initially, “we conducted a systematic language survey on the Rohingya language; then, we arranged training for interpreters, now a small number of agencies are continuing those training on a limited scale” (INT 6).

The linguistic scenario at Rohingya camps The interpreters provided a glimpse of ideas about the similarity issues of the Rohingya language and the language proficiency of Rohingya speakers living inside the camps. The Rohingya language is a dialect of the Arakan region of Myanmar which is partially close to the Chittagong dialect of Bangladesh but not the same (INT 18, INT 17). An interpreter working with the professional interpreting service provider explained this similarity issue, “We have found a difference between the Rohingya language and the language of Chittagong through a language assessment. However, in terms of terminology, especially in health, nutrition, law terms, the difference is vast—​there is no similarity at all” (INT 6). He also adds that “the reason behind such difference is that this community was displaced from a large zone with lots of language variations” (INT 6). Several interpreters commented that the Rohingya speakers talk in a mixed language—​it is a mixture of Arabic, English, Burmese, Urdu, and Bengali words (INT 1, INT 2, INT 3, INT 6, INT 12, INT 17). An interpreter who works for an international NGO has dived deeper into this issue: “They are used to reading with the Urdu script. They had to learn Burmese in their country since Burmese was used as the medium of instruction in the schools. Those who live around the city can speak English” (INT 18). As a result of the multilingual atmosphere, they frequently mixed the codes with intra-​sentential code-​switching (INT 6, INT 7, INT 9). They often use the words like Fayda (Benefit), Madad (Help), and Zaruurat (Necessity, Exigency). In addition, one interpreter gave substantial examples that they frequently name new words for a service or device. For example, the hand press tube-​well is addressed as Chiba-​Fipe (Pressing Pipe) and the deep tube-​well is called Nachuni-​Fipe (Dancing Pipe) (INT 6). Several interpreters (INT 1, INT 3, INT 4, INT 12, INT 15, INT 23) have observed that the Rohingya speakers have poor language proficiency and have limited intelligibility. One of the interpreters commented on the reasons behind such poor proficiency: “they have a low level of language and comprehension sense, since they don’t have proper education due to decades of 366

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abuse and deprivation” (INT 22). A professional interpreter from an interpreting service provider explained this issue in detail: Let me explain this issue from the anthropological point of view, this community has had no access to education, no access to primary health care for centuries. As a result, they did not have the knowledge that gender-​based violence (GBV) or intimate partner violence (IPV) could be a crime. They are far behind in language and communication. Especially, the language proficiency of girls and women are pretty marginal. (INT 6) One interpreter particularly commented on the communication and language difficulties of Rohingya girls and women. She observed: “the Rohingya women are quite reserved, and it is very difficult to talk to them. They hardly interact with a male interpreter” (INT 2). The subsequent four subsections will cover the types and reasons for the omission-​addition that emerged from the thematic analysis of interview data.

Three types of omission There are three types of omissions that have been delineated from the interview data using thematic analysis: omission based on arbitrary words and sentences, omission based on fixed expression, and contextual omission. The first category of omission that the interpreters use during interpreting tasks involves random word and sentence omission. A large portion of interviewees agreed that they (the interpreters) tend to leave out many words and sentences while interpreting conversations with Rohingya. A professional interpreter provided an example of the experience in which such omissions happened: When the Rohingya community first came to this country, the delegates from an international NGOs used to ask–​how did you arrive here? One of the Rohingyas answered: ‘When we flew here, in the middle of the journey, my wife gave birth. We had to stumble, straggled with bamboo-​can.’ But while interpreting such a conversation, I cut it short and said that they had suffered a lot. His wife was pregnant when he arrived. I can no longer say that these Rohingyas have fled to this country and were stuck by bamboo can or stumbled. We leave out the tiny details while interpreting. (INT 20) Omission also occurred when the conversation was made brief and straightforward: A Rohingya boy shared his grief during a conversation. ‘I could play in my own country freely, I could go out of the house anytime. But now, I can’t go out of the camp area.’ As an interpreter, I rendered his speech by omitting long sentences. I just simply rendered ‘he can’t do anything comfortably here. Once he had much freedom, now he doesn’t have that. The Rohingya child shared his view at a great length, but I have abridged it a little, somewhat excluding some of the words and sentences. (INT 19) In these examples, the interpreters preferred to omit what they believed to be tiny details, abridging the whole concept. Unlike the first category, the second category of omission that interpreters are 367

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used to following is based on fixed expressions like proverbs, idioms, metaphors, and similes. One interpreter shared his experience of how the Rohingyas use metaphors in conversation: An old Rohingya describes his current state, utilising metaphor in his conversation. ‘Our life is a water hyacinth, if water flows, we are there otherwise we are not. In fact, he wants to convey a simple meaning of life—​just as the water hyacinth cannot survive without water, so can our lives without food. If you provide food, we can live, otherwise we die.’ But while interpreting, I leave out the metaphor and just translate the gist. (INT 18) The interpreters feel that if the fixed expressions are put into the target language, the meaning might be ambiguous. As a result, they delete these types of verbose fixed expressions from the source conversation. The third category of omission relies on contextual information. Almost half of the interviewees acknowledged that they tend to omit diverse types of contexts often. An interpreter sheds light on such practice as the third category of omission: Due to various intra-​organisational rules and regulations, I omit many contextual issues while interpreting. Once a Rohingya person shared his demand ‘I need a big house, I need a lot of money. I am not being by myself the way I am living.’ But according to the agency’s rules and regulations (for instance, the government’s reputation), I could not convey the details to the foreign visitors from international NGOs since it is not possible to provide him with a bigger house at present. I only interpreted that he was happy in his own country. He felt more comfortable there. Coming to this place troubled him much. (INT 17) This example provides a clear picture of how the context related to the interpreting in Rohingya camps is deliberately omitted. Another interpreter acknowledged that sensitive contexts (like religious, political, etc.) are also discarded since these contexts partially or fully contradict the organisations’ ethics, mission, and vision. He samples his claim this way: Many of the Rohingyas are not educated. They are religiously conservative. They initially thought that the ‘kafir’ (infidels/​non-​Muslims) could never help the Muslims. These types of sensitive issues are omitted during interpreting. Moreover, the Rohingyas thought that Allah (God) would give everything that is needed; if non-​Muslims give anything, that means that they may have a different (ill) intention, which might be bad for the Rohingya overall. During the interpreting, I omit this sensitive contextual information. (INT 20)

The reasons for omission The analysis from the interview data provided a series of reasons why the interpreters generally follow omission strategies dropping the previously mentioned types of omissions while interpreting with Rohingyas. In the light of those interviews, a total of four reasons have been outlined: a) In a conversation, the Rohingyas are “used to talking very elaborately” (INT 4)—​they tend to provide “a very long and elaborate answer if questioned”. As a result, the interpreter discards the 368

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part outside of his need and ignores the tiny details that come into the conversation. A number of interpreters (INT 2, INT 4, INT 13, INT 14) think that “the Rohingyas are used to talking superfluously to increase the demand for the necessary items like foods, dress, medicines etc”. One interpreter shared his experience regarding this issue: when the necessary items are distributed from the distribution points, they superficially increase the amount of the demand. Let me explain, if a family requires 20kg of rice, they normally demand 30kg. In this case, I cut the additional amount. (INT 23)   In similar cases, some interpreters (INT 1, INT 4, INT 12, INT 17, INT 19) acknowledged that they eliminated the superfluous parts or amount by analysing the situation from their own experiences and observations. b) Some interpreters (INT 2, INT 3, INT 15, INT 18, INT 19) claimed that due to mixed language use and frequent code-​switching, the interpreters have to throw away different words, a clear use of omission that potentially simplifies the conversation. In addition, they frequently name new words for a service or device. As a result, the interpreters shorten many sentences during the conversation, so the newly formed words and sentences become omitted automatically. c) Some interpreters argued that they omit words, sentences, and contexts due to NGOs’ orally instructed informal rules and practices (INT 17, INT 18, INT 19, INT 20, INT 21). Many lexical and contextual patterns are simply omitted due to not matching with NGOs’ mission and vision. The sensitive issues (like religious, political) are also discarded since these conversations appeared to be outside the organisations’ ethics, mission, and vision. One professional interpreter shared his experience providing the reason for such omission: “What I observed is that the Rohingyas want to drag religious issues while talking. But many international NGOs want to avoid and omit religious issues in conversations because of their secular stances” (INT 19). d) The Rohingyas usually use varied types of fixed expressions (the third category omission) to describe a problem or narrate a situation. Also, senior citizens use many metaphors during conversation. While interpreting, the interpreters avoid these idioms, proverbs, and metaphors to simplify the description of the main problem.

Three types of addition The analysis of the interview data yielded three types of addition. The first category that the interpreters use during their interpreting task is related to the words and sentences. Since many interpreters think that the Rohingyas cannot express their feelings properly, the interpreters might need to add words, phrases, and sentences from their own accords. An interpreter gives an example in the light of his experience: Once a Rohingya stated his problem this way: If I had another big house, I could have lived well with my children. Now I cannot live in this small house. As an interpreter, I translated this way: his current house is small, and it can be blown away in storms anytime, so it is better to make this house stronger and bigger. Or if another room is allocated for him, then he can stay better in this camp. (INT 16) 369

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Another interpreter shared his experience regarding such type of addition: A Rohingya woman was asked, is there any disabled child in your house? She replied, yes, we have a ‘Mazur’ in our home. She could not provide any more detail than that. Then I inspected that disabled boy and told if the problem was in the eyes or the legs. I then detailed his disabilities to the doctor. I had to add everything else on my own. (INT 17) While interpreting, many interpreters add context or additional information to their own renderings. In this case, they often add contextual or background information from their own experience. One interpreter provided his own account for adding context to his interpreting task: If I know the context, I usually add it to the conversation of my own accord. Let me give you one example, you may not understand the meaning of the word ‘Majhi’. So, I will explain it by adding background information. The word ‘Majhi’ means the community leader who is the leader of a camp. In this way, I add context to the word and explain it in detail. (INT 8) Another interpreter said that while interacting with the Rohingya people, if they (the Rohingyas) provide insufficient information pertinent to politically sensitive issues, at that time he adds context to clarify such sensitive issues. This professional interpreter shared his experience when he added context to clarify the sensitive issues: Let me give you one example where I added context in order to explain a sensitive situation. There are a few rebel groups in the Rohingya camp. Once a participant gave sensitive or misleading information on a particular rebel group that he likes most. In that case, I explained this issue by adding contextual information in detail. My philosophy is very simple—​I want to transfer accurate message. (INT 8) The third type of addition is related to the imaginary discourse markers. One interpreter agreed that he adds imaginary punctuation marks like full stops and commas in the intermission of the speech: “They tend to have a non-​stop conversation style to describe any problem. They don’t know where to pause or where to stop. In this situation, I need to rely on imaginary commas or full stops” (INT 4). As a result, the interpreter has to complete the interpreting task using imaginary punctuation marks, building breaks into sentences (the interpreted equivalents to commas and full stops). Thus, the addition of discourse markers becomes an inevitable issue.

The reasons for addition When translating Rohingya, the interpreter adds various words and concepts by themselves for various reasons. The interpreters explained their own reasons for adding them in their interviews. A total of five reasons or motivations have been summed up from interview transcripts: 1) Many interpreters feel that the Rohingyas cannot adequately express their needs to the agency at the camp’s help desk due to the poor communication skills. One interpreter explained: 370

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I think, these Rohingyas may only be able to name the necessary items but cannot say why these items are needed. Then, it is my responsibility to explain the reason for the necessity of that relief item. In this situation, I need to add extra words and sentence to corroborate the needs of the Rohingyas. (INT 16)   He also feels that he has “no right to add something by himself”; he does it only “for the betterment of the Rohingya”. 2) The interpreters come up with adding the contexts for two purposes as exemplified earlier: to provide a detailed explanation of a word or term, and to clarify the politically sensitive issues. They tend to insert such information to avoid “misinformation and disinformation” originating from the Rohingya communities. 3) Unlike Bengali and English, the Rohingya language has a limited number of terminologies. Then, a long description has to be provided by the interpreters to explain those terms in the Rohingya language. An interpreter shared his experience as follows: An organisation (in this case, an international NGO) plans to provide day-​long training to the Rohingyas. The problem is that there is no such word to explain the concept of ‘training’ in the Rohingya language. Then I had to explain the word training to the Rohingya people. To do so, several words and sentences have to be added at that time. (INT 17)   So, little or no proper terminology in the Rohingya language ultimately initiates words and sentential addition through explanation or long description. 4) The interpreter adds necessary words or sentences to perform the interpreting tasks. The interpreters add a lot from their own experiences because the Rohingya people do not want to talk about some personal issues. One interpreter opined that: they are quite silent on personal issues like gender-​based violence, child protection, and women’s fertility. In this case, I understand the situation by observing the subjects (such as the victim of IPV or GBV, the assailant, and the community leader) around them and adding words, sentences, and contexts when necessary. (INT 6) 5) One interpreter mentioned that he adds imaginary discourse markers during the interpreting tasks due to the speaking style of Rohingya speakers. Actually, limited language proficiency and non-​stop speaking style of the Rohingya speakers forced the interpreters to insert such imaginary punctuation marks, dividing their target language delivery into intelligible segments or chunks.

Conclusion This qualitative study has documented new insights on Rohingya displacement and crisis interpreting settings, supporting the results of previous research. The major issue of this crisis interpreting is related to the poor language and communication skills of the Rohingya communities which also aligns with the findings of previous studies (Kingston and Seibert Hanson 2022;

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Kaveri 2022; Narnolia and Kumar 2022). These poor language and communication skills have strongly impacted the meaning of interpreting, which has repeatedly been supported by the previous research findings (Translators Without Borders 2019; Hölzl 2020). The number of dedicated interpreters in the Rohingya camps is decreasing drastically, which is quite worrying. The main reason for this is that the interpreters are recruited to carry on other non-​interpreting activities which ultimately hampers the inherent identity of the interpreters. In addition, the quality of the interpreting tasks has naturally been questioned since the work is carried out with a limited trained ad hoc interpreter in lieu of a professional interpreter. As a result, the Rohingyas are not only deprived of proper communication with respective parties, delegates, and officials, but they are also deprived of the services and amenities they need. TWB has already reported this deprivation issue due to gaps in language and translation (Translators Without Borders 2019). In this study, the limitations of interpreting training have come to the fore—​it is difficult to maintain the fidelity of interpreting tasks, in the sense of carrying out interpreting work only with language training. Therefore, specialised training on interpreting activities is necessary. Previous research (Kingston and Seibert Hanson 2022; Kaveri 2022; Narnolia and Kumar 2022) that deals with the origin of the language of the Rohingyas, nationality complexities, and the diversity of dialects is consistent with the current research. It has further shown that the century-​old language complications have also been unresolved in the Rohingya camps. It has even become more acute. Rohingyas’ poor communication skills, excessive code-​mixing, fragile language skills of women, language gaps between new and old generations, and restriction of school-​goers’ medium of instructions have cumulatively challenged interpreters to defend the fidelity of interpreting outputs. As a result, the necessary research scope has been created to examine the Rohingya language and terminology further from the crisis interpreting perspectives. The study showed that interpreters produced three types of omissions and three types of additions during the interpreting of Rohingyas. In addition, they mentioned four and five reasons for these omissions and additions, respectively. In the initial analysis, the interpreters saw the omission-​addition as the strategy of interpreting tasks, for which they also provided substantial arguments. However, looking a little deeper, there is an option to see and think about this omission-​ addition as the error. It is well documented (Gile 2011; Flores et al. 2003; Anazawa, Ishikawa, and Kiuchi 2012; Barik 1971) that the interpreters’ omission and additions created a bar to propel and transfer actual real meaning to the target language. Rather, such actions intensify the subjectivity in rendered meaning. As a result, like a previous study (Yijun 2015), such omission-​addition can also appear as a manipulation strategy. The interpreters may be excluding the sensitive information on their own accord claiming that such actions are mainly taken for the betterment of the Rohingya communities. However, the scope for such addition-​omission largely questions the quality and fidelity of the interpreting efforts. In addition, it is also found that interpreters are motivated by such omission-​addition due to the ethics, mission, and vision of the local and foreign organisations working in the Rohingya camps. The exclusion and additions of politically and religiously sensitive information have called into question the organisational intentions along with the quality of the interpreting tasks. As a result, these organisations should also be responsible for such omission-​addition along with the liable interpreters. On the other hand, the subjective approach adopted by the interpreters due to the poor language skills of the Rohingyas can be accepted on a limited scale considering the field of health and disability issues. However, in every case, there must be a limit—​if the limit is crossed, this

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noble intention will be counted as an error. This might not only increase the complexity in the interpreting practice, but also create different versions of the narrative—​as opined by previous researchers (Baker 2010; O’Brien and Federici 2019)—​of Rohingya conflict and displacement—​ which is not desirable in any way. The current methodology appears to carry a number of limitations as it does not count the speech utterance of interpreting. It is important to note that a direct utterance or real-​time interactions between interpreters and the Rohingya people may not be recorded or documented due to safety-​ security, official secrecy-​privacy, and legal-​ethical reasons. In this case, the research can only rely on the post-​interpreting experience shared by the professional and ad hoc interpreters. Moreover, this research neither intends to measure the frequency of occurrence nor analyses the phonetic or phonological aspects of speech (utterances). Unlike such types, this qualitative inquiry only counts the post-​interpreting experience. Therefore, the best possible method has been adopted in this current research. Though this chapter has presented several issues of crisis-​ related interpreting, it neither adequately covers all of the aspects nor addresses the extensive effects of omission-​addition beyond the case under study. However, the findings of this chapter might be helpful to ensure the quality of crisis interpreting, hence creating and easing the pathway to further research in crisis interpreting and refugee management.

Appendix Interviewee profiles Interpreter’s category

Current affiliation

Age group

Interpreting Gender experience

Interview method

Professional INGO

35–​39

4 Years

Male

Telephone In-​house Briefing

INT 1

Professional INGO

25–​29

4 Years

Female Telephone In-​house Briefing

INT 2

Professional INGO

35–​39

5 Years

Male

Telephone In-​house Briefing

INT 3

Professional NGO

25–​29

3 Years

Male

Telephone In-​house Briefing

INT 4

Professional NGO

30–​34

2 Years

Female Telephone In-​house Briefing

INT 5

Professional Int. Agency

40–​44

5 Years

Male

F2F

Extensive

INT 6

Professional Int. Agency

35–​39

5 Years

Male

F2F

Extensive

INT 7

Professional Int. Agency

30–​34

4 Years

Male

F2F

Extensive

INT 8

Professional Int. Agency

30–​34

4 Years

Male

F2F

Extensive

INT 9

Ad hoc

Govt. Org

25–​29

1 Year

Male

Telephone Limited

INT 10

Ad hoc

NGO

30–​34

2 Years

Male

F2F

INT 11

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Training

Limited

Pseudo name

Mohammad Harun Or Rashid Interpreter’s category

Current affiliation

Age group

Interpreting Gender experience

Ad hoc

Govt. Org

25–​29

1 Year

Ad hoc

Govt. Org

30–​34

Ad hoc

INGO

Ad hoc

Training

Pseudo name

Female F2F

Limited

INT 12

2 Years

Female F2F

Limited

INT 13

35–​39

2 Years

Male

F2F

Limited

INT 14

INGO

25–​29

3 Years

Male

F2F

Limited

INT 15

Professional INGO

35–​39

3 Years

Male

F2F

In-​house Briefing

INT 16

Professional INGO

35–​39

5 Years

Male

F2F

Extensive

INT 17

Professional INGO

20–​24

4 Years

Male

F2F

In-​house Briefing

INT 18

Professional INGO

35–​39

5 Years

Male

F2F

Extensive

INT 19

Professional INGO

35–​39

4 Years

Male

F2F

Extensive

INT 20

Ad hoc

25–​29

2 Years

Female F2F

In-​house Briefing

INT 21

Professional NGO

40–​44

3 Years

Male

F2F

In-​house Briefing

INT 22

Professional INGO

25–​29

2 Years

Male

F2F

In-​house Briefing

INT 23

INGO

Interview method

Further reading Rajan, S. Irudaya (Eds.). 2022. The Routledge handbook of refugees in India. London and New York: Routledge. This handbook covers a significant advancement in the fields of refugee and migration studies in India, delving into the myriad sociocultural challenges pertinent to the Indian subcontinent. Especially, part seven of this volume contains ten dedicated chapters relating to Rohingya refugees which provide a solid history-​ political account of Rohingya migrations. Federici, Federico M., and Sharon O’Brien (Eds.). 2020. Translation in cascading crises. London and New York: Routledge. This volume gathers empirical discussion to analyse the roles of translation and interpreting in multilingual crisis settings. This book might be used as an evidential reference for the readers of crisis-​management and risk-​mitigations disciplines. Todorova, Marija, and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo (Eds.). 2021. Interpreting conflict: A comparative framework. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. This book contains several real-​time case studies focusing on the role of interpreters in recent conflict and crisis zones. This collection documents interpreters’ positionality, ethics, emotion, and security in varied conflict situations which might be an integral part of crisis-​conflict interpreting and war-​peace studies.

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References Al-​Shehari, Khaled. 2019. ‘Crisis translation in Yemen: Needs and challenges of volunteer translators and interpreters’. In Translation in cascading crises, edited by Federico M. Federici and Sharon O’Brien, 25–​45. New York: Routledge. Ali, Holi Ibrahim, Awad Alhassan, and Ishaq Burma. 2019. ‘An investigation into the interpreters’ challenges in conflict zones: The case of Darfur region in Sudan’. Arab World English Journal For Translation and Literary Studies, 3 (3): 37–​50. Allawzi, Areej, Hanan Al-​ Jabri, Deema Ammari, and Ali Sukayna. 2022. ‘Translation as a political action: Reframing ‘the deal of the century’ in the translations of the BBC’. Heliyon, 8 (2): e08856. Anazawa, Ryoko, Hirono Ishikawa, and Takahiro Kiuchi. 2012. ‘The accuracy of medical interpretations: A pilot study of errors in Japanese-​English interpreters during a simulated medical scenario’. Translation and Interpreting, 4 (1): 1–​20. Baigorri-​Jalón, Jesús. 2015. ‘The history of the interpreting profession’. In The Routledge handbook of interpreting, edited by Holly Mikkelson and Renée Jourdenais, 11–​28. New York: Routledge. Baker, Catherine. 2019. ‘Interviewing for research on languages and war’. In The Palgrave handbook of languages and conflict, edited by Michael Kelly, Hilary Footitt, and Myriam Salama-​Carr, 157–​180. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Baker, Mona. 2010. ‘Interpreters and translators in the war zone’. The Translator, 16 (2): 197–​222. Barik, Henri C. 1971. ‘A description of various types of omissions, additions and errors of translation encountered in simultaneous interpretation’. Meta: Journal Des Traducteurs, 16 (4): 199–​210. Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2006. ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2): 77–​101. Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2022. Thematic analysis: A practical guide. London, California, New Delhi, Singapore: Sage Publication. Federici, Federico M. 2021. ‘Translation in contexts of crisis’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and globalization, edited by Esperança Bielsa and Dionysios Kapsaskis, 176–​ 189. New York: Routledge. Filmer, Denise, and Federico M. Federici. 2018. ‘Mediating migration crises’. European Journal of Language Policy, 10 (2): 229–​253. Flores, Glenn, M. Barton Laws, Sandra J. Mayo, Barry Zuckerman, Milagros Abreu, Leonardo Medina, and Eric J. Hardt. 2003. ‘Errors in medical interpretation and their potential clinical consequences in pediatric encounters’. Pediatrics, 111 (1): 6–​14. Gile, Daniel. 2011. ‘Errors, omissions and infelicities in broadcast interpreting’. In Methods and strategies of process research: Integrative approaches in translation studies, edited by Cecilia Alvstad, Adelina Hild, and Elisabet Tiselius, 201–​218. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Hölzl, Verena. 2020. Lost in translation: Language barriers and the Rohingya response. Website. www.the​ newh​uman​itar​ian.org/​news-​feat​ure/​2020/​06/​25/​Ban​glad​esh-​Rohin​gya-​langu​age-​barri​ers-​tran​slat​ion. Kaveri. 2022. ‘Statelessness-​citizenship continuum: The Rohingya’s quest for belonging and surviving’. In The Routledge handbook of refugees in India, edited by S. Irudaya Rajan, 406–​427. London and New York: Routledge. Kingston, Lindsey N., and Aroline E. Seibert Hanson. 2022. ‘Marginalized and misunderstood: How anti-​ Rohingya language policies fuel genocide’. Human Rights Review, 23 (2): 289–​303. Muñoz, Manuel Barea. 2021. ‘Psychological aspects of interpreting violence: A narrative from the Israeli–​ Palestinian conflict’. In Interpreting conflict: A comparative framework, edited by Marija Todorova and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo, 195–​212. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Narnolia, Nitesh and Naresh Kumar. 2022. ‘Rohingya refugees and Myanmar: State, citizenship, and human rights’. In The Routledge handbook of refugees in India, edited by S. Irudaya Rajan, 466–​474. London and New York: Routledge. O’Brien, Sharon, and Federico Marco Federici. 2019. ‘Crisis translation: Considering language needs in multilingual disaster settings’. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 29 (2): 129–​143. Rahman, Md. Mahbubur, Al Jamal Mustafa Shindaini, and Taha Husain. 2022. ‘Structural barriers to providing basic education to Rohingya children in the Kutupalong refugee camp Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh’. Journal of International Journal of Education, 3: 100159.

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Mohammad Harun Or Rashid Riley, Andrew, Andrea Varner, Peter Ventevogel, M. M. Taimur Hasan, and Courtney Welton-​Mitchell. 2017. ‘Daily stressors, trauma exposure, and mental health among stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’. Transcultural Psychiatry, 54 (3): 304–​331. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2021a. ‘Moving boundaries in interpreting in conflict zones’. In Interpreting conflict: A comparative framework, edited by Marija Todorova and Lucía Ruiz Rosendo, 3–​14. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía. 2021b. ‘The role of the affective in interpreting in conflict zones’. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, 33 (1): 47–​72. Sahana, Mehebub, Selim Jahangir, and Md Anisujjaman. 2019. ‘Forced migration and the expatriation of the Rohingya: A demographic assessment of their historical exclusions and statelessness’. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 39 (1): 44–​60. Sakib, Nazmus, and Sara Farzana Ananna. 2021. ‘Perception of refugee integration and entitlements among a co-​ethnic population: Othering the Rohingyas in Bangladesh’. Journal of International Migration and Integration, October. Shohel, M Mahruf C. 2022. ‘Education in emergencies: Challenges of providing education for Rohingya children living in refugee camps in Bangladesh’. Education Inquiry, 13 (1): 104–​126. Siddiquee, Md Ali. 2020. ‘The portrayal of the Rohingya genocide and refugee crisis in the age of post-​truth politics’. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 5 (2): 89–​103. Translators Without Borders (TWB). 2019. Misunderstanding +​misinformation =​mistrust. Website. https://​ relief​web.int/​rep​ort/​ban​glad​esh/​misun​ders​tand​ing-​mis​info​rmat​ion-​mistr​ust-​how-​langu​age-​barri​ers-​red​ uce-​acc​ess. VERBI Software. 2021. MAXQDA 2022. Website. maxqda.com. Yasmin, Lailufar, and Sayeda Akther. 2020. ‘The locals and the Rohingyas: Trapped with an uncertain future’. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 5 (2): 104–​120. Yijun, Guo. 2015. ‘The interpreter’s political awareness as a non-​cognitive constraint in political interviews’. Babel. Revue Internationale de La Traduction/​International Journal of Translation, 61 (4): 573–​588.

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25 WOMEN’S CRISES AND GENDER-​AWARE ETHICAL PRACTICES IN SIMULTANEOUS CONFERENCE INTERPRETING Gabriela Yañez

Introduction Crises affecting women and occurring across countries, cultures, and languages are brought together in the international arena through simultaneous conference interpreting provided at the international and supranational levels by, for instance, the United Nations’ different agencies and the European Union institutions. This chapter seeks to revisit ethical practices in simultaneous conference interpreting at these levels in relation to the crises experienced by women, such as sexual violence, war, and the COVID-​19 pandemic. In translation and interpreting (T&I) studies, ethics is ‘the subfield that aims to understand what is good, right or wrong in translatorial praxis’ (Koskinen and Pokorn 2020, 3). Conceptualisations of ethics include normative ethics—​establishing norms and standards of conduct—​applied ethics—​applying ethical theories to everyday practical problems—​and meta-​ethics—​theorising on the foundations of ethical principles more abstractly (Koskinen and Pokorn 2020). Conference interpretation codes of conduct have a long-​standing tradition of normative tendencies, with deontological approaches to ethics seeking to set near-​universal rules for action and prescriptive obligations for practitioners. This chapter argues that universals in conference interpreting may be deemed, from a gender perspective, not ‘as a normative but as a dynamic and empowering theoretical framework to forge new transnational solidarities’ (Tissot 2017, 31). Thus, gender-​aware interpreting praxes can be conceived of as ‘building a critical relationship both to the gendered self through the voice of the other and to the universal ideals that the subject refers to in their encounter with the other’ (Tissot 2017, 30–​31). This contribution examines the link between women’s crises and simultaneous conference interpreting practices in order to identify gender-​specific ethical practices, thus contributing to a topic not thoroughly explored in interpreting studies. The investigation raises the question as to which gender-​specific ethical considerations can be made in interpreting women’s crises in simultaneous conference interpreting and regarding the possibility of identifying an ethics of gender. To frame the discussion, the chapter includes a section reviewing previous research on ethics in conference interpreting, the current ethical issues and topics, and the contributions most recently made

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-30

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by scholars in the field. Using a case study methodology and by means of a micro-​textual analysis, this work investigates the use of gender-​aware language in simultaneously interpreted speeches in EnglishSpanish in a session about the situation of Ukrainian women and transwomen refugees held at the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality after Russia’s full-​scale assault on Ukraine. The study of cases of gender-​fair language aims to distinguish the interpreter’s distinct voice in discourse and consider what gender-​specific ethical considerations arise in this European gender-​sensitive framework. Finally, conclusions underscore the contributions of the chapter to existing research and point to possible future directions of research emerging from this study.

Research context The United Nations Human Rights Council points to the need for a radical change in the way situations of crisis are identified and addressed from the perspective of the human rights of women and girls (United Nations 2021). In line with the Council’s views, this work considers gender inequality and gender-​based violence as crises in themselves, ‘normalized by centuries of patriarchal, colonial and racialized legal and policy frameworks and institutions…such crises are not officially recognized and continue to be ignored, notwithstanding their systemic nature and the grave consequences for women and girls’ (United Nations 2021, 5). Crisis situations do not only occur at a specific moment and location, and impact on particular groups of people, but they also have effects that cascade on other societies and regions in the here and now and over time (Federici and O’Brien 2019). Therefore, in a globalised and interconnected world, the need to report on and raise awareness about (women’s) global crises and their cascading effects (Federici 2016) calls for a reflection on interpreting practices not only for interpreters mediating in crises in situ (Baker 2006; Rok 2014; Federici 2016; Federici and O’Brien 2019; Tryuk 2020), but also for those who report on these crises at international fora.

Previous research In the field of interpreting studies, research on ethics in (simultaneous) conference interpreting is rather limited (Ren and Yin 2020). Some studies have identified and discussed certain ethical principles that commonly rule the profession, such as competence, integrity, fidelity, and neutrality (Seleskovitch 1998; Kalina 2000; Diriker 2004; Bancroft 2005; Gile 2009; Donavan 2011; Prunĉ and Setton 2015; Duflou 2016; Setton and Dawrant 2016). These principles are pervasively enshrined in the codes of ethics of national and international translation and interpreting associations, such as the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT), and the American Translator Association (ATA), among others (Bancroft 2005).1 Thus, an interest in the study of the interplay between ethical principles as they are codified in professional standards of conduct and situations in real life has dominated the research on ethics in (conference) interpreting. As an ethical aspiration, competence has been defined in the literature as a commitment by interpreters to maintaining a high standard of performance by ensuring that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge required for interpreting assignments (Setton and Prunĉ 2015). There is widespread consensus among scholars on the multidimensional nature of these skills, ‘with linguistic transfer competence as a core element, complemented by cultural competence and interaction management skills’ under the overarching requirements of professional performance skills and ethical behaviour (Albl-​Mikasa 2013; Grbić and Pöchhacker 2015, 70). 378

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Integrity is closely connected to trust and thus to interpreter ethics. Theorisations about this notion have associated it with honesty, absence of personal conflicts, responsibility to accepted assignments, solidarity with colleagues, and respect for the dignity of the profession (Grbić 2015; Setton and Prunĉ 2015). Fidelity, in turn, requires interpreters to be faithful to the speaker’s meaning, both in terms of completeness and accuracy (Setton and Dawrant 2016). Thus ‘basic fidelity’ is seen as the minimum expected and entails ‘an honest and accurate reflection of each speaker’s communicative intent, or main point, without distortion or misrepresentation’ (Setton and Dawrant 2016, 353). References to interpreters’ honesty and accuracy have begged the question as to their (un)desired and desirable neutrality. Positions on neutrality (also referred to as impartiality) vary among researchers. At one end of the spectrum, it refers to the interpreters being transparent and invisible ‘conduits’ that refrain from letting their prejudices, views, or interests interfere with their task or from favouring any party in the exchange (Gile 2009). Neutrality is much more controversial in discussions on public service interpreting than in conference interpreting, with several authors arguing for a more proactive and even activist role in the face of the power imbalances inherent in the communicative situation (Marey-​Castro and Del-​Pozo-​Triviño 2020; Boéri 2022). All of these ‘near-​universal’ ethical principles discussed in the literature reveal the ethical demands placed on interpreters. However, neither this literature nor existing codes account for the linguistic, discursive, sociocultural, geo/​glotopolitical, and intersectional factors implicated in every act of translation (Castro and Spoturno 2020) and the institutional positionings presented through interpreting as more or less committed to the eradication of gender inequities and gender-​ based violence (Yañez 2022a, 2022b).

Critical issues Since the sociological turn in T&I studies, increased attention has been paid to the agency of translators and interpreters and the social phenomena that impact their tasks, such as the displacement of people, accessibility, and linguicism (Angelelli 2012). Empirical investigations have been conducted on the interpreters’ role from a sociological perspective, although mostly in the realm of public service interpreting (Inghilleri 2003, 2012; Angelelli 2004a, 2004b). In conference interpreting, some empirical research has looked into the observance of the principles of fidelity (Seeber and Zelger 2007) and neutrality (Zhan 2012; Wang and Feng 2018) and have identified deviations from codified norms that can be attributed to conscious choices and thus to interpreter agency. These studies foreground that interpreters manoeuvre prescribed principles in real practice depending on their different cultural, national, or institutional affiliations. Indeed, given the diversity of interpreting situations and settings, it is acknowledged that generic principles fail to provide guidance for every instance of practice, and that interpreters must often rely on their own judgement for ethical decision-​making on a case-​by-​case basis (Setton and Prunĉ 2015). From a meta-​ethics perspective, further ethical considerations have been made in connection to the ethical dilemmas faced by practitioners and trainers of new generations of interpreters. Issues of social responsibility (Drugan and Tipton 2017), social justice (Boéri 2022), and the link between ‘voice’ and ethics in translation (Greenall et al. 2019) have been raised. A social responsibility approach to ethics has focused on questions regarding how translation and interpreting can improve social coexistence, rather than on individual notions of what is good for society or self-​ interest (Drugan and Tipton 2017). Thus, translators and interpreters are seen as agents who ‘not only seek to challenge the social and political order but also to permit participation in, and not just the facilitation of, social change’ (Drugan and Tipton 2017, 123). 379

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Also in the sphere of meta-​ethics, Julie Boéri (2022) advocates for redressing ethics to social justice. Informed by ad hoc activist practices in the global justice movement, Boéri aims to explore an alternative view on interpreting ethics that enacts values of justice, including the fair distribution of material resources and the recognition of people’s rights. Boéri’s views on ethics provide a rich framework for reflecting on ethics in connection to the rights of women and girls in the face of the crises they suffer. Further, research recognises that interpreters do not stand alone when it comes to determining what is ethical. Discursive, institutional, and geopolitical aspects are also significant in prescribing ethical behaviour. Indeed, Annjo Greenall et al. (2019) foreground that many agents or ‘voices,’ such as interpreting coordinators, commissioners, and trainers, have a say in the ethical decision-​making process, a process not devoid of negotiations, conflict, and dissent. However much apparently absent from the previous research frameworks, a gender-​aware ethics can build on the research listed here.

Current contributions Indeed, the sociological approaches to interpreter ethics pave the way for reflecting on a gender-​ aware perspective on ethics. Further, the changes that have taken place in T&I studies propelled by feminist and gender debates challenge traditionally rooted practices of interpreting and impels rethinking ethics in emerging contexts. Currently, issues of translation and interpretation, feminisms, and gender are at the centre of the global agenda (Alvarez et al. 2014; Flotow and Farahzad 2017; Godayol 2019; Toledano Buendía 2019; Castro et al. 2020; Flotow and Kamal 2020; Marey-​Castro and Del-​Pozo-​Triviño 2020). Research addressing the study of the intersection between translation, feminisms, and gender points out that translation, as a situated practice, contributes to exchanges of gender discourses among women from diverse geopolitical contexts, such as Latin America and the United States (Alvarez et al. 2014) and other non-​Western contexts (Flotow and Farahzad 2017; Flotow and Kamal 2020). Women face crises as a result of marginalisation, violence, and discrimination for their condition as women and in the intersection of racial, ethnic, sexual, class, and gender dimensions, whose prominence depends on the different systems of oppression (Crenshaw 1989; Viveros Vigoya 2016; Femenías 2019). People interpreting women’s crises in different settings are also permeated by prejudices (Marey-​Castro and Del-​Pozo-​Triviño 2020) and institutionally determined discourses that impact interpreters’ performance. Then the question arises: To what extent can gender-​specific ethical considerations be identified in interpreting women’s crises in simultaneous conference interpreting? In other words, is it possible to identify an ethics of gender? In this frame, engaging in gender-​wise ethical interpreting practices entails being aware of the gender biases of discourses and working languages, forging egalitarian practices, and ‘building a self-​reflexive and self-​transformative relationship between the self and the open-​ended universal values’ (Tissot 2017, 37) that are mobilised in interpreting other voices.

Research methodology Using a comparative methodology, this chapter looks into cases of gender-​wise interpreting operating in a discussion on the situation of Ukrainian women and transwomen refugees held at the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality on 29 March 2022. The following section presents a qualitative micro-​textual analysis of the use of crisis-​related gender-​ aware language in source and simultaneously interpreted speeches in the language combination EnglishSpanish. Data for the analysis are gathered and transcribed2 from the publicly available video files published by the European Parliament’s Multimedia Centre. 380

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The European Parliament (EP) materials, published by the Multimedia Centre, are protected by copyright laws. However, according to the terms and conditions of use of the Centre, these materials may be used for personal and non-​commercial purposes.3 Even if publicly available for personal use, before undertaking this study, permission was requested to collect and conduct research on the audio and video files to the EP’s Directorate-​General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences (DG LINC), responsible for providing and managing interpretation services for all EP meetings and other institutions and bodies that participate in inter-​institutional cooperation.4 The DG LINC’s Head of Unit sent written confirmation stating that there is no restriction or requirement of formal authorisation for using broadcast materials for research as long as anonymised transcripts of interpretations are used. Therefore, precautions have been taken to safeguard the practitioners’ identity since this research does not intend to scrutinise individual interpreters’ performance. To prevent interpreters from being identified, their names as well as information of speakers and speeches have been anonymised. Further, the data collected contain no personal or confidential information, as debates were held on matters of public interest in an open and public forum, broadcast live and kept archived at the Multimedia Centre portal for use by the general public.

Discussion The use of gender-​wise language by interpreters in the framework of the European Parliament appears to be aligned with its efforts to promote the use of gender-​sensitive language. For many years, the EP has been a pioneer in showing concern for gender in linguistic practices since it assumes that language powerfully reflects and influences attitudes, behaviour, and perceptions. Indeed, in 2008 the EP was one of the first international organisations to adopt multilingual guidelines on gender-​aware language. A decade later, in 2018, the High-​Level Group on Gender Equality and Diversity requested the EP services to update these gender-​neutral language guidelines in order to provide practical advice in all official languages regarding the use of generic masculine, names of professions and functions, and titles.5 Rather than establishing a mandatory set of rules, these guidelines foster gender sensitivity and fair and inclusive language use among the administrative services whenever writing, translating, or interpreting. As far as interpreting is concerned, it will be noted that gender-​inclusive language goes beyond political correctness in the choice of certain personal pronouns or forms of address. The interpreter’s distinct voice in discourse reflects gender-​specific ethical practices that do not privilege any gender or perpetuate gender prejudices. In effect, interpreters often transcend written guidelines in line with the EP’s full commitment ‘to using gender-​neutral language and embracing the associated principles of non-​discrimination, recognition and equality’ (European Parliament 2018, 4). The analysis shows that, when it comes to women’s crises and gender-​wise ethical practices, interpreters are the prime mediators for gender-​aware language. Specifically, this section examines samples that underscore what is revealed by and who is heard in interpreted discourse in gender-​wise interpretation practices. The extracts introduce gender-​related major crises facing migrants and refugees, of whom an estimated 90% are women and children,6 in the context of the appalling humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The samples discuss aspects related to the sexual violence inflicted on women and the violation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersexual (LGBTI)7 community’s rights.

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On sexual violence The EP and particularly the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality condemn the use of sexual and gender-​based violence as a weapon of war.8 Both express their deep concern about the increasing number of reports of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, sexual violence, rape, and abuse faced by women and children escaping from Ukraine. Samples 1 through 3 extracted from the Committee meeting of March 2022 attest to this (see Table 25.1). In the first sample, the interpreted passage delivers a gender-​wise rendition of the source speech by carefully crafting discourse around the use of the generic masculine. At the beginning, the reference to the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior is interpreted by the name of the Ministry: ‘Ministerio del Interior’ (Ministry of the Interior). Given that Spanish requires the noun Ministro/​a to be marked for male or female gender, it appears gender-​sensitive to elude

Table 25.1 Three samples of source speech and its respective interpretation Source speecha

Interpretation

Sample 1 There are many reports on rapesb [by the male Ukranian Minister of the Interior] of women. What he told us is that this has been more or less incentivised by the Russian to rape women. As we have seen in many other wars as well. And this is the first time I hear this directly, but he said that they have several, very many reports on this. So, this is ongoing right now in Ukraine according to the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior.

El Ministerio del Interior ha recibido muchas notificaciones de violaciones. Parece que las tropas rusas se les ha dado el incentivo de poder violar a las mujeres ucranianas. En definitiva, que nos dice que es una circunstancia terrible que se está dando ahora en estos momentos en territorio ucraniano, según nos ha informado el Ministro del Interior de Ucrania.

Sample 2 One of the major issues we have to look at is the very widespread problem of gender-​based violence that goes hand in hand with conflict. And I also wanted to mention the cases of sexualised violence that has been used in this conflict.

Uno de los mensajes principales que tenemos que contemplar es el equilibrio de género dentro del conflicto y sobre todo en el caso de la violencia sexual que se está utilizando en este conflicto.

Sample 3 …y sobre todo hablarnos de esta unión, de este drama o de este problema que tenemos con el riesgo de tráfico. Esta vinculación entre la mercantilización de los cuerpos de las mujeres y de las niñas y de los niños con, bueno, precisamente, el abuso, posible abuso a personas vulnerables y sin recursos… desde Ucrania estamos viendo cómo está aflorando también toda la explotación reproductiva que también se estaba dando ya en este país, como hay familias que recogen a sus bebés pero están dejando a las madres allí.

And thank you very much for really speaking about the union and this drama, this problem that we’re facing as a union, for instance, the matter of human trafficking, women’s bodies being sold and bartered as are the bodies of young girls and boys. It’s really a matter of abuse, the risk of abuse of vulnerable people who are without resources … we are also seeing how in Ukraine there’s also the matter of reproductive exploitation that’s taking place in this country, with families picking up their babies but leaving the surrogate mothers behind.

a The genders of speakers and interpreters have not been specified since it is beyond the scope of this work to make a gender-​based comparison. b Bold type has been used in all samples to emphasise the items of interest for the analysis.

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the masculine form until the gender is made evident, which occurs when the pronoun ‘he’ appears later on in English—​‘What he told us’. By the end of the passage, it is clear that it is a male Minister so the interpretation can adjust itself to the masculine ‘Ministro’. Something similar is observed when the Russians are reported to be raping women. In the interpretation, gender is neutralised in the reference to ‘the Russian’, which could have been translated in Spanish with the generic masculine ‘los rusos’. However, gendered language renders the phrase gender-​ neutral by means of the collective noun ‘las tropas rusas’ (the Russian troops). This stands out as a gender-​sensitive rendition, compliant with institutional language guidelines, which evinces the interpreter’s own voice and intervention in mediation. In effect, by being aware of the gender biases of their working languages and manoeuvring the associated linguistic challenges to the extent possible, interpreters can help to promote more egalitarian, and consequently more ethical, practices in interpreting. Two last points stand out in this passage. Firstly, the source text denounces the ‘rapes of women’. Whereas at the beginning it seems that the interpretation is less specific by mentioning only rapes (‘violaciones’), it then recovers the fact that rapes are a scourge faced by women (‘violar a las mujeres ucranianas’). Further, it reinforces the source report by specifying that Ukrainian women are specifically the targets of this crime. It can be observed, then, how the interpretation compensates for the lack of specificity in ‘violaciones’ and it further turns the spotlight on Ukraine by referring explicitly to Ukrainian women. Finally, the interpretation stresses that this is a terrible circumstance (‘es una circunstancia terrible’), a forceful assessment of the situation. This appraisal is not made by the speaker in the source text and it clearly shows that the interpreter is responsible for negotiating meaning in the target discourse. Compensations and additions of this kind make it possible to distinguish a distinct voice in interpreted discourse and may be identified as elements that can feed into a gender-​aware ethics.9 Another mechanism of compensation is activated in Sample 2. The ‘widespread problem of gender-​based violence’ is interpreted as ‘el equilibrio de género’ (the gender balance). At first glance, the Spanish version may seem less forceful. However, the emphasis placed in the expression ‘y sobre todo’ (and above all) that comes after and that is not present in the source text serves to counterbalance, to some extent, what is perhaps a first less precise rendition. The notion of gender-​based violence being a widespread problem, even if not explicitly interpreted, may be recovered as the interpreter’s discourse unfolds. This shows again how the interpreter navigates discourses of gender and how certain discursive operations may become the locus where a gender-​ aware ethics is forged in interpretation. Sample 3 also underscores gender-​aware interpretations. In this sample, ‘la mercantilización de los cuerpos de las mujeres’ (the commoditisation of women’s bodies) is interpreted into English as ‘women’s bodies being sold and bartered’. As can be noted, this rendition is more explicit. In effect, it spells out what the woman’s body would be subjected to—​i.e., sold and bartered—​if treated as a commodity. Therefore, we find perhaps a more forceful rendition than the actual term commoditisation. To render the case even more gender-​sensitive, by the end of the passage ‘las madres’ (the mothers) in the source text is interpreted as ‘surrogate mothers’. The notion of surrogacy is not explicitly stated in the Spanish source text. However, the interpretation includes it, thus aligning itself with institutional discourses. It is worth noting that the EP resolution of 17 December 2015 on the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World 2014—​article 115 of the section on the rights of women and girls—​‘condemns the practice of surrogacy, which undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity’.10 The connection made between the commoditisation of women’s bodies and surrogacy in the English interpretation reveals a gender-​aware construal of the source speech that is in line with 383

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a formal institutional commitment to the eradication of gender inequities and gender-​based violence. Apart from linguistic-​specific guidelines, institutionally determined discourses at large are most likely to have an impact on interpreters’ practices. Identifying these discourses and the way they permeate interpretation can pave the way for self-​reflection and appraisal of our interpreting practices towards an ethics of gender.

An intersectional view Incorporating an intersectional view to the reflection about the relationship between interpreting and a gender-​based ethics becomes paramount. In order to examine women’s crises and how they are mediated through interpretation, it is necessary to understand the dynamic and multifaceted nature of women’s identities depending on their race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and gender (Crenshaw 1989; Femenías 2019). In addition, it is indispensable to conceive of the category of women in an inclusive and dynamic way, rather than in the binary and normative opposition of male vs. female (Castro and Spoturno 2020). An intersectional approach to interpretation must necessarily underpin gender-​sensitive practices, as the samples in Table 25.2 reveal. As the war drags on, the risk of violence and exploitation increases exponentially for the most vulnerable, including the members of the LGBTI community. Samples 4 and 5 present the crises faced by transwomen—​in Spanish ‘las mujeres trans’. Transwomen, just as other LGBTI people, are often marginalised to the extent that they may even be excluded from evacuation and emergency responses (de Groot and Del Monte 2022). The EP undertakes to protect LGBTI people’s rights, inter alia, by means of its LGBTI Intergroup,11 which monitors the situation of the community in the EU Member States. In Sample 4, the Spanish text makes a strong gender-​ sensitive case. By substituting the verb ‘recalcado’ (stressed) for ‘outlined’, the interpretation turns the EP resolution more forceful. The same may be observed in the interpreted version of ‘these marginalised groups’, where the phrase is made more emphatic in Spanish by preceding the adjective ‘marginalised’ with the adverb ‘muy’ (very much), thus ostensibly intensifying the description

Table 25.2 Two samples showing how an intersectional approach to interpreting must necessarily underpin gender-​sensitive practices Source speech

Interpretation

Sample 4 And then my last point would be specifically looking at marginalised groups. I was also thinking about the reports of transwomen but also other minorities. The European Parliament in its resolution on Ukraine has outlined that specific attention has to be given to these marginalised groups because they are very often specifically vulnerable.

Y, por último, hay que considerar grupos marginalizados. Yo pensaba en las mujeres trans pero también en otras minorías. El Parlamento Europeo en su resolución sobre Ucrania ha recalcado que hay que prestar especial atención a esos grupos muy marginalizados porque a menudo son mucho más vulnerables.

Sample 5 And finally, I understand that transwomen whose documents identify them as men are not allowed to cross the border.

Y además parece que las mujeres trans no están autorizadas a cruzar las fronteras, es decir, los hombres identificados como mujeres.

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of the source speech. Another significant example is the interpretation of ‘they are very often specifically vulnerable’. Rather than placing the stress in ‘(very) often’ (‘a menudo’), the interpreter makes a stronger claim for transwomen’s vulnerability underscoring that they are much more vulnerable (‘mucho más vulnerables’). The adverbial phrase ‘mucho más’ (much more) places more emphasis on the adjective ‘vulnerables’ than its English counterpart ‘specifically’, which indicates that they are particularly affected. Mechanisms used to express emphasis stand out as elements that may contribute to negotiating gender-​wise meanings. Sample 5 exposes the aggravated risks facing the LGBTI people that seek protection from the Ukrainian conflict in regard to the right to have their gender identities respected. In Ukraine, transwomen do not have identification documents matching their gender identity (de Groot and Del Monte 2022). Thus, they encounter problems when leaving the country and face a higher risk of harassment and violence. In Sample 5, the speaker refers to the prohibition of ‘transwomen whose documents identify them as men’ to cross the Ukrainian border. In the Spanish version, transwomen are equated with ‘los hombres identificados como mujeres’ (men identified as women). It is apparent that the source meaning has been changed to the opposite, since transwomen are actually identified as men—​not women—​in their identification documents. However, probably a less evident pitfall in this interpretation, from a gender perspective, is the fact that underlying this rendition is the assumption that transwomen are not women but men. An intersectional view may help to increase an awareness of the complex heterogeneity of gender identities and can contribute to arriving at more equitable, gender-​sensitive, and ethical renditions in interpretation.

Conclusion This chapter has focused on the ethical responsibility of conference interpreters for (re)configuring gender-​related discourses in the target language within the framework of the EP language policies. The cases studied here have shown that interpreters rely on an ample variety of gender-​wise language operations—​including additions, compensations, and emphasis—​which derive from institutional linguistic-​specific guidelines, as well as institutional discourses of gender in general. It is clear from the analysis that interpreters providing services for the EP actively construe and recreate source texts in a gender-​aware manner, which points to the social role and ethical responsibilities entailed in interpreting women’s crises in conference settings. The gender perspective on ethics put forth in this chapter can contribute to advancing an agenda of women’s rights at the level of discussions on ethics in interpreting studies. In effect, the findings presented here draw attention to the necessity of incorporating the gender perspective as part and parcel of theorisations on the long-​standing ethical principles ruling the profession. In addition, results may be scaled up to other forms of interpreting. The ethics of gender discussed in this work may inform issues concerning public service interpreting, interpreting service policymaking, power imbalances of minority communities using public services, as well as the nature of the role of interpreters in mediation. In the future, more research may be conducted on the gender-​specific ethical practices prevailing in these fields. Finally, and from a pedagogical standpoint, the need to train new generations of practitioners in the ethical demands of the 21st century becomes clear. Therefore, interpreting studies may also benefit from more exploration of ethics and gender to review the prevailing contents, theories, and methodologies used in interpreter training programmes.

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Notes 1 The principles are included in the latest code updates (AIIC: Nov. 2022; AUSIT: Nov. 2012; ATA: Nov. 2022). 2 Since this study does not focus on the paralinguistic or prosodic aspects of interpretation, a transcription system detailing factors such as intonation, pauses, hesitations, or false starts, among others, has not been used. These factors will be taken up in later studies. 3 www.europ​arl.eur​opa.eu/​webs​ite/​mul​time​dia-​cen​tre/​en/​about​_​us.html. 4 For more information about the DG LINC, see https://​the-​secret​ary-​gene​ral.europ​arl.eur​opa.eu/​en/​direc​ tora​tes-​gene​ral/​linc. 5 The updated version specific for English was published under the title Gender-​Neutral Language the European Parliament (European Parliament 2018) and has a Spanish version, Un lenguaje neutral en cuanto al género en el Parlamento Europeo (Parlamento Europeo 2018). 6 For more information, see https://​report​ing.unhcr.org/​ukra​ine-​situat​ion. 7 This chapter uses the acronym LGBTI for consistency with the EP’s LGBTI Intergroup, though this is not to the detriment of other widely used terms, such as LGBTQ+​. 8 This condemnation was expressed in the EP resolution of 5 May 2022 on the impact of the war against Ukraine on women (2022/​2633(RSP); for the whole resolution see www.europ​arl.eur​opa.eu/​doceo/​ docum​ent/​TA-​9-​2022-​0206​_​EN.html. 9 It is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss the possible reasons for compensations, omissions, and additions that may have resulted from variables typically impacting interpreters’ performance, such as source speed of delivery and accents. Rather, this work takes an interest in the gender perspectives that materialise in interpreted discourse. 10 For the full resolution, see www.europ​arl.eur​opa.eu/​doceo/​docum​ent/​TA-​8-​2015-​0470​_​EN.html. 11 https://​lgbti-​ep.eu/​.

Further reading Federici, Federico M., and Christophe Declercq (Eds.). 2019. Intercultural crisis communication: Translation, interpreting and languages in local crises. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic. This volume gathers research on cross-​cultural communication barriers during crises and looks into translation and interpretation as a key component of disaster relief strategies. Marey-​ Castro, Cristina, and Maribel Del-​ Pozo-​ Triviño. 2020. ‘Deconstruir mitos y prejuicios para interpretar mujeres migrantes en contextos de violencia de género y/​o prostitución en España’. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13 (1): 64–​92. https://​doi.org/​10.27533/​udea.mut. v13n1​a04. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the need to constantly review myths and prejudices, in order to deconstruct interpreters thus offering a quality service for migrant women in contexts of gender violence or prostitution. Boéri, Julie. 2022. ‘Steering ethics toward social justice: A model for a meta-​ethics of interpreting’. Translation and Interpreting Studies, January. https://​doi.org/​10.1075/​tis.20070.boe. This article proposes a meta-​ethical approach to examine interpreting practices. Through a case study methodology the author foregrounds the central role of social justice in interpreting.

References Albl-​Mikasa, Michaela. 2013. ‘Developing and cultivating expert interpreter competence’. The Interpreters’ Newsletter, 18: 17–​34. Alvarez, Sonia, Claudia De Lima Costa, Verónica Feliu, Rebecca Hester, Norma Klahn, and Millie Thayer. 2014. Translocalities/​translocalidades. Durham: Duke University Press. Angelelli, Claudia. 2004a. Medical interpreting and cross-​cultural communication. New York: Cambridge University Press. Angelelli, Claudia. 2004b. Revisiting the interpreter’s role. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

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Women’s crises and gender-aware ethical practices Angelelli, Claudia. 2012. ‘Introduction: The sociological turn in translation and interpreting studies’. In The sociological turn in translation and interpreting studies, edited by Claudia Angelelli, 1–​6. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Baker, Mona. 2006. Translation and conflict: A narrative account. London and New York: Routledge. Bancroft, Marjory. 2005. The interpreter’s world tour: An environmental scan of standards of practice for interpreters. Washington, DC. PDF File. www.ncihc.org/​ass​ets/​docume​nts/​publi​cati​ons/​NCIHC Environmental Scan.pdf. Boéri, Julie. 2022. ‘Steering ethics toward social justice. A model for a meta-​ethics of interpreting’. Translating and Interpreting Studies, 18 (1): 1–​26. Castro, Olga, and María Laura Spoturno. 2020. ‘Feminismos y traducción: Apuntes conceptuales y metodológicos para una traductología feminista transnacional’. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13 (1): 11–​44. https://​doi.org/​10.17533/​udea.mut.v13n1​a02. Castro, Olga, Emek Ergun, Luise von Flotow, and María Laura Spoturno. 2020. ‘Towards translational feminist translation studies’. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13 (1): 2–​10. Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1989. ‘Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics’. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1: 139–​167. https://​chi​cago​unbo​und.uchic​ago.edu/​cgi/​view​cont​ent.cgi?arti​cle=​1052&cont​ext=​uclf. de Groot, David, and Micaela Del Monte. 2022. Russia’s war on Ukraine: The situation of LGBTI people. PDF File. www.europ​arl.eur​opa.eu/​RegD​ata/​etu​des/​ATAG/​2022/​729​412/​EPRS_​ATA(2022)729412​_​EN.pdf. Diriker, Ebru. 2004. De-​ /​ re-​ contextualizing conference interpreting: Interpreters in the ivory tower? Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Donavan, Clare. 2011. ‘Ethics in the teaching of conference interpreting’. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 5 (1): 109–​128. https://​doi.org/​10.1080/​13556​509.2011.10798​814. Drugan, Joanna, and Rebecca Tipton. 2017. ‘Translation, ethics and social responsibility’. The Translator, 23 (2): 119–​125. Duflou, Veerle. 2016. Be(com)ing a conference interpreter: An ethnography of EU interpreters as a professional community. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. European Parliament. 2018. Gender-​neutral language the European Parliament. Website. www.europ​arl.eur​ opa.eu/​cmsd​ata/​151​780/​GNL_​Gu​idel​ines​_​EN.pdf. Federici, Federico. 2016. Mediating emergencies and conflicts. Frontline translating and interpreting. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Federici, Federico, and Sharon O’Brien. 2019. Translation in cascading crises. London and New York: Routledge. Femenías, María Luisa. 2019. Itinerarios de teoría feminista y de género: Algunas cuestiones histórico-​ conceptuales. Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Website. www.unq.edu.ar/​advf/​doc​umen​tos/​ 5cf00f​af7c​05d.pdf. Flotow, Luise von, and Farzaneh Farahzad (Eds.). 2017. Translating women. Different voices and new horizons. London and New York: Routledge. Flotow, Luise von, and Hala Kamal (Eds.). 2020. Routledge handbook of translation, feminism and gender. London and New York: Routledge. Gile, Daniel. 2009. Basic concepts and models for interpreter and translator training. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Godayol, Pilar. 2019. ‘Translation and gender’. In The Routledge handbook of Spanish translation studies, edited by Roberto Valdeón and África Vidal, 102–​117. London and New York: Routledge. Grbić, Nadja. 2015. ‘Profession’. In Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies, edited by Franz Pöchhacker, 321–​326. London and New York: Routledge. Grbić, Nadja, and Franz Pöchhacker. 2015. ‘Competence’. In Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies, edited by Franz Pöchhacker, 69–​70. London and New York: Routledge. Greenall, Annjo K., Cecilia Alvstad, Hanne Jansen, and Kristiina Taivalkoski-​Shilov. 2019. ‘Introduction: Voice, ethics and translation’. Perspective, 27 (5): 639–​647. Inghilleri, Moira. 2003. ‘Habitus, field and discourse: Interpreting as a socially situated activity’. Target, 15 (2): 243–​268. Inghilleri, Moira. 2012. Interpreting justice: Ethics, politics and language. New York: Routledge. Kalina, Sylvia. 2000. ‘Interpreting competences as a basis and a goal for teaching’. The Interpreters’ Newsletter, 10: 3–​32.

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Gabriela Yañez Koskinen, Kaisa, and Nike K. Pokorn (Eds.). 2020. The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics. London and New York: Routledge. Marey-​Castro, Cristina, and Maribel Del-​Pozo-​Triviño. 2020. ‘Deconstruir mitos y prejuicios para interpreter mujeres migrantes en contextos de violencia de género y/​o prostitución en España’. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 13 (1): 64–​92. Parlamento Europeo. 2018. Un lenguaje neutral en cuanto al género en el Parlamento Europeo. Parlamento Europeo. Prunĉ, Erich, and Robin Setton. 2015. ‘Neutrality’. In Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies, edited by Franz Pöchhacker, 273–​276. London and New York: Routledge. Ren, Wen, and Mingyue Yin. 2020. ‘Conference interpreter ethics’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics, edited by Kaisa Koskinen and Nike K. Pokorn, 195–​210. London and New York: Routledge. Rok, Chitrakar. 2014. ‘The challenge of professional ethics in war and crisis in interpreting’. In (Re) considerando ética e ideología en situaciones de conflicto. (Re)visiting ethics and ideology in situation of conflict, edited by Carmen Valero-​Garcés, 72–​78. Alcalá: Universidad de Alcalá. Servicio de Publicaciones. Seeber, Kilian G., and Christian Zelger. 2007. ‘Betrayal–​vice or virtue? An ethical perspective on accuracy in simultaneous interpreting’. Meta, 52 (2): 290–​298. Seleskovitch, Danica. 1998. Interpreting for international conferences. Washington, DC: Pen and Booth. Setton, Robin, and Andrew Dawrant. 2016. Conference interpreting. A complete course. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Setton, Robin, and Erich Prunĉ. 2015. ‘Ethics’. In Routledge encyclopedia of interpreting studies, edited by Franz Pöchhacker, 144–​148. London and New York: Routledge. Tissot, Damien. 2017. ‘Translation feminist solidarities and the ethics of translation’. In Feminist translation studies. Local and transnational perspectives, edited by Olga Castro and Emek Ergun, 29–​41. London and New York: Routledge. Toledano Buendía, Carmen. 2019. ‘Integrating gender perspective in interpreter training: A fundamental requirement in contexts of gender violence’. In Gender approaches in the translation classroom training the doers, edited by Marcella De Marco and Piero Toto, 167–​187. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Tryuk, Małgorzata. 2020. ‘Translating and interpreting in conflict and crisis’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and ethics, edited by Kaisa Koskinen and Nike K. Pokorn, 398–​414. London and New York: Routledge. United Nations. 2021. Possible future directions of research emerging from this study. Website. https://​ docume​nts-​dds-​ny.un.org/​doc/​UNDOC/​GEN/​G21/​096/​69/​PDF/​G2109​669.pdf?Open​Elem​ent. Viveros Vigoya, Mara. 2016. ‘La interseccionalidad: Una aproximación situada a la dominación’. Debate Feminista, 52: 1–​17. https://​doi.org/​10.1016/​j.df.2016.09.005. Wang, Binghua, and Dezheng Feng. 2018. ‘A corpus-​based study of stance-​taking as seen from critical points in interpreted political discourse’. Perspective, 2: 246–​260. Yañez, Gabriela L. 2022a. ‘Subjetividad y género a través de la interpretación simultánea de conferencias en la comisión de la condición jurídica y social de la mujer (ONU)’. Revista Belas Infiéis, 11 (2): 1–​19. Yañez Gabriela (2022b) ‘Subjectivity and Ethos in Simultaneous Conference Interpreting – Interpreting Women’s Risks for the International Community at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women’. The Translator, 28 (4): 450–467, DOI: 10.1080/13556509.2023.2179455. Zhan, Cheng. 2012. The interpreter’s role as a mediator in political settings. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

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26 CHALLENGING THE SHORTCOMINGS OF TRADITIONAL TRANSLATION IN MIGRATION CONTEXTS A translinguistic proposal for professionals in the humanitarian sector Renato Tomei and Max Pardeilhan

Introduction All environments of critical importance share a reliance on skilled, pertinent communication for their optimal resolution: peace talks and diplomacy are at the core of thwarting war or bringing it to a close, and their failure leads to dire consequences; medical crises require immediate and pertinent communicative tools for their timely resolution, from operating rooms to international pandemics; even the impending, global-​scale environmental crisis is to be tackled first and foremost on a communicative level through spreading awareness and international legislation. Not only do such crises, including (possible) conflicts, share a dire necessity of being managed and brokered through technical, highly specific communicative tools, but they also share one common outcome: displacement and migration, the magnitude of which also becomes critical. Migration-​related crises are no different in this regard, demanding practical, effective communicative skills and toolsets, on account of the unpredictable linguistic challenges in theatres of humanitarian emergency, the investigation of which is the focus of the present work. More specifically, this chapter intends to look into the effectiveness of the measures provided by institutional frameworks, which mainly rely on translation (Katan and Taibi 2021), to resolve such communicative crises, the success of which dictates the very foundation of a fruitful process of rescue, accommodation and integration of refugees/​asylum seekers into a hosting country’s society. The present work lies within the context of the relationship between translation and translanguaging, two fields which, despite sharing an overlapping area of interest, are divided by conflicting ideologies and approaches to communication, resulting in different practices and goals. Critical translational issues may be eased, if not solved, by providing professionals with

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-31

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new translinguistic perspectives and tools to face the challenges of communication environments in contexts of crises, a point to be discussed by the present work through the analysis and commentary of recorded data.

Research context As previously mentioned, the phenomenon of (crisis-​induced) migration has become itself a crisis due to the overwhelming amount of economic, practical, logistic, personal, social and communicative consequences for refugees/​asylum seekers themselves, the hosting countries and their apparatuses, and the professionals in the fields of managing the difficult relationship between these two macro-​categories, often on an individual case-​by-​case basis, such as operators in hosting facilities. Such an abundance of layers of complexities affecting the overarching process of a refugee/​ asylum seeker’s integration into a hosting country is a maker of the scalar nature of the environment and, by extension, the scalar nature of the instances of communicative brokering operators are called to partake in. When looking at migration-​related humanitarian environments, the reality of communication among and between refugees/​asylum seekers is extremely complex and multifaceted. Layers of communication could be located in several dimensions (diaphasic, diastratic, diatopic, diachronic), all of which affect the immediate and often pressing communicative process (Coseriu 1981). The scalability of such an environment manifests itself in many ways, the common unifying trait within this array of ramifications being the vital importance of communicative practices which affect all parties involved. One of the prime markers of such scalability is the diastratic nature of the communicative process, which not only manifests among the individuals on all sides of the crisis (refugees/​asylum seekers and their repertoires, operators and the communicative tools they are taught, state officials and the diaphasic shift in the linguistic register which their presence entails, and so forth) but also deeply cuts into the identity issues related to the individuals involved; inevitably so, given how the criticalities in this environment stem from divergent life experiences, repertoires and backgrounds which contribute to widening communicative gaps. Not only that, but the scalar nature of the phenomenon under scrutiny is also diachronic, in that the process itself takes place over an extended period: from the journey to the reception, the housing and the lengthy bureaucratic procedures, culminating in the long-​term perspective of integration into the society of their hosting country. And yet, this wide window of time also depends on separate, individual critical encounters where refugees/​asylum seekers and operators must face and overcome communicative challenges on a moment-​to-​moment basis; improvisation and adaptability are among the tell-​tale signs of experienced operators, capable of using a wide array of tools and strategies to have the very pulse of communication and measure up to criticalities as they unfold during interactions. The relationship between migration and translation has been explored by several scholars, who have described how translational practices define new social, cultural and economic paradigms and relations, and identified refugees/​asylum seekers as agents of translation (Nergaard 2021; Wilson and Radstone 2020; Bachmann-​Medick 2018; Inghilleri 2017; Polezzi 2012; Pöllabauer 2004, 2006). Yet, the linguistic specificity of communication in the field of migration needs to be fully recognised and supported by in-​depth scientific research and shared protocols in the communication domain. Also, more literature on the subject is necessary to adequately train specialised professionals involved in legal, health and other social domains, as the educational materials 390

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typically offered may generally include courses in English language, literature, culture and translation but do not differentiate between standard and other varieties of English and contact languages featured in this specific context (Katan 2015). Issued training for humanitarian operators is based on the translation framework, to cover what is believed to be the broadest possible gamut of communicative needs by means of the most widespread lingua franca available today (Guido 2012; Sperti 2019). The management of communication issues as observed during the data gathering for the present work generally relies on the ingenuity and adaptability acquired by both refugees/​asylum seekers and humanitarian operators through field experience. Considering that such interactions are not isolated events taking place in a vacuum but rather links in the chain of causality in a refugee/​asylum seeker’s experience of transmigration, displacement and/​or integration within a hosting country, it is easy to grasp the magnitude of the consequences of failed or successful instances of critical communication (Guido 2008, 2015). The scope of such a diachronic perspective allows one to better grasp the ramifications and urgency of seeking an optimal framework to look at and understand the tools and skills that both refugees/​asylum seekers and professionals in the humanitarian sector use and need to mitigate criticalities on a moment-​to-​moment basis. On their side, communicative gaps are caused by non-​conventional patterns of communicative blending: from cultural markers to spoken languages to embodied behaviours, the harshness and length of a refugee/​asylum seeker’s journey cause an abundance of contextually sensitive variables in their repertoire. On the operator’s side, this leads to brokering an extremely wide gamut of communicative challenges, from professionals belonging to diverse sectors and backgrounds whose communicative tools are far from being specifically studied for efficient, practical problem-​solving (Katan and Taibi 2021). The present contribution thus intends to collocate itself in the comparative context of two main frameworks in the analysis of critical communication, namely translation and translanguaging, in order to evaluate their differences and appreciate their synergies. The complex relationship between the two frameworks is, in fact, an ongoing and plentiful source of academic discussion, as their differences are not merely practical, but primarily begin and subsequently propagate on a logical and ideological level. Translanguaging, being a practical and ideological framework oriented towards creativity, bottom-​up approaches, and the investigation of sociolinguistic power dynamics, has been applied in different domains and contexts: as a didactic approach in multilingual class interactions (García and Kleyn 2016) but also in the medical field to facilitate multilingual doctor–​patient communication (Brooks 2022). The application of the translanguaging lens to the domain of migration is all the more significant as it looks at communication as a matter of repertoires interacting in what is an ongoing process of mutual influence, not categorised in isolated containers such as languages, let alone “native” languages (García and Wei 2014; Wei 2018). Blommaert and Spotti (2017) refer to people as “performing repertoires of identities through linguistic-​semiotic resources acquired over the course of their life trajectories through membership or participation in various sociocultural spaces in which their identities are measured against normative centers of practice” (171). Being a two-​way process, where such communication is not only proactive but also receptive, repertoires are constant, ongoing and self-​aggregating, as they are not fixed but change over time with the addition of new elements and experiences. Translanguaging does not imply the necessity of an ultimate product, the existence of which is only experienced when framed as the result of a process. Conversely, translation is a product-​ oriented process with a direction and a distinct oppositional relationship between input and output, the inherent difference in which is to be methodically brokered. Moreover, while translation 391

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always belongs to a temporal dimension where there is a distinct before and an after (no matter how complex, it starts from source A and ends in product B), translanguaging is ongoing and constant, happening in the moment. In the words of Baynham and Lee (2019, 39–​40): Whereas translation starts off as a process and works its way towards a culmination in some semiotic resolution, translanguaging aspires to be no-​where in particular […] translation has an innate drive towards a terminus, a will-​to-​materiality without which it cannot be considered finished. Translanguaging, by contrast, cannot theoretically be “finished”, as its dynamic potentiality necessitates an incessant unravelling-​unto-​itself. In other words, while translation does, translanguaging is. The distinct ways the two frameworks approach communication as either a process bearing an ultimate end-​product or a holistic happening also propagate in regards to what such products or happenings imply in terms of their creative values. Translation is definitely a creative process, as it pragmatically creates a new product, the finished translation. By its own definition and mission, however, translation does not produce an original product but is instead a rendition of its source material under the tacit, implied premise of its faithfulness to the source, the aforementioned A-​element of the temporal dimension in the mechanics of translation (“source A”). Translanguaging, however, can observe the birth of something new. There is no underlying mission of responsibility or attachment towards sources in a speaker’s repertoire. Creativity is an innate component of the translanguaging approach, and its creations can afford to be truly new. Ironically, because of the differences between frameworks, the new product of the translinguistic process may eventually crystallise and become commonplace enough to enter official repertoires, leading to somebody translating its meaning (García and Wei 2014; Baynham and Lee 2019). The pushback against standardisation and the tension between bottom-​up creative approaches and top-​down normativity from institutions is not exclusive to the translanguaging–​translation relationship. It is a crucial theme to consider when looking at a possible reconciliation and correlation between the two frameworks. This ultimately leads to the claim that in the perspective of translanguaging, there is in fact no strict need for a linguistic denominator to enable a translation process. By revisiting the perspective on translation and questioning the social and linguistic balances we take for granted, we also gain clarity on how one mistakenly looks at standard linguistic power dynamics as natural. The necessary use of English as a (multi)lingua franca as the only means to overcome communicative issues can be ascribed to normalised and internalised linguistic ideology, divorced from the practical occurrences in translanguaging spaces (Runcieman 2021), such as migration reception centres and related facilities, where continuous interlingual and intralingual brokering takes place.

Research methodology This chapter’s methodology hinges on analysing a specific type of translinguistic context: the complex communicative practices occurring between refugees/​asylum seekers, and professionals in Italy, in both formal and informal environments, with a particular focus on Italian reception centres and migration-​related institutions. More specifically, data were gathered mainly in Emergency Reception Centres in Italy (Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria, CAS) and associations supporting the very accommodation system. The main data collection method was through direct observations and recording of communicative markers such as language choice, use and change, as it occurred in these highly sensitive 392

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environments. However, considering the heterogeneity of such research settings, the data gathered by the authors encompass different methods, leading to the development of the corpus from which the following selection of textual examples is taken (Suojanen, Koskinen, and Tuominen 2015). More specifically, the corpus features a total number of 115 participants (97 refugees/​asylum seekers, eighteen Italian professionals) and includes transcriptions of audio and video recordings of interactions, interviews (structured and semi-​structured), focus groups, questionnaires, as well as interpersonal communication via social networks and internet-​based platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook). Ethical considerations guided research practices: the participation was voluntary; the participants were aware of being recorded and provided informed consent; anonymity and confidentiality were ensured. Complexity and criticality are the keywords lying at the foundation of the methodological approach to seeking and processing the different types of research materials on which the analysis is based, looking into translinguistic theatres of humanitarian emergency where pertinent knowledge of the communicative creative forces in play is essential for their optimal resolution; in the words of Bandia: “The inherent plurality or heterogeneity of migrant texts calls on translation theory to recognise ‘hybridity’ as an active site of cultural production, and thus to develop critical strategies for apprehending the heterolingualism and plurivocality of texts” (Bandia 2014, 271). Given the specificity of the context, the micro-​analytical approach of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Conversational Analysis (CA), considering linguistic interactions as social, culturally specific and highly context-​dependent acts, allowed to analyse (a) how the meaning-​ making process is linked as much to the referential content as to how contributions are produced, (b) their place in the discursive sequence and (c) the co-​presence of other contextual factors guiding the participants’ interpretation (Antaki and Widdicombe 1998; Hutchby and Wooffitt 2008). In this regard, the analysis of the transcriptions of the gathered data was of primary importance. The examples presented in this chapter have been transcribed using the system of conventions for CA (Have 1999; Hutchby and Wooffitt 2008). In particular, the following symbols have been used: ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

pause in tenths of a second: (0.5); pause of less than two-​tenths of a second: (.); overlapping talk: []; emphasis: underlining; loud talk: CAPITALS; quiet talk: ° °; slow talk: < >; quick talk: > Me TELL you I go to his house sometimes< ((stops gesticulating, gets physically closer to O1)) =​His ho::use? SO it’s your boyfriend my dear (.) You play with ME::? ((stands up and starts gesticulating vehemently)) ME? PLA::Y? Wha:t you DEY talk! You know Precious too (.) is my girlfriend O::H ((stands up))

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O2: M2: M2: O2: M2:

Tell me more about your days there (3,5) ((sighs and looks up)) °We work a lot (.) yes (2) We do Malaga for living° Ma::laga? In Spain? ((facial expression of astonishment)) No sir (.) we lavorare Malaga in Libya

which is then eventually corrected by translinguistic practices over the course of interactions and experience. The failure of communication produces not only linguistic misunderstandings–​which could in turn generate far more dramatic consequences related to the status of refugees/​asylum seekers–​but also a conflict escalation, evidenced by the use of their non-​verbal communication: both raise tone and intensity of their voice (cues 2–​5), reduce the physical distance (cues 2, 3) and eventually stand up (cues 4, 5). Furthermore, it is important to note that failures such as these are not only related to syntax and morphology, but often involve more complex elements at play, particularly semantics and pragmatics, as shown by the next example. Excerpt 2 reports a conversation between a Ghanaian male asylum seeker (M2) and an Italian male member of the staff of a social cooperative providing accommodation services (O2), taking place during an informal interview in the premises of the cooperative (see Table 26.2). In cue 1, O2 asks M2 about his working experience in Libya, and the communicative failure occurs when M2 replies using the term “Malaga”, which is a Libyan word referring to plastering and is known and used by all those who have reached Italy through the Mediterranean route. O2, not being familiar with the experiential influence of Libya in the linguistic repertoires of refugees/​asylum seekers, is understandably confused by the apparent geographical mismatching, mistaking the term for the Spanish municipality; the issue is ultimately resolved by the asylum seeker himself, with an added display of translinguistic gap bridging (cue 4). The miscommunication starts on a linguistic surface level but implies a much deeper history of human and semantic displacement and bottom-​up linguistic generation, displayed by experiential acquisition. In the words of Homi Bhabha (1994, 321): “the liminality of migrant experience is no less a transitional phenomenon than a translational one.” While the etymology of how the transposition of the word “Malaga” came to be is a fascinating topic in and of itself, the key element is that the acquisition of this term takes place in Libya and is an integral part of the migratory experience and of the idiolect of the people involved in it, which operators should be able to know from the start. However, being provided with insufficient tools and information, they inevitably focus on the pragmatics of standard translation rather than the shifting, constantly evolving reality of translinguistic phenomena affecting the lives and repertoires of refugees/​asylum seekers. On this matter, it is crucial to note that the translanguaging turning point in the interaction is cue 4, where M2 tries to make himself understood by using the Italian verb “lavorare” to clarify that “Malaga” is not a place, but an action. The usage of this word after the expression “Yes, sir” is also an indicator of the diachronic dimension of translinguistic phenomena, as they naturally occur and aggregate over time, to be then used when the communicative needs of an exchange demand it. The excerpt is thus particularly relevant as an example of multiple markers of translinguistic salience: positive application of self-​translation based on M3’s repertoire resources (do=​lavorare),

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Shortcomings of traditional translation in migration contexts Table 26.3 Excerpt 3 1

O3:

2

L3:

3 4 5 6 7

O3: M3: O3: M3: O3:

8

L3:

9

O3:

10

M3:

Riferisce di esser stata per molto tempo in Libia, probabilmente in una connection House (She reports that she has been in Libya for a long time, probably in a connection House) Le chieda se è stata forzata a prostituirsi (Ask her if she was forced into prostitution) (1.5) Ok (2) °Was it a connection house?° (2,8) °Yes° ((lowers her head))

They want (2) >I sleep with many men< ((keeps her head down)) Infatti, era in una connection house e riferisce letteralmente di aver dormito con molti uomini (.) quindi:: (.) praticamente (.) è prostituzione (In fact, she was in a connection house and she literally reports that she “slept with many men”, so it’s basically prostitution) Si (.) ma le chieda se si trattava proprio di prostituzione (Yes, but ask her if it was really prostitution) °Yu dey ashawo?° (Were you a prostitute?) (1.5) °Yes°

empowered impulse in creative communicative problem-​solving and diachronically located in the moment-​to-​moment nature of the entire process as it unfolds in real-​time. Table 26.3 shows an excerpt of the transcription of a conversation between a Nigerian female victim of trafficking (M3), an Italian female operator of an association providing migration accommodation services (O3) and an Italian male lawyer (L3) that took place in L3’s office during an interview aimed at reconstructing M3’s story for the application for international protection. In cue 1, O3 reports M3’s mention of a “connection house”, a term that refers to fading brothels where refugees/​asylum seekers (women and men) are savagely tortured and abused by their traffickers during their stay in Libya. This prompts L3 to ask for further information on the matter. Upon encountering what he perceives as avoidant communicative strategies from M3–​specifically in the usage of the ambiguous expression “sleeping with many men” (cue 6)–​L3 presses O3 to extract more precise information (cue 8). The issue is resolved by O3’s usage of the critical term “Ashawo”, which is the Nigerian pejorative term for prostitute (cue 9) (Igboanusi 2001). On the one hand, this case is specular to the previous example, as it is the operator, not the asylum seeker, who makes use of translinguistic tools: pertinent comprehension and knowledge of Nigerian pidgin expressions, contextual knowledge of M3’s background in Libya and the semantic awareness to use the pejorative term “Ashawo” to prevent all chance of ambiguity. The diachronic quality of experience forming translinguistic repertoires and tools is thus clearly scalarly relevant not only for refugees/​asylum seekers but for operators as well. On the other hand, it leads to reflecting upon the multiple, complex layers of communicative obstacles at play; the operator’s effort is in fact also impeded beyond translation by culture-​specific items at play, namely the aversion to explicitly mentioning anything involving sexual acts (e.g., prostitution, sex, rape, abuse). Expanding upon this it is worth noting that, in the optics of a translation-​based framework, it would usually fall upon interpreters to be responsible for facilitating communication in such cases, as still happens in extremely formal, regulated environments such as courthouse hearings, for instance. However, practical observation during research has seen this communicative niche

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often being filled by humanitarian operators, due to the aforementioned complexity of linguistic interactions in environments related to displacement and migration. The skills operators acquire over time, the strategies and inventive tools they develop emergently and their global awareness of a refugee/​ asylum seeker’s repertoire all go beyond the binary communicative channels which institutional frameworks ascribe to interpreting. It is precisely due to the gap between the regulated communicative procedure as expected by a top-​down perspective and the actual, hands-​on unfolding of events managed through bottom-​up resources that the present contribution endorses a translinguistic approach to the matter, to better contextualise and learn from such discrepancies, in order to better address them to the benefit of both operators and refugees/​asylum seekers. Moreover, as the conversation reported in Excerpt 3 is set in a completely different institutional environment with specific communicative dynamics involved, it has to be highlighted how, despite initial reception being the most known critical circumstance, translinguistic issues in migration are not exhausted there, but persist and propagate throughout the process of a refugee/​asylum seeker’s relationship with the hosting country and its infrastructure, requiring appropriate tools and knowledge for every step of the process. Borrowing from Bachmann-​Medick (2018, 273), it is thus thanks to a translinguistic outlook on such critical instances that we could hope to: “reach beyond analysing the obvious challenges presented by the multilingual conditions of migration scenarios. It could also help to reveal power relations in the linguistic and discursive sphere that shape the process of ‘making’ migrants.” The fourth example (Table 26.4) is an excerpt of a WhatsApp chat between a Gambian male asylum seeker (M4) and an Italian female operator (O4), consisting of text messages, including emoji and emoticons (TM), and the transcription of voice messages (VM). O4 is a staff member of a CAS and one of the informants of the research. The reported conversation is part of interpersonal

Table 26.4 Excerpt 4 1

(TM)

O4:

2 3 4

(TM) (TM) (VM)

M4: O4: M4:

5

(VM)

M4:

6 7 8

(TM) (TM) (TM)

O4: M4: O4:

9

(TM)

M4:

10

(TM)

O4:

11 12 13

(TM) (VM) (TM)

M4: M4: O4:

Hi Balla, you were supposed to return the signed Privacy paper last week…did you forget? 😡 😡 😡 It is very important Hey Gloria, I wanted to call yu today Seeeeeeh 😡…why you never call me before???? °So::rry Gloria::° (1.5) I know I am late with this privacy (.) but I don’t understa::nd what this me:an–​(1) you=​know? A::nyway (1) I send you a screenshot (.) now=​now=​now (.) ok? (1) Ple::ase help me (.) a::nd (.) grazie ((laughs)) I cant talk now I’m in a meeting…and no voice messages but you can text Ok. I dont understand a lot of things please help me. I send you screenshot, ok? Wait!!! I tell you already this is a standard doc. I know it’s complicated but it is like this. Everybody signs this for everything here I know but this PRIVACY thing I cant understand (seclusion???secret???) And then, who go use my information? Balla it’s very simple, privacy means PROTECTION not private life! And it’s US that need to have your permission to write and talk about you, and you say yes if you sign OOOOOOK but I do it only cause I trust you eh grazie you are my star Gloria Yes but do it now

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exchanges and communication provided by O4 to the researchers, and it refers to translation and interpreting issues related to a legal text. Following a medical examination, M4 must provide privacy policy consent (in Italian) in order to receive the report from the medical examiner. Wanting to be sure of the content of the document before signing it, M4 asks to sign the form only after he has translated it himself (using online free translation tools) or with the help of “trustworthy” Italian friends. Unfortunately, however, despite the fact that O4 had already verbally explained to M4 the content of the document, M4 has not understood its meaning and has still not signed it. Among the several elements of note featured in excerpt 4, it is worth paying close attention to the temporal dimension of the occurrence. As is often the case with crises in the humanitarian sector, the exchange occurs in a non-​conventional timeframe (last-​minute arrangements, in the midst of other pressing matters) and through improvised, modern channels for the sake of capillary communication (text and voice messages). M4’s sense of disorientation, caused by the implicit difficulties posed by a legal text, is amplified by the translation practice with online translators and dictionaries. Notably, the first definition provided by online dictionaries (Oxford, Merriam-​Webster amongst others), describes privacy as “a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people” or “the quality or state of being apart from company or observation”, and the suggested synonyms are seclusion, isolation, segregation, secrecy (terms referred to by M4 in cue 9). The prompt resolution relies not only on the constant availability and awareness on behalf of O4 but also on the insight and skill sets to improvise, take decisions and be able to communicate them effectively within a moment’s notice (cue 10); this moment-​to-​moment professional dimension derives from experience and practice, as it lies outside of the boundaries of the traditional notions and tools which are featured in institution-​based training. Yet, while the use of the emoji in cue 1 has a clear connotation, O4’s Italian interjection “seeeeeeh”, conveying disbelief, and the intertextual reference in the use of the “lying face” emoji–​consisting of the stylised face of Pinocchio, a character who, despite being the protagonist of one of the best known and translated works in the world, is not necessarily known by M4–​are elements fostering misunderstandings (cue 3). However, also in this case, the interaction displays a degree of acquired familiarity between the speakers and the first signs of mutual repertoire influence, as indicated by O4’s speech patterns deviating from institutional practice (cues 3, 8) and M4’s use of non-​standard speech forms and translanguaging (cues 5, 9, 12). It is on the basis of incorporating these crucial skills and toolsets deriving from outside of the rigid confines of the translation framework that translanguaging could prove to be an effective paradigm to acknowledge them and organise their field-​tested effectiveness into new instructional packages of proven effectiveness. Such material would subvert the traditional top-​down order of hierarchical teaching, as it would be the bottom-​up experience of operators to generate the corpus of necessary information, no longer tied to the inevitably limited diachronic perspective of translational practices but effectively providing strategies based on moment analysis of proven effectiveness in managing instances of urgent communication prone to miscommunication incidents.

Conclusion The collected data and commentary highlight a systemic issue: the traditional theoretical tools and approaches observed to be given to operators struggle to keep up with the complex, contextually sensitive reality of communication in circumstances of humanitarian emergency. 399

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The linguistic and cultural gap such tools fail to effectively negotiate is no negligible threat, as it exacerbates tensions and fosters critical communicative failure in a diachronically scalar perspective, for both refugees/​asylum seekers and professionals. From the immediate emergency of initial reception facilities (excerpts 1 and 2) to establishing a healthy relationship with the hosting country and its infrastructure (excerpts 3 and 4), the optimal outcome of this sensitive process begins with providing effective, practical communicative tools to operators, law enforcement and state workers. The systemic, internalised notion that translation is the only available framework to face complex communicative challenges stems from the perceived lack of any reliable alternatives within the on-​site humanitarian environments of critical communication which have been the object of the present study; any difficulties in its real-​world application are thus accounted for as an inevitability, a normalised margin of ineffectiveness to be eventually made up for by the operators’ experience. The linguistic practices described and analysed extend far beyond a mechanic switching back and forward to codified language patterns, mobilising a wide range of semiotic resources: standardised phenomena such as code/​language mixing and switching seem to be consequently incapable of grasping the linguistic dynamicity and creativity accounting for the socio-​political and cultural dimensions. This is where the translanguaging lens can intervene, countering such a bias not only by virtue of the ideological, theoretical principles at its inception and core but also by first-​hand merit of the emergent practical applications of its paradigm. The relevance of this approach lies in the inherent potential to find alternative, pragmatic solutions to circumstances of communicative necessity where traditional translation may lead, by its inherent paradigmatic characteristics, to instances of potentially critical failure. With reference to critical communication in migration-​related contexts, the translinguistic shift to the moment gives way to the envisioning of a different philosophy in acknowledging what the necessary communicative skills and knowledge are to be prioritised in an operator’s formative phase, pairing the more formal, traditional language classes with pertinent content based on broader frameworks such as repertoires and, most importantly, first-​hand experience in a bottom-​ up perspective. Under the lens of translanguaging, it becomes in fact evident how operators have independently developed strategies and toolsets to mitigate miscomprehension on a moment-​to-​ moment basis, born of experience and creative improvisation the proven effectiveness of which lies in their very nature of being honed field skills rather than the top-​down, scholastically driven teachings they received. Moreover, the very past experience of any communicator inevitably leads them to manifest their own specific repertoire, built through years of input, throughput and output, filtered in communication via the processes of context-​sensitive analytics and selection of which specific portions of it to draw from. For a professional in the humanitarian sector, to be aware of such a complex yet intuitively natural concept is to be given a non-​conventional tool that grants both the meta-​ contextual awareness of the many layers of communicative challenges to envision and the contextual awareness of being able to better mitigate them by means of teachings not so narrowly focused on the bare necessities of formal translation practices. Operators versed in the pertinent repertoires and with general knowledge of a baseline gamut of socio-​cultural elements to expect would find it easier to diffuse and broker miscommunication through the understanding of cues and inventive use of tools. Diachronically, the gamut of communicative dynamics and environments examined during the research shows a gradual increase in the occurrence of translanguaging practices over time as the result of improved linguistic competencies and the establishment of more informal relationships between refugees/​asylum seekers and operators. 400

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While the scope of the present contribution cannot possibly aspire to minutely cover every instance and example of the benefit of a translinguistic approach to crises, its ultimate goal is to illustrate the possibility of a new, functional tool to fill in the systemic gaps traditional paradigms are currently structurally unable to prevent from occurring; though differences in their values and logical premises are self-​evident and undeniable, it is entirely possible to envision a collaborative reconciling between translation and translanguaging when the discourse involving them is contextualised from academic discussion to the environment of practical matters in critical communication within humanitarian environments. This is how the tensions finally resolve. When translation and translanguaging are both given the benefit of validity and the imperative for linguistic normalisation is identified and defused, one can finally look at them in the proper scale for them to coexist and support one another. The key to such a non-​substantive, broad and synergising point of view is to consider the process as taking place within a translinguistic space of creativity and exchange, in which translation is no longer the only cornerstone of communication, but one of the contributing translinguistic elements that lead to constructive communication between individuals regardless of their differences in repertoires.

Further Reading Baynham, M., and Lee, T. K. 2019. Translation and translanguaging. London: Routledge. It is the first and so far only monograph in the field of translation studies revisiting the traditional approach to translation with analytical insights from translanguaging theories and practices. The volume features a rich corpus of examples–​including several varieties of English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Czech and Lingala. García, O., and Wei, L. 2014. Translanguaging. Language, bilingualism and education. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Wei, L. 2018, ‘Translanguaging as a practical theory of language’. Applied linguistics, 39 (1): 9–​30. These two publications provide a comprehensive framework for translanguaging, addressing the theoretical foundations and perspectives of this approach, and its applications in different fields, primarily education. The co-​authored volume, in particular, focuses on/​challenges traditional concepts such as second language acquisition, bilingualism, multilingualism and plurilingualism, exploring the relationship between translanguaging and pedagogy, and showing how this dynamic lens is able to capture the fluidity of language. Wei’s article develops on this, and aims at establishing translanguaging as a theory of language, elaborating on the related concepts of translanguaging space and translanguaging instinct, and filling the existing gap between the “so-​ called socio-​cultural and the cognitive approaches to Translanguaging practices”. Guido, M. G. 2008. English as a lingua franca in cross-​cultural immigration domains. Bern: Peter Lang. Guido, M. G. 2018. English as a lingua franca in migrants’ trauma narratives. London: Palgrave Macmillan. These two publications account for the extensive research made by the author on the specific subject of cognitive and communicative processes occurring in situations of interaction between refugees/​asylum seekers and humanitarian operators and institutional representatives in Italy, demonstrating how communication failures are often the result of misunderstandings related to pragma-​linguistic elements and interpretative strategies. In particular, the first monograph (2008) investigates variation and change in ELF, and the second (2018) examines power dynamics and different experiences and narrations of “trauma” across languages and cultures, through the voices of West-​African refugees/​asylum seekers.

References Antaki, Charles, and Sue Widdicombe (Eds.). 1998. Identities in talk. London: Sage. Bachmann-​ Medick, Doris. 2018. ‘Migration as translation’. In Migration: Changing concepts, critical approaches, edited by Doris Bachmann-​Medick and Jens Kugele, 273–​294. Berlin: De Gruyter. Bamgbose, Ayo. 1982. ‘Standard Nigerian English: Issues of identification’. In The other tongue: English across culture, edited by Braj Kachru, 99–​111. Urbana: University of Illinois.

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Renato Tomei and Max Pardeilhan Bandia Paul F. 2014. ‘Translocation: Translation, migration, and the relocation of cultures’. In A companion to translation studies, edited by Sandra Bermann and Catherine Porter, 271–​284. Chichester: Wiley-​Blackwell. Baynham, Mike, and Tong K. Lee. 2019. Translation and translanguaging. London: Routledge. Bhabha, Homi. 1994. The location of culture. London: Routledge. Blommaert, Jan, and Max Spotti. 2017. ‘Bilingualism, multilingualism, globalization and superdiversity: Toward sociolinguistic repertoires’. In The Oxford handbook of language and society, edited by Ofelia Garcia, Nelson Flores, and Max Spotti, 161–​178. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Brooks, Emma. 2022. ‘Translanguaging health’. Applied Linguistics, 43 (3): 517–​537. Coseriu, Eugenio. 1981. ‘Los conceptos de “dialecto”, “nivel” y “estilo de la lengua” y el sentido propio de la dialectología’. Lingüística Española Actual, 3 (1): 1–​32. Faraclas, Nicholas. 1996. Nigerian pidgin. London: Routledge. García, Ofelia, and Li Wei. 2014. Translanguaging. Language, bilingualism and education. London: Palgrave Macmillan. García, Ofelia, and Tatyana Kleyn. 2016. Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments. London: Routledge. Guido, Maria G. 2008. English as a lingua franca in cross-​cultural immigration domains. Bern: Peter Lang. Guido, Maria G. 2012. ‘ELF authentication and accommodation strategies in cross-​cultural immigration domains’. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 1 (2): 219–​240. Guido, Maria G. 2015. ‘Mediating linguacultural asymmetries through ELF in unequal immigration encounters’. Lingue e Linguaggi, 15: 155–​175. Have, Paul. 1999. Doing conversation analysis. A practical guide. Second edition. London: Sage. Hutchby, Ian, and Robin Wooffitt. 2008. Conversation analysis. Second edition. Cambridge: Polity. Igboanusi, Herbert. 2001. A dictionary of Nigerian English. Ibadan: Sam. Inghilleri, Moira. 2017. Translation and migration. London: Routledge. Katan, David. 2015. ‘La mediazione linguistica interculturale: il mediatore culturale e le sue competenze’. Lingue e Linguaggi, 15: 356–​392. Katan, David, and Mustapha Taibi. 2021. Translating cultures. An introduction for translators, interpreters and mediators. Third edition. London: Routledge. Nergaard, Siri. 2021. Translation and transmigration. London: Routledge. Polezzi, Loredana. 2012. ‘Translation and migration’. Translation Studies, 5 (3): 345–​356. Pöllabauer, Sonja. 2004. ‘Interpreting in asylum hearings: Issues of role, responsibility and power’. Interpreting, 6 (2): 143–​180. Pöllabauer, Sonja. 2006. ‘Translation culture in interpreted asylum hearings’. In Sociocultural aspects of translating and interpreting, edited by Anthony Pym, Miriam Shlesinger, and Zuzana Jettmarová, 151–​ 162. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Runcieman, Alan J. 2021. ‘Proposal for a “translanguaging space” in interpreting studies: Meeting the needs of a superdiverse and translanguaging world’. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 7 (2): 1–​26. Sperti, Silvia. 2019. ‘Cross-​cultural mediation in ELF migration contexts: Pedagogical implications on ELT multilingual settings’. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5 (2): 269–​286. Suojanen, Tytti, Kaisa Koskinen, and Tiina Tuominen. 2015. User-​centered translation. London and New York: Routledge. Wei, Li. 2018. ‘Translanguaging as a practical theory of language’. Applied Linguistics, 39(1): 9–​30. Wilson, Rita, and Susannah Radstone (Eds.). 2020. Translating worlds: Migration, memory and culture. London: Routledge.

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27 RISK COMMUNICATION Experimenting with automatic speech recognition as the first step of a combined speech-​to-​text and machine translation tool for risk reduction during pilot–​controller communications Bettina Bajaj

Introduction Translation and interpreting are crucial for dealing with the many languages, ethnic backgrounds, and culturally diverse settings that may be encountered during risk and crisis situations which necessitate the gathering, handling, and communicating of often life-​saving information. In such complex settings, communication errors are often compounded, leading to poor communication, or even lack thereof, which has the potential to hinder response and rescue operations. Reducing risk during the communication of life-​saving information forms the critical topic here. Risk communication is the process of communicating potential consequences of perceived risks of events, activities, and behaviours to recipients (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 2022; cf. also Federici and O’Brien 2020). In contrast, crisis communication happens in real time with the goal to reduce the damaging consequences from an actual crisis (Spence, Lachlan, and Griffin 2007, 3; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 2022). In aviation, for example, risk communication in flight include lack of communication and language problems (Chionis et al. 2022, 407), whereas examples of crisis communication are serious technical issues in flight. Risk and crisis communications which require translation and interpreting generally concern communicating potential threats and hazards to people not only multilingually, but cultural, emotional, and cognitive differences also have to be considered (Federici and O’Brien 2020, 9–​10). An area of risk communication in which errors have been studied systematically to reduce risk are pilot–​controller or air traffic control (ATC) communications (risk exists here 24/​7), where it is particularly the human factors (HF) field which has studied the safety criticality of unambiguous and concise communication. HF deals with the mental and physical limitations of people during their interactions, or with machines, equipment, and environments (Hawkins 2010), aiming to improve human performance while reducing error risk. Risk as such can be managed through risk reduction strategies characterised “by prior preparedness” (Alexander 2016). Thus, risk reduction is definable as “steps taken to […] prevent a hazard from causing harm and to reduce risk to a tolerable

DOI: 10.4324/9781003207580-32

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[…] level” (Eurocontrol 2000, 15). Reducing risk during pilot–​controller communications is hence paramount to flight safety. Yet, despite considerable HF research conducted from many angles, miscommunications still happen (CHIRP 2018; Bajaj 2020). This chapter therefore proposes to reduce risk in ATC communications by employing automatic speech recognition (ASR) as a first step towards a combined speech-​to-​text (STT) and MT tool. First, we look at the relevant related work as well as critical issues and topics. The methodology for the experiments follows. The findings of these and how they can be connected to the critical issues and topics are discussed next, followed by the conclusion to the chapter.

Research context Risk and crisis communications disseminate safety-​critical information across languages and cultures, thereby attributing critical roles to translation and interpreting. For Federici and O’Brien, risk communication and crisis translation share characteristics (2020, 10) inasmuch as risk aversion, risk avoidance, risk assessment, and risk management are culture-​dependent, and hence the differing perceptions of these “affect communication of risk in multilingual contexts” (Federici and O’Brien 2020, 10; authors’ emphasis). They highlight that although translation and interpreting are vital for risk and crisis communications, until recently plans for coordination, collaboration, and communication during cascading crises barely included plans for translating and interpreting (2020, 6). The absence of this manifests itself in numerous risk-​ augmenting issues, e.g. lack of quality translating and interpreting, lack of access to translation and interpreting in whichever languages are required, and insufficient advocacy (Federici and O’Brien 2020). The lack of saliency awarded to translating and interpreting life-​critical information across languages in multidimensional risk and crisis settings may cause communication errors which can have devastating effects. Such errors are comparable to ATC communication errors which have led to accidents (e.g. CAA 2016), for example, among the more recent ones are the 2006 Gol Transportes Aéreos/​Embraer Legacy mid-​air collision with 154 deaths and the 2016 LaMia crash which killed 71 people. In HF, Hawkins (2010) has studied the interface between people and their work environments as potential sources for such errors, for instance, how human beings relate to each other in these environments through communication. Hawkins emphasises that if work communication goes wrong, errors may ensue (2010), and if errors co-​ occur with others, error chains can materialise (Reason 2009), e.g. post-​disaster services delays may cause further issues if salient information is not relayed fitly due to language, culture, or other communication barriers (cf. Bajaj 2020). Despite constituting risk communication, pilot–​controller communications over two-​way radio are, as mentioned earlier, still plagued with miscommunications, although there have been extensive efforts to improve them (Eurocontrol 2006a, 2006b; Barshi and Farris 2013; CAA 2017; Bajaj 2020). Despite the improvements, pilots have repeatedly stressed how much communication issues still impact their workload and situation awareness, especially during safety-​critical flight phases, which means that more accidents/​incidents may happen (e.g. CAA 2017). In fact, at the time of writing, a Norwegian-​Air-​Sweden airliner inbound to Paris almost impacted with terrain in low visibility before reaching the runway due to communication errors (BEA 2022). The non-​French speaking pilots from the Norwegian-​Air-​Sweden aircraft were given an incorrect altimeter setting in English by the French controller, which resulted in the aircraft altitude being 280 feet too low. As required by the pilots, this setting was read back in English to the French controller, who did not notice the wrong setting being read back. However, when shortly after that the same controller spoke in French to an Air France aircraft, she transmitted the correct setting. The 404

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Norwegian-​Air-​Sweden aircraft came to within six feet of hitting the ground. A combined STT and MT tool, as proposed in Bajaj and Majumdar (2016), could have alerted the Scandinavian airliner to the different setting given to the French aircraft. In addition to frequency congestion, low sound quality, and callsign similarity, ATC communications via radio channels continue to suffer from linguistic issues (Bajaj and Majumdar 2016), including, but not limited to, (a) the use of local languages (e.g. Portuguese in Brazilian airspace), although English should be used1, (b) variations in English pronunciation by both native and non-​native speakers, (c) variations in speech prosody (e.g. tempo, rhythm, pitch, and loudness), (d) the use of non-​standard phraseology, and (e) several international standards being in use owing to a lack of global standardisation of radiotelephony (RT) phraseology (Bajaj and Majumdar 2016). Since CHIRP (2018) has stressed that ATC communications via radio are the main method for the foreseeable future, Bajaj (2020) has recently pursued the avenue to minimise errors by investigating the concept of communication awareness between pilots and controllers. She has shown that a lack of it is identifiable in ATC speech by specific cues and that it can, if absent, contribute to miscommunications. She concluded that training pilots and controllers to be more communicatively aware can lower error risk. However, specific training for raising communication awareness has not been devised yet.2 Hence, the present study. It is unsurprising that there has been little research into language technologies for aiding risk and crisis translation and interpreting, given the lack of significance awarded to the latter two in risk and crisis communication to date (O’Brien 2019, 305). Recently, however, Cadwell, O’Brien, and DeLuca (2019) have investigated the use of a French-​to-​Swahili crisis MT pivot engine and concluded that research ought to continue into improving MT in crisis contexts. O’Brien (2019) reports that since 2010, using MT in disasters has also been attempted by Microsoft together with various collaborators, exposing many challenges, including the unpredictability of languages, little and low-​quality training data available for lesser-​resourced languages, lack of power and internet access, and lack of methods for determining which kinds of information should receive priority translation. Furthermore, O’Brien (2019) considers combining MT with ASR as useful. Some MT tools already include lesser-​resourced languages, e.g. Watson Language Translator (IBM 2022) lists Nepali and Tamil, among others. The Canadian STT engine LilySpeech (2020), for example, includes Cectina, Euskara, and isiZulu. Substantial ASR performance gains have recently been achieved in artificial intelligence (AI) by means of deep neural networks (DNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), the latter of which include long short-​term memory (LSTM) networks (Oruh, Viriri, and Adegun 2022; Trinh Van et al. 2022). This neural approach, together with an end-​to-​end architecture (Hill 2020; Badrinath and Balakrishnan 2022) and with machine learning based on this, has improved ASR performance considerably (Bellec et al. 2020; Hill 2020; Badrinath and Balakrishnan 2022). However, Badrinath and Balakrishnan (2022) report that ASR still struggles with noisy environments, fast speech rates, and varieties of local dialects/​accents. A further challenge is that transcribed ATC datasets are in short supply, but Badrinath and Balakrishnan (2022, 808) propose as a solution the use of semi-​ supervised learning algorithms for readily available but not transcribed ATC exchanges. ASR performance nevertheless improves, as is well-​known, if used with controlled languages in delimited domains, e.g. RT phraseology, which is restricted by standardised, reduced, and disambiguated terms/​phrases, limited syntax, and unified pronunciations (cf. Bajaj and Majumdar 2016). Direct voice inputs by pilots to operate aircraft systems have been researched for over a decade (e.g. Lennertz et al. 2012) and are, for example, used in the Eurofighter Typhoon (2016) for radar, navigation, and display commands. A recent patent application by Honeywell (2022) proposes that speech inputs to aircraft systems can also be made by controllers. Similarly to our study, 405

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Geacăr (2010) has examined speech input as a backup solution to radio communications. To the best of my knowledge, however, he did not pursue this idea further. The improvements in machine learning have also led to research into applying ASR specifically to aid controllers. Several studies have employed ASR for transcribing transmissions directed at controllers (e.g. Badrinath and Balakrishnan 2022). The main goal though of these studies has been to lower controller workload by extracting salient information from these transcripts, e.g. callsigns, runway information, readback errors (Helmke et al. 2021a, 2021b). Others examined the evaluation of speech engines in ATC simulators for controller training (e.g. Bhandia, Venkatarangan, and Srivatsa 2018; Helmke et al. 2021a). Speaker change detection was also studied (e.g. Zuluaga-​Gomez et al. 2022) as well as meaning detection (Kleinert et al. 2021). To sum up, as far as can be ascertained, apart from Geacăr’s attempt, there has been no research into pilots using ASR in flight (cf. also SESAR 2021); the research focus has been on controllers and ASR use in their workstations. Moreover, to the best of my knowledge, MT in ATC communications has not been studied as only a nearly thirty-​year-​old paper was found (Wasyliv and Clarke 1994). The previously mentioned advances in AI, machine learning, and the research into ASR for controller support suggest that trialling ASR for pilots may reduce risk in pilot–​controller communications. This study thus investigates STT as the first stage before the MT stage of the combined STT and MT3 tool. The research questions hence are: (1) Can a commercial ASR tool reduce ATC miscommunications during flights, in airline simulators, and when re-​enacting a selected ATC exchange from an accident flight? (2) Is the tool capable of real-​time transcription? (3) Is its ability to learn observable, i.e. does it learn during live transcription and does the WER decrease from transcript to transcript?

Research methodology Tool Through direct communication with a training captain from a British airline, it was confirmed that only on-​device STT apps were suitable as commercial pilots use iPads for performance and navigation information. Similarly, general aviation (GA) pilots use flight planning and navigation apps on iPhones and iPads. The selected cloud-​based and AI-​operated English only app Otter4 features multi-​speaker identification and tagging, real-​time transcription, and claims high accuracy with different English accents and in noisy environments (Su 2019). Although the Pro version was chosen, it is only customisable with 200 vocabulary items, which limits the trainability of the dataset in the tool for specific settings. The tool trains itself from just a few paragraphs of tagged spoken text to create speaker voiceprints.

Method Three experiment series were designed. Series 1 and 2 involved flights and simulator sessions respectively. For Series 1, GA flights were chosen as (a) commercial flights could not be used, and (b) GA pilots use the same RT phraseology as commercial pilots. Series 3 was conducted in an office and tested Otter on selected transmissions from an accident flight. The way these transmissions were played and recorded is explained later on. The goal of Series 1 was to see whether risk, i.e. errors, could be reduced in flight, while in Series 2 and 3 Otter’s ability to learn was evaluated. Due to lack of access, no training for voiceprints was possible for Otter prior to Series 1 and 2. By Series 3, it had created voiceprints for the participants. 406

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Series 1 Two flights were piloted by the author. Otter was downloaded on an iPhone and trained with 200 terms and phrases taken from the CAA’s RT manual (2021). The phone was connected inline to the pilot’s Active Noise Reduction (ANR) headset via a cockpit audio ATC intercom recording cable together with a lightning to USB adapter. In turn, the headset plugs, one for audio and one for the microphone, to the latter of which the recording cable was connected, were then plugged into the aircraft’s radio system. The phone was placed within the visual field of the pilot. Once the aircraft’s Radio Master Switch was on, Otter started to transcribe as soon as transmissions were made. To avoid distractions from having this experimental tool on board, a safety pilot was present. Although it was of interest to examine whether Otter would provide real-​time transcription in flight, it was beyond the scope of this study to measure this experimentally. This was subjectively assessed through pilot observation. It was also beyond the scope of the study to deploy the tool in controller workstations during the flights. EVALUATION

Step 1 After flight, the recordings and transcripts of the transmissions between the pilot and the controller/​s were manually filtered out from the overall flight transcript as the tool also recorded and transcribed other pilots on the same frequency. As only the female pilot’s and the controller’s voices and transcripts were of interest, the filtering was straightforward and did not require verification. Step 2 The transcripts were then manually checked and double-​checked for “speaker recognition” accuracy by the author. Wrongly allocated transcripts were untagged and correctly re-​tagged. The filtered and speaker-​corrected transcripts formed Hypothesis Texts 1 and 2. Step 3 The manual transcription of the spoken transmissions resulted in Reference Texts 1 and 2. Step 4 The corresponding reference and hypothesis texts were then aligned manually. Step 5 The aligned texts were evaluated using the industry standard WER formula:

( )

WER % = D =​ S =​ I =​ N =​

S+D+I N

× 100

Deletion of a correct word Substitution by an incorrect word Insertion of a word Total number of words spoken

Text normalisation (e.g. Seyfarth and Zhao 2020) was not performed as this is unfeasible for real-​ time transcription of ATC communications. The requirement was for the meaning of the transcribed words to be correct. Hence, the following allowances were applied only during error calculation: • • • • •

punctuation was disregarded upper/​lower case spellings were ignored contracted forms and their full versions were both accepted (e.g. didn’t–​did not) spelling variants (e.g. maneuvre–​manoeuvre) were ignored numerals were possible either as words or as numerals (e.g. two one–​21) 407

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• compounds could be spelled with/​without spaces (e.g. pitot heat–​pitotheat) and with/​without hyphens (e.g. take-​off–​take off) For calculating N, the specifics of RT speech had to be observed, e.g. heading directions, such as 270, are spoken as two seven zero, resulting in three words. Some acronyms, such as QNH, are pronounced by their individual letters Q N H (three words). Radio frequencies, e.g. 118.505, are spoken as one one eight decimal five zero five (seven words).

Series 2 Otter was tested during four B787 simulator sessions involving two trainee pilots and one check pilot, who acted as the controller. Each simulation involved the same pilot–​controller exchange during a predetermined instrument approach to London Heathrow. Sessions 1 and 2 were flown by the check pilot and Trainee 1, and Sessions 3 and 4 by the same check pilot and Trainee 2. It was impossible to connect the iPhone to the simulator’s headsets and radio system as this would have required specific adapter plugs which could have interfered with the running of the sessions. Hence, the iPhone’s inbuilt microphone was used for transcribing the ATC exchange and was placed on the flightdeck’s middle console. The specific setup of a B787 simulator allows for the check pilot’s console to be moved right behind the trainee pilots’ seats. This fulfilled Otter’s requirement that speakers ought to be within three feet of each other unless headsets are worn. EVALUATION

The same steps as for Series 1 were used, except for Step 1.

Series 3 Two recordings/​transcriptions were made of an ATC extract from an accident that was largely caused by miscommunications. The extract stems from the ATC transcript created by the investigating authority after the accident of Flying Tiger Airlines in 1989. The controller’s transmissions were spoken by the check pilot from Series 2 and the pilot’s transmissions were spoken by the author. The recordings took place on two successive days in an office with several portable ventilators running to simulate the background hum of aircraft engines. As earlier, the iPhone’s inbuilt microphone was used for transcribing the ATC exchange and was placed on a desk within three feet of each participant. EVALUATION

Except for Steps 1 and 3, the same steps as for the previous series were followed.

Ethical considerations Written consent was obtained from the participants (not remunerated). Regarding confidentiality and data privacy, customer recordings and transcripts are not accessible to the company without consent.

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Results and discussion Results The WERs from the three series are shown in Table 27.1. Series 1, as will be recalled, concerned transmissions during two flights. The WERs were 50.25% and 48.61% respectively. Series 2 covered ATC exchanges during four B787 simulator sessions. The results were 15.98%, 12.93%, 11.62%, and 10.56%. The third series was a re-​enactment of a transmissions extract from an accident flight. The WERs were 15.40% and 7.87%. Table 27.2 depicts three analysis examples pertaining to the three series. Each first line lists the spoken words (reference). Below, the transcript is aligned (hypothesis), and the third line records the errors. Table 27.3 lists the distribution of error types.

Discussion Research question (1) In the multi-​tasking and safety-​critical environments of pilots and controllers, ATC communications must be as accurate as possible. This also applies to the STT tool since the aim is risk reduction in ATC communications. How high do accuracy rates have to be? Pellegrini et al. (2018), for example, report on the Airbus challenge of applying STT to ATC communications in laboratory settings, whereby the WERs ranged between 7.6% and 9.6%. In contrast, laboratory tests using ASR for ATC with and without noise-​cancelling microphones yielded accuracy rates of around 70% (Bhandia, Venkatarangan, and Srivatsa 2018). However, to compare these figures without a common base of test parameters and training data is difficult, and those results therefore need to be seen in this light. In comparison, in a general-​language environment, Microsoft equalled human performance with a WER of 5.1% in conversational ASR (Shu 2017). WERs between 5% and 10% are seen by Microsoft (2022) as low and the tool as deployable; WERs of ca. 20% are adequate but might benefit from additional training while WERs of 30% are too high and need further customisation and training (supervised and/​or semi-​supervised5). The WERs of 50.25% and 48.61% from the flights are therefore too high. Pilot–​controller communications must not be impeded by high-​error transcripts. In this scenario, the tool would unlikely be able to reduce risk. The high WERs may stem from several issues. The most significant problem consisted in overlapping transmissions, i.e. speaker overlap. Through personal Table 27.1 WER results Series/​Experiment

WER%

Accuracy%

1/​1 1/2 2/​3 2/​4 2/​5 2/​6 3/​7 3/​8

50.25 48.61 15.98 12.93 11.62 10.56 15.40  7.87

49.75 51.39 84.02 87.07 88.38 89.44 84.60 92.13

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Table 27.2 Analysis examples Experiments 1&2

Experiments 7&8

Charlie

Hyp2: ****

Cherokee ******* runway to

Err:

S

D

Whiskey runway two

D

S

Controller Ref3: Speedbird 123

identified 2

3

Hyp3: 4

123

identify

Err:

S

S

Five 5

five 5

S

Pilot Ref7: Five Hyp7: 5 Err: Ø

two

zero 0

five

touch-​ at and-​go

discretion

surface wind

290

1

1

knots

five

touch-​ ** and-​ go D

Discretion service when

290

1

*

****

miles to 27 touchdown three miles to 27 touchdown

L

zero 0

six 6

tiger Tiger

six 6

Descend

Left Descend

S

S

now

to altitude feet 4000 to altitude feet 4000

down S

we're We are

out out

of of

D D

7800 7800

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Experiments 3 to 6

Controller Ref2: Golf

Risk communication Table 27.3 Error distribution Experiment

Substitutions

Deletions

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

83 89 31 26 30 30 23 15

97 133 25 16 8 7 15 2

Insertions 14 23 3 6 5 2 13 9

communication with a member of the Otter.ai Support Team, the researcher learnt that speaker overlap is an area in which ASR does not perform well. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, although the tool was trained with 200 vocabulary items, during transmissions many words other than those in the customised vocabulary were also used, e.g. niner (pronounced that way in RT to avoid nine being misheard). If it had been possible to customise the tool more extensively, higher accuracy would have likely been achievable. A member of the Otter.ai Support Team informed the researcher that work is in progress to increase the size of the custom vocabulary, but no further tool customisability is planned. Another reason for the high WERs could be that, as these were real flights, both the pilot and the controllers were occupied with multiple simultaneous tasks (e.g. instrument checks, engine checks, checklists, multiple aircraft management), which increase cognitive workload but decrease the ability to communicate (cf. Barshi and Farris 2013). This is why pilot–​controller communications constitute risk communications. For example, the phrase squawk 0442 was read back incorrectly as squawk 7442, which, if undetected by the controller, would change the aircraft’s identification on the controller’s radar. The main errors in the flights’ transcripts were deletions (cf. Table 27.3), which can occur when words are not enunciated properly, which often happens when workload is high, but they can also arise with weak audio signals (Microsoft 2022). Substitutions are indicative of improper pronunciation and/​ or enunciation, or they could be due to a too small custom dictionary of domain-​specific terms and phrases, which is the case here. Insertions may be caused by a noisy environment or when speakers overlap (Microsoft 2022). However, the ANR headset worn by the author cancelled out virtually all inflight noise, which may explain the low insertion errors. Nevertheless, they should have been higher as there was also a lot of speaker overlap present, but Otter resorted to deletions instead. It is noteworthy that some transmissions were not captured at all by Otter, which could be due to weak signals but also because the push-​to-​talk switch may have been pressed too late into the transmission or too late after having finished it (cf. Skybrary 2023). However, despite all the previously mentioned issues, the WER improved by almost 2% between the flights. Note that a low ASR error rate in this scenario would be crucial for the planned STT and MT tool since the MT phase would be triggered as soon as a non-​English transcript is detected. A high WER would therefore likely lead to higher MT errors. Moving on to the four simulator experiments, the WERs achieved here ranged from 15.98% to 10.56%. One of the reasons for these to be lower than those from the flights could be because they involved airline pilots, who do transmissions all the time. Another reason could be the timing of the transmissions since they took place after the end of their simulator checks, which meant that the pilots’ cognitive workload was low. Although also not measured, the noise of the running 411

Bettina Bajaj Table 27.4 Safety-​critical transmissions in Experiment 7 Experiment ATC Ref7: 7 Hyp7: Err: Captain Ref7: Hyp7: Err:

Tiger six

six

Tiger 6

6

descend

two four zero Zero cleared for NDB three three approach runway descend to 2 4 0 0 Cleared for NDB three three approach runway I

Okay Okay four zero zero Okay 4 0 0 Ø

engines in the simulator could be clearly heard on the audio recordings owing to no ANR headsets being worn. However, the higher noise levels did not result in a higher number of errors, which supports the claim that Otter operates well in noisy environments, but contrasts with Badrinath and Balakrishna’s (2022) statement earlier. In fact, insertions constituted the smallest error group, although the recordings stem from the noisiest of the three environments. The largest error group were substitutions. Again, this is likely due to the small size of custom vocabulary. It was also noticeable that the pilots were speaking some of their transmissions very fast, which caused a number of substitutions as Otter did not capture these (e.g. Speedbird became Speed). Deletions can happen, as has been seen, when audio signals are weak, which may have been the case since the simulators are located in heavily concreted buildings which may prevent signals from getting through, but they are more likely due to the airline pilots speaking fast on the radio. The lower WERs generated in this scenario would provide a more favourable starting point for the MT phase of the planned combined tool. Experiments 7 and 8 saw the re-​enactment of the last few transmissions of an accident flight from 1989. Two transmissions were critical to the accident occurring. The captain received the clearance descend two four zero zero with the meaning “descend to an altitude of 2400 feet”. His readback was okay four zero zero – ​2000 feet too low. Due to being in cloud the crew could not see that they were at the wrong altitude and the aircraft impacted a mountain. The reason for using Otter here was to see whether it could have transcribed the correct altitude for the captain. Table 27.4 shows that in Experiment 7 the STT indeed captured the numbers correctly. Had the crew had this tool on board, they would have had a textual clue regarding the misunderstood altitude. Hence, in this scenario the tool would have been able to reduce risk. It is interesting to note that Otter also inserted the preposition to before the numbers but this resulted in no change of meaning. It is believed that the insertion was because the phrase descend to had been added to the vocabulary prior to all experiments; hence Otter had learnt this phrase. Unfortunately, in Experiment 8 the altitude was transcribed incorrectly, but despite this, the algorithm improved the WER by almost half to 7.87%.

Research question (2) Although the framework of this study did not allow measuring the real-​time factor (RTF), i.e. the speed of an ASR system, the pilot’s perception during the GA flights was that the transcriptions

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appeared virtually instantaneously on the screen. If verified experimentally, this would mean that this part of the tool would be ready to satisfy the needs of live operations and be able to reduce risk in pilot–​controller communications and in other safety-​critical risk and crisis environments. The same results were reported from the simulator experiments and the re-​enactment of the accident flight. Real-​ time transcription is vital for the planned STT and MT system as the translations would also have to occur near-​instantaneously, which is important as responses to transmissions need to be expeditious.

Research question (3) Experiments 3 to 8 did not present real-​life situations but were devised to see how well the tool’s algorithm learns. It was observed that Otter appeared to learn speech idiosyncrasies instantaneously, which was confirmed by a member of the Otter.ai Support Team who confirmed that with each recording, tagging, and correcting speakers, they are immediately applied to future recordings. An example is the term readability (quality of a transmission) which was not captured by Otter the first time round but subsequently every single time. The immediate learning ability of Otter is a considerable improvement to the learning times required by statistical ASR (cf. Waibel, Sawai, and Shikano 1990, 406). The tool’s learning ability is also corroborated by the WERs having improved between the two flights, and then again from Experiments 3 to 6, and also between Experiments 7 and 8. In Experiments 3 to 6, each subsequent transcription of the same transmissions improved despite the fact that new speakers were involved in two of the four experiments. Given that all the experiments exhibited a successive decrease in WER, the result from Experiment 7 with 15.40% was surprising as it was expected to be lower than the one from Experiment 6. The main reason for this could be the “age” of the transmissions as they stem from 1989 and, compared with today’s phraseology standards, contain non-​standard phrases on which Otter could not be trained beforehand owing to the customisation limit. Between Experiments 7 and 8 the algorithm was, however, able to learn those phrases. Examining a tool’s learning ability is vital as this directly impacts the quality of ASR outputs and any subsequent MT outputs. The question now arises how this tool would fare in the communication of risk and crisis information in other environments. Since ATC communications present a specific type of risk communication, the requirements for any STT tool to master those are high. Communications in other risk and crisis areas are not subject to the same stringent requirements, e.g. it is unlikely that speakers have to multitask in the same way as pilots and controllers do in three-​dimensional space, or that there would be much speech overlap as speakers would likely speak successively. It is also probable that more general-​language contexts would be involved, in which STT tools are known to achieve high accuracy. However, as has been seen, risk and crisis communications often involve multilingual, multicultural, and multi-​ethnic settings which constantly necessitate translating and interpreting life-​critical information, and therefore STT needs to be complemented with MT, as is planned in the combined STT and MT tool. A conclusion following these experiments is that Otter can be of use in other risk and crisis environments, but as risk and crisis communications depend on many factors, such as type, regions, languages, cultures, and technological challenges involved, the usefulness of Otter, or any other STT, depends on those factors.

Conclusion This study investigated the use of the commercial ASR tool Otter for ATC voice communications to see whether it, as a first step towards a combined STT and MT tool, can reduce risk by minimising 413

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miscommunications. The tool was examined in three scenarios comprising eight experiments, which included flights, B787 simulators, and a re-​enactment of some transmissions of an accident flight respectively. In Scenario 1, a WER of 49.43% on average was calculated for the flights, and in Scenarios 2 and 3 an average WER of 12.39% was achieved, with Experiment 8 producing the lowest WER at 7.87%. Since the goal of this research was to investigate the use of the tool in ATC communications to reduce the risk inherent in them, thereby improving flight safety, the WERs for the flights are too high for the required purpose, i.e. to reduce risk. Lower WERs would also be salient for the subsequent MT phase in the planned STT and MT tool as translation errors will depend on the ASR output quality. Since Otter’s customisation was limited, it is believed that if adaptable open-​source toolkits are employed instead, trained with large datasets and with appropriate customisation, STT accuracy in pilot–​controller communications would improve considerably. This should also include algorithms dedicated to recognising standard RT phraseology, and a robust ability to separate individual speakers’ utterances. It was found that not only during the flights but in all experiments, near-​instantaneous real-​time transcription was observed which, although not measured, constitutes a positive and important outcome since, when combined with MT, the transcripts and translations need to be produced near-​instantaneously. The accuracy of Otter increased significantly in Scenarios 2 and 3, but since these presented non-​flying scenarios, they were used to examine the tool’s capability to learn. It was concluded that since the WERs of Experiments 3 to 8 improved virtually continuously, this can be seen as evidence of this. It is likely that this ASR tool on its own, once accuracy has improved, can aid risk communications between pilots and controllers, but when ATC communications are not conducted in English, MT as a complement to ASR is indispensable. It is believed that the present results for the STT tool may nevertheless be useful for risk and crisis communications in other environments as these do not suffer from the same communication characteristics and transcription issues as ATC communications and therefore could supply workable real-​ time transcripts of risk and crisis information on various media platforms, which can then be translated if required. The limitations of the research are (a) the restricted trainability of the tool, (b) that no open-​ source ASR engines were employed, (c) the performance speed was not measured experimentally, and (d) that only two experimental flights were conducted. The diversity of experiments is, however, a positive feature of the project as future research will have multiple instances to investigate, aiming to reduce risk and avoid future crisis communications across language barriers. This includes, for example, the identification of suitable toolkits for the planned STT and MT tool. The toolkits would require dedicated adaptation, customisation, and training with large datasets of transcribed transmissions, relevant glossaries, and parallel texts. The tools would then be deployed on GA and commercial flights and also in ATC centres while also experimentally measuring real-​ time transcription times.

Notes 1 English in radiotelephony is recommended but not compulsory (ICAO 2016). 2 A training programme would need to be approved by ICAO and be recommended for adoption by its 193 member states. 3 A customisable neural MT engine will be employed. 4 www.otter.ai/​ 5 Speechmatics has recently claimed complete self-​supervised learning (2021).

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Risk communication

Further reading Bajaj, Bettina, and Arnab Majumdar. 2016. ‘Pilot–​controller communication problems and an initial exploration of language-​engineering technologies as a potential solution’. In Human factors in transportation: Social and technological evolution across maritime, road, rail, and aviation domains, edited by Guiseppe di Bucchianico, Andrea Vallicelli, Nevile A. Stanton, and Steven J. Landry, 297–​311. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. This chapter describes pilot–​controller communication issues and the planned STT and MT system. Reason, James. 2009. Human error. First published 1990. 20th printing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A key textbook on the topic of human error, its role in accidents/​incidents, and the assessment and reduction of human error risk. Yu, Dong, and Li Deng. 2016. Automatic speech recognition: A deep learning approach. Softcover reprint. First edition 2015. London: Springer. This is the first comprehensive guide on ASR which focuses on deep learning approaches and introduces DNNs. It provides background material for ASR, technical details of DNNs, including mathematical descriptions and software implementation.

References Alexander, David. 2016. How to write an emergency plan. Edinburgh/​London: Dunedin Academic Press. Badrinath, Sandeep, and Hamsa Balakrishnan. 2022. ‘Automatic speech recognition for air traffic control communications’. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2676 (1): 798–​810. Bajaj, Bettina. 2020. ‘Human factors in risk communication: Exploring pilot-​controller “communication awareness”’. In Translation in cascading crises, edited by Federico M. Federici and Sharon O’Brien, 199–​219. London and New York: Routledge. Bajaj, Bettina, and Arnab Majumdar. 2016. ‘Pilot–​controller communication problems and an initial exploration of language-​engineering technologies as a potential solution’. In Human factors in transportation: Social and technological evolution across maritime, road, rail, and aviation domains, edited by Guiseppe di Bucchianico, Andrea Vallicelli, Nevile A. Stanton, and Steven J. Landry, 297–​311. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Barshi, Immanuel, and Candace Farris. 2013. Misunderstandings in ATC communication. Farnham: Ashgate. BEA (Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile). 2022. Preliminary report on the serious incident to the Airbus A320 registered 9H-​EMU on 23 May 2022 on approach to Paris-​Charles de Gaulle Airport. PDF File. https://​bea.aero/​filead​min/​user​_​upl​oad/​BEA2​022-​0219​_​9H-​EMU_​preliminary_​report_​for_​publ​icat​ion_​EN_​f​inal​ise.pdf. Bellec, Guillaume, Franz Scherr, Anand Subramoney, Elias Hajek, Darjan Salaj, Robert Legenstein, and Wolfgang Maass. 2020. ‘A solution to the learning dilemma for recurrent networks of spiking neurons’. Nature Communications, 11 (3625): 1–​15. Bhandia, Priyanka, M. J. Venkatarangan, and S. K. Srivatsa. 2018. ‘Evaluation of speech engines for ATC simulator’. 4th International Conference on Computing Communication and Automation (ICCCA), 1–​5. CAA (Civil Aviation Authority). 2016. ‘Flightcrew human factors handbook’. CAP 737. Gatwick: CAA. CAA (Civil Aviation Authority). 2017. ‘Aviation English research project: Data analysis findings and best practice recommendations’. CAP 1375. Research report. Gatwick: CAA. CAA (Civil Aviation Authority). 2021. ‘Radiotelephony manual’. CAP 413. Gatwick: CAA. Cadwell, Patrick, Sharon O’Brien, and Eric DeLuca. 2019. ‘More than tweets: A critical reflection on developing and testing crisis MT technology’. Translation Spaces, 8 (2): 300–​333. Chionis, Dimitrios, Nektarios Karanikas, Alice-​Rebecca Iordan, and Antonia Svensson-​Dianellou. 2022. ‘Contribution of risk perception and communication in aviation safety events’. Transportation Research Record, 2676 (3): 405–​416. CHIRP (Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme). 2018. ‘Air transport feedback’. Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme for Aviation, 127 (3): 1–​6. PDF File. https://​ chirp.co.uk/​app/​uplo​ads/​2022/​07/​ATFB-​Edit​ion-​127-​July-​2018-​E-​Vers​ion.pdf.

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Bettina Bajaj Eurocontrol. 2000. Safety regulatory requirement–​ESARR 3: Use of safety management systems by ATM service providers. PDF File. https://​skybr​ary.aero/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​booksh​elf/​505.pdf. Eurocontrol. 2006a. Air-​ground communication safety study: Causes and recommendations. PDF File. https://​ skybr​ary.aero/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​booksh​elf/​162.pdf. Eurocontrol. 2006b. European action plan for air ground communications safety. PDF File. http://​ats.atmb. net.cn/​Uplo​adFi​les/​202102​0110​4743​589.pdf. Eurofighter Typhoon. 2016. The human factor. Website. www.euro​figh​ter.com/​news-​and-​eve​nts/​2016/​08/​ the-​human-​fac​tor#:~:text=​Dir​ect%20Vo​ice%20In​put%20(DVI)%20all​ows,as%20ra​dar%2C%20d​ispl​ ays%20and%20nav​igat​ion. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 2022. Risk and outbreak communication. Website. www.ecdc.eur​opa.eu/​en/​hea​lth-​commun​icat​ion/​risk-​commun​icat​ion. Federici, Federico M., and Sharon O’Brien. 2020. ‘Cascading crises: Translation as risk reduction’. In Translation in cascading crises, edited by Federico M. Federici and Sharon O’Brien, 1–​ 22. London: Routledge. Geacăr, Claudiu-​Mihai. 2010. ‘Reducing pilot/​ATC communication errors using voice recognition’. Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences ICAS 2010, 1–​7. Website. www.icas.org/​ICAS_​ARCH​IVE/​ICAS2​010/​PAP​ERS/​441.PDF. Hawkins, Frank H. 2010. Human factors in flight. Second edition. Edited by Harry W. Orlady. Farnham: Ashgate. Helmke, Hartmut, Shruthi Shetty, Matthias Kleinert, Oliver Ohneiser, Heiko Ehr, Amrutha Prasad, Petr Motlicek, Aneta Cerna, and Christian Windisch. 2021a. ‘How to measure speech recognition performance in the air traffic control domain? The word error rate is only half of the truth!’. Interspeech2021 Conference, 1–​5. Helmke, Hartmut, Matthias Kleinert, Shruthi Shetty, Oliver Ohneiser, Heiko Ehr, Hörður Arilíusson, Teodor S. Simiganoschi, et al. 2021b. ‘Readback error detection by automatic speech recognition to increase ATM safety’. 14th USA/​Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar (ATM2021), 1–​10. Hill, Paul. 2020. Audio and speech processing with MATLAB. Oxford: Routledge. Honeywell. 2022. ‘Method and system for cockpit speech recognition acoustic model training using multi-​ level corpus data augmentation’. Patent application. https://​pate​nts.goo​gle.com/​pat​ent/​CN111​8338​ 50A/​en?. IBM. 2022. Watson language translator. Website. www.ibm.com/​cloud/​wat​son-​langu​age-​tra​nsla​tor#:~:text=​ What%20is%20Wat​son%20L​angu​age%20Tra​nsla​tor,custom​ers%20in%20th​eir%20own%20l​angu​age. ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization). 2016. Annex 10–​Aeronautical Telecommunications–​Volume II–​Communication Procedures including those with PANS status. Seventh edition. Montreal, CA: ICAO Kleinert, Matthias, Hartmut Helmke, Shruthi Shetty, Oliver Ohneiser, Heiko Her, Amrutha Prasad, Petr Motlicek, and Julia Harfmann. 2021. ‘Automated interpretation of air traffic control communication: The journey from spoken words to a deeper understanding of the meaning’. 2021 IEEE/​AIAA 40th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), 1–​9. Lennertz, Tracy, Judith Bürki-​Cohen, Andrea L. Sparko, Nickolas D. Macchiarella, and Jason Kring. 2012. ‘NextGen flight deck data comm: Auxiliary synthetic speech–​Phase I’, 31–​35. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. LilySpeech. 2020. LilySpeech. Website. https://​lil​yspe​ech.com/​. Microsoft. 2022. ‘Test accuracy of a custom speech model’. Wesbite. https://​docs.micros​oft.com/​en-​us/​azure/​ cognit​ive-​servi​ces/​spe​ech-​serv​ice/​how-​to-​cus​tom-​spe​ech-​evalu​ate-​data?piv​ots=​spe​ech-​stu​dio. O’Brien, Sharon. 2019. ‘Translation technology and disaster management’. In The Routledge handbook of translation and technology, edited by Minako O’Hagan, 304–​318. London: Routledge. Oruh, Jane, Serestina Viriri, and Adekanmi Adegun. 2022. ‘Long short-​term memory recurrent neural network for automatic speech recognition’. IEEE Access, 10: 30069–​30079. Pellegrini, Thomas, Jérôme Farinas, Estelle Delpech, and François Lancelot. 2018. The Airbus air traffic control speech recognition 2018 challenge: Towards ATC automatic transcription and call sign detection. Website. www.resea​rchg​ate.net/​publ​icat​ion/​328627291_​The_​Airbus_​Air_​Traffic_​Control_​speech_​ recognition_​2018_​challenge_​towards_​ATC_​automatic_​transcript​ion_​and_​call​_​sig​n_​de​tect​ion. Reason, James. 2009. Human error. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. SESAR. 2021. ‘Automated speech recognition for air traffic control’. SESAR Digitial Academy Webinar. PDF File. www.sesa​rju.eu/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​docume​nts/​webin​ars/​20210​511_​ASR%20webi​nar%20QA%20fi​ nal.pdf.

416

Risk communication Seyfarth, Scott, and Paul Zhao. 2020. ‘Evaluating an automatic speech recognition service’. AWS Machine Learning Blog in Amazon Transcribe, Artificial Intelligence. Website. https://​aws.ama​zon.com/​blogs/​ mach​ine-​learn​ing/​eva​luat​ing-​an-​automa​tic-​spe​ech-​reco​gnit​ion-​serv​ice/​. Shu, Catherine. 2017. Microsoft’s speech recognition system hits a new accuracy milestone. Website. https://​ tec​hcru​nch.com/​2017/​08/​20/​mic​roso​fts-​spe​ech-​reco​gnit​ion-​sys​tem-​hits-​a-​new-​accur​acy-​milest​one/​. Skybrary. 2023. Pilot-​controller communications. Website. www.skybr​ary.aero/​artic​les/​pilot-​con​trol​ler-​com​ muni​cati​ons-​oghfa-​bn. Speechmatics. 2021. Self-​supervised learning: A step closer to autonomous speech recognition. PDF File. https://​ass​ets.ctfass​ets.net/​yze1a​ysi0​225/​4pQ​qtyr​zv8U​rSxP​RKVW​nyi/​d7687​2538​4098​9831​137c​26ca​ 5967​8b7/​Aut​omom​ous-​Spe​ech-​Reco​gnit​ion-​Self-​sup​ervi​sed-​Learn​ing-​whi​tepa​per_​_​1_​.pdf. Spence, Patric R., Kenneth R. Lachlan, and Donyale R. Griffin. 2007. ‘Crisis communication, race, and natural disasters’. Journal of Black Studies, 37: 539–​554. Su, Jeb. 2019. ‘CEO Tech Talk: How Otter.ai uses artificial intelligence to automatically transcribe speech to text’. Forbes. Website. www.for​bes.com/​sites/​jeanb​apti​ste/​2019/​06/​19/​ceo-​tech-​talk-​how-​otter-​ai-​uses-​ art​ific​ial-​intel​lige​nce-​to-​automa​tica​lly-​tra​nscr​ibe-​spe​ech-​to-​text/​?sh=​6bbdc​ebf3​872. Trinh Van, Loan, Thuy Dao Thi Le, Thanh Le Xuan, and Eric Castelli. 2022. ‘Emotional speech recognition using deep neural networks’. Sensors, 22 (1414): 1–​20. Waibel, Alex, Hidelumi Sawai, and Kiyohiro Shikano. 1990. ‘Consonant recognition by modular construction of large phonemic time-​delay neural networks’. In Readings in speech recognition, edited by Alex Waibel and Kai-​Fu Lee, 405–​412. San Mateo, CA: Morgan Kaufmann. Wasyliv, Boh, and Douglas Clarke. 1994. ‘Natural language analysis and machine translation in pilot–​ATC communication’. International Conference, Machine Translation–​Ten Years On Cranfield University, 12–​ 14 November 1994, 1–​23. Zuluaga-​Gomez, Juan, Saeed S. Sarfjoo, Amrutha Prasad, Iuliia Nigmatulina, Petr Motlicek, Oliver Ohneiser, and Hartmut Helmke. 2022. BERTraffic: A robust BERT-​based approach for speaker change detection and role identification of air-​traffic communications, 1–​5.

417

INDEX

1951 Refugee Convention 157, 265 absence 5, 9, 73, 76, 101–​2, 113, 118, 203, 206–​7, 240–​1, 243, 251–​2, 260, 264, 269, 271, 345, 404 accents 273, 386, 405–​6 acceptability 10, 33, 322, 325–​6, 338 accessible/​accessibility 3–​5, 11–​12, 23, 28, 31–​40, 45–​56, 62, 66, 84–​5, 91–​2, 94, 100, 112–​17, 190, 196, 217, 225, 304, 307, 309, 325–​6, 334, 345–​6, 355, 379 accommodation 12, 180, 316, 389, 392, 395–​7 accuracy 12, 22–​3, 36, 149–​50, 158, 165, 167, 189, 223, 225, 321, 325–​7, 346, 362, 379, 406–​7, 409, 411, 413–​14 ad hoc interpreters 4, 37, 64, 67–​9, 96, 115–​16, 122, 132, 137, 158, 165, 183, 228, 251–​3, 271, 275, 280, 360–​1, 363–​6, 372–​4, 380 ad hoc interpreters/​interpreting 4, 11, 64, 67–​9, 158, 165, 183, 251–​3, 271, 275, 280, 360–​1, 363–​6, 372–​4, 380 adaptation 53, 107, 194, 210, 347, 414 addition 11, 330, 333, 335, 338, 352–​3, 355, 360–​3, 365–​7, 369–​73, 383, 385–​6 affected people/​areas/​countries 46–​7, 76, 84, 96, 112, 116, 176, 217–​19, 221, 225, 227–​9, 291, 305, 315 Afghan refugees 156–​8, 166 Afghanistan 1, 7, 119–​20, 144–​7, 153, 156–​60, 162, 167, 172–​4, 177–​81, 183–​4, 187–​97, 233, 268, 364 Africa 13, 101–​4, 107–​8, 227, 228, 346 aftermath 1, 7, 174, 182, 218 agent(s) 73–​5, 80, 82, 183, 201, 279–​81, 286, 379–​80, 390; humanitarian 133–​4; intelligence 192; military 151; public relations 314; recruitment 187, 191

aid agency/​organisation 9, 99–​100, 103–​4, 219, 278, 281 aid deliverable 117 aid dissemination 100, 109 aid distribution 108 aid provision 8, 233, 244 aid sector 99–​100, 103 aid worker 99, 234, 242, 244, 280, 284 Albania 269 ambiguity 11, 55, 326, 329–​31, 333, 338, 351, 397 Amnesty International 100–​1, 235, 255, 280 Angola 81 anonymity 104, 136, 393 appropriateness 4, 10–​1, 38, 59–​60, 62, 65, 68–​9, 89, 321–​2, 325–​6, 338 Arab country 202–​3, 210, 345, 347, 350, 355–​6; Arabic speaking countries 10, 273, 344–​6 Arabic 11, 77–​8, 101, 203–​5, 209, 222, 254–​5, 270, 272–​3, 339, 344–​52, 354–​6, 364 Arakan state 11, 290, 362, 366 Arakanese (language) 290, 293 armed conflict 120, 122, 133, 202, 291; armed forces 144–​6, 149–​52; armed group 132–​4, 175, 300; armed invader 193; armed soldier 193 arrest(s) 9, 293, 296, 298, 300–​1 arrival of evacuees/​refugees 178–​81, 183, 265, 271 artificial intelligence 8, 405 Assamese 291 asylum application(s) 158, 163, 181, 265, 268, 271–​3 asylum hearing(s) 156–​7, 160, 164, 173, 235 asylum seeker(s) 11–​12, 45, 73–​4, 77–​8, 81, 104, 156–​7, 161, 163–​4, 166, 178, 197, 239, 245, 249–​51, 260–​1, 265, 268, 277, 389–​98, 400–​1 audio description 46–​8, 51, 53–​4

418

Index Australia iii, 4, 31–​40, 153, 187, 190, 196, 305, 321–​8, 331–​2, 338, 346, 378; Australian forces 193–​6 awareness 5, 9, 19, 47, 62, 64, 66, 77, 85, 87, 90, 94–​5, 108, 112, 122, 134–​5, 138–​40, 145, 181, 195, 210, 223, 225, 251, 260–​1, 271, 275, 345, 378, 385, 389, 397–​400, 404–​5 back translation 328–​37 Bangladesh 103, 291, 362, 364–​6, 375 Basque 249 Belarussian 316 Belgium iii, 2, 45–​50, 54, 245 Bengali 291, 366, 371 best practice 3, 48, 113, 141 bilingual 5, 39, 64, 67, 87, 90–​1, 96, 104, 107, 222, 253, 280, 283–​4, 401; volunteer participants 5, 83 Bini 237 Bosnia-​ Herzegovina 144–​7, 151, 153, 173, 245 bottom-​up 26–​7, 67, 75–​6, 85, 94, 226, 391–​2, 394, 396, 398–​400 Brazil iii, 2, 5, 24, 72–​80, 82, 102, 147, 405 Brazilian Portuguese 73, 77, 79, 83 bridge/​bridging 4, 6, 52, 132, 160, 174, 196, 221, 264, 266–​7, 275, 290, 396 broken English 237 Burmese (language) 9, 290–​1, 293, 295, 300, 362–​3, 366 Canadian 146–​7, 150, 245, 356, 405 Cantonese (language) 38, 104–​5, 107 cascading 1, 24, 60, 68, 84, 221, 236, 378, 404 Catalan 249 Central Africa 233 Central African Republic 233 Central America 13 Central Asia 102, 346 chatbots 13 Chile 116–​17 China 39, 81, 102–​3, 105–​6, 305 civil emergency 114, 116, 122 civil society 5, 9, 34, 48, 50, 52, 54, 73, 75–​80, 86, 117, 278, 280–​1, 284–​5 civilian interpreter 7, 120, 144–​6, 148–​52, 153, 175–​6, 183, 187–​9, 191, 194 civilian translator 189, 196 class (social stratification) 45, 193, 294, 380, 384 classification of interpreters 173, 175–​6, 183 clear guideline 163–​4, 166, 219 code of conduct 6, 7, 159–​60, 166, 190, 202, 242, 346, 395 code of ethics 172, 241, 283 collaboration 8, 28, 52–​3, 55, 62, 64–​5, 79, 91, 94–​5, 101, 141, 146, 152–​3, 194, 223, 227–​8, 241, 278, 282, 284, 404 colloquial language 50, 354–​6

Colombia 268–​9 common practice 107, 363 communication challenge 249, 251, 285 communication channel 52, 165–​6, 243, 306, 345 communication error/​failure/​issue/​problem 12, 85, 250, 280, 282, 305, 391, 401, 403–​4, 415 communication material 33, 51–​3, 350, 355 communication need 100, 221–​3, 225, 227–​9, 233, 255, 355 communication practice 11, 52, 85, 233, 304–​5 communication strategy 38, 52–​4, 66, 85, 97, 234 community interpreter/​-​ing 5, 72–​5, 80–​1, 163, 177, 197, 228, 262 community language 36, 38–​9, 321, 323, 338–​9 community translation 5, 73–​4, 109, 324, 339–​40 compensation 383, 385–​6 competent interpreter 9, 264–​5, 275 computer literacy 92, 95–​6 conference interpreter/​-​ing 11, 72, 119, 152, 175–​7, 189, 228, 238, 377–​80, 385 confidentiality 116, 148–​9, 189, 237, 242, 393 conflict of interest 187, 192–​3 conflict zone interpreter/​-​ing iii, 7, 119, 121–​3, 144–​53, 156–​67 conflict zone translator 120, 122–​3 consistency 52, 90, 101, 297, 347–​8, 353, 355 Cook Islands Māori (language) 339 cooperation 6, 8, 25–​6, 79, 102–​3, 233, 250–​1, 259–​60, 266, 283–​5, 381 coordination 52, 63, 65–​6, 116, 174, , 218, 228, 259, 266–​8, 281, 404 coping strategies/​strategies for coping 7, 139, 156, 166, 238, 241 COVID-​19 crisis 4, 11, 45–​6, 48–​55, 59, 74, 304, 316, 321 COVID-​19 information 32, 34, 36, 38, 50–​2, 321, 326 COVID-​19 pandemic 4–​5, 9, 26, 31–​5, 37–​41, 45, 47–​50, 52, 55, 59–​70, 72–​83, 84, 94, 115–​16, 147, 177, 179, 207, 210, 229–​30, 234, 236–​9, 244, 278, 280, 284, 304–​5, 307, 309, 312, 314–​16, 321–​7, 345–​7, 351, 353–​4, 356, 377, 389 creole 73, 77–​8 crisis context 5, 10, 12, 31, 34, 37, 46–​7, 72, 159, 202, 204, 218–​19, 222–​7, 229, 236, 244, 264–​6, 269, 275, 361, 405 crisis ecosystem 5, 113 crisis information 33, 39, 50–​2, 238, 325–​6, 413–​14 crisis management 32, 40, 55, 100, 201, 374 crisis relief 5, 99, 103, 108 crisis response i, 2, 8, 23, 31–​3, 39–​40, 96, 104, 116, 217, 219, 221 crisis setting iii, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 112–​13, 200, 290, 293, 300, 345, 360–​1, 374, 404

419

Index crisis translation 3–​4, 7, 11, 17–​19, 21, 23, 27–​8, 31, 33–​40, 45–​8, 50, 53–​4, 86–​7, 95, 97, 109, 113, 116, 201, 209, 211, 224, 235–​6, 322–​6, 334, 338, 404–​5 critical discourse 9, 290, 301 critical reflection 187, 196, 229 critical role 5, 103–​4, 114, 117, 236, 285, 404 Croatia 146–​7, 151 crowdsourcing 47, 116 Cuba 81, 257 cultural accessibility 34, 36–37 cultural appropriateness 4, 11, 38, 59–​60, 65, 68–​9, 326 cultural aspect 159, 210, 238 cultural awareness 95, 138–​9 cultural barrier 1, 34, 37, 250, 284, 286, 305 cultural broker/​-​ing 137, 240–​1, 265, 294 cultural capital 135, 138, 192, 193 cultural competence 138, 240, 262, 271, 378 cultural difference (incl. cross-​cultural) 61, 72, 87, 102, 135, 139, 166, 235, 240–​1 cultural issue 138, 192, 239–​40, 251, 260 cultural knowledge (incl. cross-​cultural) 138, 145, 164, 175, 240 cultural mediation (incl. bicultural, intercultural or transcultural) 1, 5, 8, 72, 117, 165, 233–​45 cultural mediator 1, 8, 39, 62, 117, 187, 192, 233–​45, 264, 275 cultural negotiation 9, 296, 300 cultural skill (incl. cross-​cultural) 144, 149, 240, 244, 268 culturally and linguistically diverse community or CALD community 4, 12, 31, 32, 34–​5, 47, 59, 275, 291, 305, 324 custom vocabularies 12 Czech (language) 401 Danish (language) 82 Dari (language) 164, 174, 177–​84 deaf community 77, 116 deaf people 72, 74, 78, 112, 116–​17, 120 Declaration of Human Rights (New York, 2018) 227, 233, 265 decolonisation/​-​ising/​-​ed i, 87, 96, 114, 218, 302 deprivation 219, 367, 372 development aid 99–​104 development context 8, 217–​18, 227–​8 development cooperation/​collaboration 103, 227, 251, 259–​60 development NGO 107 dialects 108, 174, 225–​6, 228, 372, 405 disaster management/​-​er 4, 17–​28, 30, 84, 87, 91–​2, 94–​6, 236 disaster preparedness 85–​6, 95, 221, 227 disaster prevention 24, 96, 100 disaster risk (without UNDRR) 22, 87, 91, 221, 228

discourse 9, 11–​12, 20, 68, 101–​2, 184, 196, 218, 223, 226, 267, 290, 292, 295–​6, 298, 301, 315, 326, 340, 351, 356, 370–​1, 378, 381–​3, 386, 393–​4, 401 displacement 77, 202, 209, 229, 235, 265, 278, 296, 360–​3, 365, 371, 373, 379, 389, 391, 396, 398 disseminating information 10, 52, 77, 219, 309, 315, 356 distance management 9, 266–​7 distinct voice 11, 378, 381, 383 distrust 10, 38, 66, 166, 292, 294, 299, 305, 315; mistrust 61, 66, 251, 295, 307, 314–​15, 363 diverse community 31, 34, 46–​7, 275, 305 Dutch (language) 45 earthquake 1, 17–​19, 22–​6, 47, 84, 116, 207, 210, 236 Easy Language 4, 50, 53–​4 Ebola 85–​6, 97, 132 editorialisation 362 education 12, 36, 64, 72, 74–​6, 94, 96, 108, 183, 191, 204–​5, 211, 220, 222, 224–​5, 228–​9, 237–​9, 253–​4, 256, 268, 294, 323, 328, 339, 345–​7, 355, 363, 366–​7, 390, 401 effective communication 9, 10, 12–​13, 31, 36, 241, 261, 281, 284–​5, 394 Egypt 203 emergency risk 84–​6, 94 emergency situation 35, 63, 75, 132, 236, 284, 344–​5 empathy 7, 135, 145, 148, 152, 156, 161–​3, 193, 262, 266, 275, 284 English (language) 5, 9–​10, 22–​5, 27, 32–​3, 35–​9, 50, 54, 69, 77–​8, 85, 86–​90, 94, 96, 100–​1, 104–​8, 115, 139, 148, 159, 177, 179, 190, 205, 222, 237, 243, 245, 253–​5, 270, 272, 282, 290–​1, 293–​5, 297, 300, 304, 307, 314, 316, 321–​3, 325–​38, 346–​50, 361–​2, 364, 366, 371, 378, 380, 383, 385–​6, 391–​3, 395, 401, 404–​6, 411, 414 equal access 45, 75, 87, 246, 324, 334 Esan (language) 237 Estonia 9–​10, 304–​9, 311–​17 ethical behaviour 6, 196, 378, 380 ethical consideration 9, 11, 116, 141, 187, 196, 240, 377–​80, 383, 408 ethical dilemma 158, 160, 175, 286, 379 ethical implication 100, 137–​8, 140, 167 ethical practice 11, 377–​85 ethical principle 158, 241–​2, 244, 267, 275, 286, 377–​9, 385 ethical standard 7, 167, 187, 242 Ethiopia 2, 103 Ethnic/​ethnicity 4, 34, 45–​7, 59–​61, 63, 65, 68, 108, 138, 146, 174, 194, 242, 270, 290–​4, 296, 298–​302, 305, 316–​17, 322–​6, 338–​9, 362, 380, 384, 403, 413

420

Index ethnographic 8, 176, 178, 235, 237, 360 ethnolinguistic 69, 304 Europe 13, 45, 59, 61, 73, 99, 101–​2, 121, 146, 255, 268, 276, 311, 316, 323 European Commission 18, 147, 283 European Parliament 11, 261, 378, 380–​1, 384, 386 Exclusion (people and/​or relief, not method) 47, 51, 74, 76, 78, 80, 89–​90, 115, 138, 237, 278, 280–​1, 283, 372, 384 expectations 6–​8, 144–​6, 148, 150–​2, 159, 164, 166, 267, 269, 282 experienced interpreter 8, 79, 87, 89, 94, 179 experienced translator 87, 89, 94, 206, 208 explanation (strategy) 9, 11, 25, 35, 89–​1, 139, 174, 266, 355, 371, 395 Facebook 9, 49, 208, 243, 245, 304–​9, 312, 323, 338, 344–​5, 348, 350, 354–​5, 393 face-​to-​face communication 52, 54, 87, 105–​6, 219, 252, 257–​8, 364 fairer society 9, 282, 285 false fluency 362 Farsi (language) 177–​8, 339 female interpreter 151–​2 field guide 119, 189, 191–​2, 194, 196 Fijian (language) 339 financial effects 7, 208–​9 Finland 305 first alert mechanism 6, 152 fluency 225 focus group 8, 9, 12, 25, 48, 50, 53, 104, 107, 136, 177, 250, 252–​3, 290, 306, 393 foreign force 190–​6, 312 foreign language 17, 19, 21, 23–​6, 48, 51, 105, 137, 139, 205, 208, 251, 253, 354–​6 foreignness 17, 19, 21, 23–​7, 295 France 39, 204, 208, 245, 269 free healthcare 8, 244 freelance interpreter 63, 67, 118, 175, 177–​8, 253, 283, 365 freelance translator 67, 118, 175, 202, 206, 283, 324 French (language) 45, 77–​8, 82, 101, 148, 205, 209, 237, 254–​5, 270, 272–​3, 282, 339, 354, 356, 361–​2, 404–​5 frontline 6, 41, 52, 131, 135, 139, 150, 173, 309 future crisis 5, 19, 145, 225, 229, 414 Galician 8, 249–​50, 252–​3, 259–​61 gender identity 34, 153, 385 gender perspective 261, 377, 385 gender-​aware language 11, 377–​81, 383, 385 gender-​based violence 160, 249–​50, 260, 367, 371, 378, 382, 383–​4 gender-​specific ethical practice 11, 377–​8, 380–​1, 385 gender-​wise 11, 380–​2, 385

Geneva convention 112, 118–​20, 122, 133 Georgia 269 German (language) 45, 78, 82, 361–​2 Germany 78, 91, 245, 268–​9 Ghana 147, 236, 243, 396 Global South 2, 102, 121, 236, 245 good practice 138, 279, 283–​4, 286, 305, 338 government information 51, 321–​3 government website 36, 38–​40, 49, 338 grassroots 3, 18, 59, 65, 68–​9, 101 Greater Bay Area 102 Greece 305 Guangdong 102 Gujarati (language) 339 Haiti 47, 73, 81, 225 Haitian creole (language) 73, 77, 78 hazard 1, 4, 17, 18, 19, 23, 35, 84, 86, 90, 403 health communication 47, 305–​6, 325 health crisis 32, 34, 36, 39, 50, 59–​60, 62, 66, 68, 69–​70, 74–​6, 234, 234, 243, 304, 315–​16, 356 health emergency 62–​5, 76, 78, 85, 87, 98, 114–​15, 132–​3, 233, 236, 238, 243–​4, 318, 344, 355 health information 11, 45, 47, 79, 115, 321, 323–​5, 334, 338–​40, 344, 346, 354 health literacy/​-​te 10, 11, 36, 322–​3, 325, 334, 338–​40 health terminology 10, 322, 355 health translation 346, 349–​50 health website 323, 352–​3 heritage language 107, 334, 339 hesitation 195, 301 Hindi (language) 38, 291, 323, 329, 362, 364 historical contextualisation 5, 74 historical marginalisation 5 Hong Kong iii, 5, 99–​109 Horn of Africa 346 host community 11, 221–​2, 265, 375, 365 host country 72, 163, 195, 223, 224, 249–​51, 257, 260, 264, 267–​8, 275 human right (including abuse and violation) 4, 32, 39, 40, 60, 75, 79, 100–​1, 116, 158, 161, 233, 236, 250–​1, 265, 268, 293, 321, 378 human translator 23, 47, 321, 325 humanitarian action/​operation 117, 131, 133, 211, 217, 219, 223–​4, 244, 281, 285 humanitarian aid/​assistance iii, 1, 2, 7, 12, 99, 102–​3, 109, 114–​15, 117, 122, 201, 233, 236, 239, 244 humanitarian context 7, 137, 139, 141, 217, 219, 221–​3, 225–​30, 235–​6, 244 humanitarian crisis/​emergency 9, 12, 46, 97, 100, 132–​3, 160, 218, 220, 224–​5, 229, 233–​5, 245, 278–​80, 283, 285, 360, 381, 389, 393–​4, 399 humanitarian diplomacy 133

421

Index humanitarian interpreter/​-​ing 119, 131–​2, 136–​7, 139, 141, 175–​6, 227–​3, 233–​5 humanitarian need 1, 219–​21, 227 humanitarian negotiation/​-​or iii, 131–​7, 139–​40 humanitarian NGO 106, 233 humanitarian organisation 5–​6, 8, 99, 103–​8, 132–​3, 136, 139–​40, 220, 236, 242, 244, 284, 361 humanitarian personnel /​professional/​worker/​actor/​ operator 8, 12, 104, 133–​5, 137, 224, 227, 238, 364, 391, 394, 398, 401 humanitarian relief 1, 133 humanitarian relief 1, 8, 12, 47, 99–​100, 103–​8, 117, 133, 208, 225, 245, 360–​1, 371, 386 humanitarian response 13, 97, 218–​19, 221, 223, 225, 229 humanitarian scenario 238, 240, 243–​4, 246 humanitarian sector 99–​101, 218–​19, 222–​3, 281, 285, 389, 399–​400 humanitarian setting 8, 11, 33, 113, 120, 217–​18, 228–​9, 236, 241 humanitarian translation 123, 218, 222–​5 Hungarian (language) 205 ideal interpreter 6, 145, 148 immediate aftermath 1, 7, 174, 182, 218 impartiality 7, 66, 119, 122, 133, 156–​61, 163–​7, 188–​9, 192, 242, 274, 379 implementation plan/​strategy 19, 27, 32, 62, 64, 77, 80 inadequate 10, 117, 204, 251, 261 inappropriate translation 322, 327–​8 inclusion (social) 9, 51, 53, 86, 99–​100, 122, 179, 220 inclusive communication 4, 53–​4, 78, 86, 153, 218, 221, 266, 278, 286, 381, 384 India 38, 102–​4, 107, 374 indigenous communities/​people/​population (languages and cultures) 4–​5, 36, 40, 59, 60–​70, 72–​4, 78, 115; indigenous (language) rights 59, 60; indigenous interpreter 4, 64, 67–​8; indigenous translator 4, 64, 67 insecurity 1, 68, 74, 76, 156, 161, 251, 292 Instagram 307, 344–​5, 348, 350 intended audience 4, 33, 35, 67, 89, 92 intercultural communication 9, 59–​60, 64, 68, 140, 184, 235, 304–​5 intercultural crisis 3, 5, 86, 386 intercultural mediation 5, 165, 235, 237, 240 intergroup 291, 386 interlingual 32, 36, 46, 48, 54, 64, 68, 61, 81, 89 intermediaries 4, 49–​50, 52–​4, 245, 285 intermediary language 5, 101, 105–​8 international aid 9, 100, 109, 175, 278, 284 international effort 5, 112–​14, 121 international force 7, 121, 187, 191 international NGO 100–​1, 244, 364–​9, 371

international organisation 28, 64, 99–​101, 119, 174–​6, 183, 279, 285, 346, 360, 363–​5, 381 international protection 156–​7, 180, 234, 265, 395, 397 interpreter training 132, 197, 221–​2, 252–​3, 260–​1, 385 interpreting behaviour 188, 189, 196–​7 interpreting for refugees 157–​60, 162–​4, 166, 268 interpreting need 5, 100, 188 interpreting policy 17–​19, 27–​8, 117 interpreting practice 27, 101, 137, 187, 189, 191, 196, 234, 236, 373, 377–​8, 380, 384, 386 interpreting service 7, 9, 60–​1, 63, 67, 80, 100, 116, 135, 156–​8, 164, 175–​6, 178–​81, 228–​9, 234, 238, 251–​2, 254, 259, 262, 264–​5, 269–​75, 282, 321, 364–​7, 385 interpreting skill 117, 131–​2, 135, 137, 139–​40, 145–​6, 152, 228, 324 interpreting strategy 11, 223, 361, 365 intersection(al/​-​ity) 7, 55, 235, 244, 379–​80, 384–​5 intersemiotic translation 46, 48, 51, 54 intonation 225, 227, 386 Iraq 113, 119–​20, 145, 153, 173, 193, 210 Ireland 55, 147, 305 Israel 361, 364 Italian (language) 8, 11–​12, 73, 82 Italian NGO 8, 233, 235 Italy 8, 12, 147, 236, 243, 245, 315, 392, 396 Japan iii, 2, 4, 17–​28, 39, 116, 356 Japanese (language) 17, 20–​4, 26–​8, 73, 82, 105, 339, 361–​2, 401 jargon 50, 54, 100, 150, 152, 283 Jordan 8, 132, 218, 221–​2, 226–​7, 356 Kenya 8, 103, 132, 218, 227–​9 Kiribas (language) 339 Kono (language) 86–​91, 94–​5 Korean (language) 23–​4, 339 Kosovo 132, 145, 147, 173 Krio (language) 86–​91, 94–​5 lack of access 40, 45, 47, 95, 201, 404, 406 lack of information 39, 47, 275, 311–​12 lack of training 67, 116, 134, 136–​7, 139, 164, 242 lack of trust 10, 39, 66, 68, 315, 338 language/​linguistic appropriateness 10, 322, 325–​6, 338 language/​linguistic assistance 63, 67, 74–​5, 77, 80, 249, 251, 260–​1 language/​linguistic barrier 1, 12, 19, 32, 34, 37, 40, 45–​6, 48, 52, 112, 115, 117, 217, 250, 273–​4, 282, 284, 286, 294, 305, 324, 345, 363, 386, 395, 404, 414 language/​linguistic diversity 41, 55, 61, 80, 85, 230

422

Index language/​linguistic mediation 5, 8, 65, 73–​5, 77, 79, 85, 94, 117, 122, 132, 169, 217–​18, 221, 233, 237, 240, 243, 250, 360 language/​linguistic right 3, 5, 32, 59–​61, 65, 72–​3, 79–​81, 84–​98, 236, 250–​1 language assistant 175–​6 language expert 87, 89, 90–​1, 94–​6; expert translators 11, 338 language mediation 8, 85, 94, 117, 122, 217–​18, 221, 233, 237, 240, 243, 360 language need iii, 32, 99–​100, 116, 219–​22 language policy 19, 60, 61, 65, 68, 70, 315 language proficiency 76, 163, 222, 227, 240, 363, 366–​7, 371 language technology 13, 23, 27, 403–​17 Latvia 305 Lebanon 132, 203, 208–​9, 221 legal framework i, 8, 67, 116, 121, 217, 223, 229, 234, 265 lexical analysis 4, 17, 19, 21, 26 LGBTI people (LGBTIQ) 381, 384–​6 Libras (Brazilian sign language) 77, 82 Libya 173, 396–​7 Limba (language) 86–​91, 94–​5 Lingala 401 lingua franca 24, 86, 101, 117, 148, 243, 282, 304, 314, 316, 391–​2 linguistic challenge 41, 55, 99, 104, 106–​7, 135, 230, 383, 389 linguistic competence 9, 96, 251–​2, 259 linguistic equality 86, 95, 291 linguistic minority 55, 75–​6, 80, 115, 304–​5, 316–​17 linguistic policy 59, 64, 81 literacy level 35, 36–​7, 67, 91 literal translation 223, 352–​5 lived experience 59, 66, 217, 229, 394 loan word 329–​30 local actor 85, 101, 135, 150, 217–​19, 221, 228–​9 local authorities 6, 19–​20, 27–​8, 134, 152, 175, 239 local communities 5, 91, 99–​100, 103, 117, 137, 151, 298 local crisis 5, 94 local host (community) 11, 227, 365 local interpreter 120, 131, 137–​8, 144, 152–​3, 158, 160, 167, 175–​7, 183–​4, 191–​2, 279, 364 local knowledge 96, 102, 187, 191–​2, 229 local language 5, 32, 37, 86, 91, 95, 101, 106–​8, 117, 174, 191–​2, 297, 405 local partner 101, 106–​8 local population 100, 101, 174, 243, 344–​5, 347 localisation/​localised 11, 63, 91, 101, 108, 114, 122, 217–​18, 221, 344–​7, 349–​51, 353, 355–​6 Macau 102, 104 Macedonia 132, 153, 157, 173

machine translation 18, 22, 47, 104, 106, 224–​5, 255, 325, 356, 403 Madrid 9, 178–​80, 254, 257, 270, 276 majority group 9, 290, 292–​3, 295, 297, 301 Malawi 103, 107 male interpreter 146, 148, 367 Mandarin Chinese (language) 38, 323 marginalisation/​-​ised i, 1, 5, 34, 59, 70, 73, 76–​7, 92, 117, 380, 384 medical interpreter/​-​ing/​-​ation xiv, 188, 246, 362 medical term 322, 329, 334, 347 medical translation 31 medical vocabulary 10, 322, 338 Mende (language) 86–​91, 94–​5 mental health 156, 158 161, 207 metaphors 11, 66, 368–​9 Middle East 175, 184, 346 migrant patient 233–​5, 238, 241, 244 migrant reception 264, 269, 275 migration context 9, 200, 389 migration scenario 264–​5, 398 migration setting 8–​9, 236, 264, 275 Milan 233, 237 military expectations 145 military institutions 6, 144 military interpreter 120, 149, 153, 176, 183; military linguist 119, 175–​6 military patrol 297 military representative 146, 149, 151–​2 minorities 9, 46, 55, 75–​6, 80, 85, 115, 292, 298, 301, 304–​5, 316, 384 minority community 4, 294, 324, 385 minority group 8–​11, 290, 292–​4, 297–​9, 301, 305, 362 minority language 10, 72–​5, 125, 164, 270, 272, 279, 315, 323–​4 miscommunication 12, 69, 260, 395–​6, 399–​400, 404–​6, 408, 414 Moldova 269 Morocco 132, 147, 203, 208–​9, 270 mother tongue 64, 68, 222, 267, 270, 273, 304, 316 movement restriction 9, 293, 297, 301 Mozambique 102–​3, 105, 107–​8 multicultural society 32, 245, 304 multidirectional communication 18, 23, 84, 87 multifaceted nature 73, 244–​5, 295, 384 multilateral 113–​14, 118–​19 multilingual (crisis) communication 5, 19, 21, 24, 27, 41, 51, 55, 84–​7, 91–​2, 94–​7, 100, 102, 113, 122, 211, 217, 221, 223, 229, 233, 251, 256, 264, 266, 285, 325–​6, 338 multilingual and intercultural crisis communication 3, 5 multilingual context/​environment i, 5, 11, 85, 94, 282

423

Index multilingual glossary/​resource 31, 40, 64, 66–​7, 79, 87, 91–​2, 94 multilingual information 51, 54, 79, 236 multilingual society 8, 46, 304–​5, 324 multiple languages 86–​7, 219, 346 multiple roles 167, 187, 192 Muslim 11, 193, 291, 293, 297, 299, 362, 368 Myanmar/​Burma 9, 11, 268, 290–​1, 295–​9, 301, 362, 364, 366 narratives 9, 61, 136, 148, 157, 159, 162–​3, 166–​7, 184, 238, 265, 276, 290, 293–​4, 296–​7, 302, 304, 307, 309, 311–​16, 360–​3, 401 native language 4, 10, 273, 275, 322, 391 Negotiation/​-​or iii, 6, 9, 90, 108, 131–​41, 145, 150, 152, 157, 159–​60, 165, 183, 296, 300, 380, 383, 385, 400 Nepal 102–​3, 405 neutrality 122, 133, 144, 148, 150, 159, 172, 188–​9, 201, 283, 294, 378–​9 New Zealand (Aotearoa) 10, 120, 321–​7, 334, 335, 338–​9 Nigeria 236–​7, 240, 243, 395, 397 Nigerian languages 237 Niuean (language) 339 non-​normative 7, 187–​91, 196 normative 11, 165, 187–​90, 196, 218, 240, 284, 377, 384, 391, 395 North Africa 346 North America 13 objectivity 7, 90, 150, 157–​9, 163–​4 occupational standards 6 occupational stress 157–​8, 161, 202 Oceania 13 official body 9, 203, 206 281–​2, 350 official language 5, 45, 73, 76, 86–​7, 101, 107, 115, 118, 174, 203, 249, 291, 304–​5, 346, 381 official means of communication 5, 73 official website 11, 33, 94, 325, 347–​53, 355 omission (strategy) 11, 80, 90, 326, 328, 330–​1, 333, 335, 338, 360–​3, 365, 367–​9, 371–​4 original message 89, 160, 165 outpatient 234, 236–​9, 242–​3 Pakistan 2, 34, 268, 302 Palestine 210, 361, 364 paraphrasing 11, 89, 226–​7, 352, 355 Pashto (language) 174, 177–​8 peacekeeper/​-​ing 6, 119, 131, 144–​6, 149–​50, 152–​3, 173, 175, 361, 364 perception 4, 6, 8, 12–​13, 64, 73, 75, 92, 11, 137, 144, 151–​3, 157–​60, 163, 166, 167, 177, 184, 189, 252, 269–​74, 292, 299–​300, 307, 338, 363, 381, 404, 412

performance (interpreter and/​or translator) 141, 157–​9, 161, 163, 166–​7, 173–​4, 179, 194, 201, 222–​3, 258, 275, 278–​9, 281, 284, 378, 380–​1, 386, 403, 409 persecution 11, 81, 158, 249, 265, 268, 362 personal standard 188, 190, 192 Peru iii, 2, 4, 59–​70 pidgin (language) 237, 243, 245, 397 policy documents (incl. white papers) 42, 17, 20, 33, 99, 108 policy implementation (incl. practice) 18, 26–​7, 31, 34, 60–​1, 64–​6, 68–​9, 76, 132, 217, 227, 284, 291, 338 policy implementation 18, 27, 33, 34, 59–​60, 62, 65, 66, 68, 70, 75–​6, 86, 116 policy regarding interpreting and/​or translation 17–​19, 28, 59, 116–​18 policy-​making process 4, 19–​21, 23–​8, 81, 286, 385 Polish (language) 316 poor communication 250, 360, 372, 403 poor language (proficiency) 363, 366, 371–​2 Portuguese (language) 5, 23–​4, 73–​4, 77–​9, 83, 101, 105, 107–​8, 255, 405 positionality iii, 9, 137, 141, 157, 167, 175, 235, 290–​302, 374 post-​conflict/​post-​war 7, 122, 131, 172–​3, 176, 234, 246, 286 poverty 1, 156, 233, 243, 249–​50, 291 power dynamics 84, 109, 290, 295, 298, 300, 391–​2, 401 power imbalance 161, 174, 224, 265, 291, 295, 300–​1, 379, 385 power relation 133, 268, 273, 292, 296, 299, 398 pragmatic equivalence 11, 266, 326, 334, 337 preparedness 8, 26, 46, 85–​7, 94–​6, 112, 114, 116, 122, 217–​18, 221–​2, 227–​9, 305, 394, 403 previous training 121, 134, 174–​5, 254 process management 9, 281–​2, 285 professional expectations 7, 166 professional interpreter 5, 146, 177, 183, 252–​3, 255–​7, 259–​60, 266, 271–​5, 286, 339, 364–​7, 369–​70, 372 professional practice 183, 229, 251–​2, 258, 261, 279 professional standard(isation) 7, 87, 188–​9, 378 professional training 7, 108, 166 professional translation/​-​or 4, 27, 38–​9, 88, 101, 104, 106, 119, 122, 200, 204, 221, 252, 324, 334 professionalisation iii, 5–​6, 12–​13, 94, 173, 175, 183 pronunciation 225–​7, 405, 411 protection of translators 113, 119, 122 protocol 12, 68, 116, 118–​19, 122, 157, 161, 178–​9, 241, 252, 260, 390 public health emergency 64, 76, 78, 115, 344 public narrative 294, 302, 307, 315

424

Index public service (incl. servants) 4, 60–​4, 73, 75, 80, 114, 172–​3, 179–​80, 262, 283–​4, 324, 379, 385 Punjabi (language) 38, 339 Putonghua (language) 105, 107 Qatar 11, 203, 344, 347, 351–​3, 355 Rakhine State 9, 11, 290–​1, 293–​6, 298–​300 reception centre 9, 11–​12, 180–​1, 264–​5, 269–​70, 272–​5, 279, 392, 395; Italian reception centre 11, 392 reception of information 10, 34, 316, 363 recommendation 4, 32, 41, 45–​50, 54–​5, 63, 85, 95, 131, 156, 230, 284, 322, 328, 339 Red Cross 103–​4, 118, 132, 174, 176, 178–​81, 183, 219, 280 Red T 119, 122, 172, 189, 191, 192, 196 refugee interpreter 156 refugee 8, 74, 77, 161, 178, 180–​1, 200, 203, 221–​3, 227, 241, 265, 267–​8, 270, 276, 278, 284; deaf refugee 120 regional variation 11, 347 regulation 7, 9, 17, 47, 53, 121, 180, 202, 239, 285, 335, 368, 394 relationship refugee/​asylum seeker and/​or migrant 11, 12, 77–​8, 81, 104, 178, 197, 234, 239, 245, 249–​51, 260–​1, 265, 275, 322, 324, 380–​1, 389–​401 repertoire 46, 115, 164, 226, 390–​2, 394, 396–​401 risk communication 47, 55, 84–​7, 94, 305, 325, 403–​4, 411, 413–​14 risk reduction 1, 3, 5, 22, 28, 66, 85–​7, 96, 116, 221, 403, 409 Rohingya (language) 11, 291, 293, 300, 363 Rohingya (people) 11, 290, 293, 294–​301, 360 Rohingya refugee 374 role boundary 113, 172–​3, 191, 245 role of interpreting/​the -​er 1, 4, 6, 9, 12, 54, 131–​2, 139–​40, 159, 164, 167, 172, 184, 192, 195, 235, 264, 275, 281, 294, 374, 385 role of translation/​the -​or 21, 97, 103–​4, 117, 210–​1, 236, 244 Romanian (language) 237 Rotuman (language) 339 Russian (language) 9, 254–​5, 257, 304–​9, 311–​12, 314–​17 Samoan (language) 10–​11, 321–​3, 325–​39 Saudi Arabia 11, 203, 347, 351–​3, 355 scalar nature 390, 394 Sendai framework (for disaster risk reduction) 22–​3, 26, 28, 29, 86, 221 sense of belonging 9, 138, 149, 275 sense of community 264, 269

sensitive (incl. insensitive) 11, 76, 89, 113, 116, 138, 224, 241, 266, 292, 294–​5, 301, 315, 327, 338, 368–​72, 378, 381–​5, 391–​2, 399, 400 service provision 6, 63, 87, 94, 152, 183, 189, 243, 250–​2, 259–​61, 282, 325, 365–​7 Sierra Leone 2, 5, 84–​7, 91–​2, 94–​7, 233 sign language 4–​5, 23, 46–​7, 51–​4, 73, 82, 92, 114–​17, 120–​1, 339 sign language interpreting/​-​er 4, 23, 51–​2, 54, 115–​17, 120 Sino-​Tibetan (language) 291 SnapChat 345, 348 social cohesion 75, 86, 94–​5, 292 Somali (language) 102, 227, 339 Somalia 2, 102, 227 South America 13 South-​South 102–​3 Soviet 156, 309, 317 Spain 2, 227, 233, 268, 364 Spanish (language) 61, 67, 69, 77–​8, 82, 101, 105, 158–​9, 164, 177, 181, 205, 249, 253, 255, 257, 270, 272–​3, 282, 323, 339, 378, 380, 386, 396, 401 Spanish army 7, 157–​8, 177, 179 speech recognition 12, 403–​6, 409, 411–​15 spoken language 46, 94, 112–​15, 120, 391 Sri Lanka 102–​3 stereotype(d) 152, 299 substitution (strategy) 11, 352–​3, 355, 362, 407, 411–​12 Sudan 2, 227, 233, 268, 364 survival strategy 7 sustainable development 86–​7, 92, 99, 120, 122, 221, 227, 229, 278 sustainable livelihood 217–​19, 224, 228–​9 Syria 1, 2, 7, 81, 200–​4, 206–​11, 221–​2, 227, 257, 268 Syrian refugee 1, 200, 221, 227 Syrian translator 203, 209, 222 Tagalog (language) 339 Taliban 156, 174, 189, 191–​5 Tamil (language) 38, 339, 405 target audience 4, 31, 36–​8, 49, 88–​9, 94, 326 telephone interpreting/​-​er 7, 174, 177–​83, 254, 258 terminology iii, 5, 9–​11, 67, 85–​96, 101, 150, 152, 226, 252, 258–​60, 322, 326, 331, 344–​56, 366, 371–​2 Thai (language) 29, 339 The Democratic Republic of Congo 2, 73, 117 The Philippines 103–​4 The United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)/​UK 115, 147, 290 The United States (of America)/​US/​USA 324, 380 Themne (language) 86–​91, 94–​5 TikTok 345, 348

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Index Tokelauan (language) 339 Tongan (language) 323, 339 top-​down 3, 5, 10, 18–​19, 23, 26–​7, 75–​6, 226, 306, 315, 354, 392, 394, 398–​400 torture 9, 160, 261, 293, 296–​8, 301, 397 traditional translation 12, 47, 389–​401 trained interpreter 137–​8, 251, 275, 364 training curriculum 226, 235 training need 104, 141, 201, 221–​2, 224, 249–​50, 252 training programme 6, 62, 68, 132, 135–​6, 139, 145, 156, 172, 223, 225, 227, 235, 260, 279, 385, 414 transcription/​transcript 9, 12, 217, 227, 290, 293–​8, 300–​1, 361, 364, 370, 381, 386, 393, 397–​8, 406–​9, 411–​14 transcripts 9, 12, 290, 293, 295–​8, 301, 361, 371, 381, 406–​11, 414 translanguaging 10, 12, 389–​92, 394, 396, 399–​401 translated information/​material/​messages/​resource/​ text/​transcripts 9, 33–​4, 36–​40, 51–​2, 61, 78–​9, 82, 88–​91, 115, 205, 208, 225, 252, 282, 293, 295–​7, 301, 315, 321, 324–​5, 327–​37, 339, 347, 364, 399, 414 translation capacity 85–​7, 95–​7 translation practice 5, 88, 100–​1, 103, 108, 235, 305, 399–​400 translation process 33–​4, 88, 95, 97, 294, 296, 300–​1, 392 translation service 36, 38–​9, 46–​7, 54, 63, 101, 107, 117, 120, 323–​4 translation technology/​tool 10, 18, 22, 104, 224–​6, 399, 403 translinguistic 12, 389–​90, 392–​4, 396–​8, 400–​1 transnational 46, 102, 113, 302, 377 transwomen refugee 11, 378, 380 trauma (incl. traumatised) 7, 156–​8, 160–​1, 163, 166, 181, 246, 261, 401 trust iii, 4, 8–​10, 12, 27, 36–​9, 52, 55, 59–​61, 66–​8, 84, 96, 108, 115, 134–​6, 138, 140, 144–​6, 149, 151–​3, 166–​7, 193, 195–​6, 219, 236, 238, 241, 244, 251, 256, 260, 274, 280, 292, 294–​5, 299, 304–​7, 314–​15, 315–​16, 338, 340, 346, 379, 398–​9; trustworthiness 37, 144–​5, 153, 238 Tunisia 11, 203, 210, 344, 347, 351, 354–​5 Turkey 1, 26, 268 Turkish (language) 82 Tuvaluan (language) 323, 339 Twitter/​X 38, 49, 178, 307, 345, 348, 350, 355 Uganda 102, 227, 234, 268 Ukraine 2, 11, 120, 172, 210, 279, 378, 381–​6

Ukrainian woman 11, 378, 380, 383 United Arab Emirates/​UAE 11, 203–​4, 207, 344, 347, 351–​3, 353, 355 untrained interpreter 137–​8, 251 Urdu (language) 323, 339, 362, 364, 366 use of common words 11, 352–​3, 354–​5, 366 vaccination 9, 11, 37, 39, 64, 304–​7, 309, 311–​16, 323, 326, 344–​56 vaccination rate 9, 304–​7, 311, 316 vaccination terminology 11, 344–​5, 347, 350, 355 Venezuela 2, 73, 268–​9 vicarious trauma 7, 157–​8, 241 videoconference interpreting 258 Vietnam 102, 173 Vietnamese (language) 323, 329 violence xiv, 1, 11, 114, 118, 120–​2, 131, 134, 151, 158, 160, 164, 173, 180–​1, 183, 193, 219, 234, 249–​50, 260, 268, 290, 293, 295–​302, 362, 367, 371, 377–​82, 384–​6; violent conflict 157, 276; violent discourse 9, 297; violent incident/​attacks 9, 120, 290, 294–​5, 298, 300 vulnerable 4, 35, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54–​5, 69, 72, 76–​8, 80, 99, 107–​8, 115, 133, 140, 160–​1, 163, 165–​6, 194, 211, 219, 224, 229, 234, 238, 240, 241, 243, 244, 250, 260, 264, 266–​7, 276, 280, 382, 384–​5 vulnerable group 4, 50, 55, 69, 133, 243, 250, 260 vulnerable party 160–​1, 163, 165–​6, 240 vulnerable population 77, 80, 99, 107, 133, 140, 219, 224, 229, 244 war interpreter 173–​4; Afghan interpreter 6–​7, 157, 160, 166, 184, 187, 190–​1, 196, 301 war setting 174, 176–​7 war zone 6–​7, 148, 176, 187–​91, 302 Warao (language) 82 WhatsApp 49, 79, 82, 238, 243, 364, 393, 398 white paper 4, 17, 19–​21, 23–​7, 30 Wolof (language) 82 women's crises 11, 377, 380–​1, 384–​5 working language 163, 238–​9, 253–​5, 258, 380, 383 Wuhan 132, 236 Yemen 202, 210, 364 YouTube 38, 243, 284, 307, 345–​6, 348, 350 Yugoslavia (former) 144, 146, 173 zone field guide 119, 189, 191–​2, 194, 196 zone interpreter iii, 7, 119, 121–​3, 153, 156–​7, 159, 167 zone translator 120, 122–​3

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