Multilingual dementia care: defining the limits of translanguaging

Abstract

In multi-ethnic contexts, it is not uncommon to find that dementia carers or their clients are using, as the medium for communication in care, a language in which they are not comfortable and/or are not fluent. In extreme cases, there could be no shared linguistic code at all. This article asks how feasible it is to provide adequate care with inadequate mutual language knowledge. In particular, it challenges the claims of some care-providers that nonverbal communication is a legitimate substitute for linguistic interaction. With reference to two recent models of aspects of communication, the article offers new insights into the necessary parameters for effective interaction. The conclusions have important implications for future decisions in dementia care. Meanwhile, the account extends the boundaries of language awareness by demonstrating the social importance of developing insights into linguistic practices in challenging contexts.

Keywords:

• Dementia
• professional practice
• translanguaging
• non-verbal communication
• multilingualism

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Li Wei for his indulgence of my many questions about his theory, and for reading and commenting on an early draft of this article. Thanks also to the special issue editors, Lesley Jeffries, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on later versions of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See Wray (forthcoming) for extensive discussion of how these ideas integrate with existing theories of communication and pragmatics.

2 https://www.wmq.org.au/news-and-events/events/2018/workplace-english-classes-for-the-community

3 Destinations include: Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, Greece, Ukraine, Philippines and Thailand. Japan also utilises Thai health services, again often with no shared language (Fukahori et al., 2011).

4 Vogler (2015, p. 59) notes, though, that many residents are used to living in foreign countries.

5 One Swiss owned home, Vivo Bene Village, does offer German classes for carers (Vogler, 2015, p. 43).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alison Wray

Alison Wray is a Research Professor of Language and Communication at Cardiff University, and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and of the Learned Society of Wales. She is internationally recognised for her work on formulaic language, which includes two major monographs (2002 and 2008) the former of which won the BAAL Book Prize in 2003. She has also edited three books, including one on the evolution of language, and has co-authored two successful textbooks, both in their third edition. Over the past decade her attention has turned to understanding the dynamics of communicating when one of the participants has dementia. Her international reputation is demonstrated by her many invited plenary lectures, including the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) in 2014, the Alzheimer’s NZ conference in 2018 and the Australian and New Zealand Applied Linguistics (ALANZ) conference in 2019.