Multilingual support in HIV/ STD counselling in Flanders

ABSTRACT

In this article, we explore the multiple challenges faced by health service providers and immigrant patients when addressing sensitive issues in the context of HIV/STD counselling. To do so, we adopt a case-study approach which enables a deeply contextualised examination of the interactional process. The analysis will draw particular attention to the issue of contextual common ground, or the lack thereof, and how this correlates with the complex interactional conditions of the encounter. These conditions entail a combination of challenges, including the use of ad hoc interpreters on sensitive topics, in a remote, non-face-to-face constellation and with the use of digital support tools that are not equally accessible for all participants. We argue that this accumulation of multilingual, multimodal and multi-contextual challenges engenders the emergence of parallel tracks and limited consonance between institutional-counselling concerns on the one hand and experiential-patient concerns on the other.

KEYWORDS:

• Ad hoc interpreting
• remote interpreting
• HIV/STD counselling
• immigrant clients
• linguistic ethnography
• contextual knowledge

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. See for instance the tool Gesprekswijzer, an open access online learning module developed for service providers of Kind & Gezin, an agency responsible for monitoring and supporting the wellbeing of all children living in Flanders. The learning module aims to inform service providers about the methods and tools available and best suited in language discordant service encounters. https://www.kindengezinacademie.be/course/index.php?categoryid=7A similar tool, developed by the Flemish Agency for Integration and Civic Integration and oriented to a broad range of public service providers, is available through https://www.integratie-inburgering.be/communicatiewaaier

2. Arabic speech is transliterated in the Roman alphabet, based on the IJMES Transliteration system and further complemented by the translator for the diacritical signs.For the IJMES Transliteration system, see https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-file-manager/file/57d83390f6ea5a022234b400/TransChart.pdf

3. Transcription key: (.) short pause; (….) long pause; = latching, overlaps; xxx inaudible.

4. Babel is the former name of the association providing telephone interpreters for public service bodies. The official denomination and services of Babel have changed since Babel was integrated into the Flemish Agency for Integration and Civic Integration in 2015. However, many service providers, as in this case, still refer to Babel when they use telephone interpreters.

5. The background of the acquaintance (age and nationality) have not been communicated to the researchers.

6. We decided to anonymise the name of the hospital.

7. In legal administrative terms, the translator would be defined as belonging to the ‘second generation’, i.e. born and raised in Belgium in a family with two Morocco-born parents.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

J. De Wilde

J. De wilde is an assistant professor in the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication at Ghent University, Belgium. Her research focuses on multilingualism, intercultural communication in professional settings, public service interpreting and the use of digital tools as communication support during face-to-face interactions. She has published in various international peer-reviewed journals, including Multilingua, Journal of Language and Politics, Meta, Language and Literature.

ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4936-955X

Corresponding author/email: [email protected]

Katrijn Maryns

Katrijn Maryns is an assistant professor in the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication at Ghent University, Belgium. Her linguistic-ethnographic research examines multilingual discursive practices and linguistic inequality in institutional contexts of globalisation, with a particular focus on asylum and migration. She has published on diverse aspects of the Belgian asylum procedure, including the role of narrative construction, credibility assessment, interpreting and lingua franca interaction. She is the author of ‘The asylum speaker: Language in the Belgian asylum procedure’ (Routledge 2006), editor (with Philipp Angermeyer, York University) of the book series ‘Translation, Interpreting and Social Justice in a Globalised World’ (Multilingual Matters), and she has published in various international peer-reviewed journals (Applied Linguistics, Language in Society, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Language & Communication).

email: [email protected]