Functions of small talk in healthcare interpreting: an exploratory study in medical encounters facilitated by healthcare interpreters

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study analyses the functions of small talk in interpreter-mediated healthcare encounters. Drawing on a dataset of hospital visits with participation of five trained interpreters, analysis of particular excerpts reveals that small talk helps both patients and providers to fulfil functions similar to those reported in monolingual visits, thus (a) supporting interpersonal relationship building (e.g. establishing trust) and (b) goal achievement (e.g. minimising pain). Successful attainment of small talk functions relies heavily on healthcare interpreters, who are observed to co-construct and participate in small talk pursuing their own set of objectives, such as reassuring patients and facilitating the providers’ clinical work.

Este estudio exploratorio analiza las funciones que cumplen las conversaciones triviales (small talk) en encuentros médicos con participación de un intérprete. Partiendo de un conjunto de datos enmarcados en visitas hospitalarias donde intervienen cinco intérpretes sanitarios con formación, el análisis de fragmentos específicos muestra que las conversaciones triviales permiten tanto a pacientes como proveedores desarrollar funciones similares a las que se observan en visitas monolingües. Esto contribuye (a) al desarrollo de relaciones interpersonales (p. ej. establecimiento de confianza) y (b) la consecución de objetivos (p. ej. minimización del dolor). Los intérpretes sanitarios desarrollan un papel esencial para que los objetivos que persiguen las conversaciones triviales se cumplan con éxito. Asimismo, se observa que los intérpretes coconstruyen y participan en este tipo de conversaciones según sus propios objetivos, entre los que pueden nombrarse tranquilizar a los pacientes o facilitar el trabajo clínico de los proveedores.

KEYWORDS:

• Small talk
• healthcare interpreting
• trained interpreters
• intercultural communication
• healthcare settings

KEYWORDS:

• conversaciones triviales
• interpretación sanitaria
• intérpretes formados
• comunicación intercultural
• ámbito sanitario

Disclosure statement

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

Note contributors

Cristina Álvaro Aranda has a PhD in Modern Languages and Translation from the University of Alcalá with her doctoral dissertation Training and professional experience as differentiators in the performance of healthcare interpreters: a case study from the sociology of professions (2020), with distinctions PhD degree Cum Laude and International PhD. She has a degree in Modern Languages and Translation from the University of Alcalá (2010–2014) and has also completed the European MA Degree in Intercultural Communication, Interpreting and Translation in Public Services (English-Spanish, 2014–2015), achieving the distinction of Outstanding Academic Performance in both programs. She enjoyed a Collaboration Grant with the Department of Modern Philology (2013–2014) and an Initiation Grant in Research (2010–2015). In addition, she enjoyed a pre-doctoral contract for researchers in training (FPI) during the period of his doctoral thesis at the University of Alcalá. She has been “Visiting Student” at Heriot-Watt University (2018) and King's College London (2019). She collaborates with the FITISPos-UAH Research Group. She is a member of AFIPTISP and also part of the Editorial Board of the FITISPos International Journal.

Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez is Associate Professor (Profesora Contratada Doctora) at the Modern Languages Department of Universidad de Alcalá. She teaches in the undergraduate degree programme Grado en Lenguas Modernas y Traducción and the postgraduate programme Máster Universitario en Comunicación Intercultural, Interpretación y Traducción en los Servicios Públicos. She is also Visiting Scholar at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Universiteit Gent in Belgium and has given lectures as an invited scholar at American University of Sharjah (Arab United Emirates), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), and Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz (Germany). She is part of the editorial committee of the journal FITISPos-IJ, and member of the scientific committee of several translation journals, such as InTRAlinea, Translation & Interpreting, Sendebar, Monti or Translator and Interpreter Trainer. She is also a member of the organising committee of the Young Researchers in Translation and Interpreting International Conference and the International Conference in Public Service Interpreting and Translation, as well as a member of the scientific committee of International Conference in Science and Translation and the coordinator of the Translation Panel at AELFE International Conference. She has participated in European projects, such as SOS-VICS -‘Speak Out for Support' (2011–2014) or AHEH– Knowledge Alliances (2018–2021); national Spanish projects, such as Validación y adaptación transcultural de la Appraisal of Self-Care Agency Scale-Revised (ASA-R) para la medición de la capacidad de autocuidado en pacientes crónicos en atención primaria (2017–2018), COMUNICAR (2016–2018), InterMed (2011–2014), and HUM2004-03774-C02-2 (2004–2007), regional projects, such as ‘Investigación-acción: Caminando juntos con lenguas y culturas' (2009–2011), funded by Castilla-La Mancha or ‘Creando Puentes: proyecto de integración laboral a través de la formación continua y la utilización de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación' (2008–2009), funded by Madrid Autonomous Community, as well as local projects, such as ‘Diseño, compilación y análisis de un corpus multilingüe de interacciones mediadas sobre asistencia en carretera' (2017–2018), ‘Interpretación y Traducción en Centros Penitenciarios' (2013–2014), or ‘Investigación sobre factores que afectan a la calidad de la comunicación oral con población extranjera’ (2012–2013), which were funded by UAH and supervised by MINECO. She is member of the research groups FITISPos-UAH (from 2001) in Spain, and BIAL (from 2015) and BCUS (from 2018) in Belgium. She is a founding member of the Spanish AFIPTISP (Professional Association of Public Service Interpreting and Translation Trainers, Researchers and Professionals) and the European ENPSIT (European Network of Public Service Interpreting and Translation). She has obtained three prizes for knowledge transference for the creation of MOOCs and university – enterprise co-operation for projects about telephone interpreting. Her research interests revolve around public service interpreting and translation, specialised translation, intercultural communication, telephone interpreting, interpreter-mediated discourse analysis and its pragmatics, new technologies applied to translation and interpreting and corpus analysis.

Notes

1 Data presented here is part of a wider dataset collected by means of different qualitative techniques (e.g. questionnaires, interviews, observation protocol, etc.) that Álvaro Aranda (2020) used to develop her doctoral thesis (2020). This doctoral dissertation presents an ethnographic case study which seeks to detect potential differences in the performance of a sample of healthcare interpreters organised according to their levels of specialised training and professional experience.

2 https://uahmastercitisp.es/.