Interpreting practices in a psychiatric hospital : interpreters' experiences and accuracy of interpreting of key psychiatric terms

[摘要] The main objective of this study was to investigate interpreting practices within thepsychiatric hospital San Marco1, in the Western Cape. More specifically, the aim was todetermine what factors might lead to the obstruction of accuracy by asking employeesthat act as official and unofficial interpreters to report on certain issues relating tointerpreting practices. The second objective of the study was to gain some understandingof what interpreters experience when doing interpreting especially since unofficialinterpreters (nurses, cleaners and administrative staff) are often used to act as interpreterswithin South Africa's public health services and this may not only have implications foraccuracy but also for interpreters' own mental health.A cross-sectional qualitative interview design was used. The research participantsconsisted of eight employees of San Marco, (including two administrative clerks/interpreters, two bilingual security guards, and four bilingual nurses), and two bilingualpsychiatrists, who, though not being employees of San Marco, yet have experience ininterpreting while working as psychiatrists within psychiatric institutions in South Africa.Participants were asked to respond to semi-structured questions. In addition, participantstook part in a structured task in which they were asked to translate and back-translatecommonly-used diagnostic questions. Content analysis was used to analyse data collectedfrom semi-structured interviews and participants' translations and back-translations werechecked for inaccuracies. The analysis of interviews revealed the following information:• not all of the participants who act as interpreters are in fact functionally bilingualin the context with which they work• none of the interpreters are trained in interpreting; and• a clear distinction could be drawn between interpreters who have training inmental health compared to those who lack training in mental health or psychiatry.Furthermore participants' translations of the nine questions were approximately right.Participants' translations conveyed more or less the same messages as what was intendedwith the original English questions. In fact the translations were fairly accurate foruntrained interpreters. However, participants were not always specific as to what theywere asking about. Interpreters need to translate questions in such a way that it isdiagnostically specific in order for the clinician to make an accurate diagnosis. It iscrucial that patients have a clear understanding about what the interpreter are asking themand this was not always evident in participants' translations.The abovementioned results may for obvious reasons lead to the obstruction of accurateinterpretation however it should not be attributed to a lack of competence on theinterpreters part but should rather be attributed to challenges in a health system which hasinherited a history of discrimination and continues to discriminate against certainpatients, even when clinicians and interpreters alike may be doing their best not todiscriminate. The problem is structural rather than individual, and needs to be addressedas such, and in the context of competing demands in public health care. Although the interviews did reveal valuable information regarding the obstruction ofaccuracy it should be kept in mind that an analysis of actual recorded interpretingsessions between the clinician, patient and interpreter is necessary for a more in depthunderstanding of the obstruction of accuracy as investigated in this study and such astudy is currently in the planning phase.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University