32(2) - 2020

Chinese whispers in Turkish hospitals: Doctors’ views of non-professional interpreting in Eastern Turkey

Jonathan Maurice Ross

 

Titre
Chinese whispers in Turkish hospitals: Doctors’ views of non-professional interpreting in Eastern Turkey

Résumé
Previous quantitative studies of healthcare interactions in Diyarbakır, the largest Kurdish metropolis in Turkey, have revealed widespread use of ad hoc interpreters. This article delves into the practice of non-professional interpreting across Eastern Turkey by examining the findings of a mixed-methods online survey conducted in 2014 among doctors working in the region. It focusses on doctors’ answers to questions concerning the advantages and disadvantages of informal interpreting. The 32 respondents demonstrate overall dissatisfaction with ad hoc interpreters, complaining especially that they omit and change information and undertake primary interlocutor actions. One of the few advantages doctors mention is that patients view non-professional interpreters as trustworthy, which enhances doctor-patient rapport. Although some doctors generalise that any form of interpreting undermines the privacy of the doctor-patient interaction, the vast majority would welcome the institutionalisation of professional interpreting and do not reject this as an undesirable alternative to language-concordant care, the strategy championed by certain local organisations and activists in Eastern Turkey. Many of the claims these Turkish doctors make concerning non-professional interpreting resemble arguments familiar from comparable studies abroad. Some findings, however, need to be considered against the local background, a point that no doubt holds true for other studies of attitudes towards interpreting.

Mots-clés
Interpreting, healthcare interpreting, non-professional interpreting, Turkey, Kurds

DOI 10.17462/para.2020.02.05

18 octobre 2020
  32(2) - 2020