Participatory Action Research Applied to Community Interpreting in Hong Kong

1. Participatory Action Research Applied to Community Interpreting in Hong Kong Ester Leung

2. Outline • Research methods applied to the study of Community interpreting (CI) • Participatory Action Research (PAR) • A case study of PAR applied to CI in Hong Kong

3. Community Interpreting is: • The scope of community interpreting is itself a “nebulous concept” (Roberts : 1997 : 8) • interpreting activities carried out in an institutional setting which is not business or commercially oriented.

4. Researches • Interpreter’s Role • Interpreter’s Training • Interpreter’s Performance • Provision of Interpreting Services • The Views of Service Providers / Receivers

5. the definition of community interpreting (Alexieva 1997, Robert 1997) , • the roles of community interpreters (Angelelli 2004, Fenton 1997, WadensjÖ 1997, Roy 1993, Tate & Turner 1997, Leung 2008) • the professional training and education of community interpreters (Morris 2003, Mikkelson & Mintz 1997, Bell 1997), • the provision of community interpretation services in different communities (Fortier 1997, Benmaman 1997, Leung 2003, 2008, Hale 2004).

6. Participatory-Action Research • Father of PAR: "Paolo Freire (1970), one of the world's leading educationalists, in his classic text Pedagogy of the Oppressed broke away from the tradition of gathering data on oppressed people and instead carried out research with participants, placing capability in the hands of disenfranchised people so that they could transform their lives themselves." (Koch & Kralik 2006)

7. Research partners rather than objects of research “People are treated as intelligible partners rather than mere respondents to inquiry instruments” “Participatory methods, through the participation of community members, seek to bridge the power relations that exist between researchers and the researched, between practitioners and beneficiaries”

8. Empowerment • “Empowerment is, therefore, a key objective of participatory research and policy approaches and, as a result of the shift in power, it is argued that participatory approaches enable such a process to occur, to the benefit of those engaged in the process. Specifically, the shift in power facilitates the amplification of the voices of marginalized people in such a way that they are able to articulate their needs and demands and make their contribution to the construction of knowledge.” • Alpaslan özerdem and Richard Bowd (Eds). 2010.

9. Major differences between traditional research methods and PAR • Issues of agency, representation and power • “practice of PAR raises personal, polictical and professional challenges that go beyond the bounds of the production of information”. (Cornwall & Jewkes 95:1667)

10. PAR is not about method but attitude • Exploring (local) participant’s knowledge and perception • An eclectic approach which may involves both quantitative and qualitative research • Different degree of participation from different participants and different allocation of power at different stages of the research

11. A case study of PAR applied to CI in HK Commissioner of the project From a Public Policy Research project to a Knowledge Transfer project: -To create / cause impact on policy changes or enhancement -To transfer knowledge to a broader, non-academic public -To improve medical interpreting services in HK

12. New Legislation 7/2008 • Under existing legislation, the Hong Kong Bill of Rights • Ordinance (Chapter 383) (HKBORO), prohibits the Government and • all public authorities, and any person acting on behalf of the • Government or a public authority, from engaging in practices which • entail discrimination on any grounds, including race and colour. • However, HKBORO is not applicable to acts of discrimination • committed by private individuals and organisations.

13. Ethnic minorities: the 6% • Census Report 2012 Feb* : • No. of people Ethnicity % • 133377 Indonesian 1.9 • 133018 Filipino 1.9 • 28616 Indian 0.4 • 18042 Pakistani 0.3 • 16518 Nepal ese 0.2 • 11213 Thai 0.2 • 12247 Japanese 0.2 • 55236 “White” 0.8 • 12247 other Asian 0.2 • (a survey conducted by the Home Affairs Bureau and the Census and Statistics Department),

14. New Initiatives - Medical Interpreting Services • The Hospital Authority (HA) began its Interpretation Service for Ethnic Minorities in 2009 • Service categories include onsite face-to-face advanced booking cases and telephone interpretation for emergency, or non-emergency advanced booking cases • Over 5000 cases provided with interpreting services since July 2009 – March 2011, and 3905 for the period of Apr 1, 2011 – Mar 30, 2012

15. Community Interpreting in HK • The great divide between: • Medical Interpreting • Legal Interpreting

16. Role Play • Form yourself into group of 4 • You can choose which role to play among yourselves: • 1) An asylum seeker in HK, who need interpreting services all the time for medical consultation, legal advices, etc. • 2) interpreter • 3) Service agent, an involuntary organization who provide social services to the ethnic minorities • 4) Public Hospital Authority who pays for the interpreting services

17. The 1st medical interpreting training course in Hong Kong • Partnership with the main service providers of the medical interpreting services • Advices from ethnic minorities organisations and representatives • Involving the interpreters in the research project

18. The medical interpreting training course • 130 hours of training, 20 hours of practices in hospital(s)

19. Direct involvement of medical professionals • Site visits:introductions of public hospital services, common medical terminology and prescription procedures

20. Institutionalize the rights and the Association of Interpreters’ • Questionnaires were sent out via emails to organizations / agents who work with interpreters; interviews, services meeting • The formation of Multilingual Interpreters’ and Translators’ Association (MITA) • www.mitahk.org • The association has now got thirty-some interpreters members, and 5 advisory committee members (service users), 1 legal adviser (Bar Association), 1 honorary adivser (Legislative Councilor)

21. The Constitution of MITA • Multilingual Interpreters and Translators Association (MITA) is a non-profit independent organization/ company formed by the multilingual interpreters/translators working in Hong Kong in various sectors primarily to voice for the better working condition for the professional interpreters, promote quality interpretation/translation service, advocate for professional development and recognition. MITA strives to serve people who need and care about interpreting/translation services irrespective of religious, political and social background. MITA will be a common forum for sharing information for the interpreters and the service providers in its network.

22. Code of Practices • Cultural awareness • Some organizations allow cultural bridging in certain contexts or conditions, some never. Please refer to each service provider’s code of conduct to ensure you are in compliance.

23. Trainers’ Training • 1) Interpreting • : modes of interpreting – how do we learn and how do we teach interpreting skills • : the expected roles of an interpreter working in the legal and medical settings • 2) Syllabus design of a medical / legal interpreting course • 3) Evaluation • :What makes a good / bad interpretation) • :Code of Practices

24. Analyzing cases and examples from the medical and the legal settings • Mixing authentic data with made-up examples to illustrate different issues: • Linguistic differences between the languages • Contextual influence on the interaction • Different roles that interpreter can take and its consequences

25. 01:D(octor): basically the check-up is normal. If you want to have further check-up we can arrange another scan. But I think if you would not like another you can just observe= • 02:P(atient)= yes of course • 03:I(nterpreter): observe now? It’s up to her? • 04:P: toh haan iske ilaaj ka iske paas koi nai hai ….mere ko aisa jaane dega ? • (Then, he does not have any treatment for it…will he let me go in this condition?) • 05:I: toh aap kya chahti hain ? • (Then what do you want?) • 06:P: nai main to ilaaj karna chahti hoon ..Kyun, Kya masla hai mera andar ka? • (No, I want to have treatment for this. Why, what is the problem inside me?) • 07:I: She says that she wants to have treatment because she feels pain you have to do something for her

26. In the Courtroom • W(itness): It’s too fast, I can’t follow. • B(arrister): What’s the matter? What did he say? • I(nterpreter): He said that its too fast, he can’t follow. • B: You slow down then.

27. Limitations using PAR • What’s next? Who’s next? • Relinguishing power and control • Participants’ living struggles • High turnover rate of interpreters and even representatives from different organizations – • Degree of participants’ participation is neither continuous nor predictable • Researchers’ struggle to balance between the needs of the local community and the funding body, to produce research outputs that are more tangible and conventional

28. It is clear that the process is full of challenges which are not only obstacles to prevent the research from being conducted but often they are very much the integral aspects of that very research undertaking itself. They are not only contextual matters but also what would constitute as the main characteristics of the research

29. the relationship between the researcher and the ‘research partners’ “is influenced, managed or even controlled by a myriad of surrounding elements, but participatory research methods seem to provide a much greater level of response flexibility to such obstacles and characteristics than more conventional methods.” • özerdem and Bowd (Eds). 2010.

30. Future Development of Interpreting Services for the Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong A top-down approach: Establishing the network with NGOs, Universities, Service providers to advocate long-term planning and policy on interpretation service Petitioning the Judiciary and the Hospital Authority to use only trained interpreters Lining up with overseas institutions and organizations experienced in foreign languages interpretations and translations to promote exchange and sharing of service experiences Organize accredited training courses