Cover not available
Part of
Non-professional Interpreting and Translation: State of the art and future of an emerging field of research
Edited by Rachele Antonini, Letizia Cirillo, Linda Rossato and Ira Torresi
[Benjamins Translation Library 129] 2017
► pp. 259–279

Chapter 13
Bilingual youngsters’ perceptions of their role as family interpreters

Why should their views be measured? Why should they count?

Bilingual youngsters play a crucial role in brokering communication for monolingual adults. The truth is that this role has not been measured. This paper discusses the scientific measurement of bilingual youngsters’ perceptions of their role as family interpreters/translators. After reviewing the relevant literature and the sociological factors that result in bilingual youngsters engaging in language brokering, we discuss the construction, adaptation, and potential administration of a valid and reliable instrument, IPRI Junior. This instrument could reveal important information on bilinguals who have had experiences in language brokering. It is important to obtain this information empirically as various conversations on access, education, and future career may be based on this unique ability that gifted bilinguals possess. Most importantly, learning about the choices that bilinguals make when brokering communication will reveal their perceptions of their agency and talent in detail.

Keywords: bilingual youngsters, cognitive skills, metalinguistic skills, IPRI, Latino communities, questionnaire survey
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From the Spanish conquest to the 21st century
  • 3.Sociolinguistic environment: The need for access
  • 4.Latino youngsters providing “access”
  • 5.Review of relevant literature
    • 5.1Children and youngsters as language brokers
    • 5.2Areas of tension
    • 5.3Academic achievement through language brokering
    • 5.4Development of cognitive and metalinguistic skills
  • 6.Adaptation of a measurement instrument
    • 6.1Instrument design: Adaptation of IPRI
      • 6.1.1Description of construct
      • 6.1.2Adaptation of target population
      • 6.1.3Test blueprint
      • 6.1.4Small-scale trial
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 19 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.13ang
References
Acoach, C. Leah & Leah M. Webb
2004 “The Influence of Language Brokering on Hispanic Teenagers’ Acculturation, Academic Performance, and Nonverbal Decoding Skills: A Preliminary Study. Howard Journal of Communications 15. 1–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angelelli, Claudia V.
2004a Medical Interpreting and Cross-cultural Communication. London: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010a “A Glimpse into the Socialization of Bilingual Youngsters as Interpreters: The Case of Latino Bilinguals Brokering Communication for their Families and Immediate Communities”. MonTI Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación 2. 81–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010b “A Professional Ideology in the Making: Bilingual Youngsters Interpreting for their Communities and the Notion of (No) Choice. TIS Translation and Interpreting Studies (a publication of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association) 5: 1. 94–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 “Expanding the Abilities of Bilingual Youngsters: Can Translation and Interpreting Help?” Interpreting Naturally. A Tribute to Brian Harris ed. by María Jeús Blasco Mayor & María Amparo Jimenez, 103–120. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
2012 “Language Policy and Management in Service Domains: Brokering Communication for Linguistic Minorities in the Community”. The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy ed. by Bernard Spolsky, 243–261. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angelelli, Claudia V., Kerry Enright & Guadalupe Valdés
2002 Developing the Talents and Abilities of Linguistically Gifted Bilingual Students: Guidelines for Developing Curriculum at the High School Level. The National Center on the Gifted and Talented. University of Connecticut. University of Virginia. Yale University. RM02156.Google Scholar
Baker, Mona
ed. 1998 Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London & New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baldassare, Mark, Dean Bonner, Jennifer Paluk & Sonja Petek
2008 Californians and their Government. San Francisco: PPIC. [URL] (last viewed April 6, 2017).
Baptise, David
1987 “Family Therapy with Spanish Heritage Immigrant Families in Cultural Transition. Contemporary Family Therapy 9. 229–251. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berk-Seligson, Susan
1990 The Bilingual Courtroom. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
2011 “Negotiation and Communicative Accommodation in Bilingual Police Interrogations: A Critical Interactional Sociolinguistic Perspective”. Translators and Interpreters: Geographic Displacement and Linguistic Consequences ed. by Claudia Angelelli. Special issue of The International Journal of the Sociology of Language 207. 29–58.Google Scholar
Bialystok, Ellen & Kenji Hakuta
1999 “Confounded Age: Linguistic and Cognitive Factors in Age Differences for Second Language Acquisition”. Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypotheses ed. by David Birdsong, 161–182.London & New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Google Scholar
Borrero, Noah
2006 “Bilingual Adolescents as Young Interpreters in Middle School: Impact on Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement”. PhD dissertation, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Buriel, Raymond, Julia Love & Terri DeMent
2006 “The Relationship of Language Brokering to Depression and Parent-Child Bonding among Latino Adolescents”. Acculturation, parent-Child Relationships, and Child Development: Measurement and Development ed by. Marc Bornstein & Linda Cote. Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum. 249–270.Google Scholar
Chao, Ruth K.
April. 2002. “The Role of Children’s Linguistic Brokering among Immigrant Chinese and Mexican Families”. Families of Color: Developmental Issues in Contemporary Sociohistorical Contexts. Symposium conducted at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, Minn.
Cohen, Suzanne, Jo Moran-Ellis & Chris Smaje
1999 “Children as Informal Interpreters in GP Consultations: Pragmatics and Ideology”. Social Health and Illness 21: 2. 163–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cummins, Jim
1989 Empowering Minority Students. Covina: California Association for Bilingual Education.Google Scholar
Cypess, Sandra
1991 La Malinche in Mexican Literature: From History to Myth. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
DeMent, Terri & Raymond Buriel
1999 Children as Cultural Brokers: Recollections of College Students. Paper presented at the SPSSI Conference on Immigrants and Immigration, Toronto, Canada.
Dorner, Lisa M., Marjorie Orellana & Christine P. Li-Grining
2007 “I helped my Mom and it Helped me: Translating the Skills of Language Brokers into Improved Standardized Test Scores”. American Journal of Education 113. 451–478. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A. & Tomás Galguera
2003 Introduction to Test Construction in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Gullingsrud, Miles
1998 “I Am the Immigrant in my Classroom”. Voices from the Middle 6: 1. 30–37.Google Scholar
Halgunseth, Linda
2003 “Language Brokering: Positive Developmental Outcomes. Points and Counterpoints: Controversial Relationship and Family Issues in the 21st Century: An Anthology ed. by Marilyn Coleman & Lawrence Ganong, 154–157.Los Angeles, Calif.: Roxbury. Google Scholar
Harris, Brian
1977 “The Importance of Natural Translation”. Working Papers in Bilingualism 12. 96–114.Google Scholar
1978 “The Difference between Natural and Professional Translation”. Canadian Modern Language Review 34: 3. 417–427.Google Scholar
1980 “How a Three-year Old Translates”. Patterns of Bilingualism ed. by Evangelos A. Afrendas, 370–393. Singapore: RELC. Google Scholar
1992 “Natural Translation: A Reply to Hans P. Krings”. Target 4: 1. 97–103. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krashen, Stephen
1985 The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. Torrance, Calif.: Laredo.Google Scholar
McQuillan, Jeff & Lucy Tse
1995 “Child Language Brokering in Linguistic Minority Communities: Effects of Cultural Interaction, Cognition and Literacy”. Language and Education 9. 195–215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Metzger, Melanie
1999 Sign Language Interpreting: Deconstructing the Myth of Neutrality. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. 1–9.Google Scholar
Modern Language Association
2011 MLA Language Map Data Center from the 2011American Community Survey. Spoken Languages in U.S. in 2011. [URL] (last viewed January 12, 2011).
Morales, Alejandro & William Hanson
2005 “Language Brokering: An Integrative Review of Literature”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 27. 471–502. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ng, Jennifer
1998 “From Kitchen to Classroom: Reflections of a Language Broker”. Voices From the Middle 6: 1. 38–40.Google Scholar
Orellana, Marjorie F.
2003 “Responsibilities of Children in Latino Immigrant Homes. New Directions for Youth Development 100. 25–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Translating Childhoods: Immigrant Youth, Languages, and Culture. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Orellana, Marjorie. F., Lisa Dorner & Lucida Pulido
2003 “Accessing Assets: Immigrant Youth’s Work as Family Translators or “Para-phrasers”. Social Problems 50: 4. 505–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Payne, Stanley Le Baron
1951 The Art of Asking Questions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, John; Phillip Shaver & Lawrence Wrightsman
eds. 1991 Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes. Volume 1. San Diego, Calif.: Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rumbaut, Ruben G.
1994 “The Crucible within: Ethnic Identity, Self-esteem, and Segmented Assimilation among Children of Immigrants”. International Migration Review 28. 748–795. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Santiago, Susan
2003 “Language Brokering: A Personal Experience”. Points and Counterpoints: Controversial Relationship and Family Issues in the 21st Century: An Anthology, In ed. by Marilyn Coleman & Lawrence Ganong, 160–161. Los Angeles, Calif.: Roxbury.Google Scholar
Schuman, Howard & Stanley Presser
1981 Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Wording, and Context. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Shannon, Sheila M.
1990 “English in the Barrio: The Quality of Contact among Immigrant Children. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 12: 3. 256–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Straits, Kee J. E.
2010 “Language Brokering in Latino Families: Direct Observations of Brokering Patterns, Parent-Child Interactions, and Relationship Quality”. PhD dissertation, Utah State University. [URL] (last viewed April 6, 2017).
Tienda, Marta & Faith Mitchell
eds. 2006 Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies: Hispanics and the American Future Washington DC The National Research Council
Torres, Roberto E.
1998 “The Pervading Role of Language on Health”. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 9: 5. 21–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Toury, Gideon
1984 “The Notion of “Native Translator” and Translation Teaching”. Translation Theory and Its Implementation in the Teaching of Translating and interpreting ed. by Wolfram Wilss & Gisela Thome, 186–195.Tubingen, Germany: Gunter Narr. Google Scholar
1995 “Excursus C: A Bilingual Speaker Becomes a Translator: A Tentative Developmental Model”. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond ed. by Gideon Toury, 241–258.Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tse, Lucy
1995a “Language Brokering among Latino Adolescents: Prevalence, Attitudes, and School Performance”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 17: 2. 180–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1995b “When Students Translate for Parents: Effects of Language Brokering”. CABE Newsletter 17: 4. 16–17.Google Scholar
1996a “Language Brokering in Linguistic Minority Communities: The Case of Chinese and Vietnamese-American Students”. Bilingual Research Journal 20: 3/4. 485–198. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996b “Who Decides? The Effects of Language Brokering on Home-School Communication”. Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority Students 16. 225–234.Google Scholar
Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J.
2003 “Language Brokering as a Stressor for Immigrant Children and their Families”. Points and Counterpoints: Controversial Relationship and Family Issues in the 21st Century: An Anthology ed. by Marilyn Coleman & Lawrence Ganong, 157–159.Los Angeles, Calif.: Roxbury. Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau
2010 Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. [URL] (last viewed April 6, 2017).
Valdés, Guadalupe, Cristina Chávez & Claudia V. Angelelli
2000 “Bilingualism from Another Perspective: The Case of Young Interpreters from Immigrant Communities”. Research on Spanish in the United States. Linguistic Issues and Challenges ed. by Ana Roca, 42–81.Somerville Mass.: Cascadilla Press. Google Scholar
Valdés, Guadalupe & Claudia V. Angelelli
2003 “Interpreters, Interpreting and the Study of Bilingualism”. The Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 23. 58–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Valdés, Guadalupe, Cristina Chávez, Claudia V. Angelelli, Kerry Enright, Daria Garcia & Marisela Gonzalez
2003 “The Study of Young Interpreters: Methods, Materials and Analytical Challenges”. Expanding Definitions of Giftedness. The Case of Young Interpreters from Immigrant Communities ed. by Guadalupe Valdés, 99–118.New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Google Scholar
Valdés, Guadalupe & Richard Figueroa
1994 Bilingualism and Testing. A Special Case for Bias. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Valdés, Guadalupe
2003 Expanding Definitions of Giftedness. The case of young interpreters from immigrant communities. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Angela
1999 “Gender Roles and Settlement Activities among Children and Their Immigrant Families”. American Behavioral Scientist, 42:4, 720–742. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Villanueva, Carmen & Buriel, Raymond
2010 “Speaking on Behalf of Others: A Qualitative Study of the Perceptions and Feelings of Adolescent Latina Language Brokers”. Journal of Social Issues, 66:1, 197–210 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wadensjö, Cecilia
1998 Interpreting as Interaction. London: LongmanGoogle Scholar
Weisskirch, Robert S. & Alva, Sylvia A.
2002 “Language brokering and the acculturation of Latino children”. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 24:3, 369–378. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zentella, Ana Celia.
1997 Growing up Bilingual: Puerto Rican Children in New York. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 7 other publications

Angelelli, Claudia V. & Federica Ceccoli
2023. Communication in child language brokering. Translation and Interpreting Studies 18:2 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
García-Sánchez, Inmaculada M.
2018. Children as Interactional Brokers of Care. Annual Review of Anthropology 47:1 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
Martínez-Gómez, Aída
2020. Language brokering experience among interpreting students: pedagogical implications for the development of interpreting competence. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 14:3 ► pp. 303 ff. DOI logo
Martínez-Gómez, Aída
2021. Feelings about language brokering. Interpreting. International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting 23:1 ► pp. 127 ff. DOI logo
Napier, Jemina
2021. Child Language Brokering in Context. In Sign Language Brokering in Deaf-Hearing Families, ► pp. 57 ff. DOI logo
Ortega, Lourdes
2020. The Study of Heritage Language Development From a Bilingualism and Social Justice Perspective. Language Learning 70:S1 ► pp. 15 ff. DOI logo
Romero‐Moreno, Aran & Mireia Vargas‐Urpí
2022. The gift of language: An anthropological approach to child language brokering in Barcelona. Children & Society 36:3 ► pp. 415 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.