Georgia Meakins

When working as a PSI interpreter, especially in healthcare or social services, there will be assignments when young children are present- I often hear them running amok in the background of interpreted telephone calls. They usually cause minimal issues or distractions, but when a child is the focus of an appointment, in pediatrics, for example, the assignment can become far more challenging, as there are many more factors to consider. Today I’d like to discuss some of the elements of interpreting for/with minors that I hadn’t considered the first time I stepped into one of those brightly-coloured hospital wards.

Patience and calm: Create a non-judgmental environment

Having mentioned those “bright colours”, I’d like to start there. Environments designed for children are often very visually engaging and noisy, and sometimes there will also be toys available for children to play with during appointments. These can be distracting whilst trying to concentrate and listen carefully. Practicing managing stress and maintaining focus is essential prior to an appointment with young children, as well as learning to tune out background noise and movement. I find that leaning forward and looking at a speaker in the eyes helps me to create almost a ‘tunnel focus’ on them and their words, and it keeps them engaged, too. Do not forget to see this from the parents’ point of view as well; they may feel embarrassed or distracted if they are trying to keep a child calm and quiet in an important meeting and lose focus on what they are saying.

With that comes the most important factor: being patient and non-judgmental. In all the pediatric and social services appointments I have been to, the subject has been very young, and the service provider (SP) has focused on the parent, allowing the child to play or do as they wish whilst the adults talk, sometimes so that the SP may observe their behaviour. If the parents are focused on getting the child to ‘behave’ or be quiet, they will not speak in the clear, logical fashion that us interpreters love. They will break off sentences, lose their train of thought, or ramble far more than they might usually, which is detrimental to the logical cohesion of the message we then relay to the SP. This makes our job even more stressful. So, even if the running around or imitation car noises are bugging you, you should never let it show. It is far more beneficial to create an easy-going environment with a sympathetic smile if the child shouts, to join in on a small light-hearted chuckle if their dinosaurs vs robots fight gets a bit rowdy, or to dismiss apologies from parents if they nearly run into you. Being rambunctious or loud is often considered ‘naughty’ in children, and if parents feel like you are judging them or their child, they will likely slam walls up or become defensive, and clear communication is doomed.  On the other hand, if the parents relax, the child will also relax, and communication will be far easier. 

To sum up, show the parents that you are listening to them intently, trying to ignore the distractions as much as possible, and they will focus entirely on you, too, rather than keeping half a mind on ensuring the child is behaving. Be gracious and understanding if communication is interrupted by the child, and remember, this is likely an incredibly stressful day for everyone involved, but especially the parents.

Understanding but professional

I wanted to make a quick mention here of the importance of maintaining professional boundaries. I spoke about this in my previous blog post, so do give it a read to find out more, but I talk about the importance of upholding codes of professional conduct whilst at work, especially in emotionally difficult environments. In the case of working with children, it can be very tempting to comfort parents and reassure them that they’re doing the right thing or that everything will be okay. Whilst this may be the “human” thing to do, it is explicitly forbidden in Codes of Professional Conduct and can create confusion around roles and boundaries. In my experience, the SP will often offer some kind words to the client, which you can interpret, but it is imperative we avoid adding our own thoughts and opinions as interpreters.

Linguistic challenges: baby talk and regional vocabulary

When I was assigned my first pediatric appointment, I spent a lot of time researching medical terms relating to the appointment, wanting to be perfect so the parents had one less thing to worry about. Imagine my horror when I found myself grasping at lexical air when asked, “Have you started potty-training?”, “Does he calm down with a dummy?”, “Does he engage in games like peek-a-boo?”. Basic questions, with no grammatical or emotional difficulty, but very specific and also regionally changing vocabulary. But, having little experience with toddlers in Spanish, I was left with an awkward over-explanation: “Does he use that sort of… little toilet that children use to learn to go wee?” which, naturally, the parents found hilarious. This was a very low-stakes and, admittedly, quite funny fumble on my part, but these unexpected moments are where the value of being a well-rounded linguist with diverse life experiences lies for interpreters, because it is often unassuming everyday language that trips us up. There is no way to know that a client will declare that a child loves Yorkshire puddings or Shin-Chan, so this is about slowly building knowledge and making mental notes to research things after. Then, even if there is no translation, you can add in a quick sidebar that a Yorkshire pudding is a kind of bowl-shaped baked dough eaten throughout Britain, or that Shin-Chan is a Japanese kids’ show popular in Spain. You should also find out if there are variations for words, so that pram, buggy, or pushchair can just as easily become carrito, cochecito, or carriola. That knowledge is what makes us professional communicators rather than simply bilinguals with a notepad.

Glossary

Below, I will list just a few terms in English and Spanish regarding children and babies that I have stumbled across in my interpreting that I was unfamiliar with the translation or regional variant, as well as some that I thought others might benefit from.

Reception, kindergarten	Educación infantil, kínder, transcición
Nursery, preschool, daycare	Guardería, Preescolar, Jardín de infancia, prekínder
Bottle, baby bottle	Biberón, mamadera, tetero
Breast feed	Amamantar, dar el pecho
Dummy, pacifier	Chupete, chupón, bobo
Pushchair, buggy, pram, stroller	Cochecito, carrito, carriola, silla de paseo
Blanket	Manta, cobija, mantita, frazada
Cot, crib	Cuna
Baby powder, talcum powder	Talco para bebés
Teething	Dentición, salida de dientes
Reception, kindergarten	Educación infantil, kínder, transcición