Bridging language barriers in multilingual care encounters

Abstract

The present case study demonstrates how the multilingual practices of a linguistically diverse workforce contribute to the functioning of a modern workplace. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and recordings in a residential home for elderly people with dementia in Sweden, the article explores how multilingual immigrant care workers creatively use their language skills to overcome linguistic boundaries and communicate with an elderly Kurdish resident. It is shown that despite the fact that the participants do not, or only to a limited extent, share a common language, the care workers manage to create multilingual encounters that allow them to perform care tasks in an activity context where empathy and efficiency are of great importance. Although the data in this study manifest the struggle of multilingual care workers to bridge language barriers, the study also highlights the complexity of providing adequate and well-functioning care in today's diverse society, where linguistic and cultural matching of clients and caregivers cannot always be obtained. These results are discussed in the light of new demands on Swedish (and more broadly Western) care systems to adapt to the increasing number of multilingual older people, who will become residents in care facilities.

Managing complaints in multilingual care encounters

“…These studies reveal that the role of language and verbal communication in the multilingual workplace varies across jobs, roles and sites. While some studies highlight the heterogeneity of communicative repertoires that people move between in institutional encounters for the purpose of negotiating identity positions and managing everyday tasks Blackledge, Creese and Hu 2015;Jansson 2014), other studies cast light on the language regimes that confront and constrain migrant workers (Angouri 2014;Cuban 2008). For instance, communication plays a relatively limited role for a meat-processor worker operating along a conveyer-belt (Piller and Lising 2014) compared to a market trader in a markethall who in his/her everyday work needs to accomplish commercial transactions with customers from a variety of backgrounds (Blackledge, Creese and Hu 2015).…”

“…These individuals often work in multilingual environments and their work tasks require them to manage relationship-building talk and develop empathy and trust with clients (e. g. Erickson and Rittenberg 1987;Jansson 2014;Plejert et al 2014;Roberts et al 2004;Yates 2015). The work site under investigation in the present article is a residential home for older people, a setting that is becoming increasingly linguistically diverse.…”

Language brokering in multilingual caregiving settings

“…Ekman 1993;Jansson 2014;Plejert et al 2014). Plejert et al (2014: 2) point out that the lack of cultural and linguistic matching between staff and residents in care contexts creates highly complex situations for all participants involved.…”

Insights into the agency, positioning and development of professional Finnish language skills of international nursing students

“…out (translated) Ritva speaks in the voice of a professional when she points to nonverbal communication and how it nousee uuteen ulottuvuuteen [gains a new dimension], that is, how it becomes an essential tool for the students when dealing with communicative settings, such as taking care of a patient. Thus nonverbal communication is seen as compensation for a lack of language proficiency: friendly and respectful manners make the patients feel they receive good care (see also Andersson, 2010;Duff et al, 2002;Jansson, 2014;Virtanen, 2011). According to Ritva's narrative, it is tosiasia [a fact] that international students do not gain access to the same resources as the local ones do when it comes to documentation because of their insufficient Finnish language skills: englanninkielisiltä tämä jää (.)…”