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Kommunikasjon med barn via tolk
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Summary
Communication with children through an interpreter –
a multidisciplinary co-operation
The purpose of this study was to examine what
characterizes communication with children through an
interpreter, if specific skills are needed when interpreting
for small children, and what might be the challenges
and opportunities in interpreter-mediated conversations
from the perspective of the child, the kindergarten
teacher and the interpreter, respectively.The study has in
part been developed with interpreters and kindergarten
staff, is building on action research, and is a qualitative
study. Its focal point is communication via an interpreter
between kindergarten teachers and children aged 3-6
at the kindergarten day care centre.The concerned
children were new starters at the day care centre and
had not developed a functional Norwegian language.
The study subjects were eight children, six kindergarten
teachers and thirteen interpreters.The kindergarten
was assigned an interpreter for three hours a day over a
period of two weeks in the child’s start-up phase in the
kindergarten.The interpreter has interpreted in three
different situations (informational conversation with
the child, during circle time, and during meals) and,
beyond this, as much as possible in order to facilitate
communication between the child and other people at
the kindergarten during this period of time. Shortly
after this, the child, interpreter and kindergarten teacher
were interviewed. Children’s rights have been a key
argument for this project. Similarly, theory on interpreter
professionalism, theory of attachment between children
and adults, how the kindergarten is organized, working
methods and start-up routines for new children have
been key elements for any discussion of the study
findings. We found that the interpretation was very
demanding for the interpreters, especially during play
and in other informal situations.The interpreters were
challenged in their role as an interpreter, for example
during interaction with the child and when it wanted
help with various tasks.The way we decided to organize
the interpretation sessions, using 3 consecutive hours,
posed challenges, but also opportunities for both the
children and the staff. We found many advantages with
communicating through an interpreter: The children in
the study were different from one another, and how they
met and interacted with the interpreter were different,
but all of them showed that they appreciated that there
was an interpreter in the kindergarten, and they liked
the interpretation.The children became more energetic
and enjoyed increased opportunities to engage in social
interactions and participation.The kindergarten teachers
got a better connection with, and thought the children
more quickly and better could get acquainted with
each other. But they also pointed out that the children
were unlike and had different needs for interpreting.
The interpreter viewed the task as both important and
meaningful, but challenging. In particular they found
that it was important that the child had confidence in
them. To achieve this they had to stretch their guidelines
for interpreting professionalism.The native language
assistant can often be preferred to the interpreter, but
they have different occupational tasks and responsibilities
and, thus, can complement one another. Our research has
shown that language interpretation may be important to
safeguard children´s rights to express themselves and to
participate, and to prevent social exclusion caused by lack
of shared language with others in the kindergarten.
Keywords
interpreter, language interpreter, children, kindergarten,
children’s rights, exclusion, communication with children,
getting used to/starting at the kindergarten, interpreter
professionalism