The role of translators and interpreters in hybrid English–Spanish contexts in the USA

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a study of English–Spanish mediation in hospital and court settings in the USA. The study is based on two main issues: the linguistic and cultural diversity of Hispanics, and the specialized nature of the health and judicial systems. When encountering new or different health care and judicial systems in the USA, Hispanics often code-switch or borrow terms from English that are more practical for the context, and transfer them to their dominant language. This process creates a unique, non-standard or hybrid form of Spanish that challenges translators and interpreters, whose aim is to facilitate communication between L1 and L2. As qualified individuals trained to use language professionally, they must decide whether to use non-standard language in the pursuit of their communicative goal. The data from observation and interviews with interpreters, as well as the analysis of translations containing speech forms prone to non-standard use, point in the direction of a response based on constraints imposed by the nature of the contexts and ethical and professional guidelines, and not by lack of knowledge or access to lexicon, as some prior studies have proposed. The findings also show that translators and interpreters consciously follow a course of action, which may include educating the target audience by virtue of their choices. This is a deviation from their role as language brokers.