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Kommunikasjon med barn via tolk

12

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