Nederlands Chinese

Research

Hanneke Bot obtained her doctorate with a thesis on communication processes in mental health care using an interpreter. The core of the study comprised of  the highly detailed analysis of video recordings of a number of interpreter assisted therapeutic dialogues. Hanneke Bot is also well acquainted with research on this subject carried out by others.

 takes initiatives to start research on aspects of dialogue interpreting and is a partner for people who want to engage in research in this field.

At present (2007), is engaged in preliminary talks about research in the area of sing language interpreting in mental health care. Possible topics are:  ‘how to improve the quality of psychological testing done with the help of (sign language) interpreters’ and ‘the evaluation of the different roles assigned to sign language interpreters in different health care institutes in the Netherlands’.

Research as a preliminary to training

In order to tailor training in bilingual communication outside (mental) health care, it is often necessary to do some preliminary research, concentrating on the following questions:

  1. Frequency: How often does a bilingual situation arise? Are interpreters already involved? How often should this actually happen?
  2. Type of dialogue: in what sort of dialogue is the aid of an interpreter required? How long is the dialogue? What is the subject matter? Which languages are involved? Who are the dialogue partners and what is their level of education?
  3. Interpreter: who is engaged and what is their level of education
  4. Quick scan: what problems can arise during the dialogue (equivalence concept, structure of the dialogue, the occurrence of communicative breakdown)?

Experience shows that the first three questions can be answered by conducting a small number of  short interviews with carefully selected key personnel. The quick scan is carried out based on the expertise which Hanneke Bot has developed during her PhD research. It is usually necessary to make a global analysis of a number of video recorded dialogues. Depending on the language(s) involved, this type of analysis would normally take from 2 to 6 days.

can also perform more extensive research in communicating through an interpreter. This research could focus on the communication processes within a particular type of dialogue, but can also be used to obtain insight into the problems of bilingual communication within an organisation.