ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on non-professional interpreting and translation performed by children from migrant backgrounds, between healthcare providers who speak the host country’s language(s), and their own families and/or communities who may lack the necessary proficiency in these language(s). Child Language Brokering (CLB) is an umbrella term for all non-professional interpreting and translation practices performed by children and adolescents. As is the case with all non-professional translation and interpreting, child language brokering is seldom covered in translation and interpreting handbooks, because it lies outside the boundaries of professional practice that translation and interpreting students are usually trained. Studies have demonstrated that the lack of provision of professional interpreting and translation services and the ensuing use of minor or adult non-professionals can lead to unequal access to healthcare services and discrimination. It explores the issue in more depth in the following two sections devoted to research on CLB in healthcare, and to our own case study of the phenomenon in Italy.
