Language brokering in linguistic minority communities: The case of Chinese- and Vietnamese-American students

Bilingual Research Journal, Summer 1996 by Lucy Tse

Language brokers facilitate communication between two linguistically and/or culturally different parties. Unlike formal interpreters and translators, brokers mediate, rather than merely transmit, information. Recent research suggests that language minority (EM) students who broker assume parental duties that include making educational decisions and communicating directly with schools, which greatly impacts their own educational experiences. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of this phenomenon among Chineseand Vietnamese-American bilingual students, and to explore the linguistic, cultural, and affective factors associated with brokering. The results suggest that nearly all of the subjects brokered for a variety of people in the home and at school, among many other settings, and that brokering has a number of affective and linguistic consequences for LM students. The implications of these findings for educators and policy makers are discussed.

Introduction Recent evidence suggests that language minority (LM) students who interpret and translate between home and school play a pivotal role in determining their own educational experiences (McQuillan & Tse, 1995; Tse, 1995; Tse, 1996). Language brokers, as these interpreters and translators are called, do far more than transmit information. In many cases, they take on the responsibility of making educational and other decisions for themselves and their family, decisions normally made by their parents. Acting as brokers also causes positive and negative affective results that greatly impact students' views of themselves and their language learning experiences. This study will examine the prevalence and nature of brokering and its effect on LM students.

Literature Review

The brokering examined in this and other studies is defined as interpretation and translation performed in everyday situations by bilinguals who have had no special training. Harris and Sherwood (1978) suggest that natural interpreting and translating are skills developed in all bilinguals from the time they begin learning a second language. Harris (1977) suggests that interpretation, even that done by young children, is not simply linguistic decoding, but rather the extraction of meaning from the words and context that requires the application of other knowledge. He examined the interpreting performed by a three-year-old subject, Michael, and found that he possessed sophisticated cognitive and linguistic ability and was able to interpret even subtleties. Malakoff and Hakuta (1991) examined the translation done by 68 Spanish-English child bilinguals and found that they could not only translate, but could do so accurately. Malakoff and Hakuta suggest that bilinguals who interpret possess metalinguistic awareness, defined as "an awareness of the underlying linguistic nature of language use," and interpretation strategies, in addition to the cognitive and linguistic skills suggested by Harris (1977, p. 147).

The little research that has been done on brokering suggests that child brokers from many different cultures and languages perform a variety of tasks and take on broad roles as mediators and decisionmakers (Downing & Dwyer, 1981; Harris & Sherwood, 1978; McQuillan & Tse, 1995; Schieffelin & Cochran-Smith, 1984, Shannon, 1990). One example is Harris and Sherwood's (1978) Italian-Canadian subject, BS, who, when interpreting for her father in business transactions, chose the most culturally and linguistically appropriate interpretation of her father's words so as to increase the chances of a successful outcome.

Father to BS: "Digli che e un imbecille!" (Tell him he's a nitwit.) BS to 3rd party: "My father won't accept your offer." Father angrily in Italian: "Why didn't you tell him what I told you?" (p. 157)

In a study by McQuillan and Tse (1995), nine bilingual subjects from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mexican-American - were interviewed about their brokering experiences as children. All had acted, at one time or another, as primary decision makers for the family and took on the role as socializing agents by conveying important cultural information about school, governmental, and business procedures, and facilitating personal and official interactions among teachers, neighbors, friends, parents, siblings, and other relatives.

The added responsibilities brokers assume appear to have mixed affective consequences. While brokers reported negative effects that included added stress and burden, they also reported positive results such as increased confidence, independence and maturity, acquisition of first and second cultural knowledge, and the establishment of trusting relationships with their parents (Downing & Dwyer, 1981; McQuillan & Tse, 1995; Shannon, 1990).

Aside from the perceived benefits above, subjects also reported that brokering spurred their language development, especially their acquisition of English. Subjects sought out resources, including peers and adults, and textual aids such as bilingual dictionaries, to help complete linguistically demanding tasks normally performed by adults (McQuillan & Tse, 1995). These challenging tasks included completing governmental forms, translating bank statements, writing school and business-related correspondence, and providing interpretation between educators, customers, relatives, and other agents.