UNRAVELLING CHILD LANGUAGE BROKERING FOR HEALTH - UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITIES BEHIND CHILDREN’S INTERPRETING FOR HEALTH CARE

Oct 15, 2026

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The U.S. healthcare system struggles to deliver adequate language assistance to medical practitioners and patients, leading families to depend on ad hoc interpreters, including children. Bilingual children who regularly interpret for others, termed child language brokers, act as linguistic and cultural conduits that reduce language gaps in health-related settings. This paper examines 17 adolescent child language brokers’ experiences, focusing on the settings, tasks, and stakeholders involved. Findings show that brokering is significant for immigrant family health, varies across experiences, and may carry severe consequences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Language barriers and access to care

Study overview and analytic approach

Literature Review

Language Brokering

Child language brokering dynamics and scholarship

UNRAVELLING CHILD LANGUAGE BROKERING FOR HEALTH: UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITIES BEHIND CHILDREN’S INTERPRETING FOR HEALTH CARE Krissia Martinez University of Texas Austin Marjorie Elaine* University of California at Los Angeles Marco A. Murillo Santa Clara University Michael Rodriguez David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA AUTHOR NOTE Correspondence concerning this submission should be addressed via email to [krissiamartinez@utexas.edu](krissiamartinez@utexas.edu). *Formerly Marjorie Faulstich Orellana ABSTRACT The [U.S. healthcare](U.S. healthcare) system struggles to provide adequate language assistance to medical practitioners and patients. As a result, health providers and patients rely on ad hoc interpreters, including children, to communicate. Bilingual children who regularly interpret for others, whom we refer to as child language brokers, are important linguistic and cultural conduits for their communities and bridge language differences in vital contexts, such as health and medical settings. In this paper, we explore the experiences of 17 adolescent language brokers and consider the settings, tasks, and people they engage with when language brokering for health. Findings illustrate that child language brokering is a real and important component for immigrant family health, that child language brokering for health is not a uniform experience, and that language brokering for health can sometimes have severe ramifications. Keywords: child language brokers, health, health equity INTRODUCTION Language barriers in health services can impact the quality of care patients and families receive or whether they can access care at all (Al Shamsi et al., 2020) . Poor communication caused by language barriers can result in misunderstanding symptom descriptions or medical instructions, potentially causing unintended and life-threatening consequences (Flores, 2014; Steinberg et al., 2016) . Despite the dangers of language gaps in health care, the number of health interpreters in the U.S. remains scarce (Eldred, 2018) . As a result of strained language and cultural resources, health providers and individuals who primarily speak languages other than English may seek the language assistance of bilingual children, whom we refer to as child language brokers (CLBs) (Tse, 1995) . The size of the U.S. child language brokering population is unclear; however, CLBs are typically children of immigrants with limited English proficiency. As of 2017, 38% of immigrants had one parent with limited English proficiency (Lou & Lei, 2019) . CLBs are likely a large population, and although research has documented that it is common for CLBs to help interpret everyday life and activities, we know little of their experiences facilitating health interactions and information. This paper discusses findings from focus group interviews with 17 high school-aged youth who regularly have language brokered for their family health needs. Our first data review offers a wide-lens view of the health landscape in which our study participants described language brokering, including the settings, stakeholders, and language brokering tasks. We take our analysis one step further by focusing in on individual health events described by participants and reviewing each event for the health topics, language brokering tasks, stakeholders, and setting. We organize the data by participant, making visible the frequency or infrequency of certain health topics, language brokering tasks, and stakeholders. This additional step in our analysis aims to illustrate how even within a single domain, like health, language brokering activities can look different forchildren and families. We identified 27 health events where participants described the setting, stakeholders, health topic, and language brokering tasks. Our analysis of these events illuminates the extensive impact that language brokers have on their parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and st

FAQs

Why do health providers and patients rely on child language brokers?

Because language assistance in the U.S. remains scarce and language barriers hinder communication. Families may seek bilingual children’s help when adults and patients primarily speak languages other than English.

What does the study investigate about child language brokers for health?

The study analyzes focus group interviews with 17 adolescent brokers, examining the health settings, tasks, stakeholders, and individual health events they describe. It also reviews event details by topic, language brokering activities, and people involved.

What potential risks or consequences does the paper highlight?

Although child language brokering can support communication, the paper notes that brokering for health is not uniform and can sometimes have severe ramifications. Poor communication can also create misunderstanding of symptoms or medical instructions.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Oliver