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Journal of Refugee Studies Advance Access originally published online on February 11, 2008
Journal of Refugee Studies 2008 21(1):103-116; doi:10.1093/jrs/fem051
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Mediated Communication with Minors in Asylum-seeking Hearings

Olga Keselman1, Ann-Christin Cederborg1, Michael E. Lamb2 and Örjan Dahlström1

1Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning/Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden
2Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RQ olga.keselman{at}liu.se

This study evaluated caseworkers’ information-seeking prompts in interviews with asylum-seeking minors and assesses the accuracy of the translations provided by interpreters. Twenty six Russian-speaking minors were individually interviewed by one of 10 caseworkers assisted by one of 17 interpreters. A quantitative analysis examined the type of questions asked and the accuracy of the corresponding renditions. The actual and translated content of the messages were examined using a qualitative analysis. The study showed that interviewers relied heavily on focused questions, which are more likely to elicit inaccurate information. When open questions were asked, the interviewers tended to ask narrow ‘directive’ questions rather than broader ‘invitations’. The interpreters’ renditions of utterances were often inaccurate. Almost half of the misrepresentations altered the content and one third involved changes in the type of question asked. This indicates that both interviewers and translators clearly need special training to ensure that they serve asylum-seeking minors adequately.

Key Words: interpreters • asylum hearings • interviewing style • accuracy of translation

MS received February 1, 2007 ; revised MS received May 1, 2007
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