Multilingual Practices and Monolingual Mindsets

“Interpreting is not just a job. It is a task with great responsibility. Interpreting is relevant for all areas of life - sometimes it is a matter of life and death, sometimes it is “only” about the appropriate transmission of a work of art to another cultural tradition. In any case, it is a task that requires in-depth knowledge and a high level of expertise, or in other words: a high level of professionalism. And yet, time and again, we find that this important task is hugely underestimated. This important volume by Jinhyun Cho deals with the whole range of experiences that almost 70 interpreters from the field of health care have shared with the author. The book is impressive not least because of its systematic reappraisal of fundamental historical convictions about monolingualism as the natural norm, which also influence the interpreting profession.”

- Professor Ingrid Gogolin, University of Hamburg, Germany

“This book offers a critical sociolinguistic examination of health care interpreting in Australia, highlighting the under-recognition of interpreters in a predominantly English-speaking society. Cho explores the intersection of language, race, and class, demonstrating how issues of interpreting are deeply tied to social justice for minority language speakers. Essential reading for anyone interested in interpreting studies, health communication, and sociolinguistics, this book challenges monolingual ideologies and advocates for a more inclusive approach to multilingual practices.”

- Professor Sender Dovchin, Curtin University, Australia

“In Multilingual practices and monolingual mindsets, Jinhyun Cho presents a richly contextualized analysis of health care interpreting in Australia, demonstrating how the working conditions of interpreters — and by extension, the ability of speakers of other languages to receive equitable medical care — are shaped by societal ideologies about monolingualism, race, class and gender. The book is a rare accomplishment of a study that looks at interpreting through a critical sociolinguistic lens, showing how it is conditioned by the language policies and language ideologies that emerged from white settler colonialism and assimilationist and racist attitudes towards migration. At the same time, readers will take inspiration from interpreters’ resilience and sense of responsibility and solidarity that Cho documents.”

- Professor Philipp Angermeyer, York University

Jinhyun Cho is a senior lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University. Her research cuts across translation/interpreting and sociolinguistics, with a focus on language ideologies, language policies, and intercultural communication. With a novel approach, which sees interpreting as social activities infused with power, her research has captured the dynamics of cultural, linguistic, and ethnic power relations in diverse sociolinguistic contexts.