The study investigated the experience of language brokering in highly proficient Chinese-English bilinguals where 50% of them were language brokers. Essentially, language brokering as a phenomenon is the activity of informal translation to facilitate communication between persons and languages. Predominantly from first- and second-generation immigrant households, brokers take on many different settings and materials to achieve these informal translation activities and tasks. It has been shown in previous studies, that brokers tend to be more agile and dynamic across languages. The present study used counterpart idioms to test language brokers and non-brokers recording their accuracy. The counterpart idiom judgment task tested idiom type (decomposability and familiarity) in both English and Chinese language directions [e.g., English direction “kill two birds with one stone”, answer “一石二鸟”- pin yin: yī shí èr niǎo (figurative meaning in both English and Chinese – “to succeed in achieving two things in a single action”)]. Findings showed that brokers similarly scored in decomposable idioms (D) and non-decomposable (ND) particularly in Chinese. Non-brokers showed significantly differently in both decomposable (D) and non-decomposable (ND) idioms where decomposable idioms (D) scored greater than non-decomposable (ND) in Chinese. Both groups responded more accurately in D than ND in English. Overall, brokers had a higher accuracy than non-brokers and responded more similarly across languages, idiom types (decomposable and non-decomposable), and familiar and unfamiliar idioms. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Asian American adolescents, such as Chinese and Korean American adolescents, often language broker for their immigrant parents. This study examines how language brokering influences parent-child relationships and adolescents' psychological adjustment in Asian-American families. Using a two-wave sample of Chinese (n = 237; average age = 14.65, SD = .68) and Korean (n = 262; average age = 14.72, SD = .69) American adolescents, this study examined a culturally relevant conditional mechanism through which language brokering may contribute to lower levels of internalizing/externalizing problems. Results suggested that language brokering for the mother was associated with perceived maternal sacrifice, which was in turn associated with respect for the mother, which was eventually associated with lower levels of externalizing problems (but not internalizing problems) in the adolescents. Moreover, the indirect effect was conditional on the level of mother-child open communication. With a lower level of open communication, the indirect effect of language brokering on externalizing problems became stronger. Results indicate that interventions designed to reduce Asian American adolescent language brokers' externalizing problems can target their perception of parental sacrifice and their respect for parents, and that this approach may be especially effective for adolescents experiencing a low level of parent-child open communication. At the same time, for these families with low levels of parent-child open communication, encouraging more open communication may be an additional way to intervene. / text

With the growing percentage of immigrant families in the USA, language transition is a common immigrant experience and can occur rapidly from generation to generation within a family. Child language brokering appears to occur within minority language families as one way of negotiating language and cultural differences; however, the phenomenon of children translating or mediating language interactions for parents has previously been hypothesized to contribute to negative outcomes for children, such as role-reversals and parentification, emotional distancing and lack of communication, increased parent-child conflict, and increased internalizing/externalizing disorders. The current study used direct observations of 60 Spanish-speaking parent-child dyads (30 mother-child and 30 father-child) as they worked on a joint academic task in English to explore: (1) child language brokering patterns, (2) parent-child interactions, and (3) the quality of the parent-child relationship. Children included in the study were between the ages of 4 and 10 years. Instruments used included demographic questionnaires, the ARSMA-II, and coding of videotaped interactions for language brokering patterns (frequency and prevalence of both child translations and parental prompts), parent-child relationship quality, parental engagement strategies, and the situational power dynamic between parent and child. Observations, descriptive statistics, correlations, and a hierarchical regression were used to analyze data. Results demonstrated that language brokering occurred at a higher prevalence among the youngest age group than prior studies have suggested, parents actively contribute to child brokering behaviors through parental prompts, and mothers and fathers use different engagement strategies. Findings also demonstrated that child language brokering significantly contributed to the prediction of parent-child relationship quality, with more frequent brokering associated with more positive parent-child relationships. There was no significant correlation with child language brokering frequency and the parent-child power dynamic. Results may have limited generalizability due to the exploratory nature of statistics used, the emotional safety of the observed parent-child joint task situation, and the small sample size and specificity of the sample (primarily rural Mexican two-parent immigrant families with children born in the USA). Implications for practice include: normalization of language brokering as a part of bicultural development, facilitation of insight into changing family roles and maintenance of adaptive power dynamics within a context of change, and the enhancement of parent and child communication strategies.

<p>This thesis presents the research findings related to language brokering in Chinese immigrant families. Applying an interpretive theoretical framework, this study sought to capture the participants’ reality. This research was accomplished by interviewing four Chinese immigrant youth whose age ranged from 16 to 21 years. Three of the participants were female and one participant was male. The findings suggest Chinese immigrant youths perceive language brokering as an overall positive experience, yet it sometimes can bring forth negative emotions. In terms of the impact on the participants’ relationship with their parents, language brokering can also produce a more intimate relationship with parents because of its inherent emphasis on communication between the parents and their children. Nevertheless, one more effect emerging from the data was that in other situations the language brokers displayed a loss of respect for their parents. As language brokering is related to the mental health of immigrant youth and the healthy adjustment of the immigrant family to the country, social workers are expected to shed light on issues of language brokering practice in Chinese immigrant families. Accordingly, policy makers may be required to expand initiatives for programs that support Chinese immigrant youth.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

This study aimed to explore the indirect effect of parental attachment on psychological well-being via bicultural identity integration (BII) in a sample of bicultural young adult children of immigrant caregivers, as well as the moderator effect of language brokering on the relation between parental attachment and BII. The final sample included 107 participants who were recruited through various psychology listservs, social media advertisements, undergraduate psychological courses, and snowball sampling methods to complete an online survey via Qualtrics. Preliminary analyses revealed that age and race/ethnicity were significantly associated with some variables of interest. Results of primary analyses revealed a significant relation between parental attachment and psychological distress, but not with life satisfaction. Bivariate correlations revealed a significantly positive relation between BII blendedness and life satisfaction but no significant relation with psychological distress. However, BII harmony was not significantly correlated with either psychological well-being outcome. There were no significant findings when examining the indirect-effect, moderation, and moderated mediational effects. Findings derived from this study contribute to a greater understanding of the cognitive and affective processes that contribute to the integration of bicultural identities. Relevant literature, conceptual reasoning and empirical evidence for the research methods, and counseling implications of the findings, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Child language brokers frequently translate in adult-level situations. Research has suggested that through translating, brokers may develop advanced language, cognitive, and social skills (De Ment, Buriel, and Villanueva, 2005; McQuillan and Tse, 1995), and these may lead to greater academic achievement and self-efficacy (Buriel, Perez, De Ment, Chavez,and Moran, 1998). Additionally, language brokers have been found to increase in biculturalism as they translate for people of different cultures (Acoach and Webb, 2004; Buriel et al., 1998). Brokers might experience reduced acculturative stress, for which biculturalism has been found to be a protective factor (Bacallao and Smokowski, 2005). Despite its possible benefits, brokering has been associated with negative emotions and behavioral problems for some children (Chao, 2006; Weisskirch and Alva, 2002). The mixed results of language brokering studies may partially be related to the age of participants, with translating appearing to be a more positive experience for older adolescents (Orellana and Reynolds, 2008). The purpose of this study was to test relations among language brokering, academic achievement, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, and acculturative stress. I proposed and tested if language brokering was associated with more positive outcomes. In addition, I tested if older brokers had more positive outcomes than younger brokers. Participants included 207 Latino middle school students, aged 10 to 14 years, who completed self-report surveys. Measures included a background demographics questionnaire and scales for language brokering, academic self-efficacy, social self-efficacy, and acculturative stress. Achievement was measured with grades from school records. Results were non-significant for the relation of language brokering with achievement and social self-efficacy when controlling for other predictor variables. In contrast to expectations, translating for more people was associated with decreased academic self-efficacy and greater acculturative stress. Further analysis revealed that language brokering for parents and grandparents was associated with greater acculturative stress, while translating for other people was not. Although translating was associated with more acculturative stress, and older children reported less acculturative stress, age was not found to moderate the relation of language brokering and acculturative stress. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future directions in language brokering research and clinical work are presented. / text

As families immigrate to a new country, adolescents often acculturate and learn the host-language more quickly than do their parents. As a result, many adolescents engage in language brokering (i.e., providing translation, interpretation, and communication mediation assistance) for their immigrant parents. This study aimed to disentangle the nature of multiple dimensions of language brokering within a community sample of 152 Chinese immigrant families residing in Western Canada. Specifically, I examined language brokering frequency as well as positive and negative feelings about language brokering as distinct constructs to better understand how they relate to one another and with adjustment. Applying self-determination theory, I also considered the role of autonomy-supportive contexts in moderating links between the various language brokering constructs and adjustment, with the expectation that language brokering would present less risk to adjustment in contexts high in autonomy support. A higher frequency of language brokering for both mothers and fathers predicted more intense feelings. Further, language brokering feelings were more predictive of adjustment than frequency. There was little evidence that brokering feelings moderated relations between language brokering frequency and adjustment. However, there was evidence that the absence of autonomy-supportive contexts was a risk for poorer adjustment, and that environments rich in autonomy support have the potential to mitigate risks associated with language brokering. The results are discussed with respect to unique adolescent experiences language brokering for mothers versus fathers, which further highlight the complex relations between language brokering and adjustment. / Graduate

The master thesis deals with the dialogical communication interpreted by children. Its primary focus was to analyze situations in which the interpreter and the language brokerer is a child and not a professional adult interpreter. The thesis is devided into two parts. In the theoretical part of the study we will describe the theoretical framework of our research such as natural translation and interpreting, bilingualism and child language brokering. The empirical part of this study describes the research and presents the results of our research. Our aim was to analyze dialogical interpreting and mode of addressing other participants in situations in which the mediator of the communication is a child. Moreover, the research wanted to answer the question about what strategies a child language brokerer uses when interpreting negative criticism about himself. We discovered that dialogical interpreting with a child language brokerer has its specific features and children use some strategies to mitigate or to totally avoid criticism that concerns them directly and they do not interpret as a neutral interpreter should do.

Language brokers are children of immigrants who use their skills as bilinguals to interpret or translate for their family and/or community members. Although language brokering may begin in childhood or preadolescence, language brokering may continue until adulthood. While there are a small number of studies that have touched upon change over time, this study’s primary focus is on language brokers’ experiences relating to change over time. This was accomplished through semi-structured in depth retrospective interviews among Latina/o young adults attending small liberal arts colleges. Three aspects of language brokering were examined, the practice of language brokering, feeling towards language brokering, and family dynamics. Three new aspects of language brokering emerged, brokering for parent’s business, brokering for the community, and brokering technology. Siblings played the role of the language broker at different points in time and to different extents. Parents’ English language developed, and they were able to navigate some tasks due to their language development and their experience completing typical forms. Feelings of joy and frustration, in deed, coexist. Feelings towards language brokering also changed from embarrassment and nervousness to confidence and satisfaction. The patterns and experiences found in this study highlight the complexity and dynamic nature of language brokering.

This thesis deals with the communication between primary school representatives, foreign students and their parents. Our primary focus is the use of professional community interpreting and child language brokering for this purpose. In the theoretical part of our paper we firstly describe migration in the Czech Republic and then introduce the two main points of interest: community interpreting and child language brokering with a focus on the school setting. The empirical part of this study presents the results of our research, that was conveyed as a case study. Our aim was to analyze how certain primary schools in Prague communicate with students and parents who do not speak Czech; to what extent they use community interpreters and what is their opinion on the role of interpreter at school and on this service in general. We also asked the schools whether and how often they request the foreign students to act as interpreters and to what extent they feel this solution is acceptable in various situations. In order to obtain a comprehensive view, we conveyed a similar survey among community interpreters. We discovered that community interpreting is not a common solution in overcoming language barriers in the selected schools. Even though they perceive this service in a positive way, they struggle with...