Jansson2014
| Jansson2014 | |
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| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Jansson2014 |
| Author(s) | Gunilla Jansson |
| Title | Bridging language barriers in multilingual care encounters |
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| Tag(s) | EMCA, dementia care, immigrant care workers, language barriers, care encounters, multilingual practices |
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| Year | 2014 |
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| Journal | Multilingua |
| Volume | 33 |
| Number | 1-2 |
| Pages | 201–232 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1515/multi-2014-0009 |
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Abstract
The present case study demonstrates how the multilingual practices of a linguistically diverse workforce contribute to the functioning of a modern workplace. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and recordings in a residential home for elderly people with dementia in Sweden, the article explores how multilingual immigrant care workers creatively use their language skills to overcome linguistic boundaries and communicate with an elderly Kurdish resident. It is shown that despite the fact that the participants do not, or only to a limited extent, share a common language, the care workers manage to create multilingual encounters that allow them to perform care tasks in an activity context where empathy and efficiency are of great importance. Although the data in this study manifest the struggle of multilingual care workers to bridge language barriers, the study also highlights the complexity of providing adequate and well-functioning care in today’s diverse society, where linguistic and cultural matching of clients and caregivers cannot always be obtained. These results are discussed in the light of new demands on Swedish (and more broadly Western) care systems to adapt to the increasing number of multilingual older people, who will become residents in care facilities.
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