Interpreters' Experiences of Asylum Interviews in Sweden. Working Conditions and Interpreting Literacy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3032282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kristina Gustafsson (0000-0001-9897-9891, corresponding author), Lisa Ottosson |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Nordic Journal of Migration Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1799-649X • E-ISSN: 1799-649X |
| Publisher | Helsinki University Press (PUBLISHER • FI) |
| DOI | 10.33134/njmr.958 |
| OpenAlex | W4413991952 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 24 |
This article seeks to investigate interpreters’ experiences of interpreting in asylum interviews. The empirical basis of the paper is ethnographic interviews with nine public service interpreters in Sweden, collected as part of a larger study during the period 2019–2022. The analysis is guided by theories of interpreting and mediation in professional encounters and literacy. Two main themes are presented; the first concerns interpreters’ working conditions and a widespread mistrust in their skills, both of which undermine access to high‐quality interpreting services and interpreters’ professional discretion in asylum interviews, while the second discusses the fine line between interpreting and mediating, which depends on expectations, skills and relationships with other key actors in the interview. The present analysis shows that interpreting involves navigating a highly complex and sensitive situation and interacting with other key actors to ensure that trust is established. Based on this, the article concludes that asylum interviews are complex multilingual settings in which all key actors engage in interpreting the asylum‐seeker’s narrative in a hermeneutic sense. This process calls for greater language awareness and interpreting literacy amongst interpreting users at the Migration Agency
Interpreter · Literacy · Pedagogy · Political science · Refugee · Sociology · Gender Studies · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Migration, Health and Trauma
Legal Overview
Mediating Zones of Uncertainty
‘Do I Have to Say Exactly Word by Word?’ (Re)producing and Negotiating Asymmetrical Relations in Asylum Interviews
Credibility Assessments as 'Normative Leakage
Precariousness among young migrants in Europe
Interpretation, translation and intercultural communication in refugee status determination procedures in the UK and France
Investigating Narrative Inequality
Mismanagement and misinterpretations in asylum interviews
Invisible or invincible? Professional integrity, ethics, and voice in public service interpreting
Working conditions of community interpreters in Sweden
Interpreting in asylum hearings
Linguistic, psychological and epistemic vulnerability in asylum procedures
The evolving concept of health literacy
Disclosure and (re)performance of gender-based evidence in an interpreter-mediated asylum interview
Fatal flaws in the UK asylum decision-making system
Interpreters' Experiences of Asylum Interviews in Sweden. Working Conditions and Interpreting Literacy
The Precarious Truth of Asylum
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |