Translating Values: Insights from Multilingual and Multiethnic Focus Groups in Northern Ireland
Dr Piotr Blumczyński (QUB) and Prof John Gillespie (Ulster) Culture revolves around values: they hold the cultural community together and underpin the mutual interests. A cultural group whose members hold opposite or otherwise incompatible values is hardly conceivable, which demonstrates that the concept of culture is predicated on shared values. However, values are often “invisible” (Hofstede 2001: 11), i.e. wrapped in thick layers of cultural material inseparable from ethnic and linguistic considerations. Changing a language (e.g. when moving to a foreign country) will affect a range of attitudes and perceptions, including a sense of belonging (or displacement), fulfillment (or frustration),
Formal and informal translation and interpretation for immigrants and asylum seekers
Dr Caroline Linse (QUB) As of 2011 there were over 50,000 migrants, who speak a language other than English or Irish at home, residing in Northern Ireland. Many of these individuals do not possess adequate levels of English language proficiency in order to access services. Research funded by the Northern Ireland Inclusion and Diversity Service was conducted to determine the home-school connections of culturally and linguistically diverse families in Northern Ireland. It revealed that there are a wide variety of ways that translation and interpretation services are offered for families not fluent in English within the school settings. Drawing upon