Unseen forms of interpreting: Child Language brokering in Italy

Whenever and wherever there is a lack of language services provided by professional interpreters and translators, non-professionals become the obvious and only alternative. Through schooling, the children of migrant families learn the language of their new country of residence before their parents and thus are often asked to mediate both linguistically and culturally for their families and community members. The interpreting and translating activities they perform cover a very wide range of contexts and situations, yet no acknowledgement nor recognition is generally given to the huge cultural, economic and social contribution these children make. After a review of the state of the art in Child Language Brokering (CLB) research, this paper will provide a detailed description of the phenomenon in Italy and will then focus on the divergent perceptions that children adults have on CLB. The discussion will be supported by data gathered with a multi-method approach, including a questionnaire survey, interviews and narratives.