Healthcare interpreting in Brazil: an overview

Abstract

Among the community settings where there is the need for interpreting services, healthcare contexts requires special attention, given the complex nature of the medical activity, which consequently imposes different challenges to interpreters. In Brazil, language barriers faced by patients who do not speak Portuguese are handled by volunteer interpreters without any specific training. This article gives an overview of the current demands for interpreters in medical settings in the country and the need for analysis and actions aimed at developing the professional field to ensure access to health services in the country by linguistic minorities with the help of qualified interpreters. It approaches the necessity of public policies that recognize the demand and the elaboration of linguistic access tools, and the urgent need to include the topic among the Interpreting Studies agenda in the Brazilian context, which should comprehend community interpreting, including healthcare settings.