What are the ways in which social workers can interact with potential clients who are not native English speakers? What are the guidelines for working with an interpreter?

What will be an ideal response?


When ethnic minority and immigrant clients have virtually no command of the English language, effective communication requires the use of an interpreter of the same ethnicity as the client, so that the social worker and client bridge both cultural value differences and language differences. To work effectively together, however, both the social worker and the interpreter must possess special skills. For their part, interpreters must be carefully selected and trained to understand the importance of the interview and their role in the process, as well as to interpret cultural nuances to the social worker. In this way, skilled interpreters assist social workers by translating far more than verbal content-they also convey nonverbal communication, cultural attitudes and beliefs, subtle expressions, emotional reactions, and expectations of clients.
The social worker should explain the interpreter's role to the client and ensure the client of neutrality and confidentiality on the part of both the social worker and the interpreter. In addition, successful transcultural work through an interpreter requires that the social worker be acquainted with the history and culture of the client's and the interpreter's country of origin. Social workers must adapt to the slower pace of interviews when an interpreter is involved.

Social Work & Human Services

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Which of the following organizations provides independent, impartial assistance in more than 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters?

A. United Nations Health Care B. Global Health Network C. Doctors Without Borders D. World Healthcare Association

Social Work & Human Services

What does a social worker need to pay attention to especially in regard to how a client describes their situation?

a. The client’s financial situation b. The amount of time the client has been in their current situation c. The social workers reaction to the client’s situation d. The feelings of the client as they relate to the situation

Social Work & Human Services

When someone else confronts you, all of the following are true except:

A) ?Pay very close attention to what the confronter is telling you. B) ?Tell your confronter that you appreciate his effort and his feedback. C) ?Reproach the confronter with criticism of your own in order to hold your ground. D) ?Approach your confronter later.

Social Work & Human Services

What types of sampling methods are considered less reliable and more fraught with

sampling errors? a. Random Sampling b. Non-probability Sampling c. Probability Sampling d. Simple Random Sampling

Social Work & Human Services