Review on Interpretation Services for Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong 《有關香港少數族裔翻譯服務的研究》
The Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (the Association, or ACSVAW) launched the "We Stand" program in 2012 to provide gender education to ethnic minority women and support services to victims of sexual violence among them. In the cases that we handled, we found that ethnic minorities encountered greater difficulties in seeking assistance. Compared to ethnic minority men, their education level is lower and the proportion of them who do not know English or Chinese is higher, making it harder for them to receive information; and they do not even know that there are organisations in Hong Kong dedicated to providing social services to them.
In view of this, from May to July 2017, the Association distributed and collected 170 valid questionnaires from different organisations that provide services for ethnic minorities and invited ethnic minorities, social workers and translators to complete 14 in-depth interview. Analysis of such first-hand information was made. Unable to obtain first- hand information regarding court translations, a desktop study on the opinions and the limitations of local ethnic minorities as users of translation services was completed.
In addition to privately-owned translation companies in Hong Kong, there are currently three agencies providing translation services to the public, including "TransLingal" by the HKSKH Lady MacLehose Center, the "Centre for Harmony and Enhancement of Ethnic Minority Residents"(CHEER) by the Hong Kong Christian Service and court translation services provided by the local judicial authorities. Among them, "TransLingal" operates as a social enterprise, provides translation in 20 languages and undertakes interpretation services in public hospitals in Hong Kong. It handles 400 cases a month. CHEER is funded by the Civil Affairs Bureau and provides interpretation in seven languages, including scheduled translation services for government departments, telephone interpretation and video interpretation. As for the judicial agencies, ethnic minority language translators are only employed on a part-time basis when there is a need for an appointment.
In our findings, the following points were noticed:
More than two-thirds of respondents considered it is important that the translator's gender is the same as that of the service user; in other words, a translator of the same gender is required not only for translation of medical services but for other matters too, otherwise the service user might feel embarrassed. Male respondents also expressed the same concern about the translator's gender, indicating that this is not only the demand of women but the uniqueness of the cultural background of ethnic minorities. It is certain that ethnic minority women pay more attention to the translator’s gender, especially when seeking help for domestic violence or sexual violence.
The quality of minority language translations is also noteworthy, especially in the past few years when there were a number of court cases with erroneous translation. After comparing full-time Chinese-English translators of the Judiciary with part-time minority languages translators, including their differences in entry requirements, remuneration, training and evaluation system, it is not difficult to find that the difference in benefits is sufficient to have an impact on the quality of translation. Although a single error in court translation can result in extremely serious consequences, unstable workloads and lower hourly wages make it difficult for the judiciary to hire talents who are minority-language translators.
At present, social services for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong are coordinated by the Home Affairs Bureau and translation services for ethnic minorities have been greatly improved since they were found to have a low rate of use in early years. However, based on the questionnaires we collected, only 41 of the 170 interviewees used translation services, accounting for less than 25%. Given that translation services can only be applied for by government departments, interviewees indicated that their requests for translation services had been denied by government departments (such as the Housing Department). This shows that frontline workers lack sensitivity toward the language barriers for ethnic minorities, thinking that simple dialogues, body language, using relatives and friends as makeshift translators might suffice. On the other hand, the lack of a uniform standard for overall translation services, including entry requirements of translators, benefits, training and job promotion, has directly led to quality discrepancy. These problems cannot be solved solely by service providers. As an accountable policy bureau, the Civil Affairs Bureau should conduct a comprehensive examination of the translation services of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong and collect the views of service users and all stakeholders in order to make overall plans and improvements.
In the service experience of RainLily, many ethnic minority women do not turn for help unless there is a great crisis or the safety of their children is threatened. Compared with local females and ethnic minority males, ethnic minority women face multiple problems such as the oppression of a patriarchal culture, language barriers and lack of information. We hope that the Home Affairs Bureau can address this issue squarely so that ethnic minorities can exercise their right to basic social services without any problems.
關注婦女性暴力協會（協會）於2012年展開「凝‧動」計劃，為少數族裔女性提供性別教育及性暴力受害人支援服務。我們在個案中發現少數族裔女性在求助時遇到有很大困難，較諸少數族裔男性，她們的教育程度較低，不懂英語或中文的比例較高，因此較難接收外界資訊，甚至不知道香港有專門為她們提供社會服務的機構。
有鑑於此，協會於2017年的5月至7日期間，經不同服務少數族裔的機構發放及共收回170份有效問卷，又邀請少數族裔、社工和翻譯員完成14個深入訪問，並分析這些第一手資料。由於我們無法取得法庭翻譯的第一手資料，因此又同時就着香港少數族裔翻譯使用者的意見及面對的局限完成了桌面研究。
本港除私人翻譯公司外，現時共有三所機構為公眾提供翻譯服務，包括聖公會麥理浩夫人中心的「翻譯通」，香港基督教服務處的「融匯—少數族裔人士支援服務中心」(下稱「融匯」)，以及香港司法機構提供的法庭翻譯。其中「翻譯通」以社會企業形式運作，提供20種語言翻譯，承接了香港公立醫院的傳譯服務，每月處理400個個案。「融匯」則由民政局資助，提供7種語言翻譯，包括經政府部門預約的傳譯服務，以及電話傳譯、視象傳譯等。司法機構則在有預約需要時才以兼職形式聘請少數族裔翻譯。
在我們的調查中，有以下數點發現值得注意:
超過2/3的受訪者認為翻譯者性別與服務使用者相同是重要的，換言之，不只涉及身體器官的醫療服務過程中需要相同性別的翻譯，其他的事宜亦同樣，否則服務使用者會感到尷尬。男性受訪者亦對翻譯者性別表達同樣的關注，顯示這不單是女性的需求，而是少數族裔的文化背景的獨特性。可以確定的是，少數族裔女性，特別在因為遭受家暴或性暴力而求助時，會更注意翻譯者性別。
少數族裔語言翻譯的質素也是值得注意，特別是過去幾年出現多宗法庭翻譯出錯的案件。在對比司法機構翻譯組全職處理中英翻譯者與其他少數族裔語言兼職翻譯者，包括入職條件、薪酬、培訓及評估考核制度的差異後，不難發現兩者在福利待遇方面的差距足以直接影響到翻譯質素。法庭翻譯只要有一個字眼錯誤，其後果也可以是極為嚴重的，然而不穩定的工作量以及較低的時薪使得司法機構難以覓得少數族裔語言翻譯的人才。
現時本港少數族裔社會服務由民政事務局統籌，少數族裔翻譯服務在早年被發現使用率偏低後，現已得到較大改善。不過，根據我們收回的問卷，170位受訪者當中只有41位曾經使用翻譯服務，比例仍然不足25%。由於在政府部門使用翻譯只能由該部門申請預約，有受訪者在訪談中表示要求政府部門(如:房屋署)提供翻譯服務被拒，這顯示前線工作人員對於少數族裔的語言障礙欠缺敏感，認為可利用簡單對話、身體語言或要求少數族裔帶來親友作翻譯充數。另一方面，整體的翻譯服務欠缺劃一標準，包括翻譯者入職條件、福利待遇、培訓進修以至升遷，都直接引致翻譯質素的參差。這些問題無法單靠提供服務的機構解決，作為問責的政策局，民政局理應全盤檢視本港少數族裔翻譯服務，收集服務使用者及所有持份者意見，繼而作出整體計劃及改進。
在風雨蘭的服務經驗中，很多少數族裔女性若不是出現極大危機，或兒女安全受到威脅時，否則都不會求助。相比本地女性，相比少數族裔男性，少數族裔女性面對多重的問題，既有父權文化的壓迫，亦有語言障礙以及資訊的缺乏。我們期望民政事務局能正視此問題，使少數族裔能無障礙地行使使用基本社會服務的權利。