What is language brokering?
We use the term “language brokering” to refer to the many ways in which people use their knowledge of languages and cultures to speak, read, write, listen, and do things with and for others. In this website we focus on the work done by the children of immigrants as they speak to and for their families and speakers of the host country’s language. On this page, we address some common questions as well as misperceptions, and we provide resources that will help you learn about the complex skills kids use and develop through this work.
Common Questions & Misperceptions
We wrote these questions and answers based on research you can find listed on our “Academic Resources” page.
Why call this “language brokering”? Isn’t this just translation?
The word translation highlights the action of changing one language into the other. But brokering is more than just changing words. Instead, brokers work in between two people or two cultures and negotiate new understandings. They re-phrase words, speak and do things for others, in order to accomplish real, social goals.
For instance, young language brokers sometimes support their families as they interact with doctors, teachers, and lawyers, helping each other better understand not only their words, but also their unique perspectives. Sometimes children provide oral interpretations of written texts, like. when they read the mail to their parents at home. Sometimes they provide language assistance as they participate with others in conversations. They may translate a word here or there, a whole conversation, or a wide variety of written texts; jury summons, mortgage statements, credit card applications, greeting cards and school letters are just a few of the things kids regularly translate). The aim of language brokering is not to produce perfect translations; it is to get things done in a wide range of situations, relationships, and activities.
Language brokering seems so hard!
While some situations faced by language brokers are very complex, some language brokering is easy. Some of the factors that make brokering easier or harder include:
- How competent or comfortable do brokers feel in each language?
- How familiar are they with the content they are brokering?
- How comfortable are they in the context?
- How well do they know the participants?
- What kinds of supports are available? (Are other people helping them? Can they refer to online resources? Did they get a clear explanation of their task?
- How much time pressure are they under?
- How scrutinized – or appreciated – do they feel?
On this website you can find examples of different kinds of language brokering. Many situations arise spontaneously and language brokers have to be ready to adjust. The sheer variety of ways youth are asked or expected to broker language for others can make the practice hard. That’s also what makes the learning that happens so powerful!
Isn’t this bad for children?
Many people worry that language brokering puts undue stress on young people. Indeed, some youth have reported they are not comfortable with brokering, and some studies have found that brokering is related to negative outcomes, like anxiety and depression. However, researchers have also identified potential benefits, including increased social competencies, biculturality, and linguistic and cognitive growth. One study even found that children with extensive experience as language brokers scored higher on standardized tests of reading achievement in 5th and 6th grade.
Our own research reveals the wide range of situations, activities, and relationships that young people have brokered. For example, you can read this article about a “day in the life” of a language broker. Some of these are stressful, high-pressure situations. Others are friendly, uplifting opportunities for young people to contribute to their families and society, and to grow their own linguistic, social and cultural competencies. This website includes ideas for supporting language brokers in ways that can expand the learning opportunities that brokering provides.
How common is language brokering?
Experience with brokering varies across families and communities, with some youth (often the eldest siblings) shouldering significant responsibilities and others participating in more peripheral or irregular ways. Virtually all people living in bilingual and multilingual communities have some experience with language brokering. Yet most of the youth in our studies never had the opportunity to talk to others about what they do, or had their skills or experiences positively acknowledged by teachers or other public leaders.
Could language brokering matter for school?
Language brokering exposes youth to many kinds of oral and written language, as we discuss in our section for teachers, Do you teach kids who translate? It cultivates cognitive flexibility, helps youth understand the rules of language, and develops their understanding of other cultures. Language brokers recognize the similarities and differences within and across languages, become aware of cultural and linguistic norms, and regularly experience how meaning is arbitrarily yet systematically conveyed by language.
Most approaches to addressing the educational needs of bilingual students in U.S. schools start from a “deficit” framing: education too often focuses on what kids don’t know and can’t do. Even in educational programs that attempt to follow guidelines that suggest building on students’ strengths, there is very little recognition of the sophisticated skills that are demanded – and thus developed – by language brokering.
In contrast, following a long tradition exemplified by scholars like Luis Moll and Carol Lee, we believe that everyday skills and community-based “funds of knowledge” can be built upon to promote learning within schools. For instance, the “Cultural Modeling” tradition (explained here) offers a framework for identifying substantive ways of building on the resources of students from non-dominant groups whose skills often go unrecognized in schools. The aim is not simply to “celebrate” everyday linguistic or cultural virtuosity, but to recruit students’ abilities as a strength and to expand students’ repertoires of linguistic and literate practice in order to cultivate high levels of academic skills. For more about how to do this, visit our section for teachers.