THE INTERPRETER EFFECT - RENDERING INTERPRETERS VISIBLE IN CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY

Social science literature dealing with cross-cultural research tends t o discuss 'language' as a methodological problem. One focus is hereby on testing the equivalence of concepts in different languages, usually in relation to one survey carried out in various countries. However, what hardly seems to feature are experiences and thoughts on the socia l process of conducting interviews with a party of a different linguis tic background from that of the interviewer, and the possible role of interpreters. It is in clinical interviewing in the mental health serv ices where such issues have received considerable attention. This arti cle is based mainly on two sources of knowledge and experience: first, on literature about the methodological issues generated by mainly cli nical interviews conducted with interpreters; second, on experiences r elated to my thesis fieldwork in Budapest, which comprised 26 intervie ws with labour and management representatives, carried out with the as sistance of interpreters. On this basis, the following issues are addr essed: the possible interview bias arising due to the interpreter's ba ckground characteristics; the potential difficulties which are likely to occur, in particular when lay interpreters are involved; the possib le lack of control over the interview process. Finally, the role of th e interpreter as providing the non-native interviewer with a cultural context is explored.