Healthcare Videos Addressed to the Migrant Population: From Intercultural Mediation to Transcreation

Abstract

Population movements result in multilingual and multicultural societies. Apart from the great amount of foreigners from different nationalities who visit Spain each year for short stays, during the last decades we have witnessed a great increase in the number of long-term students, workers and retired people who choose Spain as their destination. The need to reach and involve these groups of the population in healthcare promotion campaigns has challenged the role of public service interpreters and translators, who have been involved in the translation and elaboration of leaflets, posters, and also videos in a variety of languages. The objects of study of this piece of research are videos published in Spain addressed particularly to the migrant population. Our departure point is a reflection on the effectiveness of these videos. If they are to reach the migrant populations, who possess different ways of conceptualising and understanding health and care, may have different communication styles, and, of course, speak languages different from that of the health provider, it might be appropriate for the videos to be adapted. Just as advertising is transcreated in order to efficiently reach members of different cultures to persuade them, so health promotion campaigns should also be the object of transformation. The aim of this research is, thus, to analyse healthcare videos addressed to the migrant population in Spain to determine the kind of adaptations performed. The theoretical framework for this study is based on intercultural communication and public service translation. The methodology derives from a variety of disciplines, which include discourse analysis, publicity and advertising, ethnography, and sociology.