Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...

Chapter 5 • Giuseppe De Sario, Laura Corradi, Patricia Ruiz, Enrica Capussotti
but most of the time we asked Albanian and Rom translators to help us
speak with our subjects. Language has always been an obstacle and a challenge,
especially for oral historians who use narration and textual analyses,
and who find important insights in the comprehension of written or oral
testimonies. I wish to include the complexity of these languages in my
analysis, and to present it as a sort of microcosm of processes that occur
globally. The difficulties I/we faced in understanding each other are common
to those faced by people of different cultures who meet in their daily
lives. The mediation we used is one that is now common in our societies.
In our analysis, in this maze of ambivalence and potential misunderstanding,
we understood the material through it’s own strong meaning, and
because it spoke from within, recognizable to each participant’s subjectivity
whether he/she be the interviewer, the interviewee or the translator.
The remarks of Ilir, a 25-year-old man who has been living in Italy since
1998, supported this point:
I have understood the questions well but I don't know if I have explained
things well… it could have been better but maybe not… Today I met an
Iraqi boy, he was talking to his sister on the phone and he asked me to
hold the phone while he wrote down the number… then he talked to his
sister in his own language but he said the word “camera” [room] in
Italian… What I want to say is that I’ve started thinking in Italian too, the
way of thinking too has started to be a bit Italian… I don't know, will I
become Italian myself? I don't know…
The mediation of the interpreter must also be considered in terms of the
content he/she decides to transmit. Each translator might use different
strategies, according to his point of view and background. Most of the
time, the translators helped us find willing interviewees and their intervention
was essential in convincing people to talk to us. Despite our
request that the translators remain as close to the words spoken as possible,
we have come to recognize the importance and value of their participation
in the construction of meanings. The translators participated in the
research both before and during the interviews, often suggesting questions,
and showing their commitment to a job they found highly political. Most
of them had been living in Italy for several years, either because of persecution
or because they opposed the nationalistic politics implemented in
Kosovo and Serbia.
With these words, we wish to thank them, but above all to point out the
exceptional values of people who have maintained a strong ethical commitment
to themselves and to others, in a conflict that has otherwise
destroyed the grounds that once held solidarity and reciprocity.
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