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Article published In: Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 20:3 (2025) ► pp.329–351

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Refugee languages and the right to interpretation

Local language policies of ‘tolerance’ of Belgian asylum lawyers

ORCiD logo with link | Ghent University
ORCiD logo with link | Ghent University | Université Libre de Bruxelles
Published online: 31 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.25022.mar
Abstract
This article examines the tensions between the language needs of asylum seekers and how these are addressed in institutional language policy and practice, focusing on the everyday practice of asylum lawyers communicating with their clients, which is characterized by immense linguistic diversity and a high demand for language support in languages of lesser diffusion (LLDs). Based on an analysis of policy documents and ethnographic data, this article examines how asylum lawyers deal with the challenges of providing accessible and appropriate language support to clients who speak an LLD. We explore how, in the absence of clear policy guidance, lawyers develop mechanisms for monitoring interpreting quality and local strategies of linguistic tolerance that condone suboptimal forms of language support for LLDs. Our research shows how these local language policies, however well-intentioned, can jeopardize the language rights of asylum seekers and deprive them of the language support to which they are entitled.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Formal vs. local language policy
  • Linguistic support for refugee languages
  • Research data and method of analysis
  • Formal language policy: The right to interpretation as a fundamental principle
  • Local language policy: Low interpreting capacity for LLDs
  • Local language policy of tolerance
  • Discussion and concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
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