Linguistic mediation as a guarantee of rights in Brazil: towards institutional translation and interpretation policies in the Federal Public Defenders’ Office

Abstract

The recent migration flows to Brazil require the government to take a new look at the social needs of newly arrived individuals in the country. The implementation of a language and translation policy is also, many times, a condition for access by the immigrant population to public service delivery systems. In this sense, the Federal Public Defenders’ Office (DPU), charged with the mission of guaranteeing human rights, created the Department of Translation (CTRAD), formerly the Translation Unit (NuTrad), in partnership with the University of Brasilia (UnB), to expand and improve the legal assistance services provided to immigrants in Brazil. Initially responsible for the translation of procedural documents, the NuTrad, due to the exponential increase in the demand for services by non-Portuguese speakers, has been expanding its activities with the creation of a linguistic mediation service between the public agent and the person requesting the right. This growth in demands related to translation and interpretation reveals the need to develop institutional translation policies, most of which are currently implemented by civil society. To support these actions, we sought to establish a diagnosis of the sociolinguistic situation of the DPU in this context, by collecting data from the service sectors of the various units of the DPU. Questionnaires were applied to the attendants of these units to learn about the linguistic difficulties and needs in the service areas. The results reveal, on the one hand, the linguistic challenges faced according to the types of interaction between rights claimants and public officials and, on the other hand, the great helplessness of the institutions in the face of these challenges.