A Voice: The Role of Child Interpreters in their Parents’ Immigration and Settlement Experience in Canada

Child interpreters are children of immigrant parents who have limited proficiency in the host country’s official language(s) and serve as their parents’ interpreters. Child interpreters, therefore, become their parent’s voice throughout their settlement in the host country. This paper explores the experience of Portuguese-Canadian immigrant parents who use their children as interpreters. More specifically, it investigates the extent to which child interpreters shape and/or influence their parents’ immigration and settlement experience in Canada. As I will demonstrate, my research found that child interpreters, as their parents’ voice, play a significant role in their parents’ experience in Canada. From interpreting at the doctor’s office to interpreting during the purchase of a home, the parents in this study agree that their immigration experience would not have been the same without their children as interpreters.