Migrant communities living in the Netherlands and their use of MT in health contexts

Abstract

As part of a larger project on the use of MT in healthcare settings among migrant com- munities, this paper investigates if, when, how, and with what (potential) challenges migrants use MT based on a survey of 201 non-native speakers of Dutch currently liv- ing in the Netherlands. Three main findings stand out from our analysis. First, the data shows that most migrants use MT to under- stand health information in Dutch and com- municate with health professionals. How MT is used and received varies depending on the context and the L2 language level, as well as age, but not on the educational level. Sec- ond, some users face challenges of different kinds, including a lack of trust or perceived inaccuracies. Some of these challenges relate to comprehension, bringing us to our third point. We argue that more research is needed to understand the needs of migrants when it comes to translated expert-to-non-expert health communication. This questionnaire helped us identify several topics we hope to explore in the project's next phase.</p