Access to indigenous interpreting 'poor'

Lack of access to interpreting services for Indigenous Australians means they are disadvantaged when it comes to accessing government services, a report says.

(AAP)

A report released by the Commonwealth Ombudsman says the lack of access to interpreting services for Indigenous Australians means they are at a major disadvantage when it comes to accessing government services.

The situation is particularly acute in the Northern Territory, where there are a number of multilingual indigenous communities where English isn't the first language.

Acting Ombudsman Alison Larkins says the report found an extensive unmet need for interpreter services in indigenous communities.

Ms Larkins says it also found that many people working in service delivery were often unaware of the need for an interpreter.

“We had examples where people assumed that if they issues the were discussing with Indigenous people were in their mind simple there was no need for any interpreter support,” Ms larkins told SBS.

“We had some clear examples of the lack of provision in interpreter services had led to people misunderstanding rights and obligations for example under contracts or tenancy agreements, where they haven't received benefits where they might have been entitled,” he added.

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2008, show around 10 percent of Indigenous people aged 15 years and over speak an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language at home.

But in remote areas the figure is much higher, with more than 40 percent of residents speaking an Indigenous language as their first language.

The Ombudsman's report says a shortage of suitable interpreter exists for various reasons.

One reason is that, of the 145 Indigenous languages still spoken in Australia, 110 are at risk of disappearing, thus reducing the number of potential interpreters.

The report found there also remains an underlying assumption that many indigenous Australians speak English as their first language.

Dr Jean Harkins is a lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Newcastle.

She says many indigenous Australians, especially those in remote communities, are multilingual.

Dr Harkins says their interpreting needs differ greatly from those of migrant communities.

“I had the privilege of spending some time involved in the Institute of Aboriginal Development in Alice Springs which ran an excellent interpreter training program," Dr Harkins said.

“And one of the advantages of traditional Aboriginal multilingualism is the fact that even though each language has a fairly small number of speakers the people who are skilled at translating and interpreting often can handle three or four different languages.

The report found there can also be a tendency for some people to agree with what is being said during a conversation even if they don't really understand.

It found this could be to avoid embarrassment, or because of other cultural factors.

And Ms Larkins says even where there are appropriate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interpreters available, many government services still remain unaware of their existence.

“If we compare work that we've done with migrant communities, we'd say the awareness of the need for translation services in migrant communities is much better developed than our awareness in government about the need for translator services with indigenous Australians, so we're not as sophisticated as we might be in terms of understanding that these are people for whom English is not their first language,” Ms Larkins said.

The report says some of the challenges in finding suitable interpreters include poor literacy and numeracy among people who have the required Indigenous language skills.

It also said other suitable prospective interpreters often have other employment.

Dr Jean Harkins says its an area that is both under-researched and underfunded.

“It's an area that's been so sadly under-resourced for so long and part of the way that has come about is that because of the traditional multilingualism, Aboriginal people were quite good and learning outsiders languages so functioning in English up to a point, but all has been disadvantaged by two things, the fact that the English speakers have generally been quite bad at learning the languages of this place,” Dr Harkins said.

“And also if people are learning English they're also at a disadvantage to the English mother tongue speakers or to the dominant group within the English speaking world,” he added.