Business across culture

Current state of affairs of cross-language studies in qualitative research[edit]
According to Temple et al.,^[19] a growing number of researchers are conducting studies in English language societies with people who speak little or no English. However, few of these researchers acknowledge the influence of interpreters and translators. In addition, as Temple et al.^[19] noticed, little attention is given to the involvement of interpreters in research interviews and even less attention to language difference in focus group research with people who do not speak English. An exception would be the work of Esposito.^[24] There is some work on the role of interpreters and translators in relation to best practice and models of provision, such as that of Thomson et al.,^[25] However, there is a body of literature aimed at English speaking health and social welfare professionals on how to work with interpreters.^[26][27][28]
Temple and Edwards^[19] point out the absence of technically focused literature on translation. This is problematic because there is strong evidence that communication across languages involves more than just a literal transfer of information.^{[29][30][31][32]} In this regard, Simon claims that the translator is not someone who simply offers words in a one-to-one exchange.^[30] Rather, the translator is someone who negotiates meanings in relation to a specific context. These meanings cannot be found within the language of translation, but they are embedded in the negotiation process, which is part of their continual reactivation.^[30] For this reason, the translator needs to make continuous decisions about the cultural meanings language conveys. Thus, the process of meaning transfer has more to do with reconstructing the value of a term, rather than its cultural inscription.^[30]
Significant contributions to cross-language studies in qualitative research[edit]
Jacques Derrida is widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant contributors to the issue of language in qualitative social research.^{[33][34][35][36][37][38]} The challenges that arise in studies involving people who speak multiple languages have also been acknowledged.
Today, the main contributions concerning issues of translation and interpretation come from the nursing field. In a globalized era, setting the criteria for qualitative research that is linguistically and culturally representative of study participants is crucial for improving the quality of care provided by health care professionals.^[24][39] Scholars in the health field, like Squires,^[40][16] provide useful guidelines for systematically evaluating the methodological issues in cross-language research in order to address language barriers between researchers and participants.