Books by Agnes Horvath
in health 1: Angol egészségügyi szaknyelv
Conference Presentations by Agnes Horvath
Semmelweis Medical Linguistics Conference (SMLC), 2024
Hungary, like many Central European countries, serves as both a destination and a transit country... more Hungary, like many Central European countries, serves as both a destination and a transit country for refugees and migrants navigating between East and West. Amid the challenges confronting these people, public service interpreters and translators (PSITs) play a vital role in facilitating their access to rights, essential information, and services. However, unlike several EU countries, there are no official PSITs in Hungary, while refugees and migrants are present and require language assistance. This presentation aims to show who fulfills the role of PSITs at non-governmental organizations (NGOs) assisting refugees and migrants in various realms such as rights advocacy, education, health care, housing, and employment. It delves into their qualifications, language proficiencies, and professional duties. Furthermore, the presentation identifies vital documents available in foreign languages and the responsible parties for translation. Beyond these aspects, the research extends its inquiry to include the perspectives of NGOs on language boundaries in health care, seeking to understand the way non-Hungarian speakers access health services. Through comprehensive semi-structured interviews with representatives from six NGOs, the study employs content analysis and descriptive statistics to analyze the collected data. By exploring these dimensions, the findings provide valuable insights into the activities of PSITs and represent a foundational step toward improving language services in Hungary.
Semmelweis Medical Linguistics Conference (SMLC), 2024
Language barriers can pose a serious threat to patient safety, so it is of great importance that ... more Language barriers can pose a serious threat to patient safety, so it is of great importance that patients who do not speak the local language receive appropriate language assistance to ensure that communication between them and the healthcare provider is effective and communication breakdowns are avoided. Qualified interpreters and translators play a pivotal role in bridging this communication gap. However, financial and human resource constraints often hinder the translation of every document. Instead, a well-developed strategy is needed to assess which are the vital documents in a nation's healthcare system and into which foreign languages they most need to be translated. Research conducted in Hungary highlights the limited availability of translations in hospitals, underscoring the urgent need for intervention. In response to this pressing challenge, the Language Assistance in Hungarian Health Care: Translations for Effective Communication (LAHTEC) research group has been established. Comprised of language professionals from the four medical universities in Hungary, LAHTEC's objectives include assessing vital documents in Hungarian health care and facilitating the production of high-quality translations. This presentation serves as an introduction to LAHTEC, outlining its purpose, objectives, member composition, and initial achievements. By shedding light on LAHTEC's potential contributions, this initiative seeks to foster dialogue and collaboration in overcoming language barriers in Hungarian health care, ultimately enhancing patient safety and healthcare outcomes.
Common Ground in ESP. Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt, 2024
Collaboration between language professionals and medical universities for language assistance in ... more Collaboration between language professionals and medical universities for language assistance in Hungarian health care It is essential for patients to be fully informed about the medical procedure for their condition. This information should ideally be provided in the patient's native language. If documents are not available in their first or second language, language mediators should be invited to help communication between the healthcare provider and the patient. Previous research has shown that in the Hungarian healthcare system, mostly non-professional translators and interpreters facilitate communication, raising concerns about the quality of language mediation. Language barrier between the patient seeking healthcare in a foreign country and the healthcare provider can result in adverse events, with most of these being preventable through appropriate language assistance. To alleviate the severity of the problem, a research group called Language Assistance in Hungarian Health Care: Translations for Effective Communication (LAHTEC) was formed as a cooperation between language institutes of the four Hungarian medical universities in Budapest, Debrecen, Pécs, and Szeged. The aim is to promote patient safety and assist effective communication via high quality translations. This is done to ensure that patients who do not speak Hungarian receive equal treatment and access to high-quality healthcare services while also upholding their right to information. LAHTEC has conducted various research projects, for instance, identifying vital documents within the Hungarian healthcare system and initiating the development of a medical corpus to serve as a foundation for translation guides.
XXIII. SZOKOE Nemzetközi Szaknyelvi Konferencia, 2023
Semmelweis Medical Linguistics Conference (SMLC), 2023
Language barriers in the healthcare sector are a significant challenge that can result in miscomm... more Language barriers in the healthcare sector are a significant challenge that can result in miscommunication and misunderstandings, ultimately leading to adverse events for patients. Those who do not speak the local language may face difficulties accessing healthcare services, and their mistrust and fear can further complicate their health outcomes. To avoid this, and to ensure that all patients have access to quality care, decision-makers at the national or institutional level need to prioritize the development of a regulatory system, protocol, and communication strategy that address language and cultural barriers and provide clear communication. Knowing the consequences of language barriers for patients' health, the presentation's aim is to give a general overview of the legal background of language assistance for foreign patients in the Hungarian health system and to show how typical it is for hospitals to have translations available. The secondary aim of the presentation is to identify the documents that are vital for quality care and the exercise of patients' right to information and therefore urgently need to be translated. Data was collected through online questionnaires with both health professionals and potential patients. The results show which documents are vital for the Hungarian healthcare system and which languages are most in need of translation. Finally, it is shown how this research can be taken forward to improve the efficiency of patient-provider communication in clinical practice.
Ad Hoc Language Mediators in the Hungarian Health Sector
6th International Conference on Non-Professional Interpreting & Translation (NPIT6), 2023
8th International Conference on Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT8), 2023
Due to globalization and emigration, the healthcare sector is facing a series of new challenges, ... more Due to globalization and emigration, the healthcare sector is facing a series of new challenges, one of which is tackling language barriers.
Fiatal Védőnők Konferenciája – FIVÉK , 2023
XXIII. MRAE (Magyar Radiográfusok Egyesülete) Kongresszus , 2022
Tudásmegosztás, értékközvetítés, digitalizáció - Trendek a szaknyelvoktatásban és kutatásban. XVII. SZOKOE Nemzetközi Szaknyelvi Konferencia, 2017
XIX. Fordítástudományi Konferencia, 2017
Gépiesség és kreativitás a fordítási piacon és a fordításoktatás különböző szintjein, 2017
Papers by Agnes Horvath
Language Value, 2025
In response to Hungary's growing multicultural population, health visitors face increasing langua... more In response to Hungary's growing multicultural population, health visitors face increasing language and cultural challenges. This practitioner research builds on a previous empirical study of communication experiences in Hungarian health visitor services, examining how health visitors interact with multicultural families and manage language barriers. Conducted by language educators, translators, and a health visitor, the study involved an online questionnaire survey (April-October 2022) targeting practicing health visitors (n = 48) and multinational families (n = 51). The findings revealed both strengths and limitations in everyday communication practices and informed the development of English for Specific
FITISPos International Journal, 2025
In the face of challenges confronting migrants and refugees, public service interpreters and tran... more In the face of challenges confronting migrants and refugees, public service interpreters and translators play a vital role in facilitating their access to rights, essential information, and services. This study examines the landscape of public service interpreters and translators (PSITs) in Hungary, where, despite the absence of official PSITs, refugees and migrants are present and require language assistance. The research's focus is restricted to the practices of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), recognizing their valuable role in helping migrants assert their rights and navigate the complexities of the Hungarian administration. Through semi-structured interviews, the research extensively surveys six NGOs to explore the qualifications, language skills, and duties of the interpreters they collaborate with. Additionally, it investigates the vital documents within the NGO context, whether they are available in foreign languages, and identifying those responsible for translations. Beyond these aspects, the research extends its inquiry to include the perspectives of NGOs on language boundaries in health care, seeking to understand the way non-Hungarian speakers access health services. By examining these dimensions, the findings also aim to contribute valuable insights and serve as a foundational step toward enhancing language services in Hungary.
Kommunikációs kihívások a Magyarországon élő külföldi családok számára nyújtott védőnői ellátásban / Communication Challenges in the Provision of Health Visitor Services to Foreign Families Living in Hungary
Védőnő Továbbképző Szakfolyóirat, 2024
Stridon. Journal of Studies in Translation and Interpreting, 2023
Clear communication is essential to ensure patient safety and quality care, and written communica... more Clear communication is essential to ensure patient safety and quality care, and written communication and translated documents play a crucial role in their provision. Therefore, it is critical to create a list of vital documents and to ensure that they are language accessible for patients who do not speak the local language. The purpose of this study is to identify documents created within the Hungarian health sector, which contain health or legal information that may have important implications for patients' health, and are also essential for the provision of safe and high-quality health care, and which would also need to be made accessible to foreign patients. The study involved seven health professionals and a medical lawyer. Data was collected using qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews and an online questionnaire. The data obtained was subjected to basic thematic and frequency analysis. The results show that health professionals consider six documents to be vital for Hungarian health care. In addition to this, a few other non-treatment related documents were identified, whose translation would greatly contribute to effective communication with foreign patients. This study provides a solid basis for the creation of an official list of vital documents for the Hungarian healthcare system and can serve as a guide for other linguistic environments as well.
Betegbiztonság és kommunikáció a fordításban: A magyarról angolra fordított beleegyező nyilatkozat fordításának korpuszalapú műfaji elemzése
In: Robin E., Malaczkov Sz., Kovalik-Deák Sz. (szerk.) Így született a magyar fordítástudomány: D... more In: Robin E., Malaczkov Sz., Kovalik-Deák Sz. (szerk.) Így született a magyar fordítástudomány: Doktori kutatások 2003–2023. Budapest: ELTE BTK Fordító- és Tolmácsképző Tanszék. 289292.
Working Papers in Language Pedagogy (WoPaLP), 2021
As conscious language users and mediators, translators should understand that every text belongs ... more As conscious language users and mediators, translators should understand that every text belongs to a certain genre and that every genre has its own rules and conventions. Otherwise, the result can be a text the target audience finds odd. To raise medical translators' awareness of this problem, genre studies should be included in their training. However, as there are numerous genres of medical document, Semmelweis University's medical translator training aims to develop students' genre awareness and text analysis skills by providing them with a typology that allows them to discover the characteristics of any genre in a systematic way and make appropriate decisions in the process of translation. In this practitioner research, I present courses and tasks that contribute to trainee translators' genre awareness building in medical translation. More specifically, I propose a genre typology based on a translationoriented text analysis that helps trainees map genre characteristics and formulate adequate translation strategies. A translation guide is also put forward, which comes from the idea of the translation brief, that may serve as both a manual during the translation process and as a tool for measuring translation quality.
Fordítástudomány, 2021
Az egészségtudományi tolmácsolás a tolmácsoláson belül külön szakág, mely speciális szakértelmet ... more Az egészségtudományi tolmácsolás a tolmácsoláson belül külön szakág, mely speciális szakértelmet és kvalitásokat kíván. Az egészségügyi ellátó személyzet, valamint a beteg között rendszerint bizalmas információk hangzanak el. A kommunikáció során a tolmácsolásban elkövetett hiba komoly következmé nyekkel járhat: a beteg nem teljes körű tájékoztatást követően egyezik bele vizsgá latokba vagy beavatkozásokba, esetleg téves diagnózis születik. Ezek a tévedések egészségromláshoz vezetnek, valamint növelik az egészségügyi anyagi terheket. Ezen megfontolások alapján mindenképpen javasolt egy nyelvi segítségnyújtási program kidolgozása legalább intézményi szinten, valamint megfelelő végzettség gel rendelkező tolmácsok alkalmazása. A tanulmány áttekinti az egészségtudomá nyi tolmácsolás legfontosabb aspektusait különböző angolszász kultúrákban kidol gozott útmutatók alapján. Ezt követően a szerzők bemutatják, Ausztrália és Új-Zéland hogyan vonja be a tolmácsokat az egészségügyi ellátásba annak érdekében, hogy a helyi nyelvet nem beszélő betegek számára egyenlő esélyeket biztosítson az egészségügyi információkhoz való hozzáféréshez, és hogy csökkentse a nyelvi aka dályokból származó nemkívánatos események előfordulását, ezáltal egy biztonsá gosabb egészségügyi környezetet teremtsen a betegek számára.
Abstract: Medical interpreting is a separate discipline within interpreting that requires special expertise and professional ethics. Patients usually share confidential information with healthcare professionals. An error in interpretation can have serious consequences. A patient might consent to examinations or interventions after vague information, or a misdiagnosis may be made. Mistakes such as these lead to poor health and increase the financial burden on the health system. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that a language assistance program be developed in every country, at least at the institutional level, and that qualified interpreters be employed. In this study, we review the most important aspects of medical interpreting based on guidelines developed in various Anglo-Saxon cultures. Then we present how Australia and New Zealand involve interpreters in health care to ensure patients not speaking the local language have equal access to health information, to reduce the incidence of adverse events, due to language barriers, thereby and to create an overall safer healthcare environment for them.
Keywords: medical interpretation, patient safety, adverse events, language barriers, access to health information
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Books by Agnes Horvath
Conference Presentations by Agnes Horvath
Papers by Agnes Horvath
Abstract: Medical interpreting is a separate discipline within interpreting that requires special expertise and professional ethics. Patients usually share confidential information with healthcare professionals. An error in interpretation can have serious consequences. A patient might consent to examinations or interventions after vague information, or a misdiagnosis may be made. Mistakes such as these lead to poor health and increase the financial burden on the health system. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that a language assistance program be developed in every country, at least at the institutional level, and that qualified interpreters be employed. In this study, we review the most important aspects of medical interpreting based on guidelines developed in various Anglo-Saxon cultures. Then we present how Australia and New Zealand involve interpreters in health care to ensure patients not speaking the local language have equal access to health information, to reduce the incidence of adverse events, due to language barriers, thereby and to create an overall safer healthcare environment for them.
Keywords: medical interpretation, patient safety, adverse events, language barriers, access to health information