Comparative analysis of English and Cantonese conversations in health care: Using visual analytic tools for multidimensional analysis

Abstract

Communication is a complex process that involves at least one person interacting with another in a meaningful and impactful way. Such interactions involve verbal and non-verbal communication and are shaped by social, cultural and relational considerations. The provision of health care services relies on often complex interactions between multiple parties (practitioners, doctors, nurses, patients and family members) and research has repeatedly shown that effective communicative interactions are key to safe and effective health care (Watson & Gallois, 2007). Current software programs that can produce visual representations of communication require that conversational transcripts are translated from Chinese into English prior to analysis. Although there are benefits to the translation of data into English researchers have identified specific concerns about the validity and reliability of Chinese data that are translated into English prior to analysis. Even though the translation corresponds to the original meaning, the relational aspects of the interlocutors in that speech event are difficult to translate into another language. This paper reports on a study in which one set of Cantonese conversational data was analysed using the software program Discursis before and after being translated into English. Various visualization reports were produced including recurrence plots. The recurrence plots generated by Discursis on both Cantonese and English data were compared using a quantitative measure of similarity. Measures of divergence and multiscale analysis were also used to identify systematic differences. This analysis was able to attribute variance to either mistranslation or omission. Results indicate that features of Cantonese that carry meaning in terms of cultural and social relations are often lost in the process of translation into English. Specific concerns relate to the multidimensional issues of equivalence, ranging from cultural and social associations to semantic, lexical and conceptual differences (e.g. Al-Amer, Ramjan, Glew, Darwish, & Salamonson, 2015; Chen & Boore, 2010; Hilton& Skrutkowski, 2002). This paper also discusses how visual representations of conversational data can contribute to understandings of health communication. The results of this study highlight the importance of developing visual analytic tools that can be used on Cantonese data sets particularly in health-related research in which such relational information is important. References: Al-Amer, R., Ramjan, L., Glew, P., Darwish, M., & Salamonson, Y. (2015). Translation of interviews from a source language to a target language: Examining issues in cross-cultural health care research. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(9-10), 1151-1162. Chen, H. Y., & Boore, J. R. (2010). Translation and back-translation in qualitative nursing research: methodological review. Journal of clinical nursing, 19(1-2), 234-239. Goldstein, S., MacDonald, N. E., & Guirguis, S. (2015). Health communication and vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine, 33(34), 4212-4214. Hilton, A., & Skrutkowsky, M. (2002). Translating instruments into other languages: development and testing process. Cancer Nursing, 25, 1-7. Watson, B., & Gallois, C. (2007). Language, discourse and communication about health and illness: intergroup relations, role and emotional support. In A. Wetherall, B. Watson, & C. Galloise (Eds.), Language and Discourse and Social Psychology (pp. 108-130). Basingstoke: UK: Palgrave Macmillan.