Introduction

It has been estimated that there are nearly two million adults in Britain whose first language is not English, about a third of whom speak little or no English. Particular areas of the country have greater concentrations and ranges of minority ethnic groups and languages than others (Baker et al, 1991; OPCS, 1993; Edwards, 1995; Dorsett, 1998). The world of people who speak little or no English, in Britain, is significantly constrained, and there are links between English language disadvantage and social exclusion and deprivation. Those who most need to register with, and draw on, the services of health and welfare professionals and officials may be least able to do this because of language difficulties (see, for example, Kalantzis et al, 1989; Baker et al, 1991; London Research Centre, 1992; Edwards, 1993; Stills et al, 1995; Yu, 2000). Furthermore, English language competence is not equally distributed within minority ethnic groups for whom it is not their first language, reflecting variable socioeconomic background and education both in countries of origin and in Britain, and also relating to age and gender (Alexander et al, 2004).

Researchers, service providers and policy makers are aiming to involve people from minority ethnic communities, including refugee people seeking asylum, in improving services and in general needs assessments. The extent of their involvement and the methods used to achieve it vary. At one end of the spectrum are postal surveys to the general population that include people who come from minority ethnic communities and can read and write English. Judgements are then made about the likely extent of any ‘bias’ (NHS Executive, 1998). Other methods include formal membership of committees or boards, and employment of link workers, key workers or bilingual workers or of researchers selected from within particular communities (Temple, 2002).

There is little written about involvement in research interviews and even less written about language difference in focus group research with people who do not speak English (see Esposito, 2001 for an exception). There is some work on the role of interpreters and translators in relation to best practice and models of provision – for example, the relative merits of professional services, bilingual providers, community interpreters, interpreter advocates, or informal interpreters.