Translating the ACL

Can the ACL be used cross-culturally with non-English speaking clients?

Question:

I am curious to know whether there has been any development of ACLS manual/instruction in other languages. There may be Japanese and Spanish versions? How about Chinese and Arabic? I guess it’s not a priority in research as the instruction is not presented for participants to read. Only therapists speaking the language or using the ACLS in these countries may find it helpful. Here in Australia, we probably just use interpreters for CALD consumers.

Any thoughts and comments?  

Response:

Translations seem to be driven by clinical need. They have large Spanish speaking populations in the USA. The model is used extensively in Japan and Korea. I am not sure why the Cantonese translation was done without reference to the Allen Cognitive Group who have the copyright. The work was done by a Chinese therapist based in Hong Kong as part of a PhD. It is likely that other OTs have translated it unofficially. Lots of OTs translate it ”on the go”, or official translators are used. I do advise OTs to watch carefully as I have had translators give instructions or cues to people because they don’t understand the process of the assessment or what we are trying to achieve. I personally only use a translator when the person being assessed does not have any English. Basic conversational English is sufficient for the actual screen. You need a translator for the history taking, getting consent, establishing rapport etc. It is useful to have someone on standby to translate what the client says to you. This includes Auslan.

There are official translations in Spanish and Japanese. These are available through https://allencognitive.com/ There is also an unofficial Cantonese version that I am trying to access. Allen Cognitive Group and I are hoping the people who developed it will agree to making this an official version. I believe they use an unofficial Mandarin translation in China but I have been unable to find any information about this including the person who developed it. I believe someone is working on a translation into Korean but I am not sure where they are up to.

I would love an Arabic version and to talk to OTs who are native Arabic speakers. I wonder about the left to right process when doing a task such as laying out clothes for dressing. Our culture is oriented to left to right and our writing goes from left to right. Arabic is right to left; Japanese and Chinese are read vertically. It pays to take some time to understand the cultural background of your client and adapt your communication, using clear, simple language and avoiding jargon.  Non-verbal cues and empathy also assist cross-cultural understanding with most language groups.