Abstract
Linguistically and culturally competent human interpreters play a crucial role in facilitating language-discordant interpersonal healthcare communication. Traditionally, interpreters work alongside patients and healthcare providers to provide in-person interpreting services. However, problems with access to professional interpreters, including time pressure and a lack of local availability of interpreters, have led to an exploration and implementation of alternative approaches to providing language support. They include the use of communication technologies to access professional interpreters and volunteers but also the application of various language and translation technologies. This chapter offers a critical review of four different approaches, all of which are conceptualised as different types of human-machine interaction: technology-mediated interpreting, crowdsourcing of volunteer language mediators via digital platforms, machine translation, and the use of translation apps populated with pre-translated phrases and sentences. Each approach will be considered in a separate section, beginning with a review of the relevant scholarly literature and main practical developments, followed by a discussion of critical issues and challenges arising. The focus is on dialogic communication and interaction. Technology-assisted methods of translating written texts are not included.