Citizen interpreters in crisis response: Social capital, ethical trade-offs, and hybrid quality control in emergency language services-A comparative analysis of volunteer-led practices in COVID-19 pandemic and climate disasters.

Résumé

This study investigates the dual role of citizen interpreters in addressing emergency language gaps during crises, combining social capital theory and crisis ethics. Through comparative case studies of coronavirus disease 2019 responses in Montreal's multilingual communities and Hurricane Ida relief efforts within Louisiana's Haitian-Cajun networks, this research identifies three core tensions: the paradox of relational proximity, trade-offs between immediacy and accuracy in terminology translation, and challenges in scaling informal volunteer networks. The study introduces a hybrid quality control model integrating three components: (1) rapid crisis terminology training to bridge institutional-lay knowledge gaps, (2) peer review circles for contextual meaning-making, eg, negotiating "heat exhaustion" in Punjabi dialects, and (3) institutional mentorship to resolve ethical dilemmas, eg, disclosing shelter capacities without triggering trauma. By operationalizing Putnam's bridging/bonding capital and Bourdieu's cultural capital, the model reconciles grassroots agility with professional accountability, demonstrating that citizen interpreters' cultural embeddedness-when systematically supported-can transform emergency language services into participatory practices of language justice. Findings highlight the need for crisis communication frameworks that prioritize both interpretive accuracy and community trust, offering theoretical insights into the sociology of translation and practical guidelines for disaster preparedness.