Using Language as a Marker of Culture: Phenomenology of Asian American Multilingual Clinicians

Abstract

There have been many attempts to conceptualize, understand, research, and teach practitioners how to navigate the diverse range of cultural contexts in the practice of psychotherapy. Yet, becoming competent in multicultural counseling, practicing cultural humility, or delivering culturally-responsive therapeutic services are often limited to monolingual epistemology, especially in the United States. This phenomenological study used language(s) as a marker of culture to track and understand how various cultures are navigated by multilingual Asian American clinicians who were educated in English and are working with non-English speaking clients. By examining their experiences, this study provided a nuanced perspective on how culture can be articulated, understood, and navigated by these multilingual Asian American clinicians. The findings further made implications for new ways that culture can be conceptualized to continue the evolution of culturally-responsive training and practices to increase access and inclusion to mental health services, including a need to articulate and understand the culture of psychotherapy using therapy-speak as a linguistic marker of culture.

Keywords: bilingualism; cultural humility; culturally responsive; multicultural; socioculturally attuned; therapy‐speak.