Kieli oli tässä kohtaa vain väline” – kulttuuritulkkien, opettajien ja kuraattoreiden näkemyksiä kielestä ja kulttuuritulkkien roolista: In this case, language was just an instrument” – Intercultural mediators’, teachers’ and school social workers’ views on language and the intercultural mediators’ role

Alongside public service interpreting consisting of language interpretation, many institutions, including institutions of learning, increasingly use intercultural mediators to communicate with migrants. Drawing on the research tradition of sociology of translation, we analyze our data from two perspectives, mobilizing the sociological concepts of role, agency, and (affective) facework, as well as the linguistic anthropological concept of language ideology. The data consist of semi-structured thematic interviews with intercultural mediators and teachers and school social workers who work with them. The analysis shows that intercultural mediators’ affective labor, based on their broad agency, is fundamental in building trust between migrant families and the school. Intercultural mediation is different from public service interpreting, where monolithic, referential language ideologies are often felt to prevent the achievement of mutual understanding between the participants.