Book Review: ON BORROWED WORDS: A MEMOIR OF LANGUAGES. By Ilan Stavans. New York: Viking Penguin, 2001, 262 pp., $25.95

The purpose of the present study is twofold: first, to explore the bilingual therapist's experience of working in a second language; and second, to explore the major functions of language within the therapeutic setting. Interpretative phenomenological analysis is used to explore in depth the experience of 16 bilingual therapists of different professional orientations: psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, counselling psychologists, clinical psychologists and counsellors. Semi-structured life-world interviews were employed in accordance with the exploratory nature of the research. Four major themes were identified: 'Listening and understanding the client'; 'Interventions and interpretations'; 'Potential impact of language on the therapeutic encounter: Therapist's point of view'; and 'Therapist's experience of self'. The data demonstrated differences in the understanding of functions of language within the therapeutic setting among psychotherapists. The importance of the symbolic functions of language in therapeutic discourse is discussed. In addition, the specifics of language within the therapeutic encounter are explored and outlined. Language is a complex semiotic system with many layers and facets which shape social interaction and influence our experiences and vision of the world; an inverse relationship also exists. It is no longer seen as simply reflecting one's reality but as a

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Book Review: ON BORROWED WORDS: A MEMOIR OF LANGUAGES. By Ilan Stavans. New York: Viking Penguin, 2001, 262 pp., $25.95

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