The gift of language: An anthropological approach to child language brokering in Barcelona

Abstract The phenomenon of child language brokering (CLB), that is, translation and interpreting tasks children take on to facilitate communication for their parents other adults, is often invisible or neglected. present article seeks study CLB in the province Barcelona (Spain) through theoretical lens Marcel Mauss's anthropological concept ‘gift’. authors employ interviews with brokers, young mediators show children's competences circulate as a gendered gift produces reproduces social ties different kinds—family, extended family, community, public—and levels reciprocity.