“Google Translate is our best friend here”

Abstract This article presents the findings of an in-depth, participant-oriented study using vignette-based interviews to explore migrants’ use of machine translation (MT) in healthcare settings in the Netherlands. Interviewees engaged with a narrative vignette depicting a recently arrived migrant encountering language barriers when reading a vaccination invitation letter, communicating with a health professional at a vaccination center, and answering a health questionnaire. The results show that, while MT is the most commonly used and often first-reported mediation strategy in healthcare contexts, it is not used in isolation. Instead, MT is used alongside other mediation strategies, including seeking support from community members to translate or verify MT-mediated translations and using English for more direct communication. The article discusses these findings in relation to personal and institutional responsibility in healthcare contexts. Drawing from the analysis, the article proposes two recommendations: one relating to MT Literacy training and the other to community-based initiatives.