A Week on the Eastern European and Central Asian Languages Team
Inside our work with Machaela Parkin.
Our Eastern European and Central Asian Languages Lead
In just two days, our team received multiple different requests for interpreters (both remote and in person) for several Central Asian languages!
Firstly, we were asked to source several Armenian interpreters based in Yerevan for interviews with the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR). In addition to this, we also needed to find a remote Kyrgyz interpreter for an asylum seeker with Al Otro Lado, an organisation that provides support for migrants in the USA and in Tijuana, Mexico. Finally, we also received a request for a Georgian interpreter for another asylum case for RMAIN (an immigration advocacy group based in Colorado, USA) as well as for an Uzbek translator to help translate several pages of supporting documentation for an asylum case under a short timeline with ABA ProBAR, who provide Pro Bono legal services for asylum seekers in southern Texas, USA.
With so many requests in such a short period of time, we therefore quickly got to work on outreach! The amazing thing is that we were actually able to cover all of the in-person Armenian requests from UNHR, which was quite the feat! A few of our Armenian interpreters based in the USA happened to be travelling in Yerevan and were able to help, and we were connected with two other interpreters in Yerevan through our network. Thanks to this, we covered all of the Armenian requests, which helped UNHR conduct interviews with refugees from the Artsakh region of Armenia. As for the other requests, we were also able to source a Kyrgyz interpreter with a turnaround time of less than 24 hours, which allowed Al Otro Lado to finish an intake with an asylum seeker. We also sourced a Georgian interpreter in just a few hours for a final call with an asylum seeker in preparation for a hearing, and we translated the supporting documentation for another client's asylum case from Uzbek to English.
Being able to solve with such quick turn-around made me feel amazing to make the impossible possible! We didn't expect to be able to fill all of the Armenian requests or the Kyrgyz request on such short notice, but we made it happen! It made me feel so grateful for our wonderful team, and relieved as we coordinated something super logistically challenging. I think people often overlook these lesser spoken languages and also overlook the immense amount of outreach and effort that it takes to fill certain types of requests.
This experience also highlighted the power of Repond's network and how grassroots organisations can really rally people together to tackle the impossible. It is often a struggle to find qualified linguists for niche language combinations in less commonly spoken languages. The folks who speak these languages are often left without adequate language access or sometimes have to use languages that they are less comfortable with, like Russian for example, so being able to facilitate language access in these languages is particularly gratifying work. I think it is especially important for people to know that in addition to Ukrainian and Russian, we also work in other languages! The job is much more than just assigning Ukrainian and Russian requests, and as we respond to different crises across the region, the nature of the work we do can change and develop quickly.
