Respond Blog
Respond covered in Bloomberg, Reuters, PBS, Al Jazeera, Teen Vogue: Raising awareness about language rights in 2023
While working tirelessly around the clock to provide life-saving translation and interpretation on the front lines of crises across the globe, Respond has also driven coverage on issues of language justice throughout 2023.
Respond in Al Jazeera: Intervention leads BBC News to correct egregious mistranslation
On Saturday, November 25, a clip posted by BBC News showed a released Palestinian prisoner describing horrific abuses inside an Israeli prison. She said, in Arabic, that Israel held them in the cold without electricity, "sprayed us with pepper spray" and “left us to die." …
Mistranslating the movement: Language is being weaponized to malign the Palestinian liberation movement and justify an ongoing genocide.
Arabic words are regularly mistranslated or misconstrued in English-language media to stereotype and demonize Palestinians, painting them as terrorists and contributing to racist narratives that pro-Palestinian activism is inherently violent or antisemitic.
和伤害中文使用者的语言暴力作斗争 Combatting Language Violence Against Chinese Speakers
Today on #ChineseLanguageDay 2023, 中文日, the Respond team recommits to the fight to dismantle systemic language violence and celebrates all of our dedicated Chinese translators and interpreters and our incredible team lead, Lirong Shi. Their work is tireless and essential.
Biden’s New Asylum Ban Continues Legacy of Language Violence
This asylum ban is yet another example of the government weaponizing language to limit freedom of mobility. Under the proposed ban, asylum seekers must undergo their process via the CBP One mobile app. The app is only available in English and Spanish, in spite of the fact that dozens of languages are spoken by asylum seekers at the border.
The Earthquakes, Language Violence, and Nationhood
Our incredible team has been mobilizing to support victims of the devastating earthquake, translating resources and services into Kurdish Kurmanji, Sorani, Arabic, Armenian, and Turkish, as highlighted in this powerful piece written by Respond community member Leila Lorenzo.