Growing our remote oral Interpretation team amidst COVID19
By Victoria Roisman, Head of Oral Interpreting, Respond
At the start of the spread of COVID 19, the Respond Crisis Translation team saw a significant increase in urgent needs for oral interpreting. Victoria Roisman and Nicole Posadas led the launch of a program designed to train and mobilize oral interpreters to support asylum seekers and other people who experience language-based vulnerability.
A group of 50 experienced professional translators, all with a commitment to language democracy, quickly and enthusiastically joined the oral interpreting team to contribute their language skills to disparate processes designed to support and affirm migrants. The oral interpreting program presents different challenges from written translation work: interpreters need to develop a great stamina and deep socio-emotional understanding to facilitate quality linguistic mediation amidst challenging traumatic narratives. That is why live training sessions, group support meetings, and mentoring programs are all an integral part of the program.
To date, we have supported a wide spectrum of cases. Our translators have worked on dozens of interpretations for detained asylum seekers and pro bono attorneys at various border advocacy organizations such as RAICES, Immigration Justice Project, SPLC, and HIAS. Additionally, a small Kichwa<>Spanish interpreting team has been formed to provide assistance to Kichwa speakers from Ecuador who are currently detained and seeking asylum in Mexico We also have expanded our interpreting team´s reach to school and educational contexts, providing teachers with live translation support while onboarding MLL (Multilingual Learners) and their families onto distance learning solutions.
If you are interested in contributing or in need of support, please contact the nicoleposadas@respondcrisistranslation.org or victoriaroisman@respondcrisistranslation.org
