Respond’s Spanish Team translated over 1 million words (and orally interpreted 200 hours) for refugees in 2023
Every project has a story, and most of the lives that we try to improve by providing language support are a true example of survival, resilience, and courage.
Respond Crisis Translation’s Spanish Team worked on a huge variety of projects in 2023 that advances the mission of language justice and language access worldwide.
Some stats:
This year, we translated over a million words (1,035,200) and interpreted for over 200 hours for organizations and individuals seeking language justice in an often unfair system!
Hours proofreading and editing: 45
Pages translated: 201,353
Hours of simultaneous interpreting: 127
Although most of our work is pro bono, the estimated value of the Spanish Team’s work in 2023 was over $ 200,000 USD.
The Spanish Team also took on some special projects in 2023, including:
Center for Independent Living
With the help of a team of website developers, the Spanish Team localized the Website of the organization Center for Independent Living into Latin-American Spanish. Since this organization works with folks with different disabilities, among other things, they needed accessibility tools to run smoothly on the website. Thus, we made sure that the language was inclusive and that it worked properly with text-to-speech technologies, high contrast modes and responsive web design.
Mixed Blessing: Guatemalan Experiences under the New Central American Minors Program
The Spanish Team translated a report that takes a deeper look into the Central American Minors Program for our partners at Refugee International (RI). Read the report and our translation here, and find out more about RI’s work here.
Report on violent deaths of LGBT+ individuals in Mexico
The Spanish Team translated a 40-page report about violent crimes against the LGBT+ population in Mexico in 2021.
Safety Plan Guide for domestic violence victims
We translated an updated plan for domestic violence survivors for Sanctuary for Families. This safety plan is now available so that the experts at this organization can more easily structure a plan with their Spanish-speaking clients. Please see more about SFF’s work here.
Caribbean Perspectives Online Colloquium
As of September, our wonderful simultaneous interpreters have been assisting the Caribbean Spatial Justice Lab at Louisiana State University with Spanish interpretation for their Caribbean Perspectives Colloquium. These are open discussion spaces to promote innovation and creativity in urbanism, social justice, and environmental justice in the Caribbean. See more here.
Declarations of exiled Nicaraguans
We have translated over 40 declarations of exiled Nicaraguans so far (our goal is to reach 100 next year!). These declarations are extremely important because these folks have been deprived of their right to citizenship in their own home country and are in an extremely vulnerable situation. To learn more about Nicaragua and how to help, please see our video here.
Call connecting Border Butterflies participants
We had the beautiful and unique opportunity to connect a couple who fled Honduras due to the persecution of the LGBTQ+ community with folks who are now providing shelter and legal aid to them. Please read more about Transgender Law Center’s work here.
Outstanding media stories
The Spanish Team was also integral to raising public awareness about issues of language violence and injustice in news coverage.
“Big leaps towards raising public awareness of language violence in 2023.” You can read it here.
“Respond in Bloomberg: “The Nonprofit at the Border That Translates 170 Languages.” You can read it here.
“AI's 'insane' translation mistakes endanger US asylum cases.” You can read it here.
Podcast episode: “SuperVive con el idioma y acceso a la salud” You can listen to it here
Ongoing projects
Diary of a Gazan writer: We recently started working on translating the memories of a writer who remained in Gaza for some of the most crucial events in the current crisis.
Court case dossiers for stateless Nicaraguan: Our goal of translating 100 court cases for Nicaraguans who have been victims of torture, incarceration and political persecution continues in 2024. These individuals have their USCIS filing date in January and urgently need their documents translated!
Improving the socio-economic integration of LGBTIQ+ refugees in Costa Rica: We are currently looking for translators for a report by Refugees International on the condition of LGBTQ+ refugees in Costa Rica and how to better tend to their specific needs.