Covid-19 Communications

Translators and interpreters are busy providing Covid-19 communications these days. I’m happy when a translation project about Covid-19 guidelines comes my way. This means that the individual or organization needing translation cares about the health and safety of their employees and others in their field.

Some recent Covid-19 communication projects I’ve worked on are for the wine industry: health and safety protocols for agricultural workers at grape harvest time, happening now. Other projects include newsletters from educational institutions regarding school closures, re-opening expectations and program changes to make sure kids and adults stay healthy.

While major organizations like the CDC have different language options on their website, many smaller businesses do not. Therefore, I’m so glad when business owners recognize the importance of translating Covid-19 communications into different languages. For my clients in the U.S., it may mean documents in Spanish for the large Spanish-speaking population here. In other countries, documents may need to be translated into English because that’s the common language that all employees speak (think agricultural workers in Europe who come from different countries to work).

Our knowledge about the virus and how to stay healthy is changing every day, so we’ve got to stay on top of these communications. While the road is still foggy, I take heart in knowing that I’m helping out in my own little way.

Yours in health,

Alison

P.S. – A huge shout-out to a very special organization here in California: CoPTIC. Their hard work helped to grant us translators and interpreters an exemption from AB5, thus ensuring that language service providers like me can continue working as independent contractors in this state. This is especially important at a time when language access is crucial. Hospitals, the court system, schools – these are just a few types of institutions that will benefit from still being able to call up a translator or interpreter at any time. What a relief!