The State of Language Access in the U.S.

Happy April to everyone near and far! 🌸

As many folks in the U.S. are aware, last month our president filed “Executive Order 14224” declaring English to be the official language of this country. This revoked “Executive Order 13166” (called “Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency”), which was issued by former President Bill Clinton. Many people are asking me what this means for organizations that need to communicate in a variety of languages: What are we required to offer? Will we still receive federal funding for language access? Will people like hospital interpreters lose their jobs?

While it will take a while to find out if this EO really changes anything tangible, a guide and fact sheet published last month by the Asian Law Caucus offers answers and guidance. The guide is very clear and spells out why, “in most cases, everyone still has a legal right to obtain language assistance from programs and services that receive federal funding.” You can read it here:

https://www.asianlawcaucus.org/news-resources/guides-reports/know-your-rights-executive-order-14224

It’s important to note that 30 U.S. states already declare English to be their official language: California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and many more. Nonetheless, most of these states have robust language access programs at several levels of government and within private institutions. As noted in the guide from the Asian Law Caucus: “(T)here are many statutes and regulations that continue to mandate language access, including written translation, oral and sign language interpretation, and notices advising community members on how to access language support. Executive orders cannot properly cancel or change existing laws.”

I also have two recent blog posts about language access that you can read: “Effective Communication During Emergencies” and “Translation and Interpretation in Education: How to Improve Outcomes for All.” Both posts highlight why language access helps to create a society where people can properly navigate systems and contribute in a meaningful way.

English/Spanish Land Conservation Terms

About two years ago, I shared a list of important Spanish and English words related to wildfire safety. After working on several projects about wildfire prevention and forest health, I developed several go-to vocabulary lists for myself. (In fancy translator lingo, we call this “terminology management:” basically, long lists of words we don’t want to forget we’ve used before in order to maintain consistency.)

Here is a short list of 15 common terms I use time and again in projects related to land conservation. These words are used in communications about land trusts, land stewardship, forest management, community green spaces, regional parks…and much more. It was tough to choose only 15 words to share, but I had to give myself a limit! If you work or volunteer for an environmental organization and are curious about a Spanish or English word related to your work, reach out.

Effective Communication During Emergencies

This week, I attended a webinar hosted by the American Translators Association called “Best Practices in Emergency Response Language Services.” In the wake of the Los Angeles fires, this matter is top of mind, and people are discussing ways to improve communication by reflecting on what works and what doesn’t.

Eight professionals working emergency response situations took part in a roundtable discussion about how to ensure effective communication during emergencies. They included an emergency 911 dispatcher from Atlanta, a law enforcement officer trained in responding to gun violence, an ASL interpreter for FEMA, and several others.

Here are my takeaways:

  1. Speed is key. Emergencies happen quickly, and the concept of “the golden hour” (or, as one presenter put it, “the golden minute”) is real. These are the first moments when communication needs to be gathered and distributed before confusion sets in.
  2. Accurate, real-time information is necessary. It’s important for authorities and language services providers to know how a community gets its information: Radio? Internet? Text messages? This knowledge helps to make sure folks get information quickly. Also, regional dialects within one language can mean that one word can signify different things to different people, so having staff who can use the dialect people speak (Haitian French or Québécois French, for example) makes a big difference.
  3. Have empathy and understand the role emotions play. Sometimes there is a need to really communicate emotions such as shock, grief or sadness. A trained language professional can provide comfort and clarity when everything else is unclear.
  4. Respect a language professional’s abilities and limitations. If you normally work with a specific translator or interpreter for, say, outreach during a wildfire, don’t assume that person is comfortable with medical emergencies. A true professional knows their own strengths and weaknesses, so respect when someone says they can’t provide services for a specific topic. On-call services like LanguageLine are good tools if you need, as one person put it, “a spare tire and backup.”
  5. Hire a professional! Individuals with limited English proficiency have the right to request language access during an emergency. They should not be required to rely on friends and family to be their interpreters. Having staff members, contract workers, or an on-call service ensures you are complying with the law.

Has your community experienced an emergency that required language services? What worked, and what didn’t? Do you have anything you would add to this list? Let me know in the comments.

Keep it Simple: The rise of “plain language”

Have you ever gone cross-eyed reading your insurance documents? How about a legal topic that should seem straightforward but is filled with words and acronyms you don’t understand? The plain language movement aims to help people to actually understand what they are reading, with a new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard called “Plain language. Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines.”

This is an important topic for translators because we often put a lot of effort into making sure to translate original “wordy” documents in a way that makes them less intimidating, thus more accessible, for the reader. The International Plain Language Federation states: “A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended audience can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.” I think this move to accessibility will benefit us all.

UC Berkeley’s Department of Digital Accessibility points out easy ways to use plain language, such as considering your audience and using an active voice. For these tips and more, visit the Department of Digital Accessibility’s webpage, “What is plain language?” Another organization, Plain Language Association International, also has great resources. Cheers to keeping it simple!

Getting Ready for Giving Tuesday

Does your organization celebrate Giving Tuesday? It’s coming up next month! Around the world, the first Tuesday in December will be a day when fundraising takes center stage. If your company is asking for support on Giving Tuesday, are you reaching out to your whole community in this effort? Do people understand your message? Consider translating these outreach efforts and  “calls to action:”

►Social media posts

►Newsletters and other email blasts

►Text on images

►Captions for video clips

Here’s a video with more strategies for making your #GivingTuesday a success (available in both English and Spanish):

Translation and Interpretation in Education: How to Improve Outcomes for All

In K-12 schools, events like parent-teacher meetings and back-to-school gatherings take place at this time of the school year. Translators and interpreters help with a lot of these events, as well as written communications to families. This month, I’ve been translating Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and letters sent to parents. I also recently interpreted at a speech-language assessment meeting for an elementary student and a teacher-parent meeting for a high school student.

So, how do we ensure great communication between families and schools? No matter what language is being spoken in these meetings or needed for translation, there are a few key things that all involved can do to improve outcomes for kids, families and teachers.

  1. School staff: Assess a family’s prior knowledge. Educators know how important it is to assess a student’s prior knowledge before teaching something new. But what about when you’re talking with parents? Do you know if the parents or guardians understand what an IEP is? Are you explaining what all the tests are for? Can you explain, in plain language, some of the fancy educational terms used in the report?
  2. School staff and linguists: Assess the family’s literacy level. Can the student’s parents read the report? I’ve interpreted in meetings when it was obvious to me that one or both parents were not literate. The teachers and administrators didn’t seem to know, and the parents were too embarrassed to speak up. Before a meeting, find out about the reading abilities of family members and plan accordingly.
  3. Linguists: Write out acronyms. I think it’s a good practice to write out acronyms in reports and other communications. FAPE, AAC, ESY, SLP…most folks outside of education don’t know what all these acronyms mean, and I myself often need a refresh! For example, “Family was given the offer of FAPE” could instead be expressed as: “Family was given the offer of Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).”
  4. Families: Ask for a Zoom meeting if you need it. Parents have busy schedules, and perhaps it makes the most sense to hold a meeting over Zoom. This is especially helpful in rural areas where people drive longer distances to school or if a school district contracts out with interpreters who live some distance away.

I hope these tips help us to provide the best services we can for students!