Different and Separate:
Interpreters of African Languages
by Hailu Gtsadek, Nov 2007
In September of this year I was asked to speak to a group of African immigrant
community members who received a 40 hour community interpreting course provided by
Cross Cultural Communications (www.cultureandlanguage.net). The course was
sponsored by the Ethiopian Community Center in Washington, D.C.
I thought long and hard about what to share with the course participants. In preparing my
speech, the need to share how different and separate the experience of interpreters of
African languages is from that of other interpreters became clear to me. The following is
a summary of my remarks.
As interpreters, the number one tool we work with is the languages we interpret in. To
understand the different reality an interpreter of African languages finds himself in, I
compared a European language (Spanish) to an African language (Amharic). Due to
historical factors, your typical African for centuries has been systematically denied the
ability to express and articulate his or her thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions in their
native languages. Even though today we are no longer persecuted for using our native
languages, no matter which side of the Atlantic ocean we find ourselves on, Africans are
still suffering from the hang-over effect.
What is the status of those two languages today: which language is blooming by
acquiring, borrowing, creating, and adapting new vocabulary and terminology, and which
one is decaying and dying due to neglect? In most African countries higher education is
not provided in native languages; rather, students are subjected to study in non-African
languages. In today’s Africa the language of business, medicine, technology, and culture
is a non-African language. There are no efforts to develop native African languages by
introducing or incorporating new terminology and vocabulary, and this has a direct effect
on African language interpreters and a community seeking the service of interpreters,
because there are limited linguistic and cultural equivalents in vocabulary, terminology
and concepts.
The limited-English or non-English proficient African immigrant community is the one
we provide interpretation services for. What is their understanding of the role of the
interpreter? For an African language speaker, an interpreter is anyone who is bilingual.
Unlike your typical Spanish speaker who expects nothing more than professional
interpretation service, African language speakers believe the role of the interpreter is to
assist them by providing counseling, that an interpreter is someone to provide advice and
advocate on their behalf. When they encounter a professional interpreter who tells them
that his or her only role will be to interpret, they consider that person as one who has
betrayed his culture and heritage.
One factor that prevents African language speakers from using the service of an
interpreter is that they are the last persons to realize their English proficiency is limited.
They often choose to conduct business in their limited-proficient English, and we all
know what the consequences are: a lot of room for errors and misunderstanding. African
language speakers have frequently been exposed to mediocre interpretation services,
because the typical African language interpreter most likely did not get a chance to
benefit from formal training in the profession, is possibly not even aware of the
interpreter professional code of conduct, and has no professional support group, with
little or no access to basic reference materials or dictionaries. In addition, African
language speakers may be hesitant to use an interpreter as they fear judgment from
someone of their own culture and community and are concerned about confidentiality.
In response to my talk, the course participants had several questions:
What steps can be
taken to create awareness in the immigrant community?
How to develop and share
reference materials?
What needs to be done to educate oneself and others?
They
expressed their desire to form a professional support group to share information,
strategize and address the issues discussed.
We interpreters of African languages who choose to practice interpretation as a
profession work in a difficult environment. We don’t have the best tools to work with and
are expected to deliver professional service. Against all odds, some of us actually do just
that.
[The author, an active NAJIT and ATA member and an Amharic/English
interpreter/translator since 1994, is a managing partner with African Translation, a
company committed to providing support for active and aspiring freelance interpreters,
which works closely with the African immigrant community leadership to raise
awareness about the interpreting profession and issues surrounding language rights.
(www.africantranslation.com)]
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