Original Source : https://nonprofitquarterly.org/found-in-translation-seeks-language-justice/
A decade ago, Maria Vertkin started Found in Translation, a Boston-based nonprofit that trains low-income, bilingual women to become professional medical interpreters. She had seen how her own father, an immigrant from Russia with limited English proficiency, was treated by medical providers in the US.
“It was heartbreaking,” she tells us, likening the experience to taking a pet to the vet. “You can’t ask the cat, ‘When did this begin?’ You can’t get the cat’s consent. So, your pet is going to be scared.”
Without a professional medical interpreter for her father, Vertkin says she had to advocate for him and for the “millions of other dads in the US who don’t have a fierce daughter who knows about language justice laws.”
Vertkin explains that language justice means “that the world treats people fairly, regardless of what language they speak.” Her team of trained interpreters are often surprised that the medical students and providers they work with do not know that, according to US law, access to a medical interpreter is a right. Research shows, however, that over thirty percent of American hospitals don’t provide adequate translation services.
Found in Translation selects just a few dozen women every year out of the hundreds who apply. Vertkin says the program is highly competitive because the industry is competitive. “This is a hard skill to learn,” she says. “A lot of it is not intuitive, and it’s a hard field to get into.” However, the training provides an important step up on the economic ladder for immigrant women.
“Every single woman who’s been through our program is just super-duper smart, super-duper motivated, and very driven,” Vertkin says. “Whether it’s by passion for social justice or to improve her own circumstances, that drive is there.”
