By JOHN SCHWARTZ. Published: July 3, 2009
When Maythe Ramirez went to Superior Court in Contra Costa, Calif., for a child custody hearing in 2006, she wanted to tell the judge that her husband beat her and should not be allowed broad visitation rights. The court did not provide an interpreter for her, however, and Ms. Ramirez, who speaks almost no English, could not follow the arcane proceeding, much less participate.
“It is really as if you are doing nothing in court,” she said in Spanish through an interpreter, “standing still and not being able to explain what’s really happening.”
Ms. Ramirez, who came to the United States from Mexico, later divorced her husband and had the visitation rules modified with the help of a lawyer from Bay Area Legal Aid, who got her interpreters for other hearings.
The court system can be a bewildering place for anyone, but it can be terrifying for those who do not understand English. Federal law requires civil and criminal courts that receive federal financing to provide free interpreters for those with limited proficiency in English. But while interpreters are commonly offered in criminal cases, many states do not require the services in all civil cases. The state of California, where Ms. Ramirez’s case was heard, provides interpreters in some civil cases and not others.
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Tags: English, Interpreting
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By ANGELA WARD. Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Gregg County Commissioners Court on Monday approved interpreter services contracts and more than $50,000 for assistance with drainage and street projects.
Teresita Roark will be the interpreter for Spanish-speaking people who come before the county courts. Purchasing agent Sheila Embrey said Spanish is the primary spoken language other than English in Gregg County. Commissioners also awarded a sign language interpreter contract to the East Texas Center for Independent Living.
Roark has a monthly contract of $3,600 with the county, and she or a member of her staff are charged with being available to translate whenever necessary. The sign language contract is at a rate of $60 per hour, as needed, with a minimum charge of two hours per month.
“Spanish and sign language are the two interpreters we require most often,” Embrey told the court. “However, we do have interpreters we can contract with on an as-needed basis for other languages, such as Vietnamese.”
Source: http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/06/30/06302009_gregg_county.html
Tags: Interpreting
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IT allows foreign patients to be treated in their own tongues,
By: Sasiwimon Boonruang. Published: 29/04/2009 at 12:00 AM
Whenever she saw a dentist, Naomi, a Japanese patient living in Bangkok, would struggle to explain her symptoms and find out what her options for treatment were.
Now she can confidently communicate with the dentist at Bangkok Dental Centre thanks to face-to-face interaction with a Japanese interpreter on screen.
“Even though I would be able communicate with the doctor in English, I feel more secure speaking with them in my native language, especially if they can explain to me in Japanese about a critical part,” she said.
Naomi said being able to communicate in her own language helps create the impression of being treated at home, and so she has also introduced her Japanese friends in Bangkok to the service. They are all pleased with it.
At Bangkok Hospital Medical Centre (BMC), information technology has been perfectly utilised to bridge language and cultural barriers.
The hospital has applied the Unified Communication technology to drive a patient-centric approach.
In the doctor’s room, in addition to the computer monitor, camcorder and other standard medical equipment, one click on the Cisco IPT will connect the doctor and patient to the interpretation centre.
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Tags: Interpreting, Language technology
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12:00 AM CST on Sunday, January 25, 2009 By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
The Honduran woman had been beaten repeatedly. And when it was time to face her former boyfriend who she said had tormented her, she wanted the jury in the Dallas courtroom to understand key details. Her voice shook. She spoke only Spanish.
The young woman used an interpreter, Lyda Baro. In English, Baro said, “And from a beating, he gave me a miscarriage.”
The accused was found guilty of a criminal misdemeanor offense.
Court interpreters like Baro give voice to women challenging domestic violence, to children who’ve been abused, to witnesses of murders, and to many other parts of often-complex legal processes. And they have never been in more demand – a reflection of the demographic sweep of immigration in North Texas and across the country.
“We live in a state with a death penalty,” Baro said as she sat outside a courtroom. “So this is crucial stuff.”
It is also the exacting stuff of stories that will affirm or contradict guilt or innocence or witness credibility. And yet a victim with a limited vocabulary can’t be helped by an interpreter with a college degree, a poetic flair and a gift for narrative arc.
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Tags: Interpreting
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By Melissa Evans, Staff Writer. Posted: 01/17/2009 10:42:49 PM PST
Given California’s ethnically diverse population, state officials are touting the importance of a new law that requires all HMOs to provide materials and interpretation for non-English speaking patients.
Local advocates are calling Senate Bill 853 a major step in providing all patients with adequate care. The law, which went into effect Jan.1, is the first of its kind in the nation.
“We heard over and over again from folks coming forward who said that they had been unable to communicate with their doctor,” said Cindy Ehnes, director of the Department of Managed Health Care. “In one case, a woman who had cancer was unable to tell her doctor that he was examining the wrong breast.”
Officials at HMOs serving residents in the South Bay say they supported the new law, and have worked for the last five years – it was originally passed in 2003 – to upgrade their information delivery systems.
“Communication is fundamental to good health care,” said Ben Singer, a spokesman with Anthem Blue Cross in Southern California. “This law was intended to meet the increasing diversity of California, and we certainly support that.”
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Tags: Interpreting
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