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3 Goals For Bilingual Educational Interpreters At School

Every public school has a procedure that evaluates students for special needs. And they are required by law to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that details what those special needs are, for each child. This law, unfortunately, doesn't apply to private schools. Which are very expensive, and private schools are the only ones that provide a dual language education program. So what about the students with an IEP who want to pursue a dual language education?
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Become A Language Interpreter For School Children With IEPs

Become a language interpreter for school children and create a rewarding career as a bilingual adult. According to a 2021 report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NECS), 10.6% of United States public school students were English Learners (ELs). In other words, 5.3 million US students reported having a Limited English Proficiency (LEP) as of 2021. For context, there were roughly 50 million students were enrolled in public elementary school the same year. Some may look at the 5.3 million LEP student statistic and think "that's a small number in comparison to the total students enrolled, so who cares about the minority?" According to the 2022 U.S census bureau, that number of LEP students (5.3 million) is still higher than the entire population of South Carolina (5.1 million residents) as of 2022. It is also higher than the entire residents of Los Angeles, CA (3.9 million people). It's even higher than small countries like Costa Rica (5 million people) and Ireland (4.9 million people). All humans are born with the capacity for empathy. Because it is just like any other muscle we are born with... it must be exercised, or it could atrophy. So what can you do about the 5.3 million school aged students who can speak little to no English?
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Language Translator & Computer Assisted Translation Software

Language translator professionals use different Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) software for their work. For the language translator, CAT refers to the various different software that assist human translators. These tools are created by humans- meaning they need human interference to function. These programs employ different features to make language translating easier for human use. Machine Translation (MT) on the other hand, is a computer that works independently, with limited human interaction. This equipment listens to human conversation and produces translations on its own. So really, the only human interaction is either in the pre or post editing phase of a project. 
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Public Service Interpreting Shouldn’t Include Your Family

Public service interpreting work occurs wherever individuals connect with their communities. Their "office building" is any public space in that community. Officially, public service interpreters facilitate conversation between Limited English Proficient (LEP) people and the public institutions from which they require services, skills or information. Such institutions can include public libraries, local courtrooms or public schools and anything in between. Unofficially, they use their skills to help LEP individuals- or those with disabilities- to receive accurate information and access essential services from public institutions. For these client populations, family members are often present at your public service interpreting appointments- usually to provide emotional support for your client. Which is a reasonable thing to expect, and is relatable on a basic human level to want support... as long as that is where the family member's role begins and ends. Because for this clientele specifically, family members often double as interpreters. Which can present some problems of it's own...
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