Language Interpreters And Their Role Amid Disaster Relief
Language interpreters have a bigger role to play in disaster relief than you might initially believe. When we think of natural disasters, we think of major events like hurricane Sandy and even hurricane Katrina if you are old enough to remember those. Recently, hurricane Milton swept areas like Mexico, Cuba and Florida leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.
If there is one thing that can be said for disasters, they highlight issues with infrastructure and services. Just looking at the areas affected by hurricane Milton, there isn't just one primary language. In fact, more than 130 different languages are spoken in Florida alone. So what exactly is the role of language interpreters during disaster relief? And are the lessons we can learn from hurricane Milton?
communication issues during hurricane Milton:
For bilingual adults looking for a career change, interpreter school is a great way to increase language accessibility for LEP adults (with a Limited English Proficiency). Language accessibility is the idea that everyone should have access to the same information, regardless of the language they speak. So in the framework of a large hurricane, LEP adults had to get that essential information from others in the community. Which only added to confusion in an already terrifying situation.
Because the reality is, emergency announcements in Florida were only broadcast in English. Such announcements included essential information about evacuation zones, shelters and safety protocol that LEP adults just did not receive. And of course it is true that government institutions like FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) exist. But the reality is that federal guidance says that information should develop language access plans, not that they must.
3 ways language interpreters can help during disaster relief:
1. Become a medical interpreter
In the days following any hurricane, hospitals become overwhelmed in the area. Roughly 6 million Floridians speak a language other than English at home. So in the wake of hurricane Milton, adults with a Limited English Proficiency (LEP) struggled to communicate. Patients were unable to explain symptoms and doctors struggled to explain treatment plans. Why? Because there was a lack of professional medical interpreters.
When you become a medical interpreter, our team of highly experienced instructors offer a high-quality learning experience. Because while similar medical interpreter courses exist for a cheaper cost, they don't compare to our specialized interpreter training that is catered to your professional goals.
2. Become a language translator
A language translator is someone who works exclusively with written text. Which might seem redundant, but is just as necessary as language interpreting. It wasn't until 2015, when the National Weather Service started translating their risk scale into Spanish. It wasn't until 6 years later, in 2021, that leadership discovered they had been misleading their Spanish audience. Because there are multiple words in the Spanish language that indicated different intensity scales. And when you are talking about hurricane scale, accurate terminology translation is quite literally a matter of life or death,
3. Become a remote interpreter
Having a team of remote interpreters could have avoided many issues during hurricane Milton. It could have helped in hospitals, and task forces working in immigrant populations. Our Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) course trains bilingual adults how to utilize industry technology and implement strategies that are effective in a remote environment.
Our online translator classes are taught by expert instructors ✅ who have real-world experience in their interpreting specialty. They have worked hard to make fully remote online courses that are unique and engaging ✅ using a hands-on approach that is unparalleled by the competition. If you or someone you know is interested in our online Medical Interpreter Training Programs with live instruction✅, our fully remote yet real time classes ✅ are offered in Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Farsi, French, Hindi, Korean, Somali, Urdu, Ukrainian languages online and onsite.
