Language Access Guidelines for Chapters

Language Accessibility in the Movement

Never Again Action holds immigrant justice at the center of our work and language justice is an essential part of that. Lack of language accessibility for basic services and in emergencies is a major part of how the state oppresses immigrant communities. In other words, state violence against immigrants includes language violence. As Respond Crisis Translation explains:

Language violence is the systemic wielding of language deprivation to cause harm. Lack of access to quality interpretation means lack of access to mobility across systems for individuals and families who do not speak (in the United States) English (or the dominant languages in other localities).

-Respond Crisis Translation

But the responsibility to be language accessible extends beyond the state. As people working alongside immigrant communities, we must do what we can within our own work to work towards language accessibility. People who are directly impacted by the detention and deportation are often also impacted by lack of language accessibility, often in overlapping ways. 

Just like any type of accessibility, we can’t do everything all the time. We can’t always translate into all of the languages, but we must do what we can and prioritize language access when it makes the most sense, so here are a few questions you can consider when thinking about whether to translate materials or interpret meetings/conversations/your items.

• Who is your target audience and/or who would you be able to recruit to an event?
• Is similar material already translated/interpreted and available?
• Would having material available support directly impacted communities?
• If you expect to engage directly with immigrants, have you taken into account the potential of language access needs beyond English/Spanish?

Who can I reach for translation/interpretation?

Here are two translation and interpretation services that Never Again Action has worked with in the past, whether as interpreters or as partner organizations. Feel free to reach out to them to fulfill your translation and interpretation needs.

• Respond Crisis Translation
• ALS Global

Setting up interpretation for a public meeting

When planning a public meeting, there are two types of interpretation that you can choose from: consecutive or simultaneous. Consecutive interpretation looks like the speaker expressing themselves in their own language followed by  interpretation into a second language. It takes longer but costs less. Simultaneous translation is when a translator translates at the same time as the speaker is speaking. This version requires hiring two qualified interpreters, and it can make your meeting run smoothly and quickly. 

If you choose to use simultaneous translation on a Zoom meeting, there is a very helpful tool on Zoom where you can assign translators and allow participants to choose which language they listen in, which you can learn more about here. As you will notice, using this tool requires a paid Zoom account and to set up the meeting in advance. If you do not have access to a paid Zoom account, please request use of a Zoom room from your Never Again Action organizer.

When working with any interpreter, please make sure to speak slowly and clearly to allow the interpreter to do their work fully.

Where can I learn about language justice?

Learn more from these two comprehensive guides to language justice within community organizing:

• Praxis
• Aetena Aire

Other considerations:

• Messy interpretation: People who speak non-dominant languages are often in situations where they are compelled to speak imperfectly. If you are the speaker of a dominant language, you may have the privilege to wait until you’re comfortable. Let’s subvert that. 
• • If you are understandable but not fluent in a non-dominant language, do not offer to be the official translator for an event, but do use your imperfect language skills to communicate with others. Refusing to forgo opportunities to build relationships with non-fluent English speakers and overcoming our own embarrassment is a powerful way to fight back against language hegemony. 
• Machine translation: In situations where you need to communicate with someone immediately and no other support is available, Google Translate can come in handy, but please note that machine translation is deeply imperfect and often incomprehensible, especially in non-Spanish, non-English languages. Please do not plan on using machine translation. Machine translation is not language justice.
• Paying translators: Bilingual people from immigrant backgrounds are often expected to use their skills on top of other organizing you may be doing together. Never assume that a bilingual person from an immigrant background will help out without being paid. We can ask large groups of people (like on a listserv, Signal group, or Discord) to volunteer translate if someone would be interested in volunteer translation, as long as we are clear from the start that it is not paid. If we are directly asking a person of color or a person from an immigrant background to translate, we should always offer to pay. 
• Consistency: If you decide to make something accessible, make all aspects of it accessible. If you translate a document that is linked to your website, but you only explain that document on your website in English, that is not language access.

If you are a Never Again chapter and would like to translate something and need funding to do so, please write to jules@neveragainaction.com with an estimated cost and the reason why you want to translate/interpret to request assistance.