Student Interpreter Policy

Purpose

Meeting a Need

Monolingual or limited English proficiency parents and families do not currently have a central point of contact for effective communication. Having an interpreter will empower parents to ask questions and be part of their students’ college experience to the level of English speaking parents. Faculty and Staff can be confident that students and their families are receiving the correct information in order to be successful.

Specific areas of need - Admissions, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs, Student Accounts, Residence Life, Student Life

Students Gain Experience

Student interpreters will have the opportunity gain valuable skills through this program. They will be able to improve their communications skills as well as their language skills. Having a student communicate with parents will help build a sense of community and trust.

Working Effectively with an Interpreter

An interpreter is a conduit of information. They will interpret everything that is said in both languages. Address the family member or student directly, not the interpreter. Do not hold side conversations with the interpreter. The interpreter should be positioned to the side of, and slightly behind, the person for whom they are interpreting.

Please watch these short video clips to prepare yourself.

On-call Student Interpreters

Volunteers Provided by World Languages Program

Hiring Bilingual Students for Your Department

The World Languages program will help to identify students whose proficiency is strong enough that they could serve as interpreters.

The World Languages program will train student employees who could serve as on-call interpreters within your department.

Training will include:

Professional Interpreters

Spanish
Gaucha Translating & Interpreting
Helen Eby, Translator and Interpreter
heby@gauchati.com
503-929-8476

All in Spanish
Armando Gutierrez, Executive Director
armando@allinspanish.com
503-699-4017

Mandarin
Elee Jen
eleejen@epellc.net