“All men are created equal.”
—Declaration of Independence (US 1776)
All citizens should have the right to vote and to have their voices heard by their government. All children should have the right to go to school and to show what they have learned. All people should have the right to access healthcare and not be left to die. While we may debate the finer points of implementation, these are all rights that we hold dear in the United States, as inalienable as those mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.
Government, education, health care: these domains affect people’s lives every day, which is why the underlying principle, inclusivity, is so important to get right. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, inclusivity is “the quality of trying to include many different types of people and treat them all fairly and equally.”
English is the most commonly spoken language in the United States; yet more than 350 languages are also spoken in America’s homes, serving as a reminder of our nation’s history. These languages include: indigenous languages such as Navajo, Yupik and Samoan; colonial languages such as English (inherited from Britain) and Spanish (inherited from Spain, who originally colonized Puerto Rico, California and New Mexico, among others); and languages brought by immigrants from Europe, Asia and Africa such as German, Chinese, Korean, Russian and Hindi.
After English, the most widely spoken languages in the United States today are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, French and Korean. The US has a large bilingual population; at the same time, not every US speaker of a language other than English is bilingual.
According to the US Census Bureau, 13,600,000 people in the United States speak English less than “well” or less than “very well.” For these Americans, the availability of translated materials and interpreters can make the difference between being able to participate in civic life or not, and living out their life with dignity or not. Examples of this include: voting, taking and passing a state’s driver’s license exam and communicating with a health provider to get needed care.
Not every situation will warrant translation. Yet making translation available where it makes sense in government, education and health care ensures that these domains are inclusive and gives everyone the chance to be heard. And that’s part of what the United States is all about.
Communication When It Counts
Certified for ISO 9001, Responsive Translation provides translation, interpreting and other foreign-language services in more than 200 languages and dialects. Our clients include hospitals, government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.
For more information about how we can help your organization, please get in touch at 646-847-3309 or [email protected].
Image credit: Helena Lopes