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It’s time to advocate for language accessibility! This week on Communicate Like You Give A Damn, host, Kim Clark is joined by Language Access Advocate and Founder/CEO of Equal Access Language Services, Carol Velandia as they embark on a journey to better understand the profound ways in which language shapes our world. This critical conversation highlights the importance of language access, specifically within the United States, along with irs profound impact on an individual’s overall well-being. They even explore the fundamental purpose of communication and a communicator’s role in managing the challenges faced when considering ethics, language bias, and even how children are involved in interpretation.
About The Guest:
Carol G. Velandia Pardo CHI, PMP, MBA, LMSW is a University of Maryland Graduate Professor, language access advocate, award winning curriculum developer and short film maker, and the founder and CEO of Equal Access Language Services. She Developed the Interprofessional Curriculum: Effective Inclusion through Language Access which will be taught to three different schools at the University of Maryland in Spring 2024. As a social worker, interpreter, academic, and entrepreneur, Carol’s mission is to make Language Access a priority for public and private services and expand the concepts of Cultural Competence and Diversity Equity and Inclusion by adding this critical concept as a key component. She is promoting a cultural shift that will drive the effective inclusion and outcomes improvement, as well as the equal access of Limited English proficient persons in public and private services, which in turn, will drive businesses and organizations growth and the improvement of our healthcare, justice, and education systems. She enjoys traveling, movies, connecting with people, and dancing flamenco!
Find Carol Here:
About Kim:
Kim Clark (she/her) focuses her work on the communicator and content creator's role in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She is the co-author of The Conscious Communicator: The fine art of not saying stupid sh*t, an Amazon #1 bestseller and the leading voice for DEI communications and social justice messaging for brands.
She speaks at conferences, writes custom workshops, writes inclusive communications guides, and consults with companies on all things related to diversity, equity, and inclusion communications. Kim is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, a cisgender woman, Native American (Muscogee Nation) and a mom of two kids with disabilities. These marginalized identities and the privileges that come with society seeing her as White motivate her daily for social change.
Communicate Like You Give A Damn Podcast
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Hey everybody, welcome back. I am so glad that
Kim Clark:you're here for this episode of communicate like it give a damn.
Kim Clark:Now we're really doubling down on language today with our
Kim Clark:guest, Carol. Carol, why don't you introduce yourself and i If
Kim Clark:you don't mind, I'd really like to go straight into it.
Carol Velandia:Sure. Good afternoon. My name is Carol
Carol Velandia:Ville. Andrea. I am a linguist, a social worker and an
Carol Velandia:intrapreneur and also a flamenco dancer. And for the past almost
Carol Velandia:10 years I have been working, I have been working on the topic
Carol Velandia:of language access. That's what I am most passionate about. And
Carol Velandia:I hope we talk a lot about that today.
Kim Clark:Absolutely. And it was it was based on our
Kim Clark:conversation that we had where I was listening and saying, oh my
Kim Clark:gosh, more people need to understand language access and
Kim Clark:the impact that language has on a person's well being is what
Kim Clark:you're all about. You know, some people hire translation
Kim Clark:services, etc, or even used like software in AI like Google
Kim Clark:Translate, but there's a nuance a culture, nuance, there's the
Kim Clark:access that can you know, mean, so much a difference between
Kim Clark:night and day on an employee or citizens experience. And so the
Kim Clark:more and more we got into that conversation, I said, we just
Kim Clark:got to bring this conversation to this podcast. So thank you
Kim Clark:for recording coming in from Spain, I believe you go back and
Kim Clark:forth between the US and Spain.
Unknown:Yes, that's right. I am a here for three months here in
Unknown:Spain in the south of Spain in Granada. I am learning flamenco
Unknown:dancing, which is another language. So I am very excited
Unknown:about it.
Kim Clark:And I am coming off of my lots and lots of travels.
Kim Clark:And I've been doing so well in staying healthy and pounding
Kim Clark:eCognition all the things in some way somehow this very last
Kim Clark:trip that I'm having a break for six weeks before I travel again,
Kim Clark:and I caught something so you get the lower registered voice.
Kim Clark:So this smoky blues voice of Kevin Clark today. All right,
Kim Clark:let's, yeah, you like that? Alright, let's go. So the first
Kim Clark:question I have for you is, what is language access? You know,
Kim Clark:help people understand how it differentiates for other other
Kim Clark:things. And why is it important today in today's multicultural
Kim Clark:and diverse societies?
Unknown:Yeah, so language access simply means to provide
Unknown:the same level of access to services that you provide to an
Unknown:English speaker. When you're working with a non English
Unknown:speaker. We probably don't hear about language based
Unknown:discrimination. But we are discriminating against
Unknown:multilingual communities every time we deny a service, simply
Unknown:because they don't speak the dominant language. In our case
Unknown:in the United States, that will be English. So in a diverse
Unknown:society like ours, where we not only speak over 400 different
Unknown:languages, we also have approximately 26 million people
Unknown:that don't speak English at all. And they face worse outcomes
Unknown:across healthcare, education, legal services, than the English
Unknown:speaking population. And that is why it's very important that we
Unknown:understand the concept of language taxes, and that we make
Unknown:it relevant.
Kim Clark:There's so much history with how we got to be
Kim Clark:having this conversation when companies started deciding that
Kim Clark:English would be the language of business as globalization
Kim Clark:started to expand. And many countries started teaching
Kim Clark:English as part of primary school or elementary school. And
Kim Clark:so many people born and raised outside of the US have more than
Kim Clark:one language and English is one of them. And then you look at
Kim Clark:the US in particular, and other mainly English speaking
Kim Clark:languages, and we are monolingual. And we are
Kim Clark:expecting everybody else to speak English and that's, that's
Kim Clark:a form of colonialism and, and all kinds of things. And so it's
Kim Clark:an interesting topic for us as communicators, who are putting
Kim Clark:out communications at a global level. And trying to get to the
Kim Clark:point of communication, the point of communication for us as
Kim Clark:communicators, Carol is connection. And this idea of
Kim Clark:language access is so overlooked and under resourced, you know,
Kim Clark:in, in my experience and in working with clients. So what
Kim Clark:are some of the common challenges or barriers that
Kim Clark:individuals face when seeking language access services, and
Kim Clark:how can they be overcome
Unknown:When we you mentioned, for example, at the beginning,
Unknown:all these different technologies that we have, and all these
Unknown:different mentalities that we have around language. So we have
Unknown:a lot of resources in a way. But we actually need a change of
Unknown:paradigm, because I think that's the main challenge. Because most
Unknown:people in the US in the US have the mentality that we speak
Unknown:English in the US, which is obviously true. But the problem
Unknown:is that they also think that if you don't speak English, you are
Unknown:not worthy of receiving the services that they offer. So we
Unknown:don't have that a multilingual mentality in the US we think,
Unknown:for example, that English is our official language when they, you
Unknown:know, we don't have an official language in the US, a lot of
Unknown:people don't know this. And also, the United States has
Unknown:never been a multilingual country ever. Since the
Unknown:beginning of our history, we were multilingual. So trying to
Unknown:change that paradigm, not so much that we now believe that,
Unknown:okay, we're a multilingual community. But what to do with
Unknown:that is what's important. That's the challenge that we need to
Unknown:address is how do we interact? How do we communicate with
Unknown:people that don't speak English? Because as you said, the the
Unknown:main point is connection. So how do we go about that? So in the
Unknown:house is where where we find the biggest challenge that that
Unknown:people have, because we actually have the resources, the laws,
Unknown:and we're going to talk about that. But it's a change of
Unknown:mentality what I think we need to be seeking and achieving.
Kim Clark:I love that I love that it's a paradigm you're
Kim Clark:absolutely right. And, and that's a part of some of us as
Kim Clark:communicators, our bias, we just, you know, we haven't been
Kim Clark:thinking about it from, you know, unless we're really,
Kim Clark:really challenged and been getting some pushback from some
Kim Clark:countries who are just like, this translation is, or you're
Kim Clark:not providing, you know, access to us. You know, when I'm
Kim Clark:working with Canadian clients, they always want to make sure
Kim Clark:that French Canadian ism is included. So that was very, very
Kim Clark:purposeful, but I'll go to other more global organizations. And
Kim Clark:there won't be that request. You know, there isn't any kind of
Kim Clark:function function. Like for example, just yesterday morning,
Kim Clark:I did a talk for Europe. And there was many, many countries
Kim Clark:that were in on that virtual workshop that I provided for the
Kim Clark:client. And the client is based in Amsterdam. And there was no
Kim Clark:conversation of any kind of translation services,
Kim Clark:captioning, those kinds of things. The expectation was that
Kim Clark:I speak English and they will receive it in English, there was
Kim Clark:actually no conversation about it. And I know enough to not
Kim Clark:talk too fast. You know, in my high school, French are my
Kim Clark:college French and my high school Spanish when I hear those
Kim Clark:languages spoken, you know, if they're slower, I can understand
Kim Clark:more. And I've been given the feedback that as an English
Kim Clark:speaker, when there's multiple languages, to just slow down a
Kim Clark:beat, you know, not go so fast. So that's something that we can
Kim Clark:think of as communicators as well, when there isn't the
Kim Clark:support. But this in some situations in some industries,
Kim Clark:when there isn't this language access, it's a matter of life or
Kim Clark:death. In some situations, let's talk about health care and
Kim Clark:education legal systems, in what ways can language access
Kim Clark:services enhance inclusion and equality within these various
Kim Clark:sectors.
Unknown:For example, in the healthcare system,
Unknown:communication, again, is the main diagnostic tool. So if we
Unknown:are going to have a patient that doesn't speak English, and we
Unknown:don't provide a language access in the way of our professional
Unknown:interpreter, that person is more likely to suffer health related
Unknown:consequences and therefore worse outcomes. In fact, there is a 4%
Unknown:chance that they are non English speaker suffers severe temporary
Unknown:harm if they don't have language access than when compared to an
Unknown:English speaker. So that's one one big consequence. in the
Unknown:legal field, for example, there is a large amount of wrongful
Unknown:convictions to people that don't speak English simply because at
Unknown:the moment of the interrogation, they were not provided with an
Unknown:interpreter because and this is one of the challenges to going
Unknown:back to your earlier question. People think that if you are
Unknown:nodding your understanding, for example, or you speak three
Unknown:words in English, you are understanding and that
Unknown:therefore, they can release these a very complicated
Unknown:questions. For example, in the case of a person Some being
Unknown:interrogated. I mean, education, of course, the the, the way to
Unknown:look at it is that parents need to be participating in the
Unknown:children's education. So the children are going to learn the
Unknown:language, they're going to learn English, the it is gonna take a
Unknown:while and the tools for those children that don't speak
Unknown:English, unnecessarily, but also for the parents so that they get
Unknown:involved with their education, and then the outcomes of the
Unknown:children are also better. And by the way, if I if I mentioned
Unknown:this is another really big challenge is that we are using
Unknown:children to do professional work as interpreters, right. And that
Unknown:is one of the most ethical, the biggest ethical violations that
Unknown:we do today is that we use children, nobody would think
Unknown:that the US actually a Exploited Children, right, that's not a
Unknown:conversation we even come across. But when you think about
Unknown:employing a child, and by the way, there are 11 million
Unknown:children that work today as interpreter, interpreters, when
Unknown:we think about employing a child as an interpreted in in such a
Unknown:complex environment like healthcare, for example, we're
Unknown:giving them a big responsibility that they are not qualified to
Unknown:do, we can possibly traumatize this child. So this is this is
Unknown:something that we definitely have to keep in mind when when
Unknown:we think about all the different places where language access is
Unknown:key.
Kim Clark:I really appreciate that you pointed that out,
Kim Clark:because we just take it for granted. I don't think we're
Kim Clark:really thoughtful. And in, in, in a lot of situations. I know
Kim Clark:when I was getting divorced, there was the option of Spanish
Kim Clark:speaking. And you know, anybody asked in the galley of, you
Kim Clark:know, does anyone need Spanish, but it was only limited to
Kim Clark:Spanish speaking, there wasn't an opportunity to have various
Kim Clark:languages available. So I, I've seen it in that kind of legal
Kim Clark:setting, but it's not nearly enough. And, and, you know, like
Kim Clark:we were saying we were really depending on the wrong people to
Kim Clark:do the job for us and need to be more thoughtful and strategic
Kim Clark:and forward thinking about this. So what are some forward
Kim Clark:thinking innovative approaches or technologies that have been
Kim Clark:successful in improving language access for individuals with
Kim Clark:limited English proficiency?
Unknown:Well, there is a ton of technology today that allows you
Unknown:to do you know, machine translation and to interpret,
Unknown:for example, remotely, they there is artificial intelligence
Unknown:that will help with that. But really what what I think is more
Unknown:innovative is that we start recognizing, going back to the
Unknown:basics and recognizing the profession of interpreting and
Unknown:the profession of translating, because those tools that that we
Unknown:have through AI and technology are not enough or are not
Unknown:sufficient, unless there is a linguist behind it, because
Unknown:there are all sorts of potential errors that can occur if we just
Unknown:let the machine do that job. So there's a lot of innovation in
Unknown:the language language field and I'm not a tech person to really
Unknown:go into that. But suffice it to say that what what really is
Unknown:innovative, innovative is how we approach this how do we use this
Unknown:technology for the better many of those people that don't speak
Unknown:English, right? For example, today, if you had if you were to
Unknown:develop a really robust language access plan, you could offer
Unknown:technically 24/7 access to interpret professional
Unknown:interpretation services right, you could perhaps turn around a
Unknown:translation faster than before a translation that has been
Unknown:reviewed by a linguist right and why can we do it faster because
Unknown:we can use methods to do it some to implement some automatic
Unknown:optimization with translation for example. So the technology
Unknown:is there the professionals are there is how do we connect this
Unknown:and how we have that mind shift in terms of how we approach
Unknown:these professionals and this technology successfully and
Unknown:effectively.
Kim Clark:You know, I've been doing a number of webinars
Kim Clark:talking about AI and di communication so you know, the
Kim Clark:the tax the lip, the visuals, the videos, but especially the
Kim Clark:tax when you put something in like chat GPT for example,
Kim Clark:you'll see the bias you'll see the sexism if you are skilled in
Kim Clark:di communications and know what to look for. Some for some of
Kim Clark:us, there can be an improvement of inclusive communications, but
Kim Clark:for the most part, I think AI is really reflecting to us because
Kim Clark:it's taking what's already out there. that that human element
Kim Clark:is absolutely credible, you know, critical in looking
Kim Clark:through this kind of language that's being spent, I think it's
Kim Clark:a mirror of like crap. Is that how we're talking about that? Is
Kim Clark:that what we're saying? And it's really missing the point. And we
Kim Clark:should really take that reflection very seriously and
Kim Clark:say, Wow, we need to teach these datasets and teach ourselves on
Kim Clark:how to be more inclusive, to avoid, you know, the bias that
Kim Clark:is inherent in these datasets that's in AI right now. And so
Kim Clark:let me ask you about, let's just kind of level up and talk about
Kim Clark:some legislation like where, what is that? Where is
Kim Clark:legislation? And what role does it play in promoting language
Kim Clark:access? And are you aware of any specific laws or policies that
Kim Clark:have a significant impact?
Unknown:Absolutely. And that's such an important question came
Unknown:because we, we talk about the civil rights and advocacy and
Unknown:all that is, especially in the diversity, equity, inclusion and
Unknown:belonging space. And but we all know about, for example, how the
Unknown:title six of the Civil Rights Act protect people that don't
Unknown:speak English, it says that nobody should be discriminated
Unknown:on the basis of race, sex, or national origin. And national
Unknown:origin is a proxy for for language. So in any kind of
Unknown:program that receives federal funding, they should have
Unknown:language access a language access plan, because they should
Unknown:not discriminate on the basis of national origin. And I think
Unknown:more and more people are raising their awareness about
Unknown:complaining when they are not receiving effective
Unknown:communication or interpretation services or translators,
Unknown:translation services. And they can call that discrimination
Unknown:based on national origin. So title six is perhaps the biggest
Unknown:piece of legislation that we have. But there is also
Unknown:executive order 13166, that was signed by President Clinton in
Unknown:the 2000s, which also talks about meaningful access. So it
Unknown:tells organizations, again, that receive federal funding, how to
Unknown:create this language access plan on how to approach a language
Unknown:access plan. So for example, if you are a hospital and you live
Unknown:in a community, where a lot of people from China or a lot of
Unknown:speak Chinese speaking people live there, then a it is likely
Unknown:that for you hospital, because you are providing a critical
Unknown:service and you're the community that you serve a speaks Chinese
Unknown:is likely that for you meaningful service means having
Unknown:a interpreters on staff that are Chinese interpreters, or that
Unknown:your documentation and signage is in Chinese, for example. So
Unknown:that's what Executive Order helps with, it tells for
Unknown:example, and the the responsibility is different
Unknown:depending on the type of services that you provide. So if
Unknown:you are a zoo, for example, yes, you receive federal funds, but
Unknown:maybe your the service that you're providing is not as
Unknown:critical as that of a hospital. So maybe for you meaningful
Unknown:access means having all the brochures translated. So these
Unknown:are two very important pieces of legislation, but there is also
Unknown:some state legislation that address health care as well. And
Unknown:there is one that is the class standards there is there is a
Unknown:culturally and linguistically appropriate standards that are
Unknown:specifically for health care, that tells you about how to
Unknown:provide effective language access also, how to consider the
Unknown:the proficiency of the professionals doing the language
Unknown:axis, right because this is another issue is that people
Unknown:tend to think they are fluent without ever having a taking a
Unknown:test on their fluency on the other language and they are no
Unknown:oh yeah, no, this this person understands because they are
Unknown:nodding, as I said earlier, or Yeah, I speak enough French to
Unknown:get by. And CLAS Standards is very specific about the says
Unknown:like, you know, you need to assess the language skills of
Unknown:the people serving the multilingual population. So
Unknown:during these three pieces of legislation add key for for
Unknown:people working in, in public services, but again, when we
Unknown:talk about courts is a little different. And when we talk
Unknown:about schools, schools is a little different but title so
Unknown:title six is the like umbrella piece of legislation that we
Unknown:have to keep in mind whenever we think about non discriminating
Unknown:on the basis of language.
Kim Clark:Okay, all right, let's get into the ethics of
Kim Clark:law. language access. So what are these ethical considerations
Kim Clark:that language access providers and organizations should be
Kim Clark:mindful of when we're offering translation or interpretation
Kim Clark:services? Like what are we? What are the questions that we ask
Kim Clark:what do we need to look for? And what kind of feedback do we need
Kim Clark:to hear to make sure that we are creating that connection through
Kim Clark:language access,
Unknown:the first thing really, is to stop using children and
Unknown:family member to interpret for to make your job easier, right?
Unknown:If you are, and I see this, over and over and over professional
Unknown:lawyers telling me like, oh, I don't need to implement language
Unknown:X is because the page, the person, the client will come
Unknown:with their child and the child is bilingual. And that is their
Unknown:language access plan. That is highly unethical. For the
Unknown:reasons we explained before. They are minors, they this is a
Unknown:professional word where, you know, we're basically under
Unknown:employing this child. And also the the type of vocabulary that
Unknown:they might be using could be quite complex. So that's the one
Unknown:thing and I really will leave that as the main thing, because
Unknown:there are several ethical consideration. But that, to me,
Unknown:is the most important one. There was actually a film released a
Unknown:few weeks ago, I posted in LinkedIn on children working as
Unknown:interpreters. And I was baffled to know that, that these
Unknown:practices are rampant. So I think that if we achieved that,
Unknown:if we were able to remove children from the equation, we
Unknown:are going to be in very good shape to even open up to all the
Unknown:other ethical considerations that language axes have.
Kim Clark:I'm also thinking about sometimes when I've been
Kim Clark:in corporate environments, there's been a bias towards
Kim Clark:people who don't have English as their first language, when it
Kim Clark:comes to equating that with less intelligence, and other kinds of
Kim Clark:bias that can show up when somebody comes from another
Kim Clark:country. And they're a doctor in their country, and they come
Kim Clark:here, but they're not able to be a doctor here, there's this
Kim Clark:assumption, that they are that there's an you know, there's a
Kim Clark:judgement, because they don't know English, but you put me in
Kim Clark:the middle of, you know, Japan, I'm not going to be successful,
Kim Clark:you know. And I may be, you know, judged for my intellectual
Kim Clark:value, because I'm not able to speak the language there. You
Kim Clark:know, there's, there's a lot of impact and bias that that plays
Kim Clark:into it. Just people with accents. There's, there's
Kim Clark:reports that I've shared in some of the trainings or workshops
Kim Clark:when I work with clients, and is really talking about the the
Kim Clark:bias of accents, and how many people I have met who have
Kim Clark:forcibly removed their accent in the workplace in order to not
Kim Clark:have harassment, jokes, discrimination, because it
Kim Clark:becomes while there's the diversity, and there may be
Kim Clark:accents, or somebody doesn't have English as their first
Kim Clark:language, then it turns into a non inclusive situation. And
Kim Clark:then it creates an inequitable situation where that person
Kim Clark:isn't necessarily understood as well. So they don't get the
Kim Clark:promotions, they don't get the new projects, they don't get the
Kim Clark:kind of access and opportunities that somebody else does. So
Kim Clark:that's something that we really have to consider as colleagues
Kim Clark:when we're working with with teammates, and trying to find
Kim Clark:some, some more common ground and meeting people where they
Kim Clark:are. I often talk about inclusive communications. And
Kim Clark:when we are using inclusive communications, which should be
Kim Clark:standard in all of our communications, that we don't
Kim Clark:use acronyms, for example, or colloquialisms, you know, within
Kim Clark:the United States, that doesn't make sense to somebody that that
Kim Clark:came from or, or is currently in South Korea. So we're leaving
Kim Clark:people out, you know, and that's one part that as professional
Kim Clark:communicators, we need to be thinking about as far as
Kim Clark:language access. Now, let's talk about how language access
Kim Clark:actually relates to economic growth and development, both
Kim Clark:locally and globally, globally. So how does language access
Kim Clark:services contribute?
Unknown:Well, there is a plethora of answers to this. But
Unknown:of course, it would facilitate international trade because we
Unknown:have a globalized economy and businesses are going to engage
Unknown:in cross border transactions and negotiations, where there is
Unknown:language access provided, right and perhaps we don't have as
Unknown:much as a problem when there is commerce in the middle because
Unknown:they always think about communicating effectively and,
Unknown:you know, interpreters that working in that field, they
Unknown:don't have a shortage, shortage of work, right. So it's going to
Unknown:be so we the changes that we need to to make there is just
Unknown:that in our Local communities or in our smaller business, we
Unknown:could expand our businesses and make them grow. If we were to
Unknown:translate our websites, if we were to offer language taxes as
Unknown:part of our daily routines, so we don't have to only accept or
Unknown:receive clients from the US, we can actually have clients from
Unknown:all over the world. And that speaking all sorts of languages.
Unknown:I think I've mentioned this story to you in a past
Unknown:conversation about how this lady told me like, you know, what, if
Unknown:somebody is going to come to my shop, they need to speak
Unknown:English? And I say, Well, are you sure about that? Because
Unknown:Because your work might require that a at some point you you
Unknown:have language that you that you bridge the gap in the language
Unknown:and say not impossible, I don't think I don't think that's ever
Unknown:going to happen, because I hire people, that managers for for
Unknown:large companies and all that. So I asked you, so if a company
Unknown:from Spain, came to you and ask you, okay, you are really good
Unknown:about hiring the right talent, I need you to hire talent in
Unknown:Spain. So you couldn't say yes, because you don't have, you
Unknown:haven't planned for that. So you see what I mean, you can you can
Unknown:open yourself to a lot more opportunities if you open the
Unknown:language access speaker in a way. So you can also attract
Unknown:foreign investment. Enhance? Well, if you, for example, have
Unknown:tourism company, if you have language access, for example, we
Unknown:actually have clients that in the tourism industry, that
Unknown:connect to our 24/7 services, because they want to attract
Unknown:people that not only speak English, but to speak a bunch of
Unknown:languages. So there are many, many ways to expand and grow
Unknown:economically with successful language access plan.
Kim Clark:Carol, I was working with a client who had a similar
Kim Clark:situation, they're trying to attract more diverse talent or
Kim Clark:very being very intentional about that. And they realized
Kim Clark:that language was a barrier to attracting talent that they
Kim Clark:needed and wanted, for example, they, they were starting to just
Kim Clark:do straight translation of their communications. They weren't
Kim Clark:taking into account the cultural nuance. They weren't taking into
Kim Clark:account context. And they weren't understanding at first
Kim Clark:that it's not a straight translation from English to
Kim Clark:whatever. Let's let's, let's go back to South Korea. So a Korean
Kim Clark:language that there is not as it's not a one to one, you know,
Kim Clark:straight translation, there has to be nuanced. There has to be
Kim Clark:context, for example, and it doesn't even have to be for
Kim Clark:employees who are located in other countries, it could be
Kim Clark:people who have come from those countries to the US, that are
Kim Clark:now a part of your employee base. And they, they they don't
Kim Clark:understand they don't know, in this particular example, it was
Kim Clark:a client who was sharing health benefits, and it was about open
Kim Clark:enrollment and how what they what they didn't take into
Kim Clark:account is that they don't actually there's a part of their
Kim Clark:population that doesn't understand how health care works
Kim Clark:in the United States. It's different, you know, in the
Kim Clark:country, their their country of origin. And so there's so just
Kim Clark:straight saying, Okay, here's open enrollment, and here's
Kim Clark:what's going on and communicating that was it just,
Kim Clark:it really harmed, you know, parts of their employee
Kim Clark:population that didn't understand the context, and the
Kim Clark:nuance of an understanding the cultural, so there needs to be
Kim Clark:that human element, there needs to be that kind of level of
Kim Clark:getting, keeping in mind that the objective of communications
Kim Clark:is connection, and what will that take, and it's not always
Kim Clark:just the translation, but that, you know, to your point can
Kim Clark:bring in more of a diverse talent pool if we are very
Kim Clark:thoughtful and strategic and resource language access
Kim Clark:adequately. So I've got a couple more questions for you. What
Kim Clark:steps can individuals and communities and companies and
Kim Clark:organizations take to promote awareness and support for
Kim Clark:language access initiatives?
Unknown:Well, before before, I just wanted to comment on
Unknown:something that you said that I think is very, very, very
Unknown:important, and that is the human element for connection. You will
Unknown:never replace humans when it comes to language, no matter how
Unknown:advanced the large, large language models are. I work in
Unknown:this industry and that that's the constant fear and for over
Unknown:30 years, we have seen that technology AI helps us advance
Unknown:and have more of translation and interpretation. But it's not
Unknown:replacing humans I don't think that's ever going to happen is
Unknown:Gonna perhaps make it more productive, etc. Now answering
Unknown:to your questions, the steps that individuals, communities
Unknown:and institutions can take to promote awareness. The first is
Unknown:educate, and advocate, I think raising awareness about the
Unknown:importance of language access, it's key, there are well, there
Unknown:is a training, for example, that I offer, just changing the level
Unknown:of consciousness that you have around language access. So this
Unknown:educational piece is key. Then collaborating with a language
Unknown:services providers, have them sort of as one main provider
Unknown:that you have, right? If you're a company, and you want to make
Unknown:sure that you are actually accessible and inclusive, and
Unknown:you have to support diversity, equity and inclusion policies,
Unknown:but to the people that you serve, then they create a
Unknown:partnership with a language services provider. I think those
Unknown:two are a and then create policies internally. Okay, what
Unknown:do we do when the population that doesn't speak English,
Unknown:approach our business? Because I think a lot of people or or
Unknown:businesses don't even have this question, or they dismiss the
Unknown:few times that people have approached them. And they don't
Unknown:speak English. They're like, I don't know, because I don't have
Unknown:enough of it. So create a language access policy internal,
Unknown:internally to you, I think those are key elements.
Kim Clark:Yeah, that's an excellent point. And as a
Kim Clark:reminder, you don't have to be a global organization to have
Kim Clark:these language access policies. So there are trades that attract
Kim Clark:multilingual folks, and they could be domestic based, they
Kim Clark:could be US based, I should say. And so you know, so it's just
Kim Clark:look at your employee population, and get it get a
Kim Clark:demographic understanding and a psychographic understanding of
Kim Clark:what languages are spoken there. And you got to resource that in
Kim Clark:I love I love, you know, the the recommendation, you got to put a
Kim Clark:language access policy in place. And so when we're working on
Kim Clark:diversity, equity inclusion, whether we are, you know, US
Kim Clark:based or in English, primarily based country, we don't have to
Kim Clark:be globalized in order to, you know, to have this policy in
Kim Clark:place when you're a global organization 1,000% You need to
Kim Clark:have this policy and policies get funded. So I think it's that
Kim Clark:is such a huge point. And that brings us home to the question
Kim Clark:that I asked every guest What does communicating like a give a
Kim Clark:damn, sound like look like feel like when come when it when
Kim Clark:we're talking about language access, I think this is kind of
Kim Clark:a homerun for you.
Unknown:Well, if you are having any trouble understanding
Unknown:yourself, because required remember that a and I have this
Unknown:tendency to speak Spanish. Remember that language access is
Unknown:not only so that they access you, but that you access them.
Unknown:So if you really want to communicate like Eva, then
Unknown:remember your part of the equation as well. So if you are
Unknown:not understanding, write, be humble and request an
Unknown:interpreter yourself for your own sake. And that way, you
Unknown:don't have to put the onus on the person that doesn't speak
Unknown:English, but perhaps they speak some English, but you prefer to
Unknown:speak in a language they can understand. And you also want to
Unknown:understand what they're trying to communicate. So get an
Unknown:interpreter for yourself, change little little points of your
Unknown:thinking to really expand it, I think. So. If you want to
Unknown:communicate like you've ever done, consider yourself part of
Unknown:the equation, get an interpreter for yourself as well, when you
Unknown:need it.
Kim Clark:Language Access is core to diversity, equity and
Kim Clark:inclusion communications. I can't stress that enough. So
Kim Clark:Carol, what is your company do? What kind of services do you
Kim Clark:offer? And how can people find you follow you, etc.
Unknown:Thank you, Kim. We provide a broad range of
Unknown:language services, including interpretation in over 200
Unknown:languages, remote and in person, for conferences and for
Unknown:healthcare appointments also for the legal appointments. And we
Unknown:also provide translation of documents in over 200 languages,
Unknown:we do transcreation, which is something very interesting you
Unknown:you for example, write a story a children's story that you want
Unknown:to convey in other countries with their cultural nuances, so
Unknown:somebody has to recreate it in that culture. And finally, I
Unknown:provide training to companies on language access companies that
Unknown:want to expand their knowledge in diversity, equity and
Unknown:inclusion. Hire me to train their their employees on
Unknown:language access specifically, and they can find me in www dot
Unknown:equal access language. services.com is a nice name
Unknown:because we are we're all about equal access. Language Services
Unknown:is a long name by This it defines what we do. And, yes, we
Unknown:look forward to having people connecting and download our free
Unknown:resources. We have a ton of resources for free like podcast
Unknown:with information on the laws and regulations, and also written
Unknown:material on that that they can simply download from our
Unknown:website.
Kim Clark:Excellent. Carol, thank you for providing this
Kim Clark:service. And thank you for teaching us communicators what
Kim Clark:we need to be doing and prioritizing language access as
Kim Clark:part of our dei work. Thank you so much
Unknown:for having me. I am really excited that we're
Unknown:working together and yes, good luck with everything.
Kim Clark:All right. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you next
Kim Clark:time.
