We speak your language
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
Many of us work in libraries serving diverse populations. Our patrons come in seeking information about matters that are important: health, education, social services, visas and citizenship. Their English-language skills may be limited. Knowing how to find good information in other languages, especially when dealing with a language that you do not speak, is useful. Fortunately, there is help available. Yes, you can always put the subject in Google with the language, but you cannot be sure that you are getting exactly what you need. Using an online translation site for something in English usually leads to disaster because the translation “robot” works literally with no sense of usage. The best place to look is actually a government site. www.usa.gov , the gateway to federal information, has two buttons at the top of the right side of the page. One says “espanol” and offers a Spanish -language version of the whole site. The other says “other languages” and takes you to the Federal Citizen Information Center. It offers information in over 80 languages on a variety of subjects ranging from a diagram of the water cycle to guides for new immigrants to information about small businesses. For health information, use the National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus http://medlinep;us.gov. It has an “espano”l button, too, and about 85% of the site is translated. For other languages,click on the “multiple languages” link at the bottom of the left column and you will find a really cool interactive world map that shows where languages are spoken as well as health information in over 40 languages. All of the information is available in both English and the other language, so you can see what you are providing for your patrons. The National Library of Medicine has vetted it, so it is current and accurate. Your patrons will appreciate having inforamtion that they understand and they will spread the word in their communities, bringing new patrons to your library. I really enjoy helping these patrons. I am sure thatwhen my grandparents immigrated to this country in the early part of the twentieth century, librarians and teachers assisted them. Now I can return the favor. If they speak a language that I know, I can talk to them. If they don’t, I have a place to find something that they will understand.
