Network Relaunched At Aston University To Support Interpreters Across Birmingham
Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics (ACAL) has secured funding for activities aimed at helping Ukrainian refugees overcome language barriers.
The £14,000 grant has come from Birmingham Voluntary Service Council’s (BVCS) Engage for Ukraine scheme and will run until September 2023.
As part of the activities, a support network to bring together local interpreters will be established.
On 14 December, organisers will present the project and discuss how the network could effectively support interpreters through training, continuous professional development (CPD) or exchanges.
It builds on the success of a similar initiative earlier this year when Aston University launched a five-week emergency introduction to interpreting course to enable bilingual speakers of English and Ukrainian to act as interpreters for Ukrainian refugees arriving in the UK.
Additional training for public servants on how to work with an interpreter and business language support for Ukrainian entrepreneurs will be launched in the new year in collaboration with the Aston Centre for Growth.
Dr Emmanuelle Labeau, director of Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics (ACAL) at Aston University and project’s instigator, said:
“In periods of crises, the focus tends to be on the material needs, such as food and shelter, of refugees.
“Meanwhile, the linguistic dimension of their ordeal is often overlooked. The lack of a common language often hinders well-meaning efforts.
“Our scheme attempts to help overcome communication hurdles by enabling bilingual speakers to support their community in a professional way, and public servants to collaborate efficiently with interpreters, while supporting refugees to fully partake in the life of our city.
“Through this scheme, we hope to develop a blueprint for overcoming language barriers whenever emergencies bring speakers of other languages to the UK.”
Dr Labeau will be working on this project with experienced public service interpreter (PSI) trainer and Aston University graduate Dr Yvonne Fowler and leading PSI Rekha Narula.