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About Us

Map of NJ

 

The State of New Jersey has one of the most diverse populations in the United States. A significant portion of these populations either does not speak English, or speaks it only to a limited degree. As a result, the need for interlinguistic and intercultural mediators who can guarantee access to public services is increasing, with a forecast per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics of a 20% increase for translators and interpreters from 2021 to 2031. 

The Language Center of the School of Arts and Sciences has recently launched The Language Bank, a free service whose mission is to provide high-quality translation and interpreting services to local non-profits, social services organizations, and outreach initiatives. The Language Bank is open to all languages and is currently recruiting volunteers who can serve as interlinguistic and intercultural mediators. 

Furthermore, the United Nations has declared 2022-23 the International Decade on Indigenous Languages, and 2019 was the International Year of Indigenous Languages and also the theme of the 2019 International Translation Day.

With this framework in mind, our vision is the establishment of stable mediator networks within and between communities constituted around languages other than English, thereby improving their access (particularly in the legal and medical realms) as well as linguistic and human resources for their advocates. These two goals are specifically achieved through targeted workshops and designing appropriate materials; that is, we aim at equipping individuals in the community with the necessary knowledge and skills to act as volunteer intercultural and interlinguistic mediators for their communities, as well as to pursue the professionalization of their skills. 

This specific project aims to raise awareness on the lack of resources and appropriate training in translation, interpreting, and intercultural mediation for under-resourced languages through a two-phase program: 

  • Phase 1 consists of an outreach campaign to identify communities and individuals who might be interested in our offer, as well as possible trainers.  
  • Phase 2 consists of organizing a one-day workshop geared toward these communities, though the workshop will also be open to any other volunteers of The Language Bank and the Rutgers community at large, thus encouraging an inclusive university culture as well as promoting diversity. 

We acknowledge that the land on which we stand is the ancestral territory of the Lenape People. We pay respect to Indigenous people throughout the Lenape diaspora – past, present, and future – and honor those who have been historically and systemically disenfranchised. We also acknowledge that Rutgers University, like New Jersey and the United States as a nation, was founded upon the exclusions and erasures of Indigenous peoples.