Jamaican Language Unit to train interpreters
published:
Monday | July 14, 2008
Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
The Jamaican Language Unit (JLU) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) is to train interpreters to assist Jamaicans, local and abroad, who go before the courts and have difficulty communicating using the English language, according to Dr Karen Carpenter, researcher at the JLU.
Although English is the official language of Jamaica, some people find it difficult to converse using this language. Patois or Jamaican, as linguists call it, is the language that is used and understood by most Jamaicans.
There is a growing need for interpreting skills in the United Kingdom (UK), especially in health and education and legal sectors, where there are misunderstandings when speakers of Jamaican are not understood.
Carpenter said Jamaicans in the UK who struggle with the English language are assigned court interpreters when they go before the courts.
Local or overseas market
Carpenter said the interpreting programme, which is to train candidates for the diploma in public service interpreting run by the Institute of Linguists in the UK, is expected to begin at UWI next year. Fifteen persons are expected to be trained each year. She noted that interpreters can be for the local or overseas market. At the end of the programme, students will get a diploma in public service interpreting, for courtroom interpreters.
The researcher said there was a lucrative market for interpreters overseas. She said they could find jobs in the United Kingdom and the United States, where there is a large Jamaican population.
Carpenter said while interpreters translate for other areas such as the social and health services, the unit will focus on training for the area of law.
She said the unit has developed a glossary of Jamaican words and phrases for use in legal context and was in the process of searching for examiners.
The JLU is not the first institution to teach the Jamaican language. In 2005, City College in Birmingham, England, offered a 10-week free course for persons who wanted to begin the process of being trained as certified interpreters.
The JLU is in the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy, UWI, Mona, and was established in 2002.
Freedom from discrimination
In May 2001, representations were made to the Joint Select Committee of the Parliament of Jamaica on the draft charter of rights (constitutional amendment bill), on the need to include within the charter, freedom from discrimination on the grounds of language.
According to the JLU, it was noted that many citizens of Jamaica lacked competence in English, the language in which services of the state are normally provided. The vast majority of such persons are speakers of Jamaican, widely referred to as Patois. It was argued that failure to provide services of the state in a language in such general use or discriminatory treatment by officers of the state, based on the inability of a citizen to use English, was a violation of the rights of citizens so affected.
Language planning agency
The proposal was made that freedom from discrimination on the grounds of language be inserted into the charter of rights. To support such a right, it was recommended that a language planning agency be set up to deal with issues such as:
A standard writing system for Jamaican.
The development of technical and administrative terminology in the language for use by officers of the state.
The monitoring of state agencies with respect to the non-discriminatory provision of services in the two languages in general use, that is, English and Jamaican,
Public education on the language issue.
petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com
There was a lucrative market for interpreters overseas ... they could find jobs in the United Kingdomand the United States, where thereis a large Jamaican population.
