The Farm Hub hosted a 2-day intensive workshop on interpretation for social justice for staff and members of partner organizations, including Soul Fire Farm, Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, The Kingston Land Trust, White Pine Community Farm, and the Worker Justice Center of New York.
Caracol Language Cooperative based out of Brooklyn came to the Farm Hub to facilitate the workshop.
The 15 participants were all smiles as they engaged in practice activities involving interpreting conversations in pairs or in a group. Another activity involved interpreting a speech through whispering, igniting more smiles and laughter.
The Farm Hub has been stepping up interpretation and translation training through its six-person Language Justice Team, who in addition to their other responsibilities, provide regular translation and interpretation for meetings and events at the Farm Hub.
Erick Saucedo Reyes, a production staff member and also a member of Language Justice, says offering multilingual access fosters inclusiveness for English learners for everything from events to safety trainings. It also encourages people to ask questions.
Erick says, “The benefit is we see more people open to learning and they want to get more involved. Before there was a multilingual space they wouldn’t ask questions. Now, everyone gets the message and they can express themselves in whatever language they are comfortable in.” The workshop has further inspired Erick to continue practicing, and as they say in Carnegie Hall – practice makes perfect.
