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Somalis Left Lost in Substandard Translations
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In this multilingual, interdependent global world, languages serve as the best vehicle in bridging peoples of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, while languages may ease the gap of communication between diverse peoples, they are often prone to misinterpretation that could entail confusion and misunderstanding. A flawed interpretation may not only be misleading but often inexplicable and can be a cause for serious misunderstanding.
Learning a foreign language was not a privilege every citizen enjoyed in Somalia. After the civil war erupted in Somalia in 1991, the number of Somalis seeking refuge in foreign countries has increased enormously. The majority of this large number of Somali asylum seekers ended up in North America and Europe, particularly Britain. A good number of these and other refugees and immigrants depend on translation and interpreting services to either present their cases for consideration for asylum, or access services thereafter. By in large, it is the quality of translations and interpretation that will determine the success or the lack thereof of service provider's communication strategy and delivery.
As the Manchester Evening News reported recently Somali refugees are "left lost in translation." What makes translation different from interpreting is that the translated work may be reviewed or scrutinized by more than one beneficiary whereas interpretation is instantaneous, and takes place in a closed environment in the presence of the interpreter, the service user and the service provider. Manchester Evening News exposed Manchester City Council's flawed translation service for the Somali community. The translation that appeared in leaflets conveyed information that was contrary to the intended outcome. The central Manchester Primary Care Trust is another statutory agency which has employed incompetent, Somali speaking translators. In one health service document on post-natal advice a key line translates as “is it difficult for him that you understand English”, when it is supposed to say “do you have difficulty speaking or understanding English?'" reports Manchester Evening News.
In August 2006, a judge had allowed a Somali lady in Manchester to vacate a guilty verdict because she had been offered inadequate interpreting service for more than one year. She was invited for an interview at the probation office in central Manchester where an interpreter from M-Four, Manchester City Council's in-house interpreting and translation service providers, failed to translate the Somali equivalent of the word affray. When the probation officer was asked to paraphrase it she failed to oblige.
According to the Chartered Institute of Linguists magazine, The Linguist, "a website dedicated to Somali speaking asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland” has the catchy name "Happy to Translate". The Somali version reads: “Ku Farahsannahay Innan Tajanno”. This phrase is totally incomprehensible because of the last two words. In one Criminal Justice pamphlet on giving witness statements, the phrase "If there is not enough evidence to prosecute the suspect" was translated as "Haddii aysan jirin waxcad oo lagu cambaareeyo qofka la-tumay". By dropping the letter "h" in la tuhmay ("suspect"), the translator has changed the meaning to “the person who was beaten."
These problems are not unique to the United Kingdom. Similar problems are pervasive in North America (Canada and USA) where large refugees, many of whom are less educated and mostly rural, have resettled. Between 1991 and 2004, thousands of Somalis came to California and filed for asylum status at the courts. If one considers this massive case load as one of the most significant African cases in the United States, one would expect that the local government or the Federal Immigration agency would have a well coordinated translation/interpreting services. Unfortunately, there are none to this date.
Most Somali asylum seekers in California are faced with hourly wage employees who are pulled out of a local service agency whose linkage to the Somali community in the area is virtually non-existent. There are many cases where the interpreter at a court hearing was an Ethiopian individual with no knowledge of the Somali language. In one case at the immigration court in Los Angeles, it was by the grace of the judge, who sensed a disconcerted and bewildered interaction between the defendant and the interpreter that the hearing was aborted until a fluent Somali interpreter was hired. There was another case at the same venue where a May dialect speaker was translating for a northern Somali asylum seeker. Despite the fact that both hail from Somalia, the two sides spoke different and divergent dialects. This hearing too was aborted because the Northern Somali dialect-speaking side appealed to the judge for a change of the interpreter.
As the Somali community moves away from a refugee status to a more stable and mainstream community, there is greater pressure on service providers to professionalize their relationship with their Somali clients. A big part of integrating newer and immigrant communities into the mainstream community is to provide good and accurate translation services. It is in this light that WardheerNews recommends the following:
It is high time that this field be professionalized so that educated Somalis who are fluent in both English and Somali can fill the void. To turn the Somali adage “Af qalaad aqoontu miyaa ?” upside down, although the mere ability to speak foreign language is not in itself a knowledge, it is a means to bridge the gap of communication and indeed a means to deliver good and adequate public services to those who need it.
