Workforce Language Services

Living in an urban area in the Northeast, where bilingual employees are common, I was surprised to read an article in the Charlotte Observer about a seemingly new phenomenon, a bilingual School Department secretary. 

In addition to handling phone calls and visits from Spanish speakers, she also interprets letters for Northeast Learning Community staff members.

Merced says students should pay attention in their Spanish classes.

“There’s a great demand in this area for people who do what I do,” she says. “I was surprised when I moved here and learned how large the (Latino) population was.

“And now I can use my ability with the language to tell people about the great schools we have. That is fun.”

I’m happy that Lillian Merced is filling an important need in her community, but wonder whether she is the exception rather than the norm in Charlotte.  

Another thing that concerns me is the fact that bilingual employees are often over-utilized and obligated to fill roles that they aren’t comfortable with just because they speak two languages.  It’s important to remember that simply speaking two languages does not a translator or interpreter make.  Furthermore, the added challenge of being called away from other important job responsibilities to interpret for a customer can create a burden for bilingual employees. 

Having bilingual staff in any organization or company is certainly an asset.  Nevertheless, at some point a company may have to make the decision to contract qualified translators or interpreters so that the need for multilingual documents or interpretation services is adequately met without taxing existing employees.