Marshall University professor sets up language bank
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — To most West Virginians, a language barrier is nothing more serious than trying to decide whether someone’s “y’all” was meant to be singular or plural.
But even in West Virginia, with a population that is 94.6 percent native-born white residents, the need for translators and interpreters is critical, according to Dr. Omayma Touma, director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.
“We need to be prepared to be able to communicate with all our citizens in the event that there is a public health emergency or a disaster of a large magnitude,” Touma said.
Together, Touma and Cark Egnor, executive director of Marshall University Center for International Programs, are creating a “language bank.” The bank will make volunteer interpreters available free of charge, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to government agencies and other not-for-profit organizations that have need of the service.
A native of Syria, Touma came to Huntington from Detroit 32 years ago.
“I was under the same impression, that this area is pretty homogenous. But with the university here there is opportunity for immigrants. And this country, more than any other place in the world, is attracting people from all over the world,” Touma said.
The language bank is not officially open for business until next month, but already it has collected the names and language skills of nearly 40 volunteers.
According to data from the 2000 census, 2.7 percent of Cabell County’s 95,682 residents speak some language other than English at home.
“Most of them seem to come from Asia,” Touma said. “And we have many people who speak Chinese only.
“If you go to the Chinese restaurant at the mall, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who speaks English,” she added. “And I can tell you from experience that we have a number of people who come to our clinic who don’t speak anything but Spanish.”
Egnor said the language bank will issue a paper directory that will be distributed to various government agencies and nonprofits. Ultimately, the directory may be available online, but Egnor said that won’t happen until a secure, password-protected system can be devised.
“Not just anyone will be able to use this, but if businesses need help we might be able to help find someone willing to interpret for a fee,” Egnor said.
Touma said it is essential that her agency be able to communicate with the entire community.
“We don’t want to leave anybody behind,” Touma said.
“Even having one family unable to communicate with us could be disastrous. This will help us get our message out to every single citizen … and provide them with the information that is needed to protect them and the community at large.”
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On the Net:
www.marshall.edu/cip/languagebank/