Speaking for others: How translation interns are serving the Valley

On Thursday, May 7, as the spring semester drew to a close, the College of Arts and Humanities presented the first-ever Humanities Internship Showcase. Thanks to a $5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded to the college, internship courses sprang up across the departments, and 64 students received paid internships, allowing students to gain hands-on experience while improving their community.

“It is a massive gift for our university and unprecedented for the College of Arts and Humanities, the largest gift ever,” said Dr. Honora Chapman, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

Among the departments offering internships, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures was also launching its new Spanish translation and interpretation minor, spearheaded by Dr. Juan Berrios, assistant professor of Spanish. 

“Just merely knowing the language is not enough. That’s a big part of it, but it’s not enough. If that was the case, then any person, just by virtue of being bilingual, would be able to perform these jobs,” said Berrios. 

He went on to explain that to work properly in translation and interpretation, students need to learn professional competence, situational awareness and cultural sensitivity – especially when the stakes are high. 

At the intersection of these two programs, nine students took an internship course taught by Dr. María Dolores Morillo, Associate Professor of Spanish, in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures. They worked with various educational and non-profit organizations around the Valley to provide much-needed translation services while improving their professional competency. 
Directly after the Internship Symposium, Berrios, Morillo and students Emily Ávila and Jatziry Arriola, who interned at Parlier Unified School District and Centro La Familia Advocacy Services, respectively, sat down with Benjamin Kirk for FSR Underground’s “Artful Discourse” to discuss their experiences.