Student Interpreter Policy | George Fox University

Purpose

To fulfill the “Be Known” promise to all students and their families.
To foster a welcoming community that encourage monolingual parents/guardians to participate to the level desired.
To improve communication between all families and George Fox University.

Meeting a Need

Monolingual or limited English proficiency parents and families do not currently have a central point of contact for effective communication. Having an interpreter will empower parents to ask questions and be part of their students’ college experience to the level of English speaking parents. Faculty and Staff can be confident that students and their families are receiving the correct information in order to be successful.

Specific areas of need - Admissions, Financial Aid, Academic Affairs, Student Accounts, Residence Life, Student Life

Students Gain Experience

Student interpreters will have the opportunity gain valuable skills through this program. They will be able to improve their communications skills as well as their language skills. Having a student communicate with parents will help build a sense of community and trust.

Working Effectively with an Interpreter

An interpreter is a conduit of information. They will interpret everything that is said in both languages. Address the family member or student directly, not the interpreter. Do not hold side conversations with the interpreter. The interpreter should be positioned to the side of, and slightly behind, the person for whom they are interpreting.

Please watch these short video clips to prepare yourself.

On-call Student Interpreters

Volunteers Provided by World Languages Program

Student interpreters will be identified as students who demonstrate sufficient level of language competency.
Student interpreters have read and signed the Confidentiality of Records Agreement, and it is on file in the Spanish office.
Each student will provide his or her schedule to the world languages department, which will create and share a Google doc with student names, phone numbers and available hours. Staff needing an interpreter can text or call a student with availability if they need interpretation.
The World Languages Program will train students in professional interpretation protocol
On-call student interpreters may interpret for families in that drop in to campus, or for special events like Fridays at Fox. Student volunteers are not available in the summer. Few students are available in Fall Semester. Students are trained in courses during Spring Semester and will be more available then.
There are three types of events that may call for interpreting services
1. Informal settings such as campus tours, meeting with a faculty advisor.
2. Speeches given by staff or administrators to groups during these events. If that is desired, interpreters will need additional training, access to electronic equipment (headphones and microphone), as well as the text of the remarks in advance from speakers (two weeks notice). There are only three rooms on campus that work well for simultaneous interpretation with equipment: Bauman, HVR 105, and the gym.
3. For formal/institution wide events (graduation, Welcome Weekend, Presidential speech to parents, etc.) professional interpreter(s) will be contracted by the appropriate office (see below for two resources for professional interpretation). Students cannot interpret for these events.

Hiring Bilingual Students for Your Department

The World Languages program will help to identify students whose proficiency is strong enough that they could serve as interpreters.

The World Languages program will train student employees who could serve as on-call interpreters within your department.

Training will include:

Professional interpretation protocol
George Fox & departmental confidentiality procedures (please provide to world languages department)
Initial and ongoing vocabulary development - please identify terms commonly used in the admissions, financial aid, registration, student life, etc. processes of higher education.

Professional Interpreters

Spanish
Gaucha Translating & Interpreting
Helen Eby, Translator and Interpreter
heby@gauchati.com
503-929-8476

All in Spanish
Armando Gutierrez, Executive Director
armando@allinspanish.com
503-699-4017

Mandarin
Elee Jen
eleejen@epellc.net