Importance Of Accurate Translation In Immigration And Refugee Assistance
“Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.”
– Anthony Burgess
Accurate translation is important regardless of where it is used, but it is all the more so in fields that involve immigrants and refugees. When it comes to assisting displaced people, translation can become a matter of life and death.
A Growing Need
In the past few years, there has been a significant raise in the census of refugees and immigrants across the world, mainly from Middle Eastern countries. These refugees barely understand the language of the people that surround them and being stuck in a foreign country leads to chaos and panic amidst all the emotional turmoil that they are already facing.
“Refugees didn’t just escape a place. They had to escape a thousand memories until they’d put enough time and distance between them and their misery to wake to a better day.”
— Nadia Hashimi
Language is much more than conversing with just words, it is also an expression of a country’s society, culture, and beliefs. Translation expedites effective communication between people who speak different languages building a bridge with accurately conveyed messages, information, ideas, and knowledge. This makes it vital to consistently produce genuine and accurate translation that correctly interprets the original text. Aside from following the rules of translation, a draft translator should also be able to convey in their translation the message of the original document correctly, in a creative yet intelligible manner. Here their choice of words, style, tone, and grammatical structure all play key roles.
Reasons Why Translation for Immigrants Is Important
Listed below are some of the main reasons why accurate translation during immigration assistance matters –
· Accurate translation of Immigration Documentations
Immigration is inherently a bureaucratic affair. Immigrants need to submit endless amounts of paperwork, which can be extremely tedious, especially if the immigrant doesn’t speak English or the common tongue of the country. The entire immigration process can come to a standstill if these documents are not submitted correctly.
· Eliminates Misunderstandings
The Immigration process requires immigrants to go through multiple interviews with officials. These meetings decide the fate of prospective immigrants. Accurate translation can help immigrants clearly understand what is being said and ensure that the authorities have a clear understanding of the immigrants as well.
· Helps Maintain Equality
English is the most widely spoken language worldwide, with 1.5 billion speakers. This leaves many immigrants at a disadvantage because they might not be effectively fluent in it. Translation for immigration gives non-English speakers the ability to handle the immigration process on an equal footing with those who already speak English.
· Eases Stress For Immigrants
Last but certainly not least, is the impact accurate translation has on an immigrant’s mental state. Battling the many harrowing ordeals of escaping a war-torn country and the emotions that come with losing everything they have ever known is a difficult mental state to be in.
“You still have the feeling of that you're going to the unknown, or you are feeling unstable, or you're feeling like stressed about what will happen next, and yeah, it's just mixed of the feeling of you are, I feel unsettled because you never know what will happen next.”
- A refugee in a study of adversity, emotion, and resilience among Syrian refugees in the Netherlands
The whole immigration process can be a grueling and stressful process on its own for refugees in this state of mind. We can only imagine how taxing it must be if they don’t understand the language and what is expected of them during the process. Professional help with translation and interpretation can be significantly helpful to immigrants here.
Thus interpreters and translators play a significant role in shaping the integration of displaced persons throughout each phase of the migratory process. A reliable translator can drastically improve an immigrant’s life by simply doing their job with dexterity.
A famous poem written about the struggle that millions of refugees face every day fleeing the war in Syria, ends this way:
I am a refugee, forced from my home
I am a refugee, traveling forever with no place to go
I am a refugee, but I’m not alone
There are people who help me, and that gives me hope
We at Simpson Soft have readied a team of experienced translators, interpreters, and support staff to assist with the immigration process. If you are a translator who wants to join in, please write to us.
If you are an agency that requires help with translation of immigration documents, please click here: