Providing Accurate Translations for the Education Sector During a Pandemic

Accurate translation is key to communication during a pandemic, especially in the education sector. Millions of American schoolchildren come from families that are not fluent in English, presenting a major obstacle in their remote education.

Needless to say, virtual education poses a special challenge for families and parents who are not fluent in English, a language barrier being one of them. Communication difficulties between parents, teachers, and children can result in significant learning loss, potentially leading to students’ academic setbacks.

Here are some useful tips for supporting multilingual families and ensuring accurate translations for the education sector.

Stressful times call for de-stressing measures

While remote teaching aims to ensure the continuity of education, we can’t deny the amount of stress and anxiety that everyone involved in the process is experiencing. Staying connected is one of the best ways to deal with stress.

When it comes to multilingual families, educational institutions should prioritize clear and smooth communication now more than ever. Inclusion, mutual respect, and strong communication are important in any school. With children attending school from their homes, parents’ roles are undeniably more significant.

Reaching out regularly to check up on them will create a positive, soothing learning environment. Parents will appreciate being kept in the loop on their children’s progress. When sending over resources, make sure to use inclusive language and address them respectfully. Cultural understanding is of utmost importance, so try to check your students’ family traditions and cultural practices before connecting with their families.

Ensuring nothing gets "lost in translation" with accurate translations

All children, especially multilinguists, should have a regular check-in with their teachers to ensure everything is clear. Now is the time to prioritize and support translation approaches when reaching multilingual families. Incorporate online communication tools such as mobile app messengers, phone calls, texts, and emails to ensure your education plans are laid out for students to access at all times.

Make your lessons easily navigable and straightforward to avoid any misunderstandings. After every class, make sure your students can easily locate the lesson summary, resources, and materials. Always encourage questions as this is the best way to ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

New terminology that has arisen during the pandemic

There are a variety of new terms and phrases that have arisen during the pandemic. Expressions like “social distancing’ and “pods” may sound too familiar now, but if you think about it, they are still quite new to all of us. When working in the education sector, it’s essential to ensure your multilingual students and their families understand every piece of information that’s given to them. So, for terminology relating to COVID19 and online learning, once again, it’s fundamental to prioritize translation quality and make sure everything is clear and transparent. With the help of professional translators, you can create a glossary of terms that will enable smooth communication and a strong connection with your community.

Here are some of the new terms to have in mind:

• Hybrid model - an educational model where some students attend class in-person, while others do it remotely from home
• Social distancing - an action designed to limit social gatherings
• Pods - small groups of students who are learning together but still in person
• Zooming - using the conference platform
• Flipped - students first engage with the learning material individually and then gather as a class to work through it together

Virtual meetings in multiple languages

Virtuals meetings and tools have been of great help to the education sector. Thanks to the internet, people all over the world are still getting their education degrees and continuing their learning. Even if virtual calls can be challenging, they can easily become as good as their in-person alternative. As long as you get yourself familiar with Zoom, Webex, or another conference tool, you’ll be good to go. For multilingual video conferences, consider hiring a professional translation agency with proven experience in providing remote simultaneous interpretation. Once you set up your platform for a multilingual meeting, the attendees will be able to choose the language of their choice and follow along in their native tongue. Your interpreters will take care of the rest.

At Language Buró, we work with trained linguists who can deliver high-quality remote simultaneous interpretation and ensure your meeting runs smoothly. Whether you require remote interpretation services or any other translation assistance, we’ve got you covered! Rather than a barrier, we look at language as an opportunity! Get in touch with us today to discuss your needs.