[lg policy] Services marks Harmony Day with a nod to its hundreds of interpreters

[Harold Schiffman]

Services marks Harmony Day with a nod to its hundreds of interpretersBy The
Mandarin  <https://www.themandarin.com.au/author/themandarin/>• 25/03/2019

While the federal government’s policy goal of stronger English language
skills among migrants has been controversial, its main service delivery
department is proud of its ability to speak to people in their first
language.

As a way to mark Harmony Day last Thursday (now part of Harmony Week
<https://www.harmony.gov.au/>), the Department of Human Services decided to
highlight the role of its 540 multilingual staff.

Meanwhile, it has also been trying out a new online website translation
system powered by “machine learning technology” from Microsoft, according
to Human Services Minister
<https://www.mhs.gov.au/media-releases/2019-03-22-human-services-speaks-your-language-online>
Michael
Keenan. Initially, it allows Chinese speakers to use the Payment and
Service Finder
<https://www.centrelink.gov.au/custsite_pfe/pymtfinderest/paymentFinderEstimatorPage.jsf?wec-appid=pymtfinderest&wec-locale=en_US#stay>
in
their own language, and was used almost 350 times a week in a recent trial.

The department has 540 multilingual staff, who collectively speak more than
40 languages between them. “These staff use their language skills every day
to help people who are culturally and linguistically diverse have the same
access to the department’s services as people who speak English,” reports
the DHS media team.

Some of those 540 staff talk to people in person and others work for the
Multilingual Phone Service (131 202, 8am-5pm, Monday-Friday), which takes
about 2500 calls a day in over 33 languages, making it the largest of the
kind in the southern hemisphere.

Of those, 314 are in New South Wales and the ACT, 91 are based in Victoria,
42 are in Queensland, 38 in Tasmania, 23 in South Australia, 16 in the
Northern Territory, and 13 are in Western Australia.

To help his employer mark Harmony Day, Arabic-speaking staffer Ahmad El-Dik
(pictured) explained his role with the MPS and how important it is to the
people who use it:

“Some things said in English don’t translate well in Arabic, so I need to
put together an example that better describes a scenario people can relate
to and understand,” El-Dik said.

“When I was growing up we had a rule that Arabic was to be spoken at home
and English at school so that my siblings and I were able to learn both.

“What I love about the language is that there are so many ways to describe
things so that they have a really deep meaning and can be tailored.

“By taking calls in a language that a caller can better relate to makes
them feel more comfortable and they can easily do their business.

“If we didn’t offer services to people in their preferred language a lot of
people just wouldn’t know what to do. People really appreciate being able
to call the Multilingual Phone Service and speak to someone in their
preferred language.”

A separate channel, the free translation and interpreting service (131 450,
8am-5pm, Monday-Friday), helps translate information about human services
into 230 different languages.

In 2017-18, the department used interpreters to assist with 800,000
interactions, either over the phone or in person.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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