Written by In a professional development session organised by NZSTI – New Zealand Society of Translators and Interpreters on the topic of working with the ethnic queer community as translators and interpreters, Rainbow Path NZ and the professional linguists who attended the session discussed possible ways of flagging allyship to service users.
It was clear from the conversations that there is no possible way to anticipate what queerness looks like (particularly in cases where people might be in early stages of their journey of self-discovery), as gender expression is individual and personal. Therefore, conveying a sense of safety towards any and all service users becomes a matter of regular professional practice.
How do we communicate support without breaching core ethical principles like impartiality, which is embedded in the NZSTI Code of Ethics and very much still expected from professional translators and interpreters working in Aotearoa New Zealand?
One of the ways proposed by Rainbow Path NZ spokespeople was wearing a badge with your pronouns. After searching high and low for a bilingual badge which would show my pronouns in both English and Spanish, I decided to just cut to the chase and get one made for me. It arrived in the mail a few days ago and I’m very excited to share.
What else can we do as professionals to convey understanding and non-judgement in a manner that will allow us to do a better job as translators and interpreters?
What are you doing yourself?
Translations with AM 