Language Access

Language access makes the difference between life and death for some of the most vulnerable people navigating and fleeing crises and conflicts worldwide. In this course, we will explore the key roles that interpreters and translators play in providing language justice and access within immigration, public health, and education. We will learn to distinguish the roles of translators and interpreters working in the asylum, detention, and humanitarian parole legal processes. We will also gain a detailed understanding of the responsibilities and strategies of interpreters and translators in high-stakes and crisis situations by learning from (and supporting) those engaged in language access work, advocacy and research. This course features Center for Community Engagement- sponsored travel to engage in independent research with community partners in New York and/or Boston. This course includes a community-engagement component.



Jack Carew ‘20, MPH, is the Director of Academic Partnerships and Public Health at Respond Crisis Translation and is a speaker of English, Arabic, Spanish, and French. He is also an Instructor in the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine and a PhD Candidate in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health.