The Power of the (Kid) Translator

We spent several days recently with relatives in Slovenia and were awed by the power of the translator.

Two family members speak English well enough to feel comfortable as translators: thirty-something Tjasa (Tee-ah-sha), who is a working mom, and 16 year-old Andraz (And-draws), who attends school.

Tjasa’s husband also speaks English, but they weren’t available most of the time we were there: two evenings and a day.

A full day.

With distant relatives to visit on the family farm.

Andraz managed well the first night until Tjasa was able to join us.

He’d been studying the language for seven years and spoke beautifully, for all he brushed off  our compliments.

(Note: Tjasa told us she learned to speak English from watching cartoons in English as a child. She speaks several other languages as well–like many Europeans)

We quickly fell right into chatting and only occasionally did a puzzled look cross his face, “I’m sorry I don’t understand.”

For the three Americans who come from a household that delights in word games, puns and irony, we had to cool it and slow down.

Andraz did very well, regardless.

We told his parents so, and they beamed with pride, as they should.

The full day, our relatives solved part of the problem by taking us to visit the world famous Postojna Caves where we took a tour in English!

A brilliant solution to a tricky problem.

(Most of the other tourists with us on the tour were Japanese!)

Andraz got out of school early enough to join us on the family farm, where his language skills were put through their paces, translating between his grandparents, great-aunt and us (one husband, one adult son and me).

We were very impressed.

He kept it up until met Tjasa at her house and she took over so he could do his homework.

Later, he translated for us again and I marveled at how fluid he seemed.

Several times, though, I wondered if he was telling us the whole story . . .

Dangers for Kid Translators

Immigrant children to the United States can be presented with challenges when they serve as interpreters. Some children, however, are forced into roles they may not be mature enough to handle–at the doctor’s office, say, interpreting adult ailments and then physician’s questions.

As their language skills grow, child interpreters sometimes take on more adult roles because they are their parents’ sole conduit to society. Officials begin to address their questions to the children, rather than the parent needing translation.

A recent article in the New York Times, gave a humorous example of the challenges a perfectly intelligent American mother has run into with her children who have lived their entire lives in France and thus recognize her errors.

Pamela Druckerman decided just to embrace the embarrassment as her children corrected her, often.

She noted a concern for one French preschool teacher with working-class Chinese parents:

“In such families, the parents can quickly become infantilized, as their 5-year-old serves as an interpreter and eventually fills out forms for them.”

In Slovenia, where the language was incomprehensible to me, we swung our heads back and forth as Andraz interpreted–between him and his parents and grandparents.

I wasn’t sure if I should look at them while he spoke, or look at him. It got a bit confusing, but we all smoothed over the awkwardness with smiles, nods and another round of potica–a Slovenian cross between strudel and nut bread.

The morning we left, alas, we had no translator, just watches, sorrowful looks and suitcase packing.

Fortunately, that morning the Internet was working, and I was able to access Google translate.

Maria and I had a typing “conversation,” while breakfast cooked.

My admiration for her and her family, her pleasure in having us, didn’t need many words.

But the Ipad translator . . . well, it helped . .  and didn’t require a kid at all.

Tweetables

The power of a (kid) translator Click to Tweet

Challenges for children acting as translators Click to Tweet

A little potica never hurts while translating in Slovenia Click to Tweet