So I'm a Language Access Coordinator... Now What?

This one-hour training was held by Zoom on September 29, 2022, and was open to anyone working in language access in U.S. state courts, no matter how long they’ve held the position. Guidelines and best practices continue to evolve, and it may be time for a refresher! We discussed:
1. What to do first: finding the latest national and state guidance for language access
2. Prioritizing your responsibilities: a budget-conscious review of low-hanging fruit
3. Educating the judiciary: how to effectively put a monolingual judge, attorney, administrator or other court employee into the shoes of a Limited English Proficient (LEP) immigrant
4. Interpreters and translators
Presented by Marco Hanson, former (and first) statewide LAC for the Texas judicial branch, and Margaret Hanson, Spanish-English legal translator and owner of Texan Translation. Marco is a licensed court interpreter, certified translator, and college instructor. A good audiobook on making lasting changes with minimal resources in a large, complex organization, is "Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard." www.amazon.com...
Some of the questions we were asked that guided our preparations:
Language Access resources available to me when I have no state or federal funding
More about the Language Access Plan, any deadlines I should be preparing for and data I should be tracking
How to handle the negativity some judges and court administrators exhibit regarding “having” to provide an interpreter
Recruiting, testing and credentialing process for interpreters
Tracking systems that operate most efficiently with the fewest extra steps for our court staff to make sure everyone knows about interpreter needs as a case progresses
Recruiting and providing basic training tools that would make interpreters feel more comfortable and efficient in the courtroom
Completing forms and similar documents for LEP court users
How to train judges and attorneys who don’t get much practice dealing with interpreters and most have a strong “muscle memory” for courtroom behavior that sometimes prevents them from allowing the interpreter to do their work.

[@gailhanson3007]

AMAZING AMOUNT OF INFORMATION....SUCH AN ENJOYABLE PRESENTATION TOO!

[@meganm7849]

Watching 8 months later from halfway across the country, cracking up at Alexa's guest spot. Thanks for posting this and making it available to folks like me.

[@TexanTranslation]

My pleasure! Glad you found it and found it useful.

[@henrygoleau]

Thank you so much for putting this content up on YT. I'm about to interview for a Language Access Coordinator role and this is extremely helpful.

[@TexanTranslation]

You're very welcome, Henry! I hope you got the job.

[@henrygoleau]

@@TexanTranslationThanks, unfortunately I did not. Been unemployed for 9 months yay.

[@TexanTranslation]

Ugh! Sorry to hear that@@henrygoleau

[@Felix-qz9cy]

Thanks

[@linguistlink]

Great job with the demonstrations! Thanks for creating this :D Looking forward to more.

[@TexanTranslation]

Thank you!