The estimated 19 million low-income people with limited or no English proficiency in this country face a number of barriers in accessing educational, health care, and public information delivery. A critical problem is the disproportionately high rate at which those with limited English proficiency go without needed health care. Language barriers resulting from a shortage of effective medical translation and interpretation services can often lead to serious errors in treatment. These errors include missed symptoms, unnecessary surgeries and serious overdoses in medication.
Outside the health care arena, non-English speakers and those with limited proficiency face a dearth of useful translated material and effective interpretation to connect them with other necessary services. Video relay technology can improve the quality of interpretation and increase the connectivity between interpreters and the many clinics, businesses, community centers and service providers working with low English proficiency clients.
In addition, there is a significant opportunity to create a replicable program that uses these societal needs to create jobs by building a healthier translation and interpretation workforce. Technology can be used to connect that skilled workforce to new jobs both locally and nationwide. The goal of Networked Interpreter-Translator Enterprises (NITE) is to advance access to health care and public information delivery among non-English speakers by training better translators and interpreters, and fostering their connections to employment through innovative technology.
NITE will foster technology infrastructure among clinics, businesses, schools and community centers to improve services to non-English speaking clients; increase the number of bilingual, technologically skilled job seekers in the field of medical and professional translation and interpretation; and assist qualified and skilled entrepreneurs to start new translating and interpreting businesses filling a unique business niche in the community. NITE is innovative for combining language training, computer skill-building, and entrepreneurial assistance with integrated technology. The project addresses identified needs among both non-English speakers and the agencies serving them. It applies innovative technology solutions to enhance connections, create jobs, and fill a business niche in Lincoln, Nebraska, that can serve as a model for other communities around the country.
