Interpreters Give Access to Civic Life --and Raise Assimilation Concerns

Rosa Mesa moved from Mexico to Huntington Park 25 years ago but long felt left out of her city’s civic life because she does not speak English.

That changed last year when the city hired a professional interpreter to provide instantaneous Spanish translations of all regular City Council meetings.

Mesa now attends almost every meeting and--with the help of the interpreter--testifies about crime problems and listens to Spanish translations of the council discussing street sweeping contracts, planning the latest holiday carnival and introducing local beauty pageant winners.

“Now I don’t have an excuse not to participate,” said Mesa, who is a block captain in her Neighborhood Watch program and an activist in local politics.

A growing number of cities in Los Angeles County with large Latino populations staff every council meeting with a professional interpreter to bridge the communication gap between Spanish-speaking residents and their elected representatives. The interpreters even translate the occasional spat between lawmakers and insults hurled by angry constituents.

At least five cities have interpreters at their council meetings. Although it has sparked controversy in some communities about the effect on immigrants’ assimilation, more cities are considering joining the movement.

Many of Orange County’s municipalities, including Santa Ana, offer translators on request, but none provide them routinely at council meetings, city officials say.

Latino activist Josie Montoya of United Neighborhoods said furnishing regular translators would meet an important need in cities with substantial immigrant populations.

“I think that by not providing that service, they’re denying the right to participate to a whole segment of people,” she said. But “as long as they provide them when they are requested, I suppose it’s good enough. We’re not ever going to see a time when meetings are bilingual.”

Around the state and country, cities with sizable Latino populations--such as New York, San Antonio, Tucson, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oxnard--provide interpreters at council meetings if a request is made in advance. But the trend in Los Angeles County cities goes a step further by making interpreters a regular city hall fixture, as integral and common at council meetings as the city attorney and the city clerk.

Muriel Jerome-O’Keeffe, president of the American Translators Assn., a Virginia-based group with 7,000 members, said Los Angeles County is leading the way in hiring interpreters in city halls and other public meeting places.

“We are seeing it more and more with the influx of immigrants,” she said.

Latino activists hope more cities will consider hiring professional interpreters for all civic meetings.

“We think this is very important to help Latino immigrants participate in their community,” said Rosalind Gold, a senior director at the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

But the trend has raised some questions even among Latinos: How far should a city go to accommodate non-English speakers? And do interpreters discourage immigrants from learning English and assimilating into American society?

Supporters of the interpreters dismiss such concerns, saying the interpreters increase public participation in local government.

“A lot of folks speak Spanish because they can’t express themselves as well in English,” said South Gate City Councilman Hector De La Torre, who recently introduced a motion to hire an interpreter for his city. The city staff is studying the motion amid some concern about such civic bilingualism.

Professional interpreters are on staff in Southern California courtrooms, hospitals and schools for use when needed. Experts say it is not surprising that interpreters are becoming regulars at council meetings, translating the comments of the elected officials into Spanish and interpreting into English the testimony of Spanish speakers.

In Los Angeles County, a language other than English is spoken in nearly half the households, according to the 1990 U.S. census. In the Los Angeles Basin, 31% of Latino households speak Spanish exclusively, according to Los Altos, Calif.-based Access Worldwide Cultural Access Group.

Samantha Lubrani, a state-certified interpreter with 10 years’ experience, works as a court interpreter by day and translates at night for the cities of Huntington Park and Bell Gardens.

Interpreting is not an exact science, she said. She often struggles with colloquialisms and regional expressions that were not taught when she earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish at UCLA.

“If you have five different interpreters interpreting the same thing, you will have five different ways of saying it,” she said.

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Times staff writer Maria Elena Fernandez contributed to this story.