Speak Up for Kids’ Sake

Immigrant children have long bridged the language gap between their families and English-speaking society, say, in translating grandma’s query for directions.

That’s just harmless, convenient conversation. But when the subjects turn grave and vital -- from talking to doctors, lawyers or police to handling teacher-parent matters -- it’s inappropriate to call on kids to do adult duties.

The consequences of doing so can be downright dangerous and traumatic. Children just can’t deal well with complex terminology, be it medical, legal or otherwise. Since when does a 12-year-old understand benign versus malignant? Why must a child tell her mother she has cervical cancer or relate to police how dad beat mom? It’s daunting and traumatizing for kids to know that their least slip-up can cause a misdiagnosis or put a parent in jail.

State lawmakers should take children out of this nightmarish situation, approving a bill, AB 292, by Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco).

His measure, which has passed the Assembly and is under consideration in the Senate, would bar state-funded agencies from using children 14 or younger as interpreters, except in emergencies or for casual conversation. The bill is supported by the California Academy of Family Physicians, women’s shelters and ethnic groups.

Opponents, like the California Medical Assn. and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, say Yee’s bill would drive up medical costs and delay access to needed services. Opponents effectively argue, “Sure, we try not to use kid interpreters more than necessary. But, hey, they’re convenient and cheap.”

That’s a Dickensian illogic that belies the reality that translation services can be inexpensive and readily available in this polyglot state. Providing these services would let state-funded entities do the jobs they’re supposed to.

Police and hospitals statewide have found willing, able and helpful volunteers conversant in Spanish and Chinese, not to mention Hmong and Mongolian. The Department of Motor Vehicles employs nearly 2,000 certified bilingual employees who speak more than 30 languages.

Many HMOs already provide translation services for free -- Kaiser Permanente, for example, offers patients help in Spanish and Chinese for everything from getting an appointment to going to the pharmacy.

Businesses statewide have built internal banks of language-skilled employees. Phone companies offer emergency translation aid. A host of community organizations dedicate themselves to providing language services. And isn’t there a role here for college and university language programs across California?

Talk can be cheap and relatively easy. But so, too, is the practice of using kid translators, and it will hang on, as exploitative child labor did, until the law steps in. Curtailing this too-convenient wrong is the right and grown-up thing to do.