WAUKESHA – Due to the work of five students taking an advanced Spanish class at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha this semester, more community residents will be able to find the help they need.   The students translated the 12-page Service Directory for the Waukesha County Department of Health and Human Services from English into Spanish – and gained some practical knowledge of the language they are studying as well.

“This is great for the community,” exclaimed Colleen Martin, who is the volunteer coordinator for the county department and the person who had solicited assistance in getting the directory translated. “The new one looks different,” she observed. “There are fewer capitals [letters] and longer explanations.” She plans to distribute the booklet to La Casa de Esperanza, Hebron House, and other helping organizations that serve people who natively speak Spanish.

Five students undertook the project:

• Catie Carlson, Mukwonago

• Mary O’Brien, Wind Lake

• Andy Wickert, New Berlin

• Maria Puzach, Brookfield

• Jeannette Muñoz, Muskego

They found it was much more difficult than they had anticipated. Languages, they learned, do not translate one-to-one, which, of course is the barrier faced everyday by non-English-speakers in this country. Technical words and jargon had not been a part of the academic curriculum, and syntax did not appear exactly as taught in textbooks. The students searched dictionaries in libraries and on the Internet to find the right way to change a concept from its English rendering to one understandable to Spanish-speakers. Each student translated several pages from the original directory.

Their instructor, associate professor of Spanish Cecilia Rodriguez, met with them regularly and guided them through. She reports, “They enjoyed it immensely.” It served as a wonderful teaching tool, Rodriguez believes, showing students “what real documents look like.” 

In addition to new knowledge of the language and better understanding of its speakers, the students will be rewarded with certificates of appreciation, letters of recommendation, and invitations to the annual volunteer recognition event, this year an outing to a Brewer’s game.

Best of all, the community gains another tool with which to grow stronger.