The language gap

For a state famous for its exotic, international vibe, Hawaii isn’t always paradise for people whose English language skills are lacking or weak. Laws that reach out to help new arrivals are on the books, but problems implementing the laws cause many people to slip through the cracks.

The recent lawsuit challenging the lack of translated exams at the counties’ driver licensing offices illustrates one such gap. The counties administer the tests, but the state Department of Transportation has oversight. And it’s the DOT that was named in the suit, filed a month ago by Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE), a nonprofit group, on behalf of two unnamed residents.

At issue is the department’s move in 2008 to discontinue its offer of translated driver licensing written tests, which had been in place since 2001. The DOT reverted to an English-only policy in its written test because new laws required the addition of a few questions — which the agency would have had to translate.

DOT officials have said the roster of translated tests would be restored, and expanded, by early 2014. Whether this will make the lawsuit moot is unclear.

But language access remains a broadly relevant issue, regardless of this case.

Advocates have pressed for better language support services in the courtroom and in the medical clinics — two settings where non-English speakers feel the need for help most acutely.

Besides translation of vital documents, the lack of qualified interpreters for the smaller language populations is a top issue, said Jun Colmenares, executive director of the state Office of Language Access.

"While Hawaii already has a certification program for court interpreters, we don’t have one for medical/health care or community interpreters," he said in an emailed response to the Star-Advertiser. "Certification is becoming more and more required, especially in hospitals and other health care settings in view of accreditation requirements and legal considerations."

The push-pull in this issue is between supporters of translation services and those who believe immigrants must be pressed to become more adept in English as part of their assimilation into society. Some point out that their grandparents managed well enough without such assists.

Marcella Alohalani Boido, a certified Spanish-language court interpreter, brushes off such critiques.

"Their grandparents didn’t have a choice," she said.

Boido is part of a contingent of interpreters who sought — and won six years ago — a requirement that court interpreters hired by the state must pass a qualifying exam. Even though that’s in effect, she said, and the state passed a language-access law in 2006, she hears anecdotal reports of some court proceedings being held without interpreters on hand.

"On paper, the policy looks good on some points," Boido added, "but the reality of what they do is another matter."

"In certain languages, there aren’t enough certified who have taken the certification test," said Mindy Emmons, president of the Hawaii Interpreter Action Network, the local advocacy group. "And because of the lack of commitment to use interpreters, interpreters are not able to earn enough money."

Emmons, a Kauai resident, said she lived in Los Angeles and worked full time as a court interpreter in Spanish for 24 years. That’s not as easy to do in Hawaii, where the jobs and the professionals are scattered around the islands.

Debi Tulang-De Silva, who heads the Judiciary’s interpreter program, said the challenge is that the courts don’t have staff interpreters and the independent contractors are not always available on the spot. The courts have worked to offer the services at all proceedings, she said, even if it’s interpretation provided to the client by phone connection.

The language barrier that confronts new arrivals to the U.S. is as old as the country itself, and in an earlier age, there was little to do about it other than rely on English-speaking family and friends for help while the immigrant adapts.

In the matter of the driver’s licenses, the popular critique is that the road signs are in English, so some understanding of the language is essential, anyway. Applicants have found coping strategies, both before the translated tests were offered and after they were discontinued, said Dennis Kamimura, the city’s motor vehicle licensing administrator.

For starters, he said, many non-English speakers come here licensed to drive in their own countries, and that license is accepted for a year, allowing time for preparation to test in English. Kamimura added that many countries have for decades signed on to road-traffic conventions, which ultimately means the rules of the road are fairly common to all of them.

Kamimura said the distinction between mandates for language services in the courts and the driver’s licensing arena is that "a driver’s license is not a right, it’s a privilege to operate a vehicle."

Those who fail in the initial try can retake the test, he said, and ultimately most can pass.

"What happens is we’ve had people pass the exam who could barely communicate with the staff, and they pass," Kamimura said. "The road test is given in English, and the person is going to have to take directions in English. So the people do understand.

"We test the ability of the people to operate a vehicle in full traffic conditions, not their proficiency in the language."

Nevertheless, the state has committed to providing the translated tests in Spanish, Tagalog, Ilocano, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Tongan, Marshallese and Chuukese, said DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter. The department has been working on re-establishing the service for a year, she added, but the staffing shortages have made it difficult.

In the meantime, the lawsuit is proceeding. Attorney Paul Alston said he was drawn to the case by students in a public-interest law class he taught at the University of Hawaii. He is sharing the lawyering duties with Gavin Thornton of Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice.

Thornton said the problem is that the driver’s test is "more of an English test than a test of driving knowledge," filled with idioms and expressions that even someone with a working understanding of the language might miss.

"One of the people we are helping took the test and failed three times, and as a result, had to take another year to take the exam," he said.

The cost of providing the translation is "relatively insignificant," Thornton added.

"FACE has offered to facilitate the translations to get them done for free, or at minimal cost," he said. "Yet when one of our clients brought a certified interpreter to interpret the test for him, he was turned away and told interpreters are not permitted. There is no legitimate reason for not offering translations and allowing interpreters."

Boido pointed to the nonprofit Hawaii Bilingual Access Line and Pacific Gateway among the services filling some of the community need; in addition, there is the for-profit company Language Services Hawaii LLC.

And some social service agencies have their own staff on hand to step in. Emmanuel Kintu, executive director of the Kalihi-Palama Health Center, said that of the center’s 200 employees, about 60 provide non-clinical "enabling services" such as interpretation. There are about two dozen whose dedicated purpose is interpretation, he said.

These staffers help bridge the gap in language as well as culture, Kintu said. Sometimes patients need help not only in understanding their medical condition but in explaining to health-care providers what some of the cultural sensitivities might be.

"How do you go to a Chinese elderly woman and start talking to them about body parts?" he added. "We are fortunate to have a board member who helped organize a group of Chinese elderly women and Chinese students, and they came up to the language that is palatable to someone when you’re talking about this or that."

The need is greater than many people recognize, Kintu said. When the center recently opened its Chinatown office, close to 60 percent of the people who come in need language services, he added.

Something else escapes most people outside the profession, he said: Providing language access can safeguard the rest of the population as well. He recalled one child who came in with a letter from school.

"The letter said they were found positive for tuberculosis, and they didn’t know what it meant," he said. "It’s helping the whole community. If we don’t have the appropriate access for a thing like that, then we run the risk of exposing the whole community."