Feds, states in dispute over court interpreters

By DAVE COLLINS - Associated Press 

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Annie Ling understood little of what was being said in a Georgia courtroom where she was put on trial, convicted by a jury and sentenced to 10 years in prison for abusing her two young children.

The Malaysia native speaks Mandarin but little English, and there was no interpreter for her during the 2008 proceedings in Spalding County, an hour south of Atlanta. Just after she was sentenced, she thought she was going home and asked probation officials when she had to return to their office. She had no idea she was about to be hauled off to jail.

"She just basically was in the dark," said J. Scott Key, a lawyer who represented Ling in her successful appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, which ruled last November that she was entitled to a new trial because she had no interpreter. Charges against Ling are pending, but she has been freed on bail after serving nearly three years behind bars.

Cases like Ling's, which continue to play out across the country, have prompted the U.S. Justice Department to warn officials in all states that they're violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 if they're not providing interpreters, free of charge, in all court-related proceedings and programs. But top state court officials are disputing the department's interpretation of civil rights laws, saying it goes too far and would require a large expansion of interpreter services that cash-strapped states can't afford.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, says the agency is "simply clarifying obligations that have existed for over 45 years."

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TRANSLATORS NEEDED FOR AMERICAN ENGLISH TO CASTILIAN SPANISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, JAPANESE AND UK ENGLISH

We have an important translation that will last several years from English into Castilian Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese and UK English.

We are ONLY looking for NATIVE translators of the target languages with a focus or significant amount of experience in writing about music, such as music reviews for popular music magazines. Having an ATA certification or even being a veteran translator for 20+years makes little difference for this job if you aren't caught up on the world music scene with the ability to capture the slang and lingo of modern music reviews. Rolling Stone magazine writing is a good reference for what we are looking for.

We will be selecting 10 translators/editors per language for large amounts of weekly deliveries. We will be HIGHLY selective and will test each candidate so please only contact us if you have a VERY STRONG capacity for the language of modern music in many genres.

Please ONLY send us your resume if you have 100% NATIVE fluency in the target language.

Please send resumes to careers [at] worldlanguagecommunications [dot] com

TRANSLATORS WILL ONLY BE CONSIDERED WHO REGISTER WITH US HERE: 


http://www.worldlanguagecommunications.com/careers

Two Years is Too Long! | One Million Voices for Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal

twoyearsistoolong.wordpress.co​m

Week of Action: Be a Voice for Shane and Josh

Posted on July 6, 2011

The week leading up to their trial in Tehran, join an international week of action to free the two American Hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. In 2009, Bauer and Fattal, along with Bauer’s fiancée Sarah Shourd, were arrested along an unmarked stretch of the Iranian-Iraqi border. While Shourd was released last Fall, the two men are falsely accused of espionage and could face many more years in prison if convicted. One Million Voices for Shane and Josh is an international call in blitz on the Iranian Interests section in Washington D.C.. We will remind the Iranian government that the whole world is watching and wants Bauer and Fattals immediate release to their family. Shane and Josh are expected to face trial on July 31st, 2011 the two year anniversary of their detention.

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

CALL EVERYDAY the week of JULY 25th, 2011 Beginning Monday, July 25th, 8AM EST though Friday, July 29th, 5pm EST (the week before their trial in Tehran) call the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington D.C. at (202) 965-4990 with the following message: “I am a supporter of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. I know that the two are not spies and urge you to release them and allow them to travel home to their families tomorrow.”

 Please remember to remain polite and respectful.

URGE YOUR FRIENDS TO DO BECOME A VOICE FOR SHANE AND JOSH!

Email this call to action to your friends, contacts and list-serves you are a part of.

Ask organizations you know to encourage their membership to participate.

Change your Facebook and Twitter status to encourage your friends to participate.

Organize an informal event at your home, workplace, community center making phones available for your community to call