More than 120 languages are spoken in Nashville, Tennessee area public schools due to its ever increasing refugee and immigrant populations-Tennessean, Jan. 2016

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Jan. 2016 article

1/4/16, "Refugee's rare dialect exposes legal system's shortcomings," The Tennesseean, Stacey Barchenger

"Immigrant advocates say the case shows why Nashville, with its growing immigrant and refugee populations, needs to keep educating those groups, understanding cultural differences and making sure language barriers are understood by officials at all levels of government.

More than 120 languages are spoken by students in Metro Schools alone. And according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, more than 16 percent of Nashville residents speak a language other than English at home. ​

"Nashville has one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations in the country," said Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. "What that means is for local [taxpayer funded] institutions it can be a challenge to keep up."...

Hing speaks Matu-Chin, a language spoken by only about 40,000 people, according to court records. Hing has no formal education, knows only some Burmese and speaks almost no English....

HOW TO HELP

The Administrative Office of the Courts, which oversees the court interpreter program, is recruiting interpreters. Interpreters who are certified — those who go through two days of training, pass an oral exam and other requirements — can earn up to $50 per hour. Other levels of credentialed interpreters can earn up to $25 or $40 per hour, depending on their level of training.

There is greatest need for these [12] languages:  

Arabic, 
Vietnamese, 
Chinese, 
Korean, 
Lao, 
Farsi, 
Russian, 
Somali, 
Swahili, 
Nepali, 
Amharic and 
Burmese. 

For more information, click here." 




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