In our city, where 138 languages are spoken, being understood by our neighbors and trying to understand them is seemingly a task for Sisyphus.
The good news is that at least two city agencies, the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Department of Education (DOE) have found a way to better serve our incredibly diverse population. They both subscribe to a translation service that handles no fewer than 150 languages.
As we revealed in last week's Queens Courier cover story, Language Line Services is available in the complaint rooms of all of the city's police stationhouses. It is even available to supervisory NYPD personnel in the field. The best news is that it works and works well.
The DOE found in a survey of city public school parents that in 43 percent of student homes, the primary language spoken is not English. The most widely spoken languages they found, in descending order, are Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, Urdu and Arabic. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said the DOE would translate documents into those languages, which with English, would cover 95 percent of the city's school parent population.
The DOE's Translation and Interpretation Unit, headed by Director Kleber Palma, said they signed on with Language Line Services in September 2005. In addition to document translation services, which Palma says can take anywhere from a day or two to as long as a week to complete, Language Line has successfully handled 1,100 phone calls from approximately 100 schools out of the 1,400 which comprise the public school system.
We say bravo to the DOE and NYPD for their use of this language service. To the other governmental agencies, bureaus and departments who have the need to understand and communicate with our polyglot population, we say look at Language Line Services.
CHERTOFF MUST GO!
How long must we endure Michael Chertoff as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? The inspector general of DHS found that the Federal government's antiterrorism National Asset Database is so flawed that it lists Indiana with 8,591 potential terrorist targets - New York City only listed 5,687 sites - the most target-rich state in the nation.
Included in that database are potential targets like The Amish Popcorn Factory in Berne, IN, an Old MacDonald's Petting Zoo in Woodville, AL, the Mule Day Parade in Columbia, TN, and even “a beach at end of a street.”
How absurd! How stupid! This is not defensible.
We agree with City Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr., chair of the Public Safety Committee, when he states, “It is now proven beyond all doubt that our country's war on terror is being headed by the ‘Keystone Cops.' Any agency that includes a ‘beach at end of a street' as a terrorist target is incompetent. It's time for Chertoff to take off.”
