When every vote counts, every language does too
This election has seen a lot of firsts. Among other exciting historic advances, our nation’s cultural diversity—and by extension, our multilingualism—has taken center stage. Back in September, Democratic candidates were immersed in the first ever simultaneously-interpreted forum during a live national broadcast. Candidates confronted issues such as immigration reform and Mexican-U.S. border fence. The Washington Post reports:
The most remarkable part of the 90-minute forum, held at the University of Miami, proved to be not the responses but the format: Questions were posed in Spanish by two moderators from the Spanish-language television network Univision, which broadcast the event nationally; interpreters immediately translated the questions into English for the candidates, while a written English translation was beamed onto a screen in the arena for the crowd of more than 3,000.
Univision required candidates to answer in English, because only New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) speak Spanish fluently. That prompted Richardson to criticize the network from the stage Sunday night.
“I’m disappointed today that 43 million Latinos in this country—for them not to hear one of their own speak Spanish, is unfortunate,” Richardson said. “In other words, Univision is promoting English-only in this debate.”
He then switched to Spanish but was cut off by moderators Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas.
Salinas and Ramos, meanwhile, delivered challenges of their own. Dodd, Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) were called to account for their votes to build a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border. All three noted their support for broader rights for Latino immigrants, both legal and illegal, but they said tighter border security is important. “That has to be part of comprehensive immigration reform,” Clinton said, adding that in some points she supported “even a physical barrier.”
Richardson called the fence “a horrendous example of misguided Washington policy.”
“If you’re going to build a 12-foot wall, you know what’s going to happen,” he said. “A lot of 13-foot ladders. This is a terrible symbol of America.
Tomorrow night’s presidential debate between candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will also be broadcast to viewers in Chinese (Mandarin) on Southern California’s number one Asian television station, LA 18 KSCI-TV. The broadcast is part of the station’s election series that includes coverage in Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog, in addition to Chinese. Click here to see the full press release.
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