Translator Kids Speak Out, from Cancer Calls to Running Restaurants
Readers saw themselves in our recent story on translating for immigrant family, and wrote in to share their stories.
Christopher Cheung reports on urban issues for The Tyee. Follow him on Twitter at @bychrischeung. SHARES Translator kid Mimi Nguyen on language barriers: ‘I worry about people who don’t have kids at home, or if their kids are abroad. I think about what if I wasn’t born. I know kids who have planned their futures to be close to their parents, because they know that this is inevitable.’
Art by Dorothy Woodend and Christopher Cheung.
The Translator Kids
If family members don’t know English, how do you keep them safe and informed in a pandemic?
Christopher Cheung reports on urban issues for The Tyee. Follow him on Twitter at @bychrischeung. SHARES Mimi Nguyen grew up translating for her parents, who came to Vancouver as refugees. With the help of her sister and a dictionary, she took on the responsibility in her preteens.
Photo by Christopher Cheung.
It was Mimi Nguyen’s older sister Kim who first modelled the expectation that the children of newcomers should step in as the family’s translators.
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