Translators Ready to Aid Mayas

With a date pending in immigration court, Roberto Perez worries he will not be able to convince a judge that he fled war-ravaged Guatemala fearing for his life.

The Los Angeles resident is a Maya. His native language is Mayan. He speaks no English and limited Spanish. Thus he will find it hard to explain to the judge why he left Guatemala during the civil war of the 1980s. His father and cousin, he said, were killed by left-wing guerrillas.

“I need to be able to tell what happened to me in my own words,” explained Perez.

Perez, a 44-year-old asylum seeker, is among the Maya immigrants seeking the expertise of a singular interpreter service that was formally inaugurated Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The nonprofit service, known as the Maya Various Interpretation Services and Indigenous Organization Network (MAYAVISION), is an association of 30 interpreters trained in various Mayan tongues. The group hopes to serve the estimated 20,000 Maya Indians in Southern California, especially in their dealings with immigration and other courts.

The need is clearly there.

Since they began arriving in large numbers in the early 1980s, Maya immigrants have faced a huge translation gap. Latinos and non-Latinos alike assume that they are fluent in Spanish, but many speak only limited Spanish. Community leaders say many Mayas have been deported or thrown in jail because they don’t understand the Spanish translation and can’t plead their cases adequately.

“Sometimes our people are too proud to say they cannot express themselves well in Spanish,” explained Victor Lopez, a flower-picker-turned-professional-interpreter who heads the association. He has already served as an indigenous interpreter in cases from Florida to Nebraska to California.

Making matters worse are the Mayas’ general poverty, their lack of education and their unfamiliarity with the U.S. legal system. Typically, they work in the fields or in apparel sweatshops.

A huge need for indigenous translation is anticipated in coming months, as Perez and thousands of other Guatemalans complete their political asylum applications under the special terms of a 1997 law.

A growing awareness of the translation gap prompted community activists to begin establishing a system of indigenous interpreters. Oxfam America and the California Consumer Protection Foundation chipped in with grants for training and other costs.

Eventually, a core of 30 qualified translators in various Mayan tongues--almost two dozen Mayan languages are spoken in Guatemala--came together. Since few have mastered English, most use the two-translator “relay” technique--with one person interpreting from Mayan to Spanish and another providing Spanish-to-English translation.

Many of the indigenous translators have been tested and deemed qualified by Berlitz, which has a contract to provide interpreters to immigration courts nationwide. Judges in criminal and civil cases may also order the use of indigenous interpreters when needed.

A major hurdle, activists say, is that many immigrants don’t know about the interpreters. The new association hopes to publicize them.

The interpreter service can be reached through El Rescate, the Central American social service group, at (213) 387-3284.