Issue 52 June 2021

This newsletter comes shortly after the May newsletter, owing to important information to share on the Language Assistance Services Programme.

Language Assistance Services Programme update

Proposed support package for transition to NAATI Standards

We have been asked by the Implementation of NAATI Standards Project, which is part of the Language Assistance Services Programme being run by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), to contact New Zealand based interpreters to make them aware of the opportunity to consider the proposed approach to supporting New Zealand interpreters to become NAATI Certified by 1 July 2024.

The details of the proposed approach can be found on our website 

New standards and certification requirements

This approach was shared at the NZSTI Conference over the weekend of 29/30 May and those who attended the conference can also access the presentation.

The decision to adopt the Standards and Certification Framework from the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters of Australia was made in 2018. This has significant implications for New Zealand interpreters and so government has made a funding commitment to support interpreters to become certified during a three year transition period which starts on 1 July 2021 and ends on 30 June 2024. You are being asked to consider the elements of the support package and, if you have any feedback, to provide this by close of business Friday, 11 June 2021.

It is possible that you may receive this email from a number of different channels. Please only respond once!

Your response should be emailed to Alison.McDonald2@mbie.govt.nz with "Feedback on standards proposal" in the subject line.

All responses will be considered before the approach is finalised. A feedback report summarising the feedback received and including an FAQ section will be published on the MBIE website from 1 July 2021 alongside a description of the support that will be available and how to access it.

We strongly encourage all our interpreters to consider the proposal and respond if you have feedback, comments or questions.

ezispeak

As you know, ezispeak are the language service provider contracted by MBIE to provide Telephone and Video Interpreting to participating government agencies when communicating with culturally and linguistically diverse clients. Telephone interpreting has been in place since September 2019 and Video interpreting has been successfully launched in December 2020. Both have proven to be especially useful in times of Covid when meeting in person was not always possible but communication continuity had to be ensured.

In 2020, 52,000 calls were processed in 63 languages. Currently ezispeak use NZ interpreters for 71.80% of calls out of the targeted 80% by contract. 

Telephone and Video interpreting is available 24/7 in over 180 languages, and on average it takes 28 seconds to connect a caller to an interpreter.

So far 52 New Zealand government agencies have signed up as participating agencies to use the Telephone and Video interpreting.

If you need further information about ezispeak or would like to provide feedback please feel free to write to ezispeak on work@ezispeak.com.au or the Language Assistance Services Programme on LAS@mbie.govt.nz.

COVID-19 vaccine updates

Important update to kindly note and share with your networks (where appropriate):

COVID-19 vaccination update

Roll-out for Northland and Auckland

The COVID-19 Vaccination roll-out for Northland and Auckland has a dedicated website. 

Covid-19 Vaccination Roll-out for Northland and Auckland(external link)

You will find all relevant information on the vaccination rollout including translated resources, newsletter sign up and latest updates.

COVID-19 vaccine videos

More languages have now been added to the suite of ‘Introduction to COVID-19 vaccine’ videos (13 languages in total).

In these videos health professionals share some basic information around the COVID-19 vaccine.

The newly added languages are (please click to view):

• English(external link)
• Arabic(external link)
• Burmese(external link)
• Khmer(external link)
• Tagalog(external link)
• Urdu(external link) 
• Sign Language(external link)

A friendly reminder that other languages available are

• Cantonese(external link)
• Hindi(external link)
• Korean(external link)
• Mandarin(external link)
• Punjabi(external link)
• Vietnamese(external link)

Please share these videos with your respective community members, groups and stakeholders

Your COVID-19 vaccination- a quick guide

The booklet provides key information regarding the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccination including the vaccination process, after the vaccination and FAQ’s.

The following languages are currently available:

English(external link)

Hindi(external link)

Japanese(external link)

Punjabi(external link)

Simplified Chinese(external link)

Spanish(external link)

Thai(external link)

Traditional Chinese(external link)

More languages will be added as they become available.

Help us improve our reach to CALD Communities better

What

Metro Auckland COVID-19 Vaccination Information Outreach to CALD Communities Survey

Why

As we work together to inform our ethnic communities on the COVID-19 vaccination roll out, we would like get an understanding on how best we reach out to our Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities. 

We would be very grateful if you could please complete a short survey and share with us how you disseminate information with your communities, stakeholders and members. The survey will take approximately 3-5 minutes to complete.

How

Complete the brief survey(external link)

Other updates

Free antenatal classes for Indian and Chinese parents run by Parents Centre Aotearoa

Who

FREE for pregnant women and their families. Best to start Antenatal Classes when approx 26-28 weeks' pregnant.

When and where

• For Indian families: 26 June and 3 July 2021, 9am to 3.30pm at The Gardens School, 101 Charles Prevost Drive, Manurewa.
• For Chinese families: 8 June to 13 July, 7pm to 9pm at AIA Offices, 57 Market Road, Epsom.

Details

For more information, see Parents Centre Aotearoa website(external link) 

RSVP

info@parentscentre.org.nz

Request for proposals for interpretation, translation, transcription and communication services

When the Government provides information to the public in New Zealand, it is critical that everyone receives and understands the content and what is expected of them.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is establishing a supplier panel for communication, translation, transcription, alternative formats and contents production services.

DPMC and NEMA are seeking suppliers that wish to be part of the supplier panel.

Suppliers accepted to the supplier panel will provide content for;

• Blind and vision impaired people
• Deaf and hard-of-hearing people
• People with learning disabilities
• People who have a cultural or linguistic based communication need

DPMC and NEMA wish to source suppliers that will become members of a DPMC supplier panel for interpretation, translation, transcription and communication services for people with disabilities, who speak Te Reo Māori, or who are within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities with linguistic barriers to accessing information in English.

Applications for the first round are open until 11 June. Information is available on the GETS website

Translation, transcription, alternative formats and contents production services panel(external link) — GETS  

Thank you again for your continued support. 

New home for Interpreter reference resources

Interpreters have their own resource page on the Mnistry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) website which has many useful tools, such as immigration and refugee related terminology.

The url to use is https://www.mbie.govt.nz/interpreters-online-toolkit

Rare languages

Recently we have been searching for interpreters in:

• Mongolian
• Kiribati
• Tokelauan
• Nuiean
• Malay
• Kinyarwanda
• Rohingya
• Tigrinya
• Turkish
• Tongan
• Samoan
• Bengali
• Tamil (Sri Lankan)
• Burmese, Kayah and Chin
• Cambodian/Khmer
• Fijian
• Te Reo Māori
• Ndebele
• Pashto            
• Somali
• Swahili
• Tagalog
• Luganda
• Igbo
• Amharic

If you know anyone who interprets one of these, or another rare language, please ask them to get in touch with me.  We have over 100 languages on our list, but it’s still not enough!

This year we needed interpreters in 35 different languages, ranging from Arabic and Mandarin to Mongolian and Malay.  Thank you all for your contribution!

Glossaries

Refugee and protection claims based on a person’s religion or beliefs are common. The terms used by some religious groups can be unfamiliar, or carry a special meaning.

To help with your preparation for these types of interviews we have added some new glossaries to the Interpreters’ page. These glossaries include Falun Gong and Church of Almighty God which is specifically for interpreters of Chinese languages.

Falun Gong glossary

Church of Almighty God glossary

If you feel there are any other areas that would benefit from a glossary being created please let us know. 

View all the glossaries available

Also on the Interpreteres page, under ‘Further self-study’, you can find feedback from our interpreter dilemma training.

Dilemma training

Return to Interpreters online toolkit