Questions for the Week:
Special Guest:
Stephanie Vasquez, Global Language Resources in Spanish, PCUSA
Guest Question:
Language interpretation and accessibility is becoming increasingly necessary in the church. But it isn't always easy or cheap. How do we encourage congregations (and the church as whole) to embrace this? Also, there is a difference between simply translating something and adapting it for an audience. What goes in that process?
Resource Roundup:
Title VI, Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons
Protections for persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
St Jerome
Interpreting and the Church
Contact Stephanie: stephanie.vasquez@pcusa.org
For Listening Guides, click here!
Got a question for us? Send them to faithpodcast@pcusa.org!
A Matter of Faith website
Questions for the Week:
Special Guest:
Stephanie Vasquez, Global Language Resources in Spanish, PCUSA
Guest Question:
Language interpretation and accessibility is becoming increasingly necessary in the church. But it isn't always easy or cheap. How do we encourage congregations (and the church as whole) to embrace this? Also, there is a difference between simply translating something and adapting it for an audience. What goes in that process?
Resource Roundup:
Title VI, Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons
Protections for persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
St Jerome
Interpreting and the Church
Contact Stephanie: stephanie.vasquez@pcusa.org
For Listening Guides, click here!
Got a question for us? Send them to faithpodcast@pcusa.org!
A Matter of Faith website
00:03 – Simon Doong
Hello and welcome to a matter of faith a Presby Podcast, the podcast where we respond to your questions and comments on issues of faith, social justice, and church life. Don't be afraid to write in and ask your question. Because if it matters to you, it matters to us. And it just might be a matter of faith,
00:21 – Lee Catoe
whether it be faith in God, faith in others or faith in yourself. We are brought to you by the Presbyterian peacemaking program and unbound the interactive journal on Christian social justice for the Presbyterian Church, USA. I am your host, Lee Catoe.
00:39 – Simon Doong
And I'm your host, Simon Doong.
00:41 – Lee Catoe
Without further ado, let's dive into today's questions.
00:46 – Simon Doong
Well, hello, everyone, welcome back to a matter of faith, a Presby podcast. As of the time that this episode comes out, it will be early December, which is crazy to think about Thanksgiving is behind us. Christmas is coming up. We are in Advent, and I'm sure everyone in the church world is very busy with the advent festivities and the Christmas prep. And we just hope that everyone is not too stressed out. Because there's a lot going on there. How are you doing Lee?
01:20 – Lee Catoe
Good. Now, there's a lot going on. And yeah, it's here are in December. It's cold. And I'm kind of excited about that, though. But yeah, it's it's just that season in the church where you don't get a you don't get a breath and some ways, but it is also the season of the church where, you know, some people can take vacation and in the real world and not in the podcast world, when this airs, I will be in the air going to Hawaii, which I'm very excited about. So y'all just imagine me in Hawaii doing my thing for vacation, which I'm very excited about. So I'm going to be busy for the next few days.
02:05 – Simon Doong
Nice. Well, we, we hope that you are enjoying your time in Hawaii, some relaxation, some sun and some warm weather, which I'm pretty sure I will not be experiencing.
02:18 – Lee Catoe
Yeah, it'll be weird. I don't think I've ever been in, you know, like, warm weather in, like, this time of year. So it'll be interesting to get to experience that which Yeah, I'll probably talk about on the podcast at some point. But yeah, that'll be interesting to see.
02:36 – Simon Doong
Nice. No, you should do is you should take a beach selfie and somehow make that your like profile picture. As part of our podcast graphics. We can do a before and after photo.
02:49 – Lee Catoe
That's true. You can see my burn scan. my pale skin being torched by the sun. So I hope that is not the case. Yeah, but it usually is usually,
03:02 – Simon Doong
Well, we hope that your your skin doesn't burn and that you have a good a good trip. And, you know, we we really hope also that people don't get burned by bad reviews. And speaking of reviews, we have a question. Yeah. Written in which reads, “we live in an age where reviews scores and ratings are really important to measure success, and engagement with a product or service for entertainment, such as movies, games, or even music. There are sites such as rotten tomatoes, Metacritic, and open critic, which aggregate review scores from across other individual review oriented outlets to help provide an overall perspective on the quality of our product. And we have multiple ways to provide reviews for sellers on Amazon, eBay, and Facebook marketplace. And we can review our drivers for services like Uber and Lyft. In fact, even customers can be reviewed by sellers to indicate if they were easy to work with. And then that leads to the question do slash should churches care about reviews? Why or why not? And if they should? What sites or platforms should we pay attention to? What types of reviews should matter?” What do you think Lee?
04:33 – Lee Catoe
I do think there is something to say about taking in critique from people. And I don't think we do that enough. I think in many ways, we don't have space for that, and sometimes in the church to have, you know, like honest conversations about what is happening in the church or what is or what could be changed in the church. I think that's important and I think having some sort of kinda I know some churches have like suggestion boxes and things like that. And, and having I'm not, I don't know if we would have reviews say so like this podcast would or, or our restaurant or something like that but they do help. I mean, I've seen churches on Google that have like star ratings. And, you know, if you've had a bad interaction, I've seen some of those put on there with people. And I do think it is helpful in some ways. Because I have known churches specifically in like progressive spaces that are that say they are welcoming, specifically to queer folk, when that is not the case, in reality, and so I think it is always good to have some sort of unbiased, you know, opinion, specifically, when, or if that space is not as welcoming as I say they are, if I read that, I wouldn't necessarily want to be in that space. And I think that could be very helpful. I do think reviews can get tricky because of it is kind of like, an open space. So you never know what you're gonna get. And you have people who have differing of opinions about something. But I think in certain ways, when it comes to inclusivity, and interactions with people, I think it could be important. And I think, if it were like in a public space, churches might change, you know, like, public opinion does sway things. And I think that that could help.
06:42 – Simon Doong
When I think about someone going church shopping, you know, let's say they've moved to a new place, or just they're looking for a different church, what are the common ways that folks are going to find out about a congregation? And then what do they want to going to want to know, obviously, one of the first places they're going to go to is probably the church's website, potentially, which we've talked about church websites previously. So I'll just say check out previous episodes for that. But websites do say something about, they do help advertise and promote a church or congregation, I think that's pretty obvious. But people also will check out reviews. And they'll check them out on a variety of different websites and platforms, they might just Google the church and see what the Google reviews are, they may go to Yelp, if there's any reviews on Yelp, they may also go to the church's Facebook page, and see if there's any reviews there, or what has that church been posting lately, to get a gauge of the types of activities that they do about the diversity of the community, about the the policies, and you know, as you were saying, whether they're a welcoming a welcome space, or not an inclusive. So I do think that they matter. To a point, I do think that we have to be careful about, you know, we've talked previously about people trolling on comments. And in Yeah, in the comments are just like this, you know, people, sometimes people will just dislike things to dislike things. And we have to recognize that some of that is there. And that's unfortunate. But I also think that we should be paying attention to the reviews that people that people say and that people leave, because that can be an indicator about whether that's a place we want to go. I do think it's you know, and it may, I don't think we need to always get really into the weeds about like, how many stars does our church get? I do know that in, in, in some private sector industries, bonuses for executives have been tied to review scores. That's an older practice. I don't believe that that is quite as prevalent now. But I mean, actually, I think was bonuses, not even for executives, but even for people lower in the company was like, Oh, if we achieve a if our video game that we release achieves at least an 85 on Metacritic, everyone gets X bonus. And if it doesn't achieve it, no one gets it, which I believe they've ended that practice, because it's very unfair. And frankly, it's way too subjective. So there is that caveat, I'm not saying we should tie pastors compensation to a review score of the congregation. Imagine, oh, man, though, that is, again, I'm not supporting that. But we should. So we should pay attention with, you know, with a caveat of also recognizing that there will be people who will simply dislike or leave a low review, maybe because they disagreed with what came from the pulpit. And in some ways that's really helpful because if you are if you are looking for an inclusive community, and then someone says something, the pastor says something or you have an interaction that is negative. You people should know about that. Alternatively, it may be that you go into a congregation and maybe that congregation And is way more progressive than what you were expecting. And again, now there the that situation is neither here nor there. But you may walk away and be like, Okay, that was challenging in a way that I didn't expect. And now I may be inclined to leave a review based on that interaction, which may or may not be helpful then for other people. So the reviews have this kind of two sided effect, I think, on folks in terms of what they can do. But I do think they can serve some purpose. And I do think churches probably could stand to get more reviews from folks on the internet, just to help other people discern whether that's a congregation they want to go to, yeah,
10:36 – Lee Catoe
I do think it could be helpful. And it's also helpful just to kind of like pay attention, you know, to the reviews, and there are the ability to respond to them. I mean, if they're, if there's someone who had a bad interaction in your church, that forces you to kind of look at the culture that your church is kind of cultivating. And it may be that you respond to that review, and say and apologize and say, like, we're actually taking this into account. And we are talking about this with our church leaders. But I think in a practical sense, this could be a way for churches to kind of just get a feel, I mean, some churches don't have a clue as to how they're perceived. And and it's kind of like a free consultant in a way that you do have to kind of filter through. But what if your church really did were more intentional about a review process and looked on Google and kind of invited that in an unintentional way, I think that could be very, very helpful. And that can be something practical people could to kind of look and take a step back and see how their church is doing. Now, you can do that on Google, you can do it on I mean, Yale, like there's, there's so many different ways to do that. But I also think you have to prepare yourself for honesty, you have to prepare yourself again, for like, you know, trolls, as we were saying, but I think in many ways, specifically in a tradition, that is always saying that it wants to be reformed and reforming, this might be a good way to kind of put that out there. And so I think churches should I mean, every time I buy something on Amazon, I read the reviews. And I look at the pictures that are not the pictures that Amazon puts out. I mean, you churches market themselves, in some ways to to be shiny, or than they really are. And so yeah, I think just do it and see what, see what how it changes your, your church culture, I think that'd be very interesting for churches to start thinking about or just have a suggestion box and see what happens.
12:42 – Simon Doong
Yeah, it makes me think of just stories that we hear from people about, oh, hey, have you checked out that church and then someone has a response about, oh, I had this experience. For example, I was talking to someone who had attended a fairly a fairly wealthy congregation, just for just for a Sunday and popped in and talked about like, oh, you know, people were very well dressed. And when I came in, they didn't even see me in like the main part of the sanctuary. They had like this corner, where they put the folks who clearly weren't members and may or may not come back. But in doing so, almost ensured, I would not come back. And so you know, that's helpful critique, for a congregation to know about, and every congregation has its own culture, its own unique way of doing things. There's something beautiful about that. But if we, as you said, if we are to embrace reformation, and change and thinking about issues around inclusion and being welcoming, that can be helpful. So reviews, maybe not so bad.
13:43 – Lee Catoe
Yeah, not so bad. And I'm going to do assignment segue. And speaking of reviews, we often in our lives, give our own reviews of people, specifically, people who have celebrity status. And recently, and when this podcast comes out, this would have happened probably like a month before. But Adele had an interview with Oprah Taylor Swift was on SNL. And these are people that, you know, kind of invite us into their lives in certain moments. I mean, they're pretty good about like secrecy and things like that. But there are other celebrities that are very open the Kardashians, all these people who have these reality shows, and it's easy to learn about the personal lives of famous people. And so we do have a question about that, as some people get very invested in like famous people's lives: “Do you think there is any value to learning or knowing about famous people's personal life? Why or why not?” You know, do you know a lot of famous people Simon,
14:48 – Simon Doong
Not personally. But um, you know, it's really interesting that you asked that though, because everyone has like their thing that they're interested in. I think some people can get Very interested in sports figures and athletes as well, in their personal life. I think some people actually know a lot more about Lionel Messi or name are or Christian Donal Rinaldo than they might know about, say an actor or an actress, or even maybe some of the people in their own life simply because their their news is always out there, if that makes sense. And then you also get people who tend celebrities who to keep these more personal lives until they do an interview or until they do something, and everyone's allowed to sort of treat their their lifestyle differently. Also, some people just don't have the the, I guess the the good fortune to being able to sort of stay away from paparazzi, which I think is a that's a, that's a different topic on the culture about trying to always know everything about everyone's business, which I'm not entirely supportive of that. But I do think there is some value, there can be some value in learning about the experience of folks who are often in the public eye. In some ways, we also put on a pedestal sometimes I think unfairly so because those these folks are people too. And they have real struggles that everyone has. Now sometimes their struggles may be related to being in the public eye. How many child TV or actor movie actor stars do we know about who end up with a lot of issues either early on in their lives or later on because of the amount of attention that they got? Mm hmm. But I do think that there's some issues with that. But again, like this, Oprah's interview with Adele was very personal. Adele talks about issues with her father growing up, she talks about her divorce and the impact that she believes that that has, may have on her her child and and their development and their idea of whether the question about whether they'll have a nuclear family or not. The idea that, hey, I got we got divorced. And this was a question. This was this was the she has this tension? Because in some ways the divorce was to ensure her own happiness. But did she sacrifice things for her child in the process? That's a real question. Yeah, that is a real struggle. And I think it's just nice to know that people that we even see in the limelight, who are super talented, and in some ways, we think they're just like an on another level, they're struggling with the same thing. And I think there's something humanizing about that. What do you think, Lee?
17:30 – Lee Catoe
Well, everybody knows I'm going to jail fan. And that's one of the reasons is because, you know, she tries to live as normal a life as she can. But when she isn't the public, God is all about kind of truth telling in a way that, that helps people. One of the things she said in that interview was that it is not like how you view your body is not my responsibility, just about the weight loss. And that's very profound, because that is true. That is not just like, that is not my job. People have placed that on her. But that is not, that is not what she is out here to do is to like to have that impact on somebody's life, that is not your job to be able to accept your body, and and yourself. And so those kinds of things. And then when we're talking about Taylor Swift, which a lot of people have in the public eye, when it comes to relationships, that's like the thing they focus on with her, and some with Adele too, and, and that's really sad. But there are also ways in which that has helped a career and like when it comes to songwriting and things like that, like that's just kind of how people process but I do think in some ways people do get so fixated on people in the public, to a point to where it is, it is very negative, or kind of in the age of celebrity, and especially with Instagram, when you can become a celebrity through social media and through images. And you know, an image doesn't tell the full story. And so I think that's very interesting. But I also think within like the faith perspective, not many people realize or kind of look through the lens of Jesus, like Jesus was also kind of seen as a celebrity and a famous person. And the story of Jesus is interesting when when people started following Jesus, it was mainly because like, of the mat, like, I've heard some professors say like the magic of Jesus, like healing people, and casting out demons that kind of like, you know, like, it's very, like entertaining and it's all this kind of thing that people thought that's what Jesus was, was this person that performed the signs and these miracles and but the story of Jesus is that that is what people followed him for. But the main thing that the when it came down to it in the real essence of Christ was the love and how hard that is, and what comes with it. This radicalness of love that can kill you that can people execute you for. And when that happened, that's when people were like, up. I'm out. Like, that's not what this is. And I've seen many people in history that that that has happened to and a lot of those are celebrities, where they just are so fascinated about their talent, and so fascinated by everything else. But when it comes down to humanity of it, that's just not for them. And so I think it's, I think it's very interesting to connect it to fate, specifically Christianity, when I mean, crowds follow Jesus everywhere he was wanted to be seen in like Zacchaeus climbed up on the top of the tree just to see Jesus. And because all these people were around him, and that was celebrity status. Not everybody was like that. And maybe Emperor's and seat and and kings were like that, too. And that was an analogous there. But I do think it's interesting to think about it in that way is that what makes us drawn to people? Is it this, like this magic. And in some ways, it is like, I mean, that's what you're trying to do, we're attracted to the music of Adele, but many people who are attracted to that music are more more know her a little, because of how she's lived her life and how she's kind of been true telling the music means more. So it's like the humanity within it. So I do think it is interesting to think about that in the way and connect it to phase because Jesus was, in some people's eyes seen as a celebrity that could perform these unspeakable things. And some people still think that, that that is their view of Jesus, this on high person who is without was is not within reach. But in reality, that's what he was. He was down in the with the people. And that is what yeah, that is who Jesus was, was this person who was all within humanity and with the ugliness of it, and within the hardships of it. So I find that really interesting.
22:22 – Simon Doong
Yeah, I like what you said about how celebrities and I guess this is particularly true for artists, but it can, it can be for other celebrities, as well, how sometimes knowing a bit more about their personal life, gives you a better perspective on how they are relating their real life experiences to what they do in their actual work. I think there's something to be said for that, in terms of providing perspective and a deeper level of understanding. And it may, something may resonate with you a lot more because you know, a little bit, a little bit more about it. And, you know, and there is also the folks who simply are always in the public eye. And that's sort of what they do. I know folks who are obsessed with the Royal Family, and I realized that is a cultural tradition that I don't understand as someone living in the United States who do not grow up in the UK with that, just sort of that embedded monarchy, culture, reverence for the queen, and the royal family. And that's totally fine. I've had people try to explain it to me, and sometimes I get it, and sometimes I don't. But I think that's another thing is that some cultures do also emphasize a certain amount on people to on people who are celebrities. And it becomes like, oh, that's, that's, that is their function is to be in the public eye. And that's okay. But I do think that's interesting there. And when we think about also issues of faith, I think it becomes interesting when you sometimes you learn that oh, hey, so and so identifies as a person of faith. Do we see that in the things that they do either onstage or offstage on the field off the field or not? And wire? Why is that better? Isn't that I think sometimes we can learn about that about the ways people try to practice their faith or live it out in the things that they do. So there's some value to knowing a bit more about the folks that you like watching or listening to, or paying attention to.
24:33 – Simon Doong
So joining us today, we have a very special guest on the podcast. We are so excited to be welcoming Stephanie Vasquez who is with global language resources, particularly in Spanish, with the Presbyterian Church USA. Stephanie, thanks so much for being with us.
24:50 – Stephanie Vasquez
Thank you for the invitation.
24:52 – Simon Doong
And so speaking of language resources, we have a question for you today that we hope that you can help us respond to and think about. The question reads, “language interpretation and accessibility is becoming increasingly necessary in the church. But it isn't always easy or cheap. How do we encourage congregations and the church as a whole, to embrace this? Also, there is a difference between simply translating something, and adapting it for an audience. What goes into that process?”
25:25 – Stephanie Vasquez
Um, I feel that both questions are very interesting and go right ahead into my field of work. I have actually worked in this field since 2013. I always liked to serve my constituency through this ministry area. And it has been extremely important for me. And I've always tried to train to the best of my ability and my knowledge with people that were in the ground and actually doing work for the common good. And for communities that do not have access to all the proper information. And when you don't have the information that you need, you're not invited to the table, right? So there is no equity in there. And I'm going to address the first question that I feel that is on its own to begin with, if we go back and look in in history, I think the congregation's have to remember the reason why we came to have a Bible in English. If we take a look at history, we know that St. Jerome decided to translate the Bible into the data. And the reason that was he realized that people didn't know the Bible, then we move a couple 100 years later. And then we have Luther doing the same thing. And I think that both the sentiment that they had in common was the fact that people needed to know about God, people needed to have access to their spirituality, through the Bible, and what were the teachings that the common people could learn, and the message that they were brought to believe in, one of the things that at least is very interesting from these two people are the fact that they fought for the right of access of just the commoners and people that live day by day. So I think congregations need to keep in mind about this particular aspect of history, in our own beliefs. And just dive into that, and then take a look at the reasons why this actually happened. And as a matter of fact, that was part of the Reformation. And that's actually that we always believe, and we always keep in mind, and we're proud to call ourselves a Reformed Church. And then, of course, we also have the legal aspect. I don't know if many people are aware, but persons with limited English proficiency are protected from national origin based discrimination, under Title six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And this is hold true in public spaces, schools, hospitals, of course, hospitals have also their set of rules, and legal acts that pass through that. But if you take a look at how things have developed, even the history in the United States, I think people need to remember that the first thing that when the colonizers came into the Americas, the first thing that they took away from people was the culture. And then the second was their language. So the fact that you are not providing that space for people of colors, to be able to express themselves, and get to know why loves them, and why God protects them is just the fact that they don't have the information that they need in their language. I think this part is very important for congregations to allow people of color that are limited English proficient, to give them the space to express themselves, and to discover God in more than in other languages other than English.
29:11 – Simon Doong
I love that you you started out with the Bible, and that you also mentioned the Civil Rights Act. And we'll be sure to just put a link to that for folks. So so people can can reference that because I think it's easy to think of translations as Oh, that's so it's nice that we do that. It's some it's like an extra thing. Oh, look, it's in Spanish. Oh, look, it's in Korean. Oh, it's in Chinese are like, oh, there's some Spanish speakers. Maybe we should do that in Spanish too. You know, so they feel included. But what you're talking about is actually translations itself. And accessibility is a justice issue that we should be very, we should very much care about because it was through. It was frankly, someone recognizing an injustice that people didn't have access to the body In the way that in a way that they can understand, but also, that if we are to empower people who have had their voice taken away, we need to make things available in the language that they are proficient in. And that's I think that's a nuance that we often forget about particularly as a, as a frankly as an overall, obviously, white denomination English, white dominated denomination and English speaking denomination as well. So I really appreciate you mentioning that.
30:31 – Stephanie Vasquez
No problem. And I think it's also another way for people of color to celebrate their ancestors and the people that came before them. And I, to be honest, there are times that me personally, I feel proud to be able to speak my language and have the freedom to do so. Of course, there will be some opposition to that, because some groups believe that English should be king. However, there is no official language in the United States. And there's a reason for that. My siblings from Native American descent, they are trying really hard to preserve their own language, and they're starting to take a look on how they can start educating the young populations, and keep just those languages alive, because they don't only bring rich memories, and history, but it just helps them to become a community that ones that they used to be. And I feel that is very important. And I don't there's just certain nuances in our language that simply you cannot just translate them, you have to really get to know the language, and know the culture, in order for you to see what it is that you need to learn from that community.
31:54 – Simon Doong
That makes me think of a previous podcast episode that that folks can check out where we sat down with PCUSA mission co workers, Kurt Esslinger, and Hailong. Lee, talking about the Korean concepts of Han and Jong. And one of the very first things that Kurt said, when we had reached out to him about talking about those concepts was, well, this could take an hour, or this would take two paragraphs in English to be able to even try to explain, we're gonna try to do both in 20 minutes. But that's really hard. And in order to unpack those those terms, it was like we had to go back in time in history to understand the context in South Korea, historically, to understand when those terms sort of developed and how they became applicable and how they may or may not be changing, because language and culture isn't static. So I really appreciate you, you mentioning that and thinking about the difference between translating something and adapting it. What are some of the things that that you try to keep in mind? If you're translating something, let's just say from English, in, you know, what are some of the things that you like to keep in mind in that process?
33:13 – Stephanie Vasquez
So I'm going to mention three aspects about that. The first is, I can give you an example. For example, people around the world do not celebrate Thanksgiving, it only applies to the northern countries, the United States and Canada. So let's say that we receive a document about Thanksgiving, and they had the idea of translating it into Korean and Spanish. So, obviously, due to my cultural expertise, I know that it does not apply to our communities. Sometimes I am put in the spot where do I reject it, but then if I've rejected that will be seen as a rebel. In sometimes I feel that within our ministry areas we are not seen as consultant is just simply that people don't want to listen. And that is a process of learning and understanding, and just do some research about what it is that we have in common. I think for majority of the Christian world, we have Christmas in common, so then it would be a very easy process to adapt for that audience. Another second thing that I find problematic is that English is not horizontal. The same English that you speak in New York is not going to be the same as the English spoken here in Kentucky. And I feel that English speakers want to create a one size fits all for all the languages. And I just find it problematic because even if you go to Latin America, we are more than 20 countries and our cultures are not the same and we don't speak the same in Spanish dialect. So there will be times where The way how I speak, it's not the same as someone that from Puerto Rico would speak. Of course, we can understand each other, what I have to do is just take a step back and create a standard Spanish, so all Spanish speakers can understand the message that is trying to be sent. And another aspect that I feel sometimes just ministry areas, don't consult with people that come from the intercultural support. And for example, the Office of racial ethnic women in intercultural ministries have actually done the work. They're experts on cultural subjects. And yes, we cannot do without the culture, I think that you need someone from the actual culture to come and explain certain things from you. And even our office, if we can't, if anybody comes and ask why this, we are struggling so much to get this done, or we just don't understand why people doesn't come to our events, then we have to come and say, Well, maybe their approach was not the proper one that may work for an English audience, or for people that have lived in the United States for a while. And all of this has to do with a trust relationship, you have to be able to trust us to be able to provide consultation. But you also have to trust that we are trying our best to provide resources. But sometimes just translation is not enough. Sometimes you have to go deeper to do your research and find out what it is that the culture that you're trying to reach once or needs, in many cases, what they need you to do.
36:57 – Simon Doong
Wow, that is a really nuanced complex process that I don't think a lot of people are aware of. I remember in my own work with the Presbyterian peacemaking program, we wanted to get a document translated. And we started with the name of our office, which is the Presbyterian peacemaking program. And just the word peacemaking could be written a couple different ways, depending on slight variations of intent and relationship, and Spanish. And it was, you know, it was just very interesting. And I think that, when we start talking about the, like, you were saying, it's not just the translation, it is the context, it is the culture, it is also about, a there is a trust, that has to be between the person who wants something to be translated or interpreted, and the person doing the actual interpretation and translation. And if there, if that trust, isn't there, would you say that people who either read or hear those resources, they can tell when something was just put out, and that, that and that trust wasn't there?
38:16 – Stephanie Vasquez
Yeah .And sometimes that happens, because, like I said, you know, as English speakers will, will be the dominant culture that you mentioned, this is a white church. However, there's just certain things that there's some resources that unfortunately, cannot, and will not appear to be, you know, our original content. And, and I'm not saying that you don't have the professionals to do the job that you need to do. But sometimes we are put in a pickle and in the squad in, which is, you know, don't know what to do or what to say, and whenever we push back, usually, it's like, you just don't want to do it. And it's not, it's more complex than that.
39:00 – Simon Doong
Yeah. Well, as you as you've described, it's way more complex and way more nuanced. And, you know, this makes me think about other things that we see translated in the world today in general. So I'll say that I'm a big fan of, of Japanese anime, or, or if you watch Pixar films, you know, those things are dubbed into different languages. And it is so interesting to pay attention to the way that those things are translated. And people know, when something wasn't translated either accurately, or in a way that was very strange. I'm going to throw a very random reference out to folks I was in I believe I was in Korea as a young adult volunteer, and someone was talking about the way that Avengers end game or No, Avengers infinity war had been translated at the end because a character says we're in the end game now. And game is such an English it's such an English phrase, right? The idea of end game. And so the way that it had been translated in the subtitles was, We're doomed. Those are two completely different things. And it like made it on the internet, people were people were like, well, that's not right. But that's only because there was the benefit of people who understood English and Korean able to bridge that, that gap. Because there is so much nuance to it. And, and so I'm really thankful for all for all the work that you and your colleagues and global language resources do. And for anyone who is trying to do translation or interpretation, both for a physical resource, resource or on the spot because it on the spot is even harder. And that is that is a blessing that you all bring to the denomination and to the church.
40:52 – Stephanie Vasquez
Thank you so much. And I would like to say that global language resources, foster conversations about the places where people struggles meet and diverge, and each one speaking from their own history and experience in their own language. And our goal is always that everyone is able to communicate with each other, that they do not share a common language, which is want everybody to have a seat at the table, be able to receive information so they can use the discernment. As we all know that discernment is a gift from God, that if they do not have the correct information, they will not be able to make, you know, a good discernment. So, we are here for all of you. If you would like to reach out, please feel free to send us an email. And we'll gladly help your ministry area or any other advice that you need. We provide translation interpretation services, as well as training and consultation.
41:50 – Simon Doong
Great. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for being on the podcast. We're so grateful to have you. And again, thank you for all your work and blessings on your work, and your ministry.
42:03 – Stephanie Vasquez
Thank you until next time.
42:08 – Lee Catoe
Well thank you again to Stephanie Vasquez from global language resources for the Presbyterian Church, USA, we are so grateful that she was able to be with us and we did want to echo the resources that she mentioned and a couple of more so we wanted to mention to check out prohibition against national origin discrimination affecting limited English proficient persons, it's in the title for we also wanted to mention the protections for persons with limited English proficiency, which is linked all these will be linked in the show notes. We even put a link in there to do some research on St. Jerome. There's an article in there about interpreting and the church and again if you want to contact Stephanie Vasquez it is Stephanie dot Vasquez at peace usa.org So check out all the resources in the show notes.
43:13 – Simon Doong & Lee Catoe
This has been the matter of faith podcast brought to you by the Presbyterian peacemaking program in unbound. If you would like to submit a question for discussion, you can do so at Faith podcast@pcusa.org. We look forward to hearing from you see you next time. See you next time y'all.
43:40 – Lee Catoe
Hey, everyone, thanks for listening to Episode 42. As a matter of fate a press B podcast. Don't forget to subscribe or like or follow the podcast using your favorite podcast platform.
44:07 – Simon Doong
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44:15 – Lee Catoe
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