We are planning for a historic moment. Grassroots activists and organizers from all over the country will gather in Atlanta for the first ever United States Social Forum (USSF) June 27 - July 1, 2007. They will come together to learn from each other, build bridges between their communities, and share their visions for a more just world. For more information on the Forum, visit the website at www.ussf2007.org.

The National Planning Committee of the US Social Forum is calling for volunteer translators and interpreters to help make this gathering a success. These important conversations can only happen through language negotiation - transmitting the meaning of the message without losing the flavor provided by the speaker. Translators and interpreters are key to this process. Linguistic and interpreting proficiency are important, as are a passion for social justice, languages, and helping people to connect across linguistic barriers.

We are looking for volunteer translators who can help us translate written documents (information on the website, outreach materials, etc.) from now until the Forum, primarily from English into Spanish.

We need a strong team of volunteer interpreters to provide simultaneous interpretation during the many events of the US Social Forum. The National Planning Committee has committed to providing interpretation in Spanish and American Sign Language but we know there will be a need for interpretation into many other languages as well. Some languages that we expect to need interpretation for include: Cantonese, Mandarin, Urdu, Bengali, Creole/French, Korean and Vietnamese.

If you are willing to volunteer your time as a translator or interpreter, please contact Hilary Klein at languageaccess@ussf2007.org.

We will also need bilingual volunteers to help with other tasks during the Forum such as registration and distributing/collecting the interpretation equipment. If you speak Spanish or are proficient in ASL but don’t have interpreting experience, please consider joining our team of volunteers to help with these other important tasks.

Language access is crucial to the success of the USSF - please help us make it happen! If you have questions or would like to support language access in any way, please contact Hilary Klein at languageaccess@ussf2007.org today.

Sincerely,
The Language Access Working Group