The Community Language Bank in Somerville, an organization that employs Tufts students to provide interpreting and translating services, is gearing up for expansion with the launch of a newly redesigned Web site aimed at streamlining its work with clients and translators alike.
The Community Language Bank, run under the umbrella of the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, provides services to businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Somerville area to help them surmount language barriers.
The program has entered its second year, and its coordinators have looked for new ways to increase the number of organizations and businesses it reaches.
"We've had about 40-plus unique clients, and currently, with the re-launch of the Web site, our focus is on marketing and getting our name out and hopefully expanding our business quite a bit," senior Chase Webber, co-coordinator of the Community Language Bank, said.
Coordinators hope the amount of work submitted on its Web site will increase. Uploading documents and making online payments will be easier, they say, and the site will provide participants with more up-to-date information on the status of their projects.
"Translators will be able to keep track of what they're working on," said Nancy Wilson, director and associate dean of Tisch College and a representative on the Language Bank Board.
The changes have added a more personal feel to the service, according to Webber.
"It's a lot more hands-on," Webber said of the site, which may in the future feature blog posts and profiles of interpreters and translators.
"Since we started in '06, the online world has changed a lot," Webber said, referring to the success of recent online developments like wikis and blogging. "We wanted to keep up."
Currently collaborating with local organizations National Student Partnerships and Centro Presente, the Community Language Bank has also considered pursuing further growth.
Coordinators have looked to help start similar organizations nationally, as the program was originally developed as a potential model for other language banks.
"We hope that one day in the not-too-distant future we can expand the model and have language banks across the country," Webber said.
Webber said they would also like to team up with a local organization called the Liaison Interpreter Program of Somerville, a group of high school students trained as interpreters.
For now, the organization remains firmly connected to its Tufts roots.
"We've had a lot of business with Tufts students that work in the community," such as the Leonard Carmichael Society, Webber said.
A team of 10 Tufts students translates documents and interprets at local events in Spanish and Portuguese. The documents range from fliers for community fairs to multilingual field trip permission forms for Somerville Public Schools.
Tufts alumni Thomas Singer (LA '06) and Sebastian Chaskel (LA '07) founded the business in 2006, when they won both the Frigon Competition in Social Entrepreneurship and the Paul and Elizabeth Montle Prize for Entrepreneurial Achievement, receiving $50,000 in funding.
"The idea was to somehow connect bilingual Tufts students with local businesses and nonprofit organizations that need bilingual services and translation," Webber said. "There was a talent that was not being tapped among Tufts students."
"It is unique as an on-campus organization because it allows students to serve the community and make money," added Kelsey Bell, a junior and co-coordinator of the Community Language Bank. "Students are filling a community need."
The interpretation and translation services provided by the bank go hand in hand.
"If an organization was going to use the service to send out a flyer in multiple languages to invite [people] to a meeting, they are going to need interpretation services for the meeting as well," Wilson said.
Webber believes the services offered by the Community Language Bank provide invaluable possibilities for both Tufts students and community members.
"The language barrier can be an obstacle for the community," Webber said. "You can take something like that and look at it as an opportunity for an exchange."
