Translator/Interpreter (RASP Project)

Bradford Volunteer Centre is working in partnership with Bradford City of Sanctuary to support asylum seekers and refugees into volunteering. For many refugees and asylum seekers language can be a barrier to gaining skills and work experience and they may need additional support due to mental health or physical disability. 

We are looking to recruit a team of volunteers to support our new Refugee & Asylum Seeker Project (RASP). We are particularly interested in recruiting anyone who has language skills and can translate / interpret in any of the relevant community languages. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Attending events.
• Supporting presentations.
• Providing language support in one-to-one advice sessions.

We are looking to recruit a wide range of volunteers to be members of a new Interpretation Bank. The volunteer members will be called on to support our new Refugee & Asylum Seeker Project (RASP). We are interested in recruiting anyone who can speak a second language other than English and can speak fluently in this language. This will be specifically to help refugees and asylum seekers living in Bradford to access community volunteering opportunities which help them to settle into the city and country, meet people and learn some English.

This is novice level translation in an informal, friendly setting with low pressure, no training is required.

As a member of the Interpretation Bank you will be contacted and asked to help out from time-to-time. The activity will involve attending a presentation about how to get into volunteering, translating what the presenter is saying to a group and interpreting questions from the group to the presenter. There might also be a bit of reading and writing in both English and the second language to support the presentation.

You may occasionally also be asked if you want to assist the communication in one-to-one meetings between the volunteering coordinator and the potential volunteer. 

We are particularly keen to involve speakers of: Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic, all Eastern European languages, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese… Or any other language. If you speak an unusual language that is great too, the more diverse the Bank the more likely it is we can help people. Please be in touch if you can help this project! 

Location: various venues around Bradford, travel expenses all reimbursed.

Skills

• Experience in translating/interpreting is desirable but not mandatory.
• Communication.
• Listening.
• Non-discriminatory, non-judgmental and positive attitude.
• Team work.
• Time management.