Yesterday NJ.com published an article((It is indeed more factual than most of the unlabeled opinion pieces, but it clearly conveys support for the bill.)) about a bill((Kudos are due for not only specifically identifying the bill but also providing a link.)) that will require state executive branch agencies to “translate vital documents and information . . . in[to] the 15 most common non-English languages spoken by individuals with limited-English proficiency in this State . . . .” Implementation of the law would be paid for, in part, by federal COVID funds.1 The article quotes one Republican senator who voted against the bill due to its cost and the requirement of 15 languages.((The article preceded the explanation with the suggestion that all but one Republican voted against the bill because they are all white.))
Cost is indeed a concern. Also, will agencies have to hold up issuing documents and information until all of the translations are completed?
My greater concern, however, is the potential for this mandate to expand from state agencies to local governments to private businesses. Cost would be a factor there too (and no doubt there will be no COVID funds left), but I am more concerned about whether the translations are deemed to be of equal weight with the English version? It is hard enough to draft a legal document in one language so that some reader cannot find or invent ambiguity, what about a translation into fifteen other languages?
Accessibility of government information to those who cannot speak English is not itself a bad idea, so long as it does not become a mandate that declares that the meaning of a document is the translation least favorable to its author.
Jay Bohn
March 27, 2023
- The connection with the pandemic must be too obvious to require explanation. [↩]