City to study translation services of council meetings

The San Bernardino City Council erupted into controversy last week due to a proposal to translate the meetings into Spanish and potentially other languages.   Now city staff is going to study the issue and come back with a recommendation.  But according to recent studies it might not be as necessary as in previous years.

The number of persons that speak only Spanish is dropping according to PEW Research.  Recent studies show a record high number of Latinos being proficient in English.  According to PEW 35 million Hispanics reported being proficient in English and 14 million reported only speaking English at home.  Among Latinos born in the United States roughly 90 percent reported being proficient in English.

The courts have been back and forth on the issues of free access but have generally not ruled in favor of compelling cities to offer live or real-time translation of the content of meetings citing it as too “onerous” a burden.   However, many cities have taken advantage of new technologies, that given a few days can offer subtitled meetings in one or several languages.

“If someone has business before the city council or an issue they want to be heard on, usually cities given enough notice can provide a translator and will,” said Dr. Adrian Moore, Vice-President of the Reason Foundation and an expert in municipal-government practices.  “But the live translation of a council meeting into one or several languages in real-time…I have never seen that.”

City staff will assess the cost and feasibility of adding English captions and Spanish voiceovers to the live feed of council meetings and bring a recommendation before the council in the coming weeks.