Growing up, Zahra Murad did a lot of translating for her parents, whose native languages are Farsi and Dari. It’s why Murad feels a particular empathy for the non-English speakers who come seeking help where she works at the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder’s office.
By far, the most common language other than English is Spanish, so Murad isn’t often called upon to use her Farsi or Dari at work, but she still does her best to help the non-English speakers fill out government forms like passport and marriage license applications and voter registrations.
“In general, just making anything accessible is really good. I think especially for a government agency,” Murad said.
As government agencies go, this office is among the busiest in the county, with a myriad of services and responsibilities, said Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzales.
“The Clerk and Recorder’s office is the office you go to if you have questions about voter registration or when you actually are voting,” said Gonzalez. “It's the office that you go to for the tags to your car, to record the deed to your home.”
That means each day, a virtual United Nations walks through Gonzalez’s doors and a good number aren’t proficient in English or don’t speak the language at all.
“We do have at least one bilingual English-Spanish employee at all of our offices,” Gonzalez said. “But sometimes we might have multiple customers and not enough employees that can do that translation or we have a customer who needs help in a language that is less common and we don't have staff that speak that language.”
A year ago, the county invested in a batch of handheld translation devices that look a lot like smartphones. The devices, called Pocketalk, can translate nearly 100 languages, including Azerbaijani, Haitian Creole, Swahili, Zulu and of course, Spanish.
Since there were no customers in need of translation during CPR’s recent visit, one of the clerks, Lane Blomquist, demonstrated how an English-speaking staff member and a Spanish-speaking customer might interact at the front desk.
The customer might come in and say in Spanish, “Necessito una licencia de matrimonio.” The device would respond with a recorded voice translating the request to “I need a marriage license,” and the conversation would go from there.
Workers say they use the devices a few times a day and they make communication easier, although they can be glitchy at times.
While there are iPhone apps that can facilitate translation, Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez said this technology works better for their purposes.
“We want to keep everybody's information private,” Gonzalez said. “We always want to make people feel comfortable that there's nothing odd that is going to happen on somebody's personal device.”
Jefferson and Mesa counties, along with the City and County of Denver, have been using the devices for over a year. The technology is also used by the state Department of Revenue and the Colorado Department of Education and by staff at Aurora Public schools, according to the company. Each Pocketalk costs about $350.
Language services are a hot-button issue in government agencies and organizations right now. In March, President Trump issued an executive order declaring English the official language of the United States. The order means federal agencies and organizations are no longer required to offer language assistance to non-English speakers. The administration said it wants to encourage national unity and assimilation.
Gonzalez counters that the devices are more efficient and make life easier for her customers and staff. She said part of her role as Clerk and Recorder is serving residents of Jefferson County and that means facilitating communication with all county residents, not just English speakers.
