by Brent Moya
Expanding multicultural cities like Sheffield have seen an increase in demand for translators and interpreters skilled in a wider range of languages.
In response to this, BLSA (Burngreave Language Support Agency) was set up in September 2003 to train local people and provide translation and interpretation services to organisations in Burngreave and beyond.
“The Agency covers over 40 different languages from Albanian to Vietnamese and serves clients such as NOMAD, Sheffield Homes, Burngreave Advocacy Now, Arches Housing and BCAT,” Mahmoud Brasab of BLSA told us.
Project Manager Muhammad Malik explained that after successfully achieving its targets during August 2006, the project had become independent, adopting a new name, Community Language Services, from September 2006. “By changing our name we can reach out to other areas as well as Burngreave” he said.
The project is unique in South Yorkshire in offering training to bilingual people. Once the training is complete they are employed on a freelance basis. Mr Malik recognises the importance of giving people a way in, as well as employment, “Burngreave is very rich in bilingual people”, he said, “which gives us lots of scope for training and recruitment.” There are now over 350 interpreters and translators on their database, many of whom have completed BLSA/CLS’s training.
The project’s three-year funding programme from New Deal came to an end in September this year. However, they are now working closely with Regional Language Network Yorkshire and Humber, which they had links with previously. “We hope to continue our good work with them for the foreseeable future,” commented Abdullah Muharib, Development Worker.
BLSA/CLS is running the Diploma course in Public Service Interpreting from 9th November. There are still places, so if you are bilingual, get in touch.
For more information contact Muhammad Malik, Community Language Services, 12 Burngreave Road S3 9DD. Tel: 0114 272 2833