Translation and Interpretation Technician (Vietnamese) (SY25-26)

Reports to: Director of Language Access Services

Location: Office of Language Access - Division of Family and Community Advancement

Founded in 1647 Boston Public Schools (BPS) is the oldest public school district in the country. With approximately 47000 students from over 100 different countries nearly one in every two students speaks a language other than English at home. BPS is one of the most diverse school districts in the nation.

Summary

Boston Public Schools (BPS) is committed to ensuring all families we serve receive timely accurate and accessible communications from the District and from their students schools. The District has made it a priority to implement an infrastructure that provides support and resources to schools to ensure all families receive information in their native language. Currently BPS translates all communications distributed by central office departments. While many schools have created internal procedures that allow for documents to be translated there is a need for consistency across the District. The role of the Translation and Interpretation Technician will be to translate general technical legal and medical documents between English and the designated native language. Technicians will provide oral interpretations during formal school and community meetings as well as conversations and interactions with BPS families and the public.

Overview of Responsibilities:

• Process translation and interpretation requests from all BPS central offices with a priority provided to the Communications Department and communications from the Executive Leadership Team.
• Process urgent requests such as those requiring 24-hour turnaround or that occur outside of the typical work hours.
• Assist with proofreading and formatting all Vietnamese translations including recorded messages and edit as necessary to ensure that the translations are culturally relevant and accurate.
• Maintain the BPS Translations Library and communicate with schools on the availability of the online inventory.
• Work with schools to create standardized forms to be translated into the Districts major languages that are commonly used in all schools to ensure that communication is relevant and culturally sensitive.
• Maintain an online platform to receive translation and interpretation requests from central office departments and schools.
• Assist in constructing reports to various external agencies such as the Department of Justice on translations interpretation and professional development provided.
• Support projects that provide additional and enhanced meaningful language access services for BPS parents.
• Provide support for school/District functions and events.
• Represent the T&I Unit in a customer-focused fashion by returning calls and emails promptly searching for answers and additional resources when necessary taking the initiative to solve problems or requesting assistance when necessary.
• Support the implementation (roll-out) of new procedural and/or operational changes as provided by the Director of Translation and Interpretation (T&I).
• Facilitate training for school and District staff as necessary.
• Perform other related duties and responsibilities as requested by the Director of T&I and the Chief of Family and Community Advancement.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Associates Degree
• Proficiency in English and Vietnamese with the ability to speak read and write in both languages
• 1-3 years of experience as a translator and interpreter
• Strong computer skills: Word Excel PowerPoint Acrobat HTML XML Google products and CAT-Tools (i.e. SDL Trados MemoQ)
• Familiarity with desktop publishing software (InDesign QuarkXPress Framemaker)
• Previous project management experience in translation services
• Ability to work independently and to relate effectively to colleagues
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and to triage urgent requests
• Strong work ethic with attention to detail
• Demonstrated knowledge working in urban school settings and diverse communities

Terms: Managerial B22

The Boston Public Schools in accordance with its nondiscrimination policies does not discriminate on the basis of race color age criminal record physical or mental disability pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions homelessness sex/gender gender identity religion national origin ancestry sexual orientation genetics natural or protective hairstyle military status immigration status English language proficiency or any other factor prohibited by law in its programs and activities. BPS does not tolerate any form of retaliation or bias-based intimidation threat or harassment that demeans individuals dignity or interferes with their ability to work or learn. If you require an accommodation pursuant to the ADA for the application process please contact the Accommodations Unit at

Required Experience:

IC