The South Australian government has announced a recruitment drive for interpreters and translators including people skilled in written and spoken Greek.
Specifically, the state’s Interpreting and Translating Centre’s (ITC) is officially headhunting skilled bilingual translators and interpreters, who are fluent in the state’s five most popular languages: Greek, Italian, Spanish, Khmer, and Nepali.
The initiative is designed to provide residents of South Australia – who are not as fluent in English as most members of other ethnic communities – with the necessary support that they need to ensure that they are making the most out of their personal and professional decisions, as well as ensuring that their wellbeing is not being compromised by the language barriers that they face.
As the state authorities put it, the purpose of the recruitment drive is to help all residents of South Australia make “informed decisions” about all aspects of their lives, irrespective of their language skills.
To that end, the state is looking for both established and aspiring language specialists – including translators, along with interpreters – and has ensured that the latter will have the chance to earn official qualifications in the sector.
Greek speakers who are interested are encouraged to seek further information via ITC’s website at translate.sa.gov.au.
Nat Cook, South Australia’s Minister for Human services, argued that the recruitment drive is designed by the community for the community, as the state is specifically looking for “people in our community who care for others and who have the language skills to help people find their way through challenging and other life decisions including aged, child and health care, to legal, employment and other choices and decisions.”
Based on data available by the last state census, Greek remains the third most spoken language in South Australia other than English – with Italian being the second and Mandarin the first most spoken ones – despite a small drop compared to the 2016 census.
Specifically, more than 21,000 South Australian households use the Greek language on a daily basis at home, which only reflects how relevant this intervention is to the interests of the wider Greek-Australian community, and specifically to the professional outlook of established and aspiring Greek language specialists.
The positions open are an exceptional opportunity for Greek-Australians and Greek-speaking residents of South Australia to both contribute to their community, to earn state-recognised credentials, which may be their first step to establish themselves in the sector, and to immerse themselves with the Greek-Australian community specifically by offering their services to its members that need them most.