For the Love of Google Translate and Librarians

There I was, checking over my website, when suddenly a new feature popped up: the Wix Language Editor. It spoke of how you could easily make your website multilingual with a few simple steps: edit a couple pages, translate, install the app. And I thought that it would be an excellent idea! My topic deals with many different cultures and languages, and wouldn't it be cool if I could have a website that I could give where they could see my mission and contact me in their native language? It wouldn't be that hard.

IT WAS HARD. All the tabs had to be changed and unpinned, pages had to be duplicated and unlinked, my headers had to be removed and added separately, my keyboard had to be switched to Spanish, and I had to translate. And oh my, the translations I got were absolutely positively fantastically....horrendous. My prototype (note the word prototype) Spanish website is the equivalent to a kindergartner's first story; it probably makes no sense and has verbs and adjectives all over the place. My treasured friend Google Translate helped me translate, but as every single high schooler who has ever taken a foreign language knows, Google Translate isn't that trustworthy. This "Spanish" website will probably drive away anyone who ever visits it because they will be so horrified at the complete murder of their native language. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, I'll be able to beg a favor of a Spanish teacher to help me edit the page and polish it up a little bit. But until then, I'll leave it up, only to show that I've at least attempted making my site more accessible (and please, if who ever is reading this speaks Spanish, just avoid the site).

On the other hand, my adviser shared an absolutely wonderful article with me that I thought was an excellent show of human kindness and compassion. It was about how librarians and other administrators across the country are reaching out to help DACA students within their school districts, and depending on how far the librarian is willing to go, there are numerous methods that are being used. One teacher created a book display about many different cultures, and others hung "Dreamers Welcome" within the school. Although we may not often think of our librarians, they think a lot about us; they can create a space where some feel protected and safe. The American Association of School Librarians says that regardless of the the political climate, they will continue to support students in any way that the students need. And at the next board meeting, they are even planning on discussing the issue in hopes of finding a way they can better support the affected students or even teachers.

The article also brought up another interesting point: how far can schools go when helping these students and students who have a strong opinion about this issue? Should going to protests be an excused absence and should schools encourage their students to attend? An important realization that came upon my English class the other day was that we may think that everyone is against Trump in our area, but there are many students who like some of his policies, for better or for worse. When my teacher made a blanket statement about Trump, one of the students got incredibly offended and wanted her to take back her words; he said that he felt attacked in such a left-leaning classroom. If schools allow protests, they will have to consider it as almost an all-or-nothing deal; schools won't be able to say which protests are okay or not.

Link to article:

http://www.slj.com/2017/09/industry-news/dacas-fate-still-uncertain-librarians-reach-dreamers-offering-resources-safeguarding-student-information/#_

(Note: I had most of the draft done in mid-October (and the Spanish site up in mid-October), but I was just looking for more to write about, and I forgot that I hadn't published it. So I'm really, really sorry, but could this be counted as an October journal? I'll do extra in November if needed, and I promise that this will never happen again)