It’s About More Than Translations, It’s About Building A Community

As the country continues to find ways to come together in support of each other during the COVID-19 outbreak, IU students are helping a community translate World Health Organization (WHO) fact sheets, answer FAQs, and debunk misinformation.

The Chin Languages Research Project at IU (CLRP) has begun providing needed translations to stay safe and knowledgeable about changes happening within the state of Indiana. CLRP, headed by IU Linguistics professor Kelly Berkson, is a collaboration between IU linguistics and IU students who are members of Indiana’s Burmese refugee community.

To provide support and experience for the undergraduate students involved in this project, the Office of Engaged Learning provided financial support to pay for hourly wages for those contributing to the efforts.

About 25,000 Burmese refugees live in Indiana; 19,000 of those reside in the city of Indianapolis and are lacking resources in their native language to learn about the coronavirus.

Peng Hlei Thang, an IU undergraduate who is a member of both the CLRP and the Burmese community in Indianapolis, was the first to notice the need. The Chin community was receiving inaccurate information concerning what precautions to take against the virus.

“People from my church and elders in our community started to reach out to me about information they have heard from the media regarding COVID-19,” Thang said.

Suspecting that there was a need for reliable, accurate information in the community, Thang brainstormed with his fellow CLRP team members about finding a solution. They had been working on language materials related to the Census, but decided to pivot and began focusing on COVID-19 translation instead.

The WHO information online comes in limited languages. Many of the Burmese community comes from Chin State in the western part of Myanmar. Since it’s essential to have clear and accessible information on the disease to keep the community safe, Thang and the other members of the CLRP took the opportunity to translate information in Hakha Lai.

Hakha Lai, also known as Hakha Chin or Laiholh, is a language spoken between groups who do not share the same native language in Chin State and in Indianapolis.

False information about the virus was spreading through Facebook and a messaging service called Viber.

“As soon as we heard about the misinformation, we immediately got into action,” graduate linguistics student, James Wamsley said.

A team of seven students, with support from Professor Berkson, got together to take on this new project right before spring break in mid-March.

The work aligns with the overall mission of the CLRP. Berkson, her team of graduate linguistics students, and IU undergraduate members of the Chin community in Indianapolis, work on providing scholarly and practical resources to the community through various projects.

In translating the WHO documents, students had to think critically about what items to translate, verify if there were any changes with how to practice social distancing, and learn about requirements on when to wear masks. Berkson’s students also worked on researching copyright laws to understand any relevant restrictions around translating or disseminating this information.

Students quickly built a website and worked on graphics to share on social media platforms for the Burmese community.

Wamsley, who has been part of the Chin Language Research Team for several years, shared that this translation project has been meaningful to work on.

“It makes me really happy to be able to do good in the community,” Wamsley said.

The team divided the World Health Organization’s material into different components for translation.

Ph.D. candidate Samson Lotven’s role in this project primarily focused on creating graphic design pieces that would be used to share on social media platforms.

Lotven's plan was to create easy-to-read social media graphics that would later make their way into Facebook and other social media platforms the Chin community uses.

“It shows the value of the community we were building,” Lotven said. As the community itself feels comfortable in sharing their needs, the group can apply their knowledge and resources to make a change.

Lotven adds that this project is not just about collecting data, it’s about doing things that are meaningful for the community.

The group visited Indianapolis regularly before COVID-19, to continue to grow their relationship with the community. They attended various cultural events and celebration, visiting Chin Baptist churches and speaking to members of the community.

“Language is used for absolutely everything,” Lotven said.

Although this project is the first of its kind for this team of researchers and linguists, Chin research team members were able to understand the connection between linguists’ and scientists’ field research work.

“We were able to translate and distribute the COVID-19 stimulus payment information a day after it was available to the public, which I am very proud of because our team works diligently for that to happen,”Lotven said. 

Community members have greatly benefited from the translated information, Thang shares. In one pamphlet, the Chin community could read about eligibility criteria, amounts, and expected dates to receive the stimulus checks.  

Thang has been part of the Chin Languages Research Project since its inception in 2018, and feels that this specific translation project has allowed him to continue to contribute to his community.

“I feel privileged to be working with these amazing teams and be a part of this project,” Thang said.  “Being away from home most of the time- I feel like I'm not as involved in our community as I would like to be, but this project makes me feel that I am contributing to our community in a meaningful way.”

To read and learn more about these translations, students and community members can visit chinlanguages.org.