Chris: Translating Official Documents Is Part of Spanish Community Service Learning


This week I spent a lot of time doing translations. Pretty much everything that I translate is either a birth certificate or a marriage license. Although such work is often tedious, it is beneficial in many ways. First of all, it teaches me new vocabulary. The word “witness” is something that I never knew how to say in Spanish. Secondly, it teaches me a bit about how things are done in other countries like Mexico. They do not create their birth certificates until well after the child is born, for example. One of the forms that I translated was not created until eight months after the boy was born, named, etc. Lastly, translating such documents makes me feel useful because I know that it is an important task. People need to be able to present an accurate birth certificate or marriage license, and my work is instrumental in helping them to do so.

-Chris

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