Interpreter Appreciation Day
Facilitating communication across languages, bridging understanding for communities and fostering connections without barriers.
Recognize and celebrate professional interpreters and language service providers while driving awareness of language learning and accessibility solutions.
- Thank-you campaigns targeting HR teams and healthcare facilities to recognize their interpreter staff
- Language learning app promotions tied to the difficulty and value of interpretation work
- Recruitment drives for volunteer interpreters in hospitals, social services, and non-profits
- Educational content on the hidden labor and impact of professional interpreters across industries
People who have jobs or volunteer as interpreters may work with people who speak different languages for the purposes of business, government, travel, news media, education, health care and more. Interpreters may also work to help those who have disabilities, particularly when it comes to using sign language to communicate with the deaf.
A wide range of contexts exist in which interpreters function, including schools, business meetings, health care facilities, immigration offices, travel agencies, social services offices and so many other places. Some of these interpreters may be employed full time by a business or company, while others might work as freelancers, picking up jobs as and when they are needed.
Often, the time and effort it takes to function in different languages goes underappreciated and that’s the reason this day is here! Interpreter Appreciation Day got its start online in 2013 when Joshua Jones started a page on Facebook that was dedicated to the event. Mr. Jones is a deaf-blind person from California who founded the day with hopes of celebrating and showing appreciation for the folks who make life better by acting as interpreters for those who need them.
Thank an Interpreter
Those who work with interpreters or translators on a regular basis might want to take Interpreter Appreciation Day as an opportunity to say thank you. Perhaps this would mean sending a card or small gift to a person who does regular interpretation for an individual or a team. Or it might mean buying their coffee or lunch on this day.
Learn Another Language
One of the best ways to really know and understand how hard it is that interpreters work might be to try learning another language! It’s a great way to open up new worlds of opportunity and bring worlds and people together. The modern world offers all sorts of different ways to become bilingual or even a polyglot. Choose language learning apps, video courses, online tutoring, local university classes, or some other venue. Interpreter Appreciation Day might act as an ideal motivator to get started learning a foreign language or American Sign Language (ASL).
Become an Interpreter
Those who are already bi-lingual, perhaps from learning in school or from growing up in a multicultural home, might consider working as an interpreter. Even those who don’t want to be employed as one can consider ways they can volunteer for hospitals, social care or other spaces where people in need might be assisted in honor of Interpreter Appreciation Day.