Today I woke up early, trekked across the city, and attended training to volunteer at the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC). My friend Andrew volunteered there last semester and when he told me about it, I was very interested. The center outreaches to the growing Asian population in DC/MD/VA to help them with legal issues, particularly immigration, domestic abuse, and employment issues. They were founded by some DC law students 9 years ago "to address the individual legal needs of low-income and limited-English proficient Asian Americans."
As I was wandering around trying to find the room, I did grow a little nervous. I was pretty sure that I was going to be the only person in the room who wasn't bilingual. Even though I can understand pretty much all Vietnamese, I can't speak it. This is a result of my self consciousness of speaking when it's not compeltely right (which is silly, because I know I need to practice before I can get good at it) and my sincere belief that I have no aptitude for foreign languages.
Fortunately, a girl from my law school who already works at the center was looking for the room too and we found it together. She was really nice and put me at ease. And when the training started, I found out that one of the other girls there could understand when her parents spoke to her in Korean but responded in English because she thought her Korean was horrible. The coordinator said that many of the other volunteers are the exact same way. I wasn't alone.
Interestingly enough, I think my fear of not knowing another language (speaking Vietnamese), reinforced my belief of why I should volunteer at this center. Knowing how nervous I get about speaking Vietnamese, I can now see why many immigrants would be intimidated about getting legal help from places that only speak English.
So even if I just translate voice messages that people leave in Vietnamese, or take calls in Vietnamese but respond slowly in English (which the trainers said was ok, because the callers just find comfort knowing that someone can understand them) hopefully I can make people feel comfortable seeking legal help. And who knows, maybe I'll improve my Vietnamese.
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