Return to story

Interpreter a vital link for Spanish-speaking residents

January 26, 2007 12:50 am

By CATHY DYSON

Judith Santiago's goal is to be heard and not seen.

That's why the woman who speaks English and Spanish sometimes lowers her head when she works as an interpreter. She wants people to make eye contact with each other, not her.

Santiago doesn't become part of conversations she hears in one language and repeats in another. She practically sits on her hands so she won't gesture when she talks.

That's not easy for the Spotsylvania County woman who grew up in Puerto Rico, where hands fly when lips move.

"We talk fast, we talk with our hands, and we have a lot of sayings no one else has," she said.

Santiago has tried to talk more clearly--and with fewer hand motions--since she started One World/One Word last summer. Her business is barely six months old, but Santiago knew the area long before its Hispanic population swelled to more than 22,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Santiago worked for the Fredericksburg Health Department, off and on, for almost 20 years.

In the late 1980s, she helped the occasional Hispanic client. By 2003, she was translating documents and interpreting "encounters" with Spanish speakers almost daily.

"There's been an informal support system for the Latino community for some time," said Pamela Thorpe, cultural services coordinator for MediCorp Health System. "Judith is one of those people who have helped without any sort of title or credit for the hard work they did."

Santiago, 48, knows what it's like to not understand what people are saying.

As all children do, she studied English in Puerto Rico but found the spoken word much different when she and her husband, Angel, moved to Texas in 1980.

Santiago had her first of three children then and left the house only when her husband went along to do the talking.

After 18 months of isolation, she'd had enough. She started learning words on "Sesame Street" and going to Kmart.

When her husband was transferred to Virginia in 1983, she got a job in a library and asked those around her to speak s-l-o-w-l-y.

The more English she heard and read, the better she spoke. She still used Spanish at home and taught her children to read and write it.

Santiago also encouraged them to go for their dreams. She followed her own advice when she turned her background--as native speaker and trained interpreter--into a business.

MediCorp was looking for local interpreters about the same time and signed up Santiago. The Fredericksburg Police Department also hired her to ride along with officers occasionally.

And local Hispanics sought her help filling out forms or starting businesses.

Santiago charges about $20 an hour.

A lot of people, from politicians to Hollywood types, have jumped on the Hispanic bandwagon recently trying to "make a buck," said Wanda Lopez, who's known Santiago for 20 years.

"That is not the case with Judith," said Lopez. "She has a tender heart, especially for people who require health services and do not know how to ask for them."

Santiago makes the most of the time she has with Hispanics. She gives a "little speech" encouraging them to learn English, as she did, if they plan to stay in America.

"I help them now because they need help," she said, "but I also want them to be able to help themselves."

To reach CATHY DYSON: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com