ITS interpreters assisting SCCMA’s efforts in serving minority communities

On Thursday, April 1st, volunteer interpreters Mengmeng Shi and Lu Ma, from the Interpreting and Translation Studies (ITS) graduate program at Wake Forest University conducted remote simultaneous interpreting for the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs (SCCMA). The presentation on civic education was conducted by the agency’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Brenton Brown, and is titled, “South Carolina’s Public Offices & Voting.”

SCCMA has numerous programs designed to support South Carolina’s ethnic minority groups and community needs. Furthermore, it aims to examine issues affecting the socio-economic development of these communities and offer constructive solutions.

Dr. Chaowei Zhu, ITS co-director, hopes ITS’s interpreters can assist SCCMA’s efforts in reaching out to Chinese community members by interpreting the presentation from English into Chinese. Earlier this year, ITS graduate students also helped translate the presentation slides into Chinese.

Dr. Xijinyan Chen, an ITS interpreting faculty member, coordinated this event and served as the chief interpreter. The two interpreters, Mengmeng Shi and Lu Ma, are both MA candidates at ITS.