An open space with 500 housing tenants took place in 17 different languages in Toronto. That is we translated the principles and law into that many languages and posted them on the wall. One to one translators were offered in 5 of the languages where the client believe there were the most unilingual folks. People identified themselves before we opened the space and developed a relationship with a translator. One woman who only spoke Mandarin with her translator put up a topic and led a group in English. Most did have some English, but Toronto is a very diverse city as are the tenants. Most did the necessary translations for each other as Harrison suggests, but as a progressive government agency in a country with two official languages being visibly multi-lingual was important.
I have also opened space with translation in French, Taiwanese and Inuktutuk. In the last two, I did not understand most of the conversations or the reports but the translator did and they were great sessions. The critical part is helping people understand the Theme question, the Principles and Law in their own language culture. Larry Larry Peterson & Associates in Transformation Toronto, Ontario, Canada <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] 416.653.4829 <http://www.spiritedorg.com/> http://www.spiritedorg.com From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of rachel pfeffer Sent: August-25-09 11:47 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [OSLIST] multilingual groups Hi OS Folks: I'm new to the listserv and to OS. I'm wondering what your experiences are with groups that are multilingual? There are too many sessions to provide translation services.... Thank you, Rachel -- Rachel Pfeffer, Consulting New Solutions to Old Problems [email protected] "Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it." James Baldwin * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
