Challenges faced by members of the public and translation and interpreting service providers in Trinidad and Tobago
Many government ministries and agencies do not have a standard approach to accepting documents from approved (language) service providers to complete procedures offered at their institutions. We recall at least three instances of government divisions not having knowledge of public translation providers accredited by some of the Trinidad and Tobago Government ministries and agencies frequently conducting business in foreign languages. Here are the scenarios:
- Licensing Division, Ministry of Works and Transport – transfer of vehicle ownership involving an affidavit in a foreign language requiring a certified translation into English.
- Inland Revenue Division, District Revenue Office, Ministry of Finance – posting of banns and civil ceremonies – an official/public interpreter is required to support the completion of such services if one of the parties to the agreement does not speak English.
- National Insurance Board of Trinidad and Tobago (NIBTT) – initially hesitant to accept officially translated supporting documents for an application for retirement benefit for a citizen who has migrated and who presented marriage and other legal documents in a language other than English.
In the end the officers involved proceeded to accept the translations upon presentation of credentials and/or further supporting documents, such as 1) a letter from the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs accrediting the language service provider; or 2) required the client to swear before a commissioner of affidavit. All of these alternatives are good; however, the lack of clear policies and procedures and failure to communicate these in advance cause stress, additional cost and wasted time, frustrating members of the public who have limited time in the country and who are trying to complete transactions for which the policies and procedures were not clearly communicated or even known in advance.
The sticking point – in all these cases – was the delay, multiple visits to various T&T Government offices to complete the transaction and worse, changing information depending on the officer with whom one spoke. This not only increases frustration, takes more time, but costs more, especially when it results in additional expenditure (think multiple trips, additional time, obtaining additional supporting documents (e.g. additional affidavits or notarisation of documents not indicated in the original application).
One way to address this is to determine the criteria to be met by providers of official translation and interpreting services. Complete all background checks and ensure particular criteria are met. Then ensure each ministry has access to the list of approved providers recognised as public translators and interpreters that provide such services in Trinidad and Tobago. The policies and procedures implemented by ministries that use such services should be shared across the public service and an official body can be appointed to oversee this process. Ministries and agencies that are equipped to manage this process include the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Immigration Division of the Ministry of Homeland Security and the Judiciary to name a few. These ministries already collaborate with certain approved providers of translation and interpreting services, since they are the ones most often faced with conducting business in multiple languages. Therefore, they should already have a system in place and a selection criteria for determining the approved providers of such services.
It is important to note that a current challenge faced is that approval by one government ministry does not automatically mean approval at another ministry – there is a lack of standardisation of policies and procedures that apply across government ministries and agencies and even across departments within one ministry, so the decision to approve a member of the public’s application (officially translated or not) once again comes down to whatever policies lie in that ministry or agency (outdated or not), and not necessarily to current lists or approved providers lodged with certain ministries.
Information is not shared between and among ministries, or even within the very same ministry. It is also exceedingly difficult to verify information efficiently when telephone lines and email inboxes are not monitored and this is even more difficult when matters are time sensitive. Members of the public and even other ministry officials are often frustrated at the inability to get through to government offices by telephone and email.
In one case it took 3 months for a reply to be received and a simple matter addressed!!! Timeliness is crucial to the ease of doing business in Trinidad and Tobago and we need to do better.
Decisions are often left to the whims and fancies of the officer or public servant managing the matter. Fortunately, some are able to apply some common sense and procedures to move forward, but there is a general lack of accountability and willingness to improve customer service in the public sector. This is not across the board, however, as within one ministry there can be varying levels of efficiency across different departments based on the leadership of that unit or ministry.
There is a general lack of knowledge about the language industry and what to look for in approving service providers, so often it is not done or the topic is avoided altogether and members of the public who need to get business done are left frustrated.
There is also a myth that the only providers of this service are the two government providers, as RMC has been providing both translation of official documents and interpreting at official high level meetings of multiple government ministries for 11+ years.
Need more information? For your official, certified translation and interpreting needs, email us at pm@rmclanguages.com