Minister for Multiculturalism Ray Williams has launched the ‘NSW Interpreter Scholarship Program’ to support people who speak in-demand languages with fully funded scholarships to study interpreting at NSW TAFE.
25 fully funded scholarships to study interpreting at NSW TAFE are being offered by NSW government.
“In NSW we speak more than 275 languages and dialects. This linguistic diversity is an immense social and economic asset,” Mr Williams said.
“Interpreters have a vital role to play in our justice system and are crucial in the provision of high-quality health, education and social services.”
People speaking the following 15 languages, Assyrian, Burmese, Chaldean, Greek, Italian, Kirundi, Khmer, Kurmanji, Maltese, Nepalese, Tamil, Tibetan, Tigringa, Thai, Tongan, Pashto, Rohingya, Samoan, Somali or Vietnamese are encouraged to apply to a new pathway program to become practicing interpreters.
However, the Urdu language is not included in the program.
The 2016 Australian census shows around 69,000 plus Australians speak the South Asian language while more than 4,000 migrants speaking Urdu are joining the country’s diaspora every year in recent times.
SBS Urdu asked the Ministry of Multiculturism NSW about the exclusion of the language.
According to their spokesperson, Multicultural NSW determined its list of new and emerging community languages based on comprehensive data collected from private and government language service providers servicing NSW.
“The NSW Interpreter Scholarship Program will increase the supply of qualified interpreters to meet the changing demands for language services in our State.
“The data identified languages providers have most difficulty accessing a qualified interpreter in.
“Urdu was not identified as one of the top 15 priority languages currently experiencing an under resourcing of interpreters in NSW.”
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“Subject to the success of the 12-month pilot program, Multicultural NSW will review the program’s effectiveness and its priority languages.” The spokesperson said.
More information about the NSW Interpreter Scholarship Program is available at:
