Dual Role Interpreters: Spanish Teachers in New Latino Communities

This article is based on a qualitative study documenting how Spanish teachers, as some of the few Spanish-speaking educators in new Latino diaspora communities, bear an especially heavy burden as dual role interpreters and unofficial school representatives. Drawing from the semistructured interview data of twenty-six north Georgia educators, I show how some Spanish teachers struggle to understand and interpret both the variety of Spanish spoken by Spanish-dominant parents and the technical language of the academic domain. Furthermore, I explore how meaning is not always conveyed, how teachers employ strategies to prevent "communication breakdowns," and how they distinguish their skills from those of professional interpreters. Finally, I consider the implications for world language teacher education curricula and education policy.