From Classroom to Community: MSU Students Gain Spanish Translation Experience
Morehead State University gives students studying Spanish the opportunity to improve their skills by translating local Morehead State Public Radio (MSPR) news stories for native Spanish-speaking members in the community.
The collaboration between MSPR and the MSU Spanish program in MSU’s Departments of English & Modern Languages began in 2022. Paul Hitchcock (Class of 1988), general manager of MSPR; Louise Mason (Class of 1984, 2003), former coordinator of service-learning at MSU; and Dr. Itzá Zavala-Garrett, professor of Spanish, came up with the idea and framework for the program to best serve both students and local Spanish speakers.
Hitchcock said, “Morehead State Public Radio is proud to be a partner with MSU's Service Learning and Level UP programs. We're honored to offer this extension of MSPR's continued service to the community and region."
Upper-level Spanish majors and minors get this unique experience through their advanced Level UP courses. Three seniors from the program, Logan Albrinck of Hebron, Jane DeLaney of Ashland, and Matthew Oost of Owensboro, shared how this opportunity has helped them grow and prepare for the future by gaining real-world experience. The students work with professors in the Spanish program on their translations. The professors will identify what needs to be corrected without simply giving the answer, challenging students to figure out the correct translation on their own.
“I’ve gone from mostly writing one-paragraph-long stories on simple subjects to suddenly translating several-page-long documents about complex subjects," said Noah Kevorkian, a junior Spanish major from Crestwood. "It was an abrupt change, but one that has dramatically improved my reading and writing skills in only four weeks while building up a new skill, professional translation, that I had never done before!”
Zavala-Garrett is proud of her students and how they take on challenges of the program, even when the work can be difficult. Translating a story is not always a simple task. Students must think about cultural differences and how to translate local slang and metaphors, so they sound natural to Spanish speakers, rather than relying on a word-for-word, literal translation. They must also consider grammar and sentence structure to make sure the meaning and tone of the original story are accurately communicated in Spanish.
"It seems the Latino community is growing each year in Morehead, and the new generation is becoming bilingual," she said. "Some sawmill workers are temporarily here by themselves or with their families. Many attend bilingual religious services; they prefer reading the news and listening to the radio in their mother tongue. Having bilingual resources for them is a positive way to welcome them and make them feel part of this amazing community."
The program shows students that there is a purpose to what they are learning and that they can use their knowledge to make a meaningful contribution beyond the classroom.
All the story translations can be found on MSPR’s website and are archived at https://www.wmky.org/noticias-en-espanol.
To learn more about MSU’s Spanish program, contact the Department of English & Modern Languages at english@moreheadstate.edu or 606-783-9448.
Holly Harris, a junior marketing major from Ashland, wrote this story as part of the Student Creative Agency in MSU's Office of Communications and Marketing.
