By Nathan Walch
Amber Porter returned from the Spain Madrid Mission with a newfound second language and nowhere to apply it.
?I was looking for a place to use my language skills,? said Porter, an English major from Porterville, Calif. ?I wanted to find a way to help me keep up my language abilities and give me opportunities to serve the community.?
She found answers to both of these problems in a new club on campus.
The new BYU Interpretation and Translation Training Club is sponsoring an opening social from 7 to 9 p.m. today in 2025 JKHB for all students and faculty, including those with second language skills. Daryl Hague, translation instructor in BYU?s Spanish and Portuguese Department, will speak at the opening social about how to make language ability a marketable skill.
More than 70 percent of BYU students have advanced ability in a second language, according to the BYU fact file.
?Wouldn?t it be great if we could harness all the time and energy these students have put into learning another language and take them to the next step?? said Christian Weibell, the club founder and a graduate student in instructional psychology and technology. ?A few may go on to be professional interpreters and translators and this will give them a great start, but for the rest there?s a wonderful opportunity to take their skill up a notch.?
Weibell founded the club in fall 2004. Their primary membership targets are bilingual or multi-lingual BYU students including ASL and other signed communication. Any interested BYU students and faculty are welcome to join as well.
?One of the goals of the club is to provide a link between this tremendous resource at BYU?students and faculty with language expertise?and the translation and interpretation needs of the Church,? Weibell said. ?For some, it may provide a source of supplementary income.?
Weibell has been working as an interpreter for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for about 10 years. He started by interpreting the prayers and conducting portions of General Conference.
?It was amazing, truly amazing,? Weibell said. ?It was so impressive to see more than 200 interpreters for a variety of languages gathered together in one place.?
The club also trains students how to translate professionally.
?We think that having such a group is a definite advantage,? Stringham said. ?We like to have a person know the basics of interpretation, and we like them to know the procedures and ? the equipment that they will use.?
The Church of Jesus Christ has recently added meetings to the interpretation agenda, including the annual worldwide leadership training meeting and regional stake conferences.
These, Weibell said, are sent live to the Conference Center, interpreted and broadcast back to the location where the conference is taking place?all in real time.
The church has close to 100 BYU students translating as either volunteers or part-time employees.
?We are awed by so much talent and by so much dedication,? said Joe Stringham, manager of training in the church translation department. ?I feel that same feeling every time I''m in training and in every event.?
The club?s other goals include improving BYU students? language skills and assisting those in the community with language barriers.
Currently, the club is trying to collect volunteers to help in translating for parent teacher conferences at local schools. Members will also help with legal and medical interpretation.
Weibell said he hopes every BYU student with the ability to speak, read and write a second language will reflect on the great opportunity they have and take advantage of the experiences the club provides.