Syrian refugees create surge in demand for Nova Scotia interpreters

Seven days a week, night and day, the calls for interpreters don't stopas the influx of Arabic-speaking Syrian refugees try to navigate their new English language-dominated communities in Nova Scotia.

"From the very early mornings to the late night, delivering the messages," said interpreterSuraKhorshid. "We are the bridge between the service providers and the refugees."

Khorshid works for the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia. Sheand other interpreters help refugees navigate everything from buying food to going to the doctor.

As of December 2016, about 1,300 Syrian refugees had settled in Nova Scotia.

Khorshid said the province could use another dozen or so Arabic-English interpreters to ease the workload.

"Their only language is Arabic, they've never been exposed to English language. Learning a language is not something easy and it's not something that comes by a year," said Khorshid.

Work for Arabic-English interpreters has increased fivefold, accordingtoIssam Khoury, aninterpreter in Halifax. Hisbusiest period was the first eight months of 2016.

That work often involved getting Syrian refugees settled into apartments.

"We would be with them for about two hours explaining everything about the building, about safety, about where to buy food, how to go to the clinic and so on," he said.

'You have to be focusing 100 per cent'

Both Khorshid and Khoury said they love their work and are happy to help. But Khorshid said keeping up with the mental demands of the job can be difficult when there'ssuch high need.

"You don't have a minute to think about something else, you know you have to be focusing 100 per cent," she said, "Sometimes we do back to back interpretations and of course we have to have a break between that, to relax your brain.

No one tracks the number of requests for interpretation services across the country. Those numbers aren't tracked locally in Nova Scotia either, according to the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Nova Scotia.

'All the happiness that I was looking for'

Requests are tracked in the Ottawa region, however, and that area has seen a 130 per cent increase in requests for interpreting services for Arabic speakers and a 25 per cent increase in translating services from 2015 to 2016.

Philippe Ramsey,executive director of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario, which gathered the numbers, said the increased demand for interpreters and translators is being felt across the country.

Wherever there was an influx of refugees, there has been an increase in demand for interpreters and translators, he said.

Despite all the hard work and long hours, Khorshid said her job brings her great joy.

"The rewarding thing that I'm doing just gives me all the happiness that I was looking for," she said.