GTA university students act as translators, welcome committee to Syrian refugees

Syrian refugees arriving in Toronto over the coming monthswill face a range of challenges. One particularly difficult challenge isbeing understood by others.

Arabic is widely spoken in Syria, but obviously not as much in Toronto.

So,GTA University Lifeline Syria Challenge is offering a linguistic lifeline. It challenges students from four Toronto post-secondary schools Ryerson, U of T, OCAD University and Yorkto act as volunteer interpreters.

Currently, there 40 to 50 Arabic-speakersamong the400 volunteers at Ryerson, according toorganizers at theuniversity.

Ryersonis offering training seminars for the interpreters.

They begin communicatingwith the Syrian refugees when they arriveat Pearson Airport.

There,they meet families and help them to connect with their Canadian sponsors. They deliver ahandbook they've prepared that lists theessentials of Western life. Those includewhat to do in an emergency (that is, how to call 911 and what to say), what to say when you go to a doctor's office and accomplishingother basic tasks.

• City of Sanctuary: How ready is Toronto for Syria's refugees?

A family of 14 has already arrived and been helped by the interpreters.Radwan Al-Nachawatiis one of the studentsacting as a volunteer interpreter for some of them.

He was born in Saudi Arabia but isof Syrian descent. He's alsoa fluent Arabic speaker. He admits he is an amateur interpreter, onlyhelpingtranslate for friends or other personalencounters. Butthe Ryerson studentstill jumped at the opportunity to interpretfor new arrivals in Toronto.

"After many years of feeling helpless and unsure of what I could do," he said,"it was really exciting to me. It gave me an avenue and platform to help."

Al-Nachawati said the students are sometimes stumped by the Syrian new arrivals, who speak other dialects of Arabic,Aramaic,Kurdish or other languages. So he saidsometimes interpretershave to play charades acting out words to communicate.

But overall, he sees this as a concrete step in providing resettlement services for Syrian refugees.

"It's not only about bringing the families over," he said, "it's about helping them out when they'rehere."