In the era of globalization and technology, bilingualism is a necessity to uphold citizen's rights and interests.
The government predicts that by 2050 there will be a demographic shift to a minority-majority, speaking a foreign language is increasingly becoming a necessity, especially for attorneys. Moreover, the United States continues to be a light to immigrants everywhere looking to create a better life, even if the country goes through periods of anti-immigration policies. Fortunately, access to education and technology has given us the tools to help citizens even if they do not speak English well. However, it does require some change in priorities to maximize the amount of people attorneys can help. In particular, more attorneys must learn another language or at least use existing technology to communicate to clients and recommend another attorney that can help.
The benefits of higher education in serving and protecting the rights of citizens are two-fold: (1) more people have the option to study another language (2) more minorities, who may already be bilingual, are afforded a chance to become an attorney. Paradoxically, the amount of people studying a foreign language has decreased even though education has become more accessible through scholarships, online classes, and financial aid. This trend must be reversed in order to meet the needs of more citizens. While it may not be necessary to major in a foreign language, a minor should provide enough of an understanding to communicate with clients. Even so, a foreign language major would provide credentials to translate legal documents and reviews. On the other hand, the increase in minorities being able to achieve higher education has helped meet the demand for attorneys that can speak another language. While there are many qualms with the college admission process, its stated desire to create a diverse student body and a free marketplace of ideas is a noble one. Moreover, the promise of higher education is the greatest tool for social mobility. Unfortunately, the legal profession remains one of the least diverse careers. Firms must begin to make a good-faith effort to change this statistical reality. Beyond fighting implicit racial bias, minority lawyers provide greater outreach in an area and can help protect more people's rights who are already uncomfortable with the law or who lack trust in the government. Communication, trust, and understanding are important in relationships between attorneys and clients. All of these values can be facilitated when the attorney comes from the same culture and speaks the same language as the client. It is much easier to place trust in someone who is like yourself since many people to some extent experience in-group bias.
Our era is marked with great technological growth, and although we are in an unprecedented era of interconnectedness, the internet is mainly in English and foreign-language sites are often inadequately translated. Recently, however, there has been growth in the number of foreign language sites, which is a good sign that information is becoming more accessible. Similarly, attorneys, law students, and politicians must begin communicating, publishing reviews, and executing documents in more than one language. However, we must not solely rely on machine learning software such as Google Translate. As any user can tell you, anything longer than a sentence may prove too much for the software. Although it is a good first step, it is not enough to add a Google translated page to a firm's website or use it to translate an email to a client. It is much more efficient and honest to have a human translate the message and integrate nuances and colloquialisms. Both of which provide greater outreach and build a better relationship with clients. However, Google Translate may be enough to direct citizens to another attorney or resource that can help them.
A firm needs to be bilingual to help more citizens; otherwise, they will fail to uphold their civic duty to help protect the rights of their fellow Americans and lose business to another firm that can.
Andrew Griffin is part of the class of 2023 at Duke University. He plans on double majoring in Economics and Philosophy with a minor in Spanish. He is currently a legal intern at the Law Offices of Antonietta L. Milelli.
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