A couple new items at the Champaign County Clerk website.
First, our various County Board and Legislative maps have been updated. Take a look. I think they look great.
Second, in a somewhat ironic twist given my other blog post, we've added Google Translate to the site. I'd be curious what others think of how well it works. While I've managed to repress my xenophobic tendencies and sent some of my staff to training in Spanish it's not particularly practical to be in a position to always be able to deal with everyone who comes to the counter in the various languages we see in Champaign County. This gives anyone an increased ability to access our services.
Mark,
It has been my experience that online translators are mostly garbage. While they can handle single words and some short idiomatic phrases, there are no good at sentences and paragraphs. Most aren't programmed with the full range of verb tenses and they are worthless with words that have more than one common meaning. They also can't handle dialectic variations. Why not just hire someone bilingual, or have someone come in for an afternoon a couple times a month to translate? Email me and we can talk about rates.
well prairie, it's not always so simple. we often have people come in to get a marriage license who speak a different language. it's not as though they make appointments and we know when to expect them. I'm sure there are limits to the google program. Hopefully it has some utility for the people who need it.
Some interesting stats that are rough approximations. In the last ten years we've had 49 Brides born in Korea, 170 in China, 58 in Taiwan, 40 in India, 56 in Germany, 9 in France. Of course, many of these people I'm sure could speak english, but many others have difficulties.
Mark,
I understand your predicament and I know some solutions. Really, shoot me an email and I can at least give you some ideas.