UNM-LA ESL students with their instructor Natalia Sherman, UNM-LA Program Manager Jane Clements and Historical Society Executive Director Liz Martineau. Courtesy/Historical Society
By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society
Por centenas de anos, os Puebloans ancestrais habitaram o planalto de alta altitude, agora conhecido como Pajarito. Antes dos Espanhóis chegarem ao Novo México, em 1500, opovo ancestral Pueblo havia se mudado para o fértil vale do Rio Grande, provavelmente impulsionado pela seca.
Imagine standing in a museum in a foreign country, looking at interesting artifacts and compelling photographs. You’d like to know about these items, but you can’t read the descriptions on the labels. You don’t speak the language! The information labels and captions hold the answers to your questions, but they are out of your reach.
Sadly, this probably happens in our own Los Alamos History Museum, and when it does, visitors miss an opportunity to learn the incredible stories we have to share.
If we had a brochure written in Portuguese, a visitor from Portugal or Brazil or other Portuguese speaking countries would know that the exhibit card they are viewing says: For hundreds of years, the ancestral Puebloans inhabited the high altitude plateau now known as Pajarito. Before the Spanish arrived in New Mexico in 1500, the ancestral Pueblo people had moved to the fertile Rio Grande valley, probably driven by drought.
Granted, many of our foreign visitors speak English to some extent, but how much more welcome they would feel if they were given an interpretation of our exhibits in their native language? That is the reason the Los Alamos Historical Society is striving to make available multilingual interpretation. Our job is to advance knowledge and awareness, and to do that, we have to reach our visitors. To that end, the Society is embarking on a new adventure.
The Historical Society is teaming up with the UNM-LA English as a Second Language (ESL) program with the support of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos. The aim of the collaboration is to make exhibits more accessible to those who speak languages other than English.
Students will work with their instructors to translate the script that appears in the Orientation Room of the Guest Cottage into their native languages, including Thai, Portuguese, German, Korean, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. A side benefit of this activity is that the students enjoy an interesting experience that helps them learn English.
At the same time, they are learning about the history of their new locale. Some of the students are wives of newly hired scientists at LANL who will be calling Los Alamos home. Others, such as au pairs, are here for a shorter time, but the students are all enthusiastic about the project.
“We really appreciate the contribution of students who are willing to volunteer their time and share their knowledge of languages,” said Liz Martineau, director of the Los Alamos Historical Society. “The History Museum has visitors from all over the world, and these translations will help all people feel welcome.”
UNM-LA Program Manager Jane Clements said, “Our ESL students are so fortunate to live in a community that supports them by providing volunteer and internship opportunities to help them integrate into the community. They appreciate this opportunity to learn more about Los Alamos and it’s history and to contribute to this community.”
There are further opportunities for others who may speak foreign languages. The exhibit scripts need to be edited, as all of our written material would be before going to press, and not all of the world’s languages are covered by our ESL group. To participate in this new venture, contact Liz Martineau at 505.662.6272. The Los Alamos History Museum serves 30,000 people each year, and this new undertaking will benefit many of those visitors.