'Toy napigket nga daga
Pitpitenmi nga umuna
Danggayanmi't kankanta
Takkiagmi a napigsa
Kettang ken bannogmi
dikam igingina 

     Mannamili
     Ilokano Folk Song

Josie Clausen

ABSTRACT

The “first wave” of Filipinos to Hawaii started in 1906.  A large portion of this group were Ilokano immigrants who were in need of language assistance to assimilate into their new environment.  The need for assistance in faithfully interpreting from the Ilokano language to the English language and from the English language to the Ilokano language still exists today, especially in Hawaii. Among the foreign languages spoken by immigrants here in Hawaii, Ilokano has the highest  demand for interpreting/translating services.  There are only about 48 registered Ilokano interpreters for the Hawaii courts as noted in the Hawaii State Judiciary  record for  2005.

This paper discusses the different problems encountered by an interpreter in the performance of his/her responsibilities/duties towards his/her Ilokano non-English speaking client.  This paper focuses on three areas – interpreting in court proceedings, medical needs, and social service entitlement.  

The data will come from stenographer’s notes, depositions, case laws, and social workers files.   

 After the discussion of the problems we will make several suggestions to handle these problems.

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