The Languages We Speak (Or: How to Attack the Monolith)

Exit Spring Mountain

In Nevada's most recent legislative session, Assembly Bill 359 was passed with little fanfare: It requires businesses to provide translated documents for certain consumer financial services transactions, including credit card issuance and auto title loans. For some individuals in AAPI communities here in Las Vegas, this bill, which took effect on October 1st, is an important step.

Language barriers affect non-fluent English speakers in schools, hospitals, and business settings—according to U.S. Census data, those who identify as AAPI have the highest rates of Limited English Proficiency of any ethnic group. In this episode, we speak with Assemblywoman Venicia Considine, primary sponsor of AB359, about why translation is an important component of consumer protection law. We also talk with Vida Lin, President of the Asian Community Development Council, a non-profit here in Southern Nevada, about their advocacy for language access and work to help members of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities register to vote and sign up for health insurance.

But language is also a striking example of how diverse this umbrella term AAPI is—not only are hundreds of languages and dialects spoken across "AAPI," English proficiency rates are also diverse across these many groups. UNLV Professor Mark Padoongpatt, academic research consultant at Exit Spring Mountain, joins us for this conversation. How and when does "AAPI" make sense? What do our many languages teach us about where we come from, and where we might be headed? When do languages make us a target—and when are they our superpower?

Exit Spring Mountain is a podcast from Nevada Public Radio. Our team includes executive producer Sonja Cho Swanson, host Lorraine Blanco Moss, research assistant Nessa Concepcion, academic research consultant Mark Padoongpatt, and news director Joe Schoenmann. Sound editing, mixing and mastering is by Regina Revazova of Open Conversation.