Writer: Barbara Dietrich Boose Making language accessible makes life accessible. And doing so is in the state’s best interests. In Iowa, the ability to understand English during a lease agreement, medical diagnosis or court ruling can determine whether someone secures housing, receives proper care or fully participates in civic life. As the workforce ages, the state’s population growth is slowing — increasing just 0.2% last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — with more than 10,000 residents leaving between 2022 and 2024. As a result, incoming immigrants and non-traditional job seekers filling those gaps will shape the state’s workforce, classrooms and long-term economic vitality. Across Iowa, interpreters, translators and cultural navigators work to break down those language barriers. We recently spoke with a few language-inclusion champions who help pave a two-way street of understanding for people during court cases, in medical interactions, as they resettle their lives in Iowa and in other situations. These services are critical in safeguarding health, justice and quality of life. “We serve as the voice for non-English speakers, their advocates, to comfort them and break down those language barriers,” said Oh Ku, an interpretation and communications assistant for the Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center (EMBARC). HELPING IN RESETTLEMENT Oh Ku Ku fled her native Burma with her parents for a refugee camp in the jungles of Thailand, eventually arriving in the United States in 2011. EMBARC was founded in 2012 to create pathways to empowerment for Iowa refugees from Burma, officially known as Myanmar, which then was experiencing — as it does today — civil conflict, political turmoil and humanitarian crises. EMBARC’s programs and services range from crisis support and help for parents navigating school systems to English language classes and a food pantry. Throughout it all, language access, including culturally appropriate interpretation services, is central to the organization’s work. Ku knows firsthand how new arrivals may be struggling. When she first landed here with her family, “it was very difficult for us to face that cultural adaptability,” she said. “You can’t speak or write the language, so it is very hard. I can’t imagine the struggles of my parents. In the refugee camp we were surrounded by forests and hills and jungle, and then in the U.S. there are so many signs and letters — it was a huge change. When my parents got any mail or had any verbal conversation with a foreigner, they freaked out. ‘Is this important?’ We didn’t want to have any trouble.” Seven of EMBARC’s 10 staffers are fluent in a Burmese dialect — no small feat given Myanmar’s linguistic diversity. Roughly the size of Texas, the country has more than 100 distinct languages and dialects spoken by various ethnic groups, including Chin, Shan, Karen, Kachin and Mon. The Chin language alone encompasses dozens of dialects. EMBARC’s interpreters largely serve providers such as Drake Head Start and Lutheran Services in Iowa. The team receives approximately 15 requests per week, but that can swell past 200 during events like parent-teacher conferences in the public schools. There’s also an access center, staffed on Wednesday afternoons, that every week helps about 40 people with one-time or short-term situations. “We do a lot of unemployment claims for clients because that system is really hard to navigate, and a ton of the Burmese community is unemployed right now due to several large factory closures over the last year,” said Moriah Morgan, EMBARC’s grants and development director. “Even if it’s a basic service, from reading mail all the way up to a medical service or a Head Start visit, a lot of those concepts don’t exist for individuals who were born and raised in refugee camps.” When Morgan represents EMBARC on Refugee Day on the Hill at the Iowa Capitol, she reminds legislators that refugees aren’t here by choice. “They may want to be back home but can’t be there for safety reasons,” she said. “They arrive and traffic is different and all the signs are in a font that doesn’t make any sense to you. Paperwork is scary. Everything is scary and different, which really wears on your mental health when you don’t understand the world around you. I try to challenge people to imagine: What if tomorrow you had to ship off to another country where nobody speaks English, and you had to figure out how to live there? Wouldn’t you hope somebody would help you out?” HELPING IN THE COURTS Chris Kunej As a child in the late 1980s, Chris Kunej and his family left behind the strict communist regime in what was then Yugoslavia to come to the United States. Now the first director of Language Access Services for the Iowa Judicial Branch, a role he’s held since 2021, Kunej is passionate about ensuring that non-English speakers involved in court proceedings have the language interpreters they need. According to his office’s most recent annual report, for 2025, court interpreters provided services for more than 15,000 judicial proceedings, a 19% increase over the previous year. Spanish was the top language for interpretation in all eight of Iowa’s judicial districts, but many other languages were in the mix, including Marshallese, Chuukese, Swahili and Mandarin. “If a non-English speaker is not provided with interpretation in court, it is as if they were not present for their own trial,” said Kunej, who is a certified court interpreter for Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. Interpreters for criminal, civil, juvenile and domestic cases in Iowa’s courts must be at least 21 years old, have the equivalent of two years or 48 credit hours of college courses, complete an application and a criminal background check, and sign an oath to abide by the Code of Professional Conduct for Judicial Branch Interpreters. To be certified, court interpreters also must complete an orientation program and achieve specified minimum scores on the National Center for State Courts’ standard multiple-choice written exam and a highly rigorous oral exam. Approximately 70 individuals are on the state’s roster of certified and non-certified interpreters. They are contract workers who are paid hourly rates. The person or entity responsible for paying the interpreter depends on the type of case, the financial status of the party needing the service, and the governmental body using the interpreter. When Kunej and the eight district coordinators need an interpreter for a language not represented on the roster, they first reach out to other states, then request leads via an email forum shared by language access directors nationwide. If needed, they reach out to medical translators or other interpreters. They may also turn to college professors, non-governmental organizations or even Kunej’s “magic Rolodex” of contacts he’s made at conferences. “I’m proud to say, knock on wood, I don’t remember a situation where we haven’t been able to provide interpretation,” he said. HELPING IN HEALTH CARE Yesenia Delgado Yesenia Delgado is the lead Spanish interpreter for the language services department of UnityPoint Health, which deploys interpreters to assist patients and families during scheduled appointments, emergency room encounters and maternal deliveries at hospitals and clinics across central Iowa. Like Kunej, Delgado praises her organization’s web of interpreters on staff and those contracted through external agencies, including the Des Moines-based LANGUAGEtech and CrossLink Interpreting Services. She estimates her team handles 200 to 300 requests per day. “We’re there for patients from the beginning of their health care to when it ends. If a patient has an ultrasound that finds an abnormality, the interpreter will go with the woman to the maternity department,” she said. “We try to be with them as long as we can and also have a backup.” Delgado used those services herself when her father was diagnosed with cancer and admitted to a local hospital. Even though she could interpret, doing so impaired her ability to be with her father and family “as a daughter and sister.” “To have my team there to help my family was a big thing,” she said. “To have clear communication between the patient and doctor puts patients at ease. It’s rewarding helping patients with that communication and knowing they can understand their diagnosis and treatment. You can see the relief on their faces.” Delgado interacts with other UnityPoint staff and departments to educate them on the importance of interpretation and the “cues” that vary across cultures. In her culture, for example, nodding “yes” means a person is listening but not necessarily understanding. She and her colleagues strive to align their interpretations with each patient’s understanding and physical and emotional states. “We’re there with patients in the good moments and the saddest moments,” she said. “I believe we have a great team of people who are here for the right reason — our compassion to help our patients.” HELPING IN THE MEDIA For thousands of Iowans who are proficient English speakers but can’t see well enough to read newspapers and magazines, the challenge can feel isolating. Since the 1970s, the Iowa Radio Reading Information Service for the Blind and Print Handicapped, or IRIS, has worked to provide critical access to printed media for free to Iowans statewide. Each day, more than 300 volunteers in seven locations across the state sit down in front of an IRIS microphone and read aloud from local and national newspapers and magazines. The audio readings also help people who are learning English, who can listen while following along in a newspaper or magazine. The service is broadcast via IRIS’ website, its podcast network and Iowa PBS. For those who lack those options, IRIS provides custom radio receivers at no cost. Maryfrances Evans “News comes fast and furious at us now. Organizations that hire reporters are still the best way to keep up with what’s happening in the community and around the world,” said Maryfrances Evans, IRIS executive director. “Just because you have macular degeneration or another condition that impairs your vision, that doesn’t mean you don’t care about the local school board election, upcoming high school art show or what’s happening nationally. IRIS is here to connect you to printed language so you can participate.” IRIS volunteers also provide live audio descriptions for performances and community events. Patrons use IRIS-provided headsets to listen to a “play by play” of the visual elements of a performance. These audio descriptions are scheduled for designated performances and also can be arranged by special request. Evans described an IRIS user with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who appreciates being able to close his eyes while continuing to follow the audio description of a performance. Together, all of IRIS’ services ensure that people who can’t see well can still follow the news and experience the arts. “We are a voice in the night,” she said. “We provide access to news and the arts that bring us together.” Contributing writer Barbara Dietrich Boose has written for various publications on topics ranging from mental health and homelessness to break dancing and sprint car racing. The Iowa judicial branch provided interpreters in 68 languages for more than 15,000 legal proceedings across the state in fiscal year 2025. Common Languages In Iowa’s Fifth District, which includes Polk, Dallas, Madison and Warren counties, court-appointed interpreters were most frequently hired to interpret the following five languages: Spanish, Swahili, Karen, Arabic, Burmese Uncommon Languages The courts also enlisted interpreters for rare languages, including: Bassa: A Liberian language with approximately 600,000 native speakers. Kapingamarangi: A Polynesian language with an estimated 3,000 native speakers in 1995. Nukoro: Another Polynesian language, spoken by about 1,200 people on the Nukuoro Atoll. Source: 2025 Annual Report of the Iowa Judicial Branch Language Access Services Office ...read more read less