Ñ-MHT

We also offer monthly virtual office hours & networking opportunities for Spanish heritage colleagues & students. The growing demand for qualified interpreters to serve a historically marginalized and underserved community in mental health settings prompted ADMH Office of Deaf Services trilingual staff interpreters Pascual and Mansilla to launched Ñ-MHT. For that, we need a short history lesson. Surprisingly, ñ was not present in a Spanish dictionary until the 1800s. When Latin evolved and Romance languages, such as Spanish, French and Italian, began to appear in the Middle Ages phonetic sound that the ñ makes were represented by “nn”, “ni”, and “ng”. After the invention of the printing press, the letter as we know it began making an appearance. The use of double letters had a higher cost, so instead, Spaniard printers would print one and add a small symbol to differentiate it from the n - and letter ñ was born. Fast forward to present day, the letter ñ has become a unique symbol for the Spanish language. It is the only letter in the Spanish alphabet originating from Spain and is seen as a representation of Spanish heritages and their identities. When added to group names, such as Ñ-MHT, it becomes a symbol of support among a community. Ñ-MHT will serve as a brave space for individuals working in the combined languages of ASL, English and Spanish to learn more about the intricacies of interpreting with the increased complex layers of mental health demands. The goal is to provide quarterly webinars that recognize and reinforce the skills required to facilitate communication in multilingual and multicultural settings, while building a community to support our colleagues. Additionally, Ñ-MHT hopes to introduce ITP students from Spanish heritages to mental health topics and concepts while encouraging them to network with professional interpreters that can offer unique perspectives during their educational and internship process.

Ñ-MHT acknowledges that the concept of trilingual interpreting can and does include a variety of languages. The current focus will be on the combined use of Spanish, ASL, and English during the interpreting process. Hopefully in the future Ñ-MHT could possibly extend the support to other trilingual interpreters.