美国国家公共电台 NPR For The First Time, U.S. Census To Collect Responses In Arabic Among 13 Languages

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

One year from now, the U.S. government will be asking some personal questions for the 2020 census¹. And for the first time, you'll be able to officially submit responses in Arabic. It's one of seven new language options for the national headcount. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports on what this change means for speakers of one of the country's fastest growing languages.

HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE²: Once a decade, the Census Bureau has to meet a constitutional mandate³ - count every person living in the U.S. These days, that includes over a million people who speak Arabic at home.

(SOUNDBITE OF AD)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Arabic).

WANG: That was from a TV ad in Arabic for the last census in 2010. Back then, forms for their headcount were available in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian and Spanish. Next year, the Census Bureau is more than doubling the languages for census forms to include Arabic, plus...

JENNIFER KIM: ...Tagalog, Polish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese⁴ and Japanese for our questionnaires.

WANG: Jennifer Kim oversees⁵ the Census Bureau's team responsible for translating census forms. They focused on languages spoken by at least 60,000 households with limited English skills.

KIM: This is a huge leap forward from what we did in 2010, expanding the number of languages for the Internet and for telephone.

WANG: In 2020, paper forms will be available in English and in Spanish. But the Census Bureau is preparing to collect responses in the additional languages online and through a 1-800 number.

You're trying to avoid the need of having door-knockers going to try to collect responses from non-English-speaking households.

KIM: Yes, as well as making it easy for our respondents to understand the questionnaire and respond on their own.

RAWAA NANCY ALBILAL: This is a huge step in the right direction.

WANG: Rawaa Nancy Albilal is the president and CEO of the Arab-American Family Support Center based in Brooklyn, N.Y. The organization offers English classes, as well as health services and legal advice to immigrant families, many of whom came from the Middle East. Albilal says allowing them to respond to the 2020 census in Arabic online and by phone will help make sure they're included in census numbers that guide how federal funding is distributed for schools and other public services. But Albilal says she's still worried about an undercount.

ALBILAL: We're trying to level the playing field for our community members to be counted. And having it online is going to create a barrier.

WANG: Albilal says she's concerned many of the Arabic speakers her organization works with don't have reliable Internet access. There are also worries about a question the Trump⁶ administration wants to include on the census. Is this person a citizen of the United States? Federal law prohibits the Census Bureau from sharing an individual's census responses with other government agencies, including immigration authorities and other law enforcement, until 72 years after the information is collected. But Albilal says many Arabic-speaking families are still afraid that responses to a citizenship⁷ question could be used against them.

ALBILAL: This is no surprise, of course. The families we serve are already dealing⁸ with deportation⁹ and family separations daily. And it's impacting their daily lives.

WANG: Rowya Alzandani restarted her life in York City a few years ago after moving from Yemen.

This will be your first census.

ROWYA ALZANDANI: Yes. Yeah.

WANG: First time.

Alzandani started attending English classes a few months ago at the Arab-American Family Support Center. She says having an Arabic option for the 2020 census makes her feel more comfortable about participating in the headcount.

ALZANDANI: (Through interpreter) I'd like any form from the government to be in Arabic. If it's in Arabic, we'll understand it correctly. And we'll answer it correctly.

WANG: Taking part in the census, she adds, could help the lives of her four children.

ALZANDANI: (Through interpreter) If we don't respond to the census, we won't have an accurate count of how many Arabs are living here.

WANG: Alzandani says answering the questions on the 2020 Census will be easy, unless it does end up including a citizenship question. That, she says, would make her think twice about answering. Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News, New York.

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

5 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。