In need of Romani-English interpreters

With permission I am posting an email I received last night:

Hello Allie,

I saw your contact information on your website and thought that it might be a good idea to contact you. I am a recruiter for Lionbridge Federal and we are currently recruiting Romani-English interpreters in the United States. Lionbridge provides freelance interpretation for two federal contracts with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

There are a number of Romani speakers (55 cases) in the system waiting for their fair day in court. One respondent in the system has been waiting for his day in court since November 2006. Unfortunately, I am unable to help them until we are able to offer Romani interpreters.

In other cases, there are detainees who have been waiting for their trial since March and August of 2007. There exist numerous other instances and we are working extremely hard to provide detainees their right to a fair trial. We hope to be able to help EVERY person receive a fair trial when there day in court is upon them.

The are two preliminary requirements for becoming a Romani-English interpreter. The person must be a U.S. citizen or resident and lived in the US for 3 of the past 5 years. The interpreter must take a 30 minute over the phone language assessment and pass a basic background check.

We have waived the judicial interpreting experience for Romani speakers since its such a rare language. The hourly rates per case is $25 (depending on experience). Freelance interpreters work on a part-time need basis. If anyone is interested they should e-mail me at karina.martinez [at] lionbridge.com

Thanks in advance,
Karina Martinez
Recruiter
www.lionbridge.com