by Hanna Vock
The situation: You urgently need to discuss something with the parents of a kindergarten child or you simply want to get to know them better and exchange ideas, but we are faced with a language barrier. The parents do not (yet) speak so much German that a fluent, intensive and friendly conversation is possible – and our knowledge of foreign languages is not enough to compensate for this.
Now there is an amazingly simple, if not quite effortless method to get into a conversation anyway.
You have to download the (still?) free translation program deepL onto your Kita laptop and then select translator.
The program is very easy to use and currently offers the following languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian and Italian, with more to come.
Between these languages you can translate back and forth, incredibly fast.
So:
Educator and mother/father sit in front of the screen together.
In the field on the left, you type in a contribution to the conversation, for example:
(German is selected as the language at the top.)
„Today I would like to talk to you about how your son developed in kindergarten.“
In a matter of seconds (this also applies to longer texts) the text in Italian appears in the right window (if you have previously selected Italian as the language):
„Oggi vorrei parlarvi di come vostro figlio si è sviluppato nell’asilo nido.“
The Italian-speaking parents can now read the translation and type their answers, questions or information into the field on the left (select Italian above!).
That way it can go back and forth. Great.
It’s even better if you open the program twice on your laptop; then you don’t have to change the language all the time.
It is to be considered whether one saves the texts or better immediately deletes them in the presence of the parents.
Information leaflets, notices and invitations can also be translated in this way.
The program does not yet work absolutely error-free – for texts that are to be published on a larger scale, a translator or a native speaker still has to correct them.
But for everyday use or initial orientation, the program does an amazing job.
Date of publication in German: February 2019
Copyright © Hanna Vock, see imprint.