Translating valuable skills
Dragomri Bojat works for a Spokane business smaller than one he owned in his home country of Serbia, doing work even his boss admits is way below his skill level.
An immigrant with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from a European university, Bojat has been trying to step back up to a job that fully utilizes his skills, but he’s been in the United States for five years and has yet to do so.
His barrier?
He doesn’t speak English fluently, and the classes he’s taken haven’t helped him make any significant progress.
“When I learned about America, I heard everything is perfect here,” Bojat said. “But it’s not true.”
Bojat and his employer, Jerry Storhaug of Storhaug Engineering, are exactly who linguists in Spokane want to help.
Eric Anderson and his wife, Marta Reyes, operate Spokane International Translations and are working to start an English language program for immigrant workers. The difference between this program and other English language classes is that employers will fund it, something Anderson and Reyes say will benefit both workers and employers.
“There’s a lot of this hidden talent out there – hidden talent that this country can harvest and use,” Anderson said.
The program’s intent – and expectation of employer funding – mirrors that of a program the Community Colleges of Spokane’s Institute for Extended Learning will begin offering next year, though the structure of the classes will differ.
Anderson and Reyes’ program will be void of textbooks and a classroom-like atmosphere, instead focusing on learning through listening and associating English words, phrases and sentences with pictures of the items, emotions and actions they represent, Anderson said.
“We call it natural language training,” he said. “… It’s learning English the same way you learned English.”
The Institute for Extended Learning’s program takes on a more traditional classroom method of teaching English, using textbooks, vocabulary lists and group discussions.
Anderson and Reyes’ program requires a commitment of 200 hours at a rate of $7 per hour; the community college’s program takes two years to complete and costs $25 per quarter.
Molly Popchock, ESL coordinator at the Community Colleges of Spokane Adult Education Center, said the center’s new program, called Integrated Workforce Education, is a response to what she sees as a growing demand in the community for English language classes for immigrant workers.
About 4,000 people immigrated to Spokane County between April 2000 and July 2004, according to the U.S Census Bureau. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact number of immigrants living in the area, but Anderson said he’s heard estimates as high as 30,000.
Boosters of both programs say that employers who pay for their employees’ language classes would make a significant investment in not just the individual but in the entire business.
Most immigrants have a strong work ethic and will excel given the necessary skills and the chance to do so, Anderson said. In many companies, English fluency is one of those necessary skills.
“It’s not just taking money and sucking it dry,” Anderson said. “It’s actually producing productive people for the community.”
Bojat, who uses his son as a translator when needed, said he’s been frustrated over the years by his difficulty finding employment that utilizes the skills he developed in college and as a small-business owner in Serbia. With better English skills, he’s hopeful he’ll be able to take on a more challenging position as an electrical engineer at Storhaug.
Bojat currently works as a land surveyor.
Storhaug said he’ll enroll Bojat in Anderson and Reyes’ program as soon as it’s available.
“He has a ton of talent and has all the technical knowledge, but the communication is a challenge for him,” Storhaug said. “If he can master the English language, he will be a real asset.”