A Cork company’s training division is now helping Ukrainian refugees to integrate better into Irish society.

Translit is a language services provider that has donated their time and efforts to helping refugees displaced due to the Russian invasion of their home country.

CEO Alex Chernenko is a Ukraine national from Odessa, and he believed that Translit could offer their community interpreting training programme to various local organisations throughout Ireland who work with Ukrainian refugees.

The initiative has already resulted in 37 newly-trained community interpreters in County Clare. Translit’s Training Development Manager, Svetlana O’Farrell, collaborated with the Clare Local Development Company to provide the training, and this was financed by SICAP – the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme.

We are pleased to have an opportunity to work with the local authorities and start providing our services to a bigger cohort of refugees fleeing this terrible war,” said Mr Chernenko.

It’s great to see so many volunteers devoting their time to provide language assistance to people in need. But volunteers need support themselves, training in particular. Effective communication between local public services and Ukrainian refugees is very important if we want to ensure that we look after our guests well.

Translit’s training allows the Ukrainians who have a good command of English to learn core principles and skills of community interpreting, so that they can provide better service to their community.

Our training also includes a module on how interpreters are to look after their own wellbeing when they are faced with interpreting in emotionally challenging settings. We think that this is extremely important, considering that the interpreters themselves have just gone through an awful trauma of fleeing their homes.

“The feedback from the Ukrainians who have attended Translit’s training has been overwhelmingly positive so far.”

Translit will also look to help these refugees communicate with their updated Translit RSI interpreting technology for meetings, conferences, events, seminars and workshops.

Translit launched this interpreting platform in 2021 and it has already clocked up over 1 million minutes, while the latest updates will see it becoming the most advanced of its kind in western Europe.

And with these new local partnerships and many more on the horizon, Mr Chernenko is determined to see it promote peace and help those who have been displaced due to war.

At Translit our mission was always to help people communicate and promote understanding. Aligning ourselves with local organisations in Ireland is another huge step in the right direction.

We feel we are finally getting to the right people here in Ireland and even further afield. We are currently in talks with the Irish branch of a major international migration organisation to see if our programme can be adopted for their volunteer interpreters too.

Translit RSI and our training division, Translit Pro, can help make a difference during this terrible time. We are also helping refugees with smaller jobs like document translation and interpreting in immigration settings.

“There is so much to be done and we are trying our best to help out. Hopefully more local authorities can come onboard so we can access even more refugees and upskill them to become community interpreters.”

To learn more about Translit, visit their All-Star showcase page here.