As Maine’s immigrant and refugee communities continue to grow, so does the need for professional interpreters. These interpreters can help people navigate some of the most important moments of their lives — from medical appointments and court hearings to government services and community resources.
For Ifraax Saciid-Ciise, founder of IFKA Community Services, the importance of professional interpretation became clear through her own experience helping members of her community overcome language barriers.
While working at her mother’s store on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Maine’s second-largest city, Saciid-Ciise began receiving requests from community members who needed help understanding documents and communicating with institutions.
“People were asking me to help translate documents for them,” Saciid-Ciise told Amjambo Africa. “They would bring me their mail, and sometimes they asked me to come with them to the doctor’s office or to court.”
One experience especially influenced her decision to enter the interpretation field. A Somali community member told her they had repeatedly postponed a court appointment because they could not find an interpreter.
“They rescheduled it like five times,” she recalled. “Finally, they found an interpreter all the way from Boston and traveled here to interpret. They were telling me how they were frustrated going to different places, even the doctor’s office, and not having interpreters — especially professional interpreters.”
That experience pushed Saciid-Ciise to pursue formal training. She first became a certified court interpreter and later earned her medical interpretation certification through St. Mary’s Hospital. As more people learned about her work, she began helping others become interpreters, eventually leading to the creation of IFKA Community Services.
A growing need across Maine
Saciid-Ciise said the demand for professional interpreters has increased significantly as Maine’s immigrant population has become more diverse.
“When I started, there were not a lot of immigrants, and the language was mostly Somali and Maay Maay, which is a dialect of Somali,” she said. “But then around 2015, more French speakers started coming. Recently, we received a huge Portuguese community, and then [speakers of] Lingala, Rwanda, Swahili, Afghan, and Iraqi languages.”
The changing demographics of Maine have created a greater need for trained professionals who can provide accurate interpretation in critical settings.
Constant Kabuyenge, CEO of Maine Translation and Interpretation Services LLC (METIS) and a licensed medical and rostered court interpreter based in Portland, has witnessed that evolution over the past decade. Kabuyenge has worked in interpretation and translation for 25 years. Before coming to the United States, he operated an interpretation services company in Burundi.
“I started my interpretation company to be able to continue providing services to the community, but also to … offer job opportunities to other people,” Kabuyenge told Amjambo Africa.
He said the interpretation profession in Maine has changed significantly. “When I first arrived here 10 years ago, there were no trainings and there were only bilingual people who provided interpretation services,” he said. “Since then, there have been many trainings, and now we have more professional interpreters, trained interpreters, both in medical and court services.”
More than speaking two languages
Both interpreters emphasized that speaking two languages does not automatically make someone a qualified interpreter.
“A bilingual is somebody who can speak at least two languages,” Kabuyenge said. “An interpreter is somebody who is not only bilingual but has taken training to become an interpreter.”
He explained that professional interpretation requires knowledge of ethics, confidentiality, specialized vocabulary and cultural understanding. “Interpreting is not only changing words from one language to another,” he said. “You also have to interpret culture, the way of thinking, and the concepts behind the language.”
Saciid-Ciise said many people underestimate the skills required to become a professional interpreter.
“People think interpretation is easy because they think it is just talking,” she said. “But they don’t understand the skills behind it and how things go much smoother when you utilize an interpreter.”
Professional interpreters “learn how to be neutral and unbiased and to interpret exactly what’s being said instead of summarizing,” Saciid-Ciise said. She added that professional interpreters are also trained in confidentiality and ethics.
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“Sometimes people bring their neighbors, their friends, or their family members,” she said. “They may talk about what happened in meetings, or they may summarize things. Sometimes their language skills are also not fluent, and there can be another language barrier between the provider and the interpreter.”
The risks of poor interpretation
Both interpreters warned that inaccurate interpretation can have serious consequences, especially in medical and legal settings.
Kabuyenge said interpretation mistakes can affect someone’s health, legal status, or freedom. “When it comes to medical, if the interpreter is not able to say exactly what the patient is trying to convey to the doctor, the doctor might give a bad prognosis of the sickness and give bad medication to the patient,” he said.
“In court houses, one misinterpretation can decide [if] either the person goes to jail or is released. It is very important that the interpreter is accurate and complete.”
He reinforced that professional interpreters must receive specialized training. “It’s important that the person be trained not only to know the language but also be trained in that particular field,” Kabuyenge said. “For medical, knowing medical terminology. For legal, knowing legal terminology.”
Language access as a civil right
Saciid-Ciise emphasized that language access is not simply a convenience — it is a matter of equal treatment.
“It’s about fairness,” she said. “If an English-speaking person calls the police, this person can easily explain what is going on. But if a police officer goes into a home and there is a language barrier, the person cannot convey the message in a way the police understand.”
She compared language access to other accommodations already recognized in society. “It’s the same way you would accommodate somebody in a wheelchair or somebody who is deaf and needs sign language,” she said. “It’s just the fair way to do it.”
Saciid-Ciise also noted that language access protections are connected to federal civil rights law. “A lot of people don’t know that language interpreters are part of the Civil Rights Act,” she said. “It is their right to have an interpreter.”
She has advocated for stronger language access in Maine, including in public services and voting. “When people are voting, it’s very important that there is an interpreter at the voting polls so they know where to go, who to go to, and how to provide their information,” she said.
Kabuyenge also stressed that language access is connected to fairness and inclusion. “Everybody has the right to be treated in the language that they understand,” he said. “By providing language access, you are following the law.”
Language access also helps newcomers feel accepted, Kabuyenge added. “When you have that language access, you feel welcomed. You feel like they already thought about you and they are providing you with the services that you need.”
Building trust between communities and institutions
Both interpreters described their role as a bridge between immigrant communities and institutions.
“When people come here and they don’t speak the language, it must be threatening or frightening to be in an environment where you don’t understand people,” Kabuyenge said. “When you see somebody you can refer to, somebody you can understand, it builds confidence that you might be heard and understood by the provider.”
Saciid-Ciise said professional interpreters help create trust on both sides. “The person you are interpreting for trusts the interpreter, and the provider trusts the interpreter. When everything that’s being said is interpreted accurately, that trust is built.”
Interpreters often serve as cultural bridges, she explained. “Sometimes providers are not familiar with certain cultural nuances. As an interpreter, you explain certain cultural things to bridge that understanding or cultural gap.”
When interpretation made a difference
Saciid-Ciise recalled one emergency situation where interpretation helped during a medical crisis.
A child at her mother’s store suffered a seizure and collapsed. Community members called 911, but emergency responders initially did not understand what had happened. “The child was just lying down tired after having a seizure,” she said. “The police and ambulance came and kept asking, ‘What happened? Why is he lying down?’”
Saciid-Ciise was called to help communicate what had happened. “I explained that the child started shaking and fell down, and since then he was tired,” she said. “When I explained that to the EMT, they said, ‘This looks like a seizure. We will take him to the hospital to look further.’”
She said interpretation helped calm the situation for both emergency responders and the family. “It was very chaotic. The mother was crying, community members were concerned, and when they understood what happened, everybody calmed down.”
Kabuyenge shared a legal example where interpretation helped someone avoid jail time. He described a case involving a person who did not understand an agreement between their lawyer and prosecutors.
“When the interpreter intervened and the lawyer was able to explain what the deal was, the person was so excited to take the deal,” he said. “When the interpreter was not there, the person was not ready to take the deal and he was about to be sent to jail.”
For Kabuyenge, the interpretation was one of the most rewarding moments of his career. “[The person] came out saying thank you to the interpreters,” Kabuyenge said. “That’s the most gratifying feeling when you feel like you helped somebody come out of trouble just because they didn’t understand exactly what was being said.”
A message to Maine’s providers
As more immigrant families move beyond Maine’s largest cities into smaller communities, Saciid-Ciise believes organizations must become more aware of how to access professional interpretation services.
“In Portland and Lewiston-Auburn, many providers know how to use interpreting services,” she said. “But I feel like more people are moving to Brunswick, Bath, and rural communities, and providers are trying to figure out, ‘How do I get an interpreter?’”
Her message to organizations and families is simple: seek trained professionals. “Always look for professional services,” she said.
Kabuyenge offered similar advice. “Always challenge the person who is interpreting,” he said. “Ask them for their credentials. Ask what makes them qualified to do the job.”
Society should view interpreters the same way they view other professionals, Kabuyenge explained. “When you have a health condition, you go to the doctor,” he said. “When you have legal issues, you go to a lawyer. But when you have a language barrier, you cannot access any of those services.”
“Consider your interpreters professional, qualified and trained interpreters as professionals the way you see other professionals,” he added. “Give them the credit they deserve and let them help bridge the gap.”
As Maine continues to welcome new communities and community members, Saciid-Ciise said language access will remain essential to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to participate fully.
“Everybody deserves to be treated the same way,” she said. “If there is a language barrier, we have to accommodate that person. That is inclusion. That is fairness.”
A Spanish Translator’s Perspective
Further emphasizing the impact of language access in Maine, Francisca Smith—a certified Spanish translator, Spanish teacher, and President of CHISPA (Centro Hispano), adds her voice on why this work goes far beyond simply translating words:
“In a small community like ours, being an interpreter goes beyond translating words. Because I am actively involved in the community as the President of CHISPA and as a Spanish teacher, I have built relationships with many local organizations, schools, healthcare providers, and community resources. This allows me to connect people with services they may not know exist,” she said.
Francisca emphasized that professional interpreters do much more than translate words.
“They build bridges between cultures, help protect people’s rights, and ensure that every voice has the opportunity to be heard. As both a Spanish teacher and the President of CHISPA, I have seen how language access can transform lives. Every person deserves to be understood, regardless of the language they speak, and professional interpreters play an essential role in making that possible. Communication changes lives.”
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the early August 2026 print edition of Amjambo Africa.
