SUMMER 2023 The Linguist 7
@CIOL_Linguists
FEATURES
T
he week I turned 7 years old, I joined Brownies
for the first time: a group of 20 or so girls in
brown dresses in a suburban church hall. I had no
idea that I was starting an adventure that would last over
35 years, and which continues today. That adventure has
taken me all over the world, and introduced me to my
chosen career. When I was 14, I attended a Jamboree –
a large international camp – in the Netherlands, and my
Guide unit was paired with a French group. There I
interpreted for the first time, helping each of the girls
order their lunch.
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
(WAGGGS) is the largest voluntary global organisation
for girls and young women. It is more than 100 years old
and has nearly 10 million members, with Member
Organisations in 152 countries. I belong to Girlguiding,
the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation.
The mission of WAGGGS is to enable girls and young
women to develop their fullest potential as responsible
citizens of the world. We do this by giving them the
opportunity to grow, learn to lead and become
empowered to make change in their community and in
the wider world. Global programmes focus on areas such
as self-esteem, internet safety, gender-based violence and
climate change, overseen by an international governance
structure and implemented at regional and national levels.
Shaking up the language offer
WAGGGS is divided into five regions (Africa, the Arab
Region, Asia Pacific, the Western Hemisphere and
Europe), three of which are bilingual and one trilingual.
In 2017, members voted to add Arabic as an official
language, joining English, French and Spanish. Much of
our work has traditionally been carried out in English, but
this addition revitalised the need to consider what
multilingualism looks like in an organisation of this size.
WAGGGS events typically require simultaneous
interpreting and liaison interpreting in small groups. In
the past, we hired external translators and interpreters
to meet our needs. However, it became apparent
that having language service providers who are also
members was crucial, as they understand the language
and culture of the association in a way that cannot be
learnt through research alone. Some of the many
A LIFELONG
COMMITMENT
Jo Tillotson aged 7,
making her promise
as a Brownie at the
start of her Girl
Guiding journey
(above); and (main
image) Girl Scouts
in Thailand
Jo Tillotson considers the language needs of the Girl
Guides and how the organisation is delivering globally
Inside the Guides
©
PEXELS
©
JO
TILLOTSON
