Adam Richardson, a student in the MS in Translation & Interpreting (MSTI) was featured in a NY1 news story about the political upheaval in Afghanistan and his efforts to utilize his language skills in providing critical communications to the Afghan people in their native dialects.
A former language analyst with the US Navy, Richardson learned the languages of West and Central Asia, including Farsi and Dari, during his 15 years of military service in the US, Europe, and Afghanistan.
Within a matter of hours of the Taliban takeover, Richardson and a team of volunteers he assembled translated a variety of communications, including instructions to Afghans in the country on traveling to the Kabul International Airport for evacuation, navigating checkpoints, and moving without detection by the Taliban, among other critical information. Based upon this experience and the vital help it provided, he senses that rapidly deployable groups of translators can, and should, be formed and empowered to respond during humanitarian crises such as the one in Afghanistan.
Read about Adam Richardson’s deep commitment to the field of translation here.
View the NY1 interview here.