Professor Svetlana Tyutina,
Associate Professor of Spanish
The CSUN VITA Clinic’s Spanish Language Interpretation Program has won the Visionary Community Service Learning Award earlier in the spring. The award, which is intended to honor the faculty member who has made the most outstanding contribution to the betterment of students and the community through a service-learning class, has recognized Professor Svetlana Tyutina for her work.
“Whether you speak English or Spanish, the ability to do your taxes shouldn’t be dependent on your grasp of a language,” said Svetlana Tyutina, director of the Spanish graduate program at California State University, Northridge.
The tax process can be complicated and difficult, even for native English speakers, but for non-English speaking clients, the process is almost impossible.
Sponsored by City National Bank, VITA has helped professor Tyutina and her team of interpreters work to close the accessibility gap between free tax preparation and non-English speaking clients.
The interpreters that work under Tyutina are advanced undergraduate or graduate students with near-native fluency in both English and Spanish. Students who are not already a part of the Spanish Program, must go through a proficiency test to ensure their grasp on the language is advanced enough for clients to confidently file their tax returns. This requires that an interpreter not only knows the language, but has familiarity with Spanish business and tax-related terminology.
Tyutina and VITA supervisors determine the need for interpreters, using analytical data from previous tax years as well as weekly reports. This allows VITA Clinic sites to receive the adequate number of interpreters skilled with the specific languages that are needed for each site.
“We determine the need for interpreters on a site-to-site basis,” said Tyutina. “We often have certain sites that require more interpreters than others. And not all sites require Spanish-speaking interpreters. We have some sites that require interpreters to speak Armenian, Korean or even Tagalog.”
Due to COVID-19, the need for digital remote tax preparation help has been in constant demand. “At-risk” clients who need interpreters to file their taxes are able to hold a three-way HIPPA Zoom call with their tax preparer and interpreter.
Tyutina said there is a “two-fold benefit” when it comes to this program. Clients receive free tax preparation filing, but student interpreters obtain invaluable practical experience in Spanish for business.
“The need for interpreters has been on a steep rise in recent years,” said Tyutina. “Not only in tax preparation, but in courts, healthcare sectors, government offices and household positions. This experience allows students to see what a possible career as interpreters would look like, while giving them hands-on experience in the field.”
In her sixth year with VITA, Tyutina hopes she can expand the program as the demand for interpreters in clinic sites continues to grow.