October 2018 … The latest edition of Healthy Neighbors, a community newspaper written and illustrated by elementary and middle school students involved in the Healthy NewsWorks program, has been translated into Spanish.
The newspaper’s theme is “La salud del corazón,” or heart health, and what activities and habits will help people keep their hearts healthy. Both the Spanish and English versions are now available on the Healthy NewsWorks website and will be distributed in area schools and the community.
Students from Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College completed the Spanish translation under the guidance of Bryn Mawr Professor Martín Gaspar, an expert on translation and Latin American literature.
“It is very rewarding to know that the translation we did may motivate people to be more healthy,” the college students said in an email. “We were very impressed by the work these students did. The pieces we were translating were very well written, so it was really cool to have the experience of translating what was obviously the product of a lot of hard work and research.”
The articles include healthy snack recipes, reviews of health-focused online games, and advice from a nutritionist and a cardiologist on how to take care of your heart throughout your life. A two-page insert called “Niños de buen corazón” (Hearty Kids) features larger and simpler text and coloring activities for the youngest readers. All were originally produced as part of the Healthy NewsWorks special topics program, which allows the elementary and middle school student reporters to explore certain subjects more deeply over the course of a year.
Translators (from left) Julian, Christina, Sophia, Cassidy, Isabel, and Yesenia, with Professor Martín Gaspar (right).
“One challenge we found was translating the catchy phrases and colloquialisms that the kids used,” the translators commented. “We had a lot of fun with this challenge, and we learned a lot.”
Professor Gaspar also led an earlier group of students in translating two previous Healthy Neighbors editions.
“We’re very grateful to Professor Gaspar and his students for their excellent translation,” said Marian Uhlman, executive director of Healthy NewsWorks. “And we’re excited to know that Healthy Neighbors will now reach a larger audience among Spanish-speaking families in our communities.”
Healthy Neighbors is made possible through generous support from Quest Diagnostics, Einstein Healthcare Network, the Kynett Foundation, the Healthcare Improvement Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Health Literacy Coalition, among numerous other supporters
If you would like free copies of the paper in English or Spanish for a doctor’s office, library, or other community venue, please contact Marian Uhlman at muhlman@HealthyNewsWorks.org or 610-449-8008.
