April 27, 2007

Lost in Translation

By JOSH KELLER

Everette E. Jordan cannot find enough translators. Mr. Jordan, who runs a federal center that helps translate a backlog of documents for the CIA, FBI, and other government agencies, says that because the United States does such a poor job training translators and interpreters, recruiting enough help is impossible.

So the director of the National Virtual Translation Center has turned to students for help. The center, itself only four years old, started a program about a year ago to send