AP Spanish students are no substitute for professional interpreters

When a group of Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish students in Martha’s Vineyard stepped in to act as impromptu interpreters for non-English-speaking migrants last week, mainstream media outlets presented it as a touching, good Samaritan-esque detail in part of a larger, more unsettling story. However, professional interpreters and others working in language services raised a couple of eyebrows at the detail.