15+ years of
collective experience
working closely with non-profits, community-based organizations, foundations, businesses, and government agencies providing language services and helping groups build equitable multilingual spaces with thoughtfulness, accuracy, and efficiency.
Who we are
Rooted Language Justice (RLJ) is an immigrant women-led Language Justice (LJ) enterprise that provides Spanish-English language interpretation services for meetings, events, conferences, and translation services of written materials in a multitude of settings.
We also provide consulting and trainings to help our clients integrate Language Justice best practices for working with interpreters, translators and building equitable multilingual spaces.
We are proud to have founded an enterprise with a socially conscious mindset, rooted in our lived experiences as young immigrant leaders in the communities we grew up in. These experiences inform our intentional practice as professionals.
What is Language Justice?
Through a Language Justice framework, we are guided by the vision of making sure all people can access information, participate in community settings, and lead in decision-making processes in the language they feel most authentically themselves.
“Language is one of our most sacred and personal forms of expression — it shapes how we think, dream, speak, love, and see the world, therefore creating a space where all languages are valued is a way of creating a space where all people are valued”.
— LangJust.com
Javi Infante Varas
CO-FOUNDER
Javi’s formal experience in language communications began as a key part of the communications team at the UCLA Labor Center’s Dream Team LA, serving as the Spanish media spokesperson and assisting in the translation & drafting of material for national efforts around immigrant youth issues.
Through this work, she was offered an internship in the Communications Department with the United Farm Workers helping translate and copy-edit Spanish press releases and assisting in the coordination of press conferences across the state.
Most recently, Javi opened her private practice as a bilingual traditional doula, where she restores sacred ancestral birth keeping for childbearing families. Javi was born and partly raised in Santiago, Chile & now lives in Los Angeles with her teenage son.
She currently serves as our Lead Translator, Interpreter & Service Coordinator.
Nayra Pacheco Guzman
CO-FOUNDER
Nayra has had extensive experience working in solidarity and service of communities affected by social injustice and climate change, including youth, families, and migrant farmworkers living throughout the Central Coast. Her work and passion for Language Justice and land and food sovereignty issues have taken her to her home state of Oaxaca, as well as New York, Puerto Rico, and Texas to bridge connections with language and land rights.
Nayra serves as the Lead Trainer & Consultant providing Language Justice workshops to clients and partners across California, as well as developing training and resources for interpreters. She also has several years under her belt interpreting for immigration courts for the Executive Office of Immigration Review and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In 2022, she led the drafting of a Language Access Plan for the City of Los Angeles. She lives in Los Angeles with her cat Panther where she enjoys basking in the different cultures, cuisines, and ideas that merge this beautiful city.
Our Vision
By providing language services within the framework of language justice, we facilitate collective understanding guided by equity principles.
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We prioritize relationship building, and we value lived experiences and knowledge of those involved who experience marginalization.
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When working with our community, we remain nimble and open to emergent needs and ideas that encourage collective learning, adaptation, and evolution.
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Our people-first approach inspires everyone to take on more leadership roles because we’re intentional in our curation of multilingual spaces, where people can communicate freely and authentically, and no language is dominant over the other.
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TRANSLATION
Rooted LJ provides high-quality translation of written materials for your organization’s events, programs, curriculums & more.
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INTERPRETATION
Rooted LJ provides high-quality in-person or remote interpretation for your events, multi-day conferences, and meetings.
LANGUAGE JUSTICE TRAININGS
Rooted LJ provides capacity-building services for groups seeking to incorporate and expand their multilingual capacity.
We assist in identifying internal language and cross-language communication needs, providing training with interpretation built-in for every single participant to experience what a truly multilingual space looks and feels like.
CONSULTING
Rooted LJ provides consulting services for more in-depth support in the process of creating equitable, multilingual spaces. We assist in the coordination of integrating language services into your programs, projects, or events.
This includes providing a team of trained, professional interpreters, coordinating multilingual teams of interpreters, and being a liaison between the LJ team and the event coordinators and speakers. Our consulting is designed to help clients integrate Language Justice practices so that they are not an afterthought but instead are at the forefront of your organizational planning.
Services
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Testimonials
Guadalupe Community Changers:
“Thank you for helping us have this workshop in English & Spanish. We are so happy that our neighbors, friends and residents of Guadalupe are able to come and learn about their rights at this workshop tonight. We know it’s not an easy feat. Thank you for your services, they are of great value to our community”.
- Maria Montaño
Participants from LJ Into Budget Training:
“THANK YOU to the whole team you’ve assembled for a fantastic workshop!! Seriously one of the most intentional, practical, and powerful ones I’ve been to in a while!”
Contact Us
805-729-5776
info@rootedlanguagejustice.com
