There might be another side to it for the 11 year old translator. I know it's not the same because it wasn't continual for me and nobody's life depended on it, but the times when I got to be the smart, competent one in the household were real high points for me as a kid. There was the time I fixed the toilet when I was about nine. And the time we needed some kind of papers at the police station. My Granny spoke English okay, but she was suddenly in a real funk. I'd heard stories about her interesting life, being a refugee several times over and evading German police during WWII, but that was the first time I really felt what having that in your background could do to you. So I did the talking to the fat and friendly US cops. I was probably about ten.