Navigating the city’s bureaucracy can be a daunting endeavor for the nearly three million immigrants who live in New York. Aside from a lack of knowledge about the way government works and the services it provides, one fundamental barrier has stood in their way: language.
There are an estimated 170 foreign languages spoken in New York City, and in nearly half of all households, English is not the primary language, according to the census in 2000. And given that the city receives more than 20 million calls from residents each year, officials said, communication can often be a challenge.
On Tuesday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered the city’s more than 100 agencies to provide language assistance in six foreign languages: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole. The order requires, for the first time, that the agencies follow the same standard when providing translation and interpretation to New Yorkers who do not speak English.
Immigrant advocates and city officials say it is the most comprehensive order of its kind in the country. The mayor refused to be specific about how much the services will cost, saying only that it was a “relatively small” amount given the size of the city’s budget. He added: “This executive order will make our city more accessible, while helping us become the most inclusive municipal government in the nation.”
“The fundamental basis of government is its interaction with its citizens,” the mayor said before signing the executive order at City Hall on Tuesday. “If people don’t know what we do, don’t know what they should do, what the law requires them to do, don’t know how to get services, all the money that we’re spending providing those services, providing those laws, is meaningless.”
The order requires that agencies translate essential public documents, pamphlets and forms in the six languages. But its reach is broader, as it allows for the use of a telephone-based service that can link immigrants with interpreters who speak Urdu, Hindi, Arabic and dozens of others less-common languages.
Chung-Hwa Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella organization that works with immigrants and refugees in the state, called the order “a landmark step toward inclusion.” Councilwoman Rosie Mendez of Manhattan, who has pushed for more translation services for public housing dwellers, said it was a “bold and necessary action” to increasing immigrants’ access to city government.
The types of services each agency will provide will depend on how much each of them interacts with the public. The agencies have until Jan. 1 to submit a plan detailing how much translation and interpretation service they will need to suit their needs.
Immigration advocates and some elected officials have tried for more than 10 years to get the city to provide language assistance to non-English speaking New Yorkers, with limited success. In 2001, a federal judge approved a settlement through which the city agreed to make available Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic copies of food stamp applications in welfare offices around New York, as well as translation of these documents into languages spoken by at least 100 clients who use any given office.
In recent years, the Education Department’s translation unit has been expanded to provide parents with information in eight languages. The city’s 311 customer-service center has allowed interactions in 170 languages since it was formed in 2003. And the Office of Emergency Management has offered audio translations of some public documents to those who cannot speak English and are visually impaired, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bloomberg said.
There is little doubt, of course, that London offers the same linguistic challenges as New York.
LangCommLive provides the simple solution to language barriers.
Contact us via the website, www.langcommlive.com or write to us using enquiries@langcommlive.com
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Some interesting statistics on French language
French is the official language of more than 75 million individuals spread throughout France, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Canada, Madagascar, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Belgium, Rwanda, Haiti, Switzerland, Burundi, Togo, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Comoros, Djibouti, Luxembourg, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mauritius, Vanuatu, Seychelles. It is also widely understood in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Lebanon.
Many of these countries and a significant portion of the 75 million individuals do not speak another language, making our exposure into French-language markets dependent on creating accessible, French-language content.
Besides the written word you will enhance the likelihood of business success by embracing the language and culture of France. For the language, Telephone Interpreting is probably the most simple course of action: Dial LangCommLive on +44 (0)844 555 5224, enter your account number* and enter "95" to bring in a French interpreter. On average it will take 22 seconds for the French interpreter to come on line.
*To open an account with LangCommLive and overcome the language barrier, contact us at +44 (0)845 055 9756 or enquiries@langcommlive.com
Visit www.langcommlive.com
Many of these countries and a significant portion of the 75 million individuals do not speak another language, making our exposure into French-language markets dependent on creating accessible, French-language content.
Besides the written word you will enhance the likelihood of business success by embracing the language and culture of France. For the language, Telephone Interpreting is probably the most simple course of action: Dial LangCommLive on +44 (0)844 555 5224, enter your account number* and enter "95" to bring in a French interpreter. On average it will take 22 seconds for the French interpreter to come on line.
*To open an account with LangCommLive and overcome the language barrier, contact us at +44 (0)845 055 9756 or enquiries@langcommlive.com
Visit www.langcommlive.com
Monday, July 14, 2008
Some statistics on languages - Spanish
Spanish: spoken in more than 25 countries and with 330 million speakers. Spanish is spoken by 100 millions people in Mexico, 44 millions in Colombia, 41 millions in Spain, 39 millions in Argentina, 22 millions in the USA, and within many other Latin American countries.
By marketing your products and services in Spanish your company will be able to reach out to large populations in the following local markets: Spain, Andorra, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Colombia, Puerto-Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Gibraltar, Nicaragua, Mexico and by more than 22 million people in large portions of the United States, including New Mexico and Miami, Florida, home to more Spanish speakers than any other country/state outside of Latin America and Spain.
Besides the written word you will enhance the likelihood of business success by embracing the language and culture of Spain. For the language Telephone Interpreting is probably the most simple course of action:
Dial LangCommLive on +44 (0)844 555 5224, enter your account number* and enter "1" to bring in a Spanish interpreter. On average it will take 22 seconds for the Spanish interpreter to come on line.
*To open an account with LangCommLive and overcome the language barrier, contact us at +44 (0)845 055 9756 or enquiries@langcommlive.com
Visit www.langcommlive.com
By marketing your products and services in Spanish your company will be able to reach out to large populations in the following local markets: Spain, Andorra, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Colombia, Puerto-Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Gibraltar, Nicaragua, Mexico and by more than 22 million people in large portions of the United States, including New Mexico and Miami, Florida, home to more Spanish speakers than any other country/state outside of Latin America and Spain.
Besides the written word you will enhance the likelihood of business success by embracing the language and culture of Spain. For the language Telephone Interpreting is probably the most simple course of action:
Dial LangCommLive on +44 (0)844 555 5224, enter your account number* and enter "1" to bring in a Spanish interpreter. On average it will take 22 seconds for the Spanish interpreter to come on line.
*To open an account with LangCommLive and overcome the language barrier, contact us at +44 (0)845 055 9756 or enquiries@langcommlive.com
Visit www.langcommlive.com
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Two stories from Europe which underline the importance of being able to overcome the language barrier
Missing an important day due to lack of language knowledge…
I remember how a friend of mine was looking forward to a wedding party in Italy. She had all her great expectations and she was totally prepared as she said. Her husband and she planned some days off to feel the Italian experience, hired an adventurous villa somewhere near where the wedding was to take place, in order to spend a dream vacation. Then they were counting the days…
When the day was approaching, they checked all the details for their villa and set off from Holland to Italy by car. The trip was a nice journey and they were enjoying it greatly, till the moment when they arrived late in the evening in the surroundings of the villa and they started their adventurous search of the location. Since the villa was “in the middle of nowhere”, they had difficulties in finding it. Asked here and there but the people in the neighbourhood, and at that time of the late hour, did not speak English and could not help them. No problem, they thought, and decided to not spoil their mood but spend the night in a hotel and the next morning firstly find the villa, put on party clothes and drive to the wedding. It was a strange introduction to their wedding experience, but they knew “the morning would be wiser than the night” so they waited patiently till the next day broke.
Early the next morning they drove to the supposed location to search for the villa, but as they could not explain well in Italian and the Italians in the nearby village did not speak English, it took ages before they found the villa. Then of course they were in an extreme hurry to get to the wedding, so they were driving quite much in haste. Unfortunately, this was going to be one of the worst days in their lives and if they had known that, they would have maybe opted for the LangCommLive service or would have learnt a bit more Italian in advance.
Why? Because this is what happened:
At a traffic light there were two signs pointing in the direction of the location they were going to, and there were road-works taking place. So it was quite unclear in the hurry which was the best way to go. They were almost going to take right until in the last moment they decided to take left, and at that very second…. Crash! A car from across collided with their small cute Peugeot and there it started… The police arrived after sometime and started asking all kinds of questions, of course in Italian…. There were also the Italians from the whole surroundings that gathered together to try to help, but they only spoke Italian!
So, communication was doomed to last forever.
It took about half a day to only make themselves clear about what exactly had happened. Then as sent from above, there were these two Dutch ladies that appeared from somewhere, and they were extremely helpful to offer their rescue, when they saw that the totally broken car had a Dutch number-plate.
Thank God there were these ladies! They helped as interpreters for another hour… and of course, you could imagine, the wedding had already taken place a long, long time ago…. My friends missed the whole ceremony. Yet, they were hopeful that at least they would be able to get to the party and congratulate the newly married couple…
How long would you imagine it took them before they went there?
Well, you wouldn’t guess. Firstly they had to go to a garage, where the car had to be inspected, and there they tried to order a taxi to take them to the party place. But the taxi would not come….
Finally, after half hour, luckily the garage owner was so kind as to understand somehow why my friends were “”in a hurry”” and he took them personally to that castle, where the party was going almost to its end…
A story that shows that no matter how much we like adventure, sometimes we need some practical arrangements in place, that would save us time and make our lives easier.
LangCommLive offers this kind of very economical practical arrangements.
A day of pain in Vietnam
Another friend of mine went to Vietnam, since her husband was there on business and they decided to explore the country and culture after the business trip was over. And why not?
Vietnam seems to be a very attractive country for European visitors. Europeans enjoy the freshly made food, the different way of living and of course the whole Asian experience.
My friend was having one of these idyllic days in the countryside when at once: ouch, she had this terrible, unbearable back pain. She was paralysed and could not move at all. Her husband was trying to understand what was happening, but not having any medical preparation for such cases he decided to search for help. Quickly he went to the nearest hospital to look for a doctor. Alas, when he went there he understood that there was not much he could explain since he did not speak Vietnamese, and the doctors at the hospital did not speak English.(My friend’s husband speaks Dutch, German, French, English… but alas, not Vietnamese.) So my friend was suffering enormous pain until they managed to somehow explain what they thought was wrong… but she felt this pain all her vacation after, so I am not sure the doctors understood what was the problem.
It would have been much and much better if my friends had used an interpreter or.. a telephone interpreter through LangCommLive. It would have improved the quality of their vacation and they would have enjoyed it even more.
I remember how a friend of mine was looking forward to a wedding party in Italy. She had all her great expectations and she was totally prepared as she said. Her husband and she planned some days off to feel the Italian experience, hired an adventurous villa somewhere near where the wedding was to take place, in order to spend a dream vacation. Then they were counting the days…
When the day was approaching, they checked all the details for their villa and set off from Holland to Italy by car. The trip was a nice journey and they were enjoying it greatly, till the moment when they arrived late in the evening in the surroundings of the villa and they started their adventurous search of the location. Since the villa was “in the middle of nowhere”, they had difficulties in finding it. Asked here and there but the people in the neighbourhood, and at that time of the late hour, did not speak English and could not help them. No problem, they thought, and decided to not spoil their mood but spend the night in a hotel and the next morning firstly find the villa, put on party clothes and drive to the wedding. It was a strange introduction to their wedding experience, but they knew “the morning would be wiser than the night” so they waited patiently till the next day broke.
Early the next morning they drove to the supposed location to search for the villa, but as they could not explain well in Italian and the Italians in the nearby village did not speak English, it took ages before they found the villa. Then of course they were in an extreme hurry to get to the wedding, so they were driving quite much in haste. Unfortunately, this was going to be one of the worst days in their lives and if they had known that, they would have maybe opted for the LangCommLive service or would have learnt a bit more Italian in advance.
Why? Because this is what happened:
At a traffic light there were two signs pointing in the direction of the location they were going to, and there were road-works taking place. So it was quite unclear in the hurry which was the best way to go. They were almost going to take right until in the last moment they decided to take left, and at that very second…. Crash! A car from across collided with their small cute Peugeot and there it started… The police arrived after sometime and started asking all kinds of questions, of course in Italian…. There were also the Italians from the whole surroundings that gathered together to try to help, but they only spoke Italian!
So, communication was doomed to last forever.
It took about half a day to only make themselves clear about what exactly had happened. Then as sent from above, there were these two Dutch ladies that appeared from somewhere, and they were extremely helpful to offer their rescue, when they saw that the totally broken car had a Dutch number-plate.
Thank God there were these ladies! They helped as interpreters for another hour… and of course, you could imagine, the wedding had already taken place a long, long time ago…. My friends missed the whole ceremony. Yet, they were hopeful that at least they would be able to get to the party and congratulate the newly married couple…
How long would you imagine it took them before they went there?
Well, you wouldn’t guess. Firstly they had to go to a garage, where the car had to be inspected, and there they tried to order a taxi to take them to the party place. But the taxi would not come….
Finally, after half hour, luckily the garage owner was so kind as to understand somehow why my friends were “”in a hurry”” and he took them personally to that castle, where the party was going almost to its end…
A story that shows that no matter how much we like adventure, sometimes we need some practical arrangements in place, that would save us time and make our lives easier.
LangCommLive offers this kind of very economical practical arrangements.
A day of pain in Vietnam
Another friend of mine went to Vietnam, since her husband was there on business and they decided to explore the country and culture after the business trip was over. And why not?
Vietnam seems to be a very attractive country for European visitors. Europeans enjoy the freshly made food, the different way of living and of course the whole Asian experience.
My friend was having one of these idyllic days in the countryside when at once: ouch, she had this terrible, unbearable back pain. She was paralysed and could not move at all. Her husband was trying to understand what was happening, but not having any medical preparation for such cases he decided to search for help. Quickly he went to the nearest hospital to look for a doctor. Alas, when he went there he understood that there was not much he could explain since he did not speak Vietnamese, and the doctors at the hospital did not speak English.(My friend’s husband speaks Dutch, German, French, English… but alas, not Vietnamese.) So my friend was suffering enormous pain until they managed to somehow explain what they thought was wrong… but she felt this pain all her vacation after, so I am not sure the doctors understood what was the problem.
It would have been much and much better if my friends had used an interpreter or.. a telephone interpreter through LangCommLive. It would have improved the quality of their vacation and they would have enjoyed it even more.
Language barrier scuppers walker
Here's a story from a few months ago which recently came to my attention.
A man who planned to walk from Bristol to India without any money has quit, after getting as far as Calais, France.
Mark Boyle, 28, who set out four weeks ago with only T-shirts, a bandage and sandals, hoped to rely on the kindness of strangers for food and lodging.
But, because he could not speak French, people thought he was free-loading or an asylum seeker.
He now plans to walk around the coast of Britain instead, learning French as he goes, so he can try again next year.
Mr Boyle, a former organic food company boss, belongs to the Freeconomy movement which wants to get rid of money altogether.
Cold and tired
In his online diary at the start of his journey to Porbander, Gandhi's birthplace, he said he was given two free dinners on his first evening away in Glastonbury.
Later, he was joined in Dover by two companions, and the three managed to get to Calais.
But in one of his last entries, he wrote: "...not only did no one not speak the language, they had also seen us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers, which is the complete opposite of what the pilgrimage is really about.
"That really scared us and given that we now were pretty much out of food, hadn't slept in days and were really cold, we had to reassess the whole situation."
Mr Boyle said he could not explain in words the disappointment he felt at abandoning the journey and he apologised to his supporters.
But he added: "Whilst walking in the UK, I intend to learn French and to hit the continent again as soon as we feel we are ready."
End
I am not quite sure what the moral of the story is here but, depending on his route, I guess Mark would have journeyed through many countries which do not speak English. The French are particularly stubborn when it comes to reaching out to non French speaking "tourists", but they are not alone. With hindsight, perhaps a LangCommLive dialcard would have been just the ticket! Bring in the Telephone Interpreter when the situation arises where understanding across languages is required.
www.langcommlive.com
A man who planned to walk from Bristol to India without any money has quit, after getting as far as Calais, France.
Mark Boyle, 28, who set out four weeks ago with only T-shirts, a bandage and sandals, hoped to rely on the kindness of strangers for food and lodging.
But, because he could not speak French, people thought he was free-loading or an asylum seeker.
He now plans to walk around the coast of Britain instead, learning French as he goes, so he can try again next year.
Mr Boyle, a former organic food company boss, belongs to the Freeconomy movement which wants to get rid of money altogether.
Cold and tired
In his online diary at the start of his journey to Porbander, Gandhi's birthplace, he said he was given two free dinners on his first evening away in Glastonbury.
Later, he was joined in Dover by two companions, and the three managed to get to Calais.
But in one of his last entries, he wrote: "...not only did no one not speak the language, they had also seen us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers, which is the complete opposite of what the pilgrimage is really about.
"That really scared us and given that we now were pretty much out of food, hadn't slept in days and were really cold, we had to reassess the whole situation."
Mr Boyle said he could not explain in words the disappointment he felt at abandoning the journey and he apologised to his supporters.
But he added: "Whilst walking in the UK, I intend to learn French and to hit the continent again as soon as we feel we are ready."
End
I am not quite sure what the moral of the story is here but, depending on his route, I guess Mark would have journeyed through many countries which do not speak English. The French are particularly stubborn when it comes to reaching out to non French speaking "tourists", but they are not alone. With hindsight, perhaps a LangCommLive dialcard would have been just the ticket! Bring in the Telephone Interpreter when the situation arises where understanding across languages is required.
www.langcommlive.com
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Language barrier exists across the world - not just in the UK
Vulnerable Miss Out on Healthcare in Sweden
Language difficulties often affect the quality of health care people receive in Sweden.
Doctors’ surgeries say the lack of interpreters for patients who can’t speak Swedish, leave the most vulnerable in society without treatment.
One example of this was revealed by a study from the Swedish Cancer Society.
They found that a quarter of women living in Sweden’s larger towns do not turn up for their mammography appointments. In comparison nine in ten women from smaller communities showed up to theirs.
A possible reason is believed to be that the cards calling women to their x-ray examinations are in Swedish.
The Society plan to look further into the matter by investigating the number and type of women who miss their mammography examinations.
Whilst LangCommLive understands the issues faced in Sweden, our "on demand" telephone interpreting service interprets from and to English. Our service does not extend, for example, from Swedish to French.
http://www.langcommlive.com/
Language difficulties often affect the quality of health care people receive in Sweden.
Doctors’ surgeries say the lack of interpreters for patients who can’t speak Swedish, leave the most vulnerable in society without treatment.
One example of this was revealed by a study from the Swedish Cancer Society.
They found that a quarter of women living in Sweden’s larger towns do not turn up for their mammography appointments. In comparison nine in ten women from smaller communities showed up to theirs.
A possible reason is believed to be that the cards calling women to their x-ray examinations are in Swedish.
The Society plan to look further into the matter by investigating the number and type of women who miss their mammography examinations.
Whilst LangCommLive understands the issues faced in Sweden, our "on demand" telephone interpreting service interprets from and to English. Our service does not extend, for example, from Swedish to French.
http://www.langcommlive.com/
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
LangCommLive exhibit at ExploreExport
Peter Brabazon and Andrew Rowley had a great day in Exeter yesterday at the UKTI "ExploreExport" event held at the University. As anticipated the event was well attended by suppliers and delegates alike and we certainly received many good enquiries for both our Telephone Interpreting service as well as the traditional translation service provided by Transatlantic Translations. Exhibitors and delegates who have a presence in overseas markets where language is a potential barrier to entry were very interested in "on demand" telephone interpreting. Every UKTI representative I talked to certainly extolled the importance of "making the effort" with languages generally. If you do not make the effort to overcome the language barrier then, despite English being commonly spoken, it is true to say that an important opportunity is being missed.
As a footnote, one thing I had not expected to see yesterday was Simon Woodroffe - Keynote speaker for the event - singing a song he wrote himself for which the music was composed by The Blockheads of Ian Dury and The Blockheads fame! All about his YO! businesses. Post the following link into your browser to see an earlier recording of the song:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4xwUf8tckwY&feature=email
It never surprises me as to what you'll see at an exhibition.
LangCommLive - overcoming the language barrier: Mandarin, French, Russian, Spanish, Zulu, Welsh.........156 languages "on demand". No booking required - just dial LangCommLive and bring in an interpreter within seconds.
http://www.langcommlive.com/
As a footnote, one thing I had not expected to see yesterday was Simon Woodroffe - Keynote speaker for the event - singing a song he wrote himself for which the music was composed by The Blockheads of Ian Dury and The Blockheads fame! All about his YO! businesses. Post the following link into your browser to see an earlier recording of the song:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4xwUf8tckwY&feature=email
It never surprises me as to what you'll see at an exhibition.
LangCommLive - overcoming the language barrier: Mandarin, French, Russian, Spanish, Zulu, Welsh.........156 languages "on demand". No booking required - just dial LangCommLive and bring in an interpreter within seconds.
http://www.langcommlive.com/
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