 |
| Paid Research - Membership Required |
| When Translation Is the Law |
| |
| Keywords |
| Ethnic, multicultural, minority languages, Spanish, Irish, Gaelic, French minority languages, European Union, Title VI |
Abstract |
| Decades after being discovered by the U.S. census, the Latino community remains an underserved demographic in the United States. While many businesses offer callers the option of interacting in Spanish and some provide website content as well, our research over the last few years has found that most don’t. Welcome most city, state, and federal government agencies to that crowd of English-only communicators.
However, there’s a big difference between a retailer not offering Spanish content and a government agency that publishes and speaks only English – the agency might be breaking the law. A succession of federal laws, court rulings, and executive orders has mandated that the government not discriminate on the basis of language. Thus, they must offer information in languages other than English. While this news is troublesome as an unfunded mandate to many agencies, how to do it should not be such a concern – government departments can look to the long experience of multicultural societies such as Belgium and Canada.
In this report we discuss:
- The requirement. Government agencies must provide interpretation and translated documents, forms, and instructions for U.S. citizens with limited English proficiency (LEP). Public and private firms providing services to the government or accepting federal funds will be subject to the same requirements. We outline some good examples and review some political issues standing in the way of compliance.
- The international aspect of such mandated translation. This issue is not specific to the U.S. – countries around the world have the same concern with minority and regional populations. We discuss several instances in Europe.
- Best practices. We lay out some best practices on how government agencies and private companies working with them can best deal with this multilingual mandate.
|
Benefits |
| In General: As countries become more multicultural, they will have to meet the needs of their residents in official and minority languages. This report will help planners, practitioners, politicians, and providers understand the issues they will face in the ensuing budget and culture wars. |
| For Buyers: Planners and practitioners tasked with the chore of translating for a government agency can read about the issues they will face and learn the best practices of those who have come before them. |
| For Suppliers: Language service providers and software tool developers can learn about the requirements of this market opportunity and tailor their offerings. |
Physical Details |
| Authors: Donald A. DePalma |
| Date: 15 May 2007 |
| ISBN: 978-1-933555-38-6 |
| Pages: 14 |
Table of Contents |
- Translation May Be the Law for Government Agencies
- Who Should Read This Report?
- Advocacy v. Bigotry or Reality v. Ideology
- Dissenting Voices against Translation for Non-Anglophones
- Demographic Changes Question Need for Translation in the Future
- Minority Access to Government Services Is a Global Concern
- Language Support for Residents Who Don’t Speak English
- Business Issues in Government Translation
- Adapting Content for Minority Citizen Access
- Technology Support for Other Languages
- Managing Translation for Minority Communities
- Non-Anglophone Populations Will Not Disappear Overnight
|
| Paid Research - Membership Required |
| When Translation Is the Law |
| |
| Keywords |
| Ethnic, multicultural, minority languages, Spanish, Irish, Gaelic, French minority languages, European Union, Title VI |
Abstract |
| Decades after being discovered by the U.S. census, the Latino community remains an underserved demographic in the United States. While many businesses offer callers the option of interacting in Spanish and some provide website content as well, our research over the last few years has found that most don’t. Welcome most city, state, and federal government agencies to that crowd of English-only communicators.
However, there’s a big difference between a retailer not offering Spanish content and a government agency that publishes and speaks only English – the agency might be breaking the law. A succession of federal laws, court rulings, and executive orders has mandated that the government not discriminate on the basis of language. Thus, they must offer information in languages other than English. While this news is troublesome as an unfunded mandate to many agencies, how to do it should not be such a concern – government departments can look to the long experience of multicultural societies such as Belgium and Canada.
In this report we discuss:
- The requirement. Government agencies must provide interpretation and translated documents, forms, and instructions for U.S. citizens with limited English proficiency (LEP). Public and private firms providing services to the government or accepting federal funds will be subject to the same requirements. We outline some good examples and review some political issues standing in the way of compliance.
- The international aspect of such mandated translation. This issue is not specific to the U.S. – countries around the world have the same concern with minority and regional populations. We discuss several instances in Europe.
- Best practices. We lay out some best practices on how government agencies and private companies working with them can best deal with this multilingual mandate.
|
Benefits |
| In General: As countries become more multicultural, they will have to meet the needs of their residents in official and minority languages. This report will help planners, practitioners, politicians, and providers understand the issues they will face in the ensuing budget and culture wars. |
| For Buyers: Planners and practitioners tasked with the chore of translating for a government agency can read about the issues they will face and learn the best practices of those who have come before them. |
| For Suppliers: Language service providers and software tool developers can learn about the requirements of this market opportunity and tailor their offerings. |
Physical Details |
| Authors: Donald A. DePalma |
| Date: 15 May 2007 |
| ISBN: 978-1-933555-38-6 |
| Pages: 14 |
Table of Contents |
- Translation May Be the Law for Government Agencies
- Who Should Read This Report?
- Advocacy v. Bigotry or Reality v. Ideology
- Dissenting Voices against Translation for Non-Anglophones
- Demographic Changes Question Need for Translation in the Future
- Minority Access to Government Services Is a Global Concern
- Language Support for Residents Who Don’t Speak English
- Business Issues in Government Translation
- Adapting Content for Minority Citizen Access
- Technology Support for Other Languages
- Managing Translation for Minority Communities
- Non-Anglophone Populations Will Not Disappear Overnight
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