Arabic, Vietnamese Top Foreign Languages in U.S. After Spanish, Shows Report by Language Line Services March 8, 2012

MONTEREY, Calif., March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — A report from Language Line Services, the global leader in language access solutions, reveals that between Q4 2010 and Q4 2011, Arabic and Vietnamese trailed only Spanish as the most-requested languages for over-the-phone interpretations nationwide.

The quarterly Language Line® LanguageTrak “Interpreter Demand Index(SM)” uses proprietary data from millions of interpretation-request calls the company fields annually in 170-plus languages. It reports interpreter calls for the government and healthcare sectors across 20 major U.S. cities. The report ranks the top-10 most requested languages in each city, and shows percentage growth for each language.

“Communities across the country are experiencing historic demographic and cultural shifts, including a growing influx of limited-English speakers,” said Louis F. Provenzano, Jr., president & CEO of Language Line Services. “Local government leaders, court systems, healthcare agencies, emergency services and businesses must be ready to meet the language needs of these residents in order to effectively serve them. And, it’s not just about offering services in Spanish anymore. Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Burmese round out the top-five most requested languages by our clients.”

Arabic ranked among the top three languages in nine of the 20 cities; Vietnamese, eight cities; Mandarin, seven; and Burmese, five cities.

The LanguageTrak® report also revealed languages that saw the most percentage growth in interpretation requests – Arabic, Korean and Mandarin. Interpretation requests for Arabic increased in 14 cities, more than any other language. The highest increases were in El Paso (236 percent increase), Memphis (95 percent), Columbus (38 percent) and Charlotte (38 percent).

Interpretation requests for Korean grew in 13 of the 20 cities. The highest increases were in Memphis (100 percent increase), San Diego (32 percent), Jacksonville (32 percent) and Austin (24 percent). Mandarin saw interpretation request increases in 12 of the 20 cities, with the highest jumps in Jacksonville (113 percent increase), El Paso (89 percent) and Detroit (51 percent).

In addition, Provenzano noted other key findings in the report:

San Diego reported triple-digit increases in requests for both Karen (305 percent increase), which is spoken by 1.3 million in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and Cantonese (132 percent).

Charlotte saw a significant increase in interpretation requests for Urdu (68 percent increase).

Interpretation requests in Japanese grew notably across several cities – Columbus (76 percent increase), San Jose (58 percent) and Philadelphia (50 percent).

Somali was the second-most requested language (trailing Spanish) in Columbus and Memphis.

Nepali interpretation requests increased in seven of the 20 cities, with the largest jumps in El Paso, Memphis, San Antonio and Philadelphia.

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services, the global leader in language solutions for over 30 years, serves clients in government, healthcare, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, retail and many other industries in more than 170 spoken and written languages, as well as American Sign Language (ASL) and Mexican Sign Language (LSM). Language Line Services is recognized as a trusted partner to thousands of public and private organizations throughout the world, providing easy access to the industry’s most dynamic and comprehensive suite of language solutions that drive a strong return on investment. Language Line Services is known for solving customers’ complex language communication issues with leading services that include telephone, on-site and video interpreting, translation and localization, as well as interpreter assessment and training programs. Please call (800) 752-6096 or visit www.languageline.com .

Contact:

Carla ColladoOlmstead Williams Communications310.824.9000ccollado@olmsteadwilliams.com www.olmsteadwilliams.com

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SOURCE Language Line Services