Bowling Green, KY, is growing increasingly diverse. One local school system says it has registered 89 different languages, with large pockets of Swahili and Burmese.
What can a city do for its schools, first responders, and government agencies when the language mix becomes so complex? An elegant solution has arrived in the form of an on-demand interpreting app that provides one-touch connections to professional linguists.
Bowling Green has embraced this innovative technology. The city is now using on-demand interpreting to assist in communicating with its diverse community.
City employees have the LanguageLine app on their smartphones. Functioning much like Skype or Facetime, the app provides one-touch access to professional video interpreters in 37 languages, including American Sign Language. The app also delivers audio-only phone interpretation in more than 240 languages.
Connections to LanguageLine’s team of 17,000 trained interpreters are made in approximately 20 seconds.
WATCH THE VIDEO: City of Bowling Green Uses New Tool to Remove Language Barriers
Bowling Green city employees have tested the app over the past year. The city decided to make it a permanent solution after receiving positive feedback.
“Overwhelmingly, these employees said that it was a great resource for them and they could see utilizing it in the field to facilitate communication on a regular basis,” said Leyda Becker, the City of Bowling Green International Communities liaison.
Becker added that Bowling Green has been using language interpretation services over the phone for more than 10 years. She says the app is allowing the city to extend the reach of its language services.
READ THE ARTICLE: Bowling Green Employees Utilizing Interpreting Program
LanguageLine Can Help
Language barriers present multiple challenges when providing services. On-demand interpreting can help improve satisfaction while increasing efficiency. We invite you to learn more about the advantages language services provide to agencies like yours.
For more than 40 years, LanguageLine has turned linguistic and cultural challenges into opportunities. We invite you to schedule a free consultation so that together we can uncover the opportunities that lie within your organization.
