Blog

Healthcare organizations are preparing for a second wave of COVID-19, which has the potential to merge with the annual flu season to create an overwhelming situation.

In Europe, relaxing of lockdown measures have already contributed to a new spike in virus cases. Experts are concerned the same might happen in North America.

What did healthcare leaders learn about language access from the first wave of COVID-19, and how can that knowledge be applied to care this fall and winter?

Also, what are best practices for continuing to provide care to patients who are limited-English speaking, Deaf, or Hard-of-Hearing?

One in five of our neighbors here in the United States speaks a language other than English at home. That’s more than 65 million people—25 million of whom say they speak English less than well. Another 10.6 million Americans are deaf or hard of hearing.

The influence of these diverse audiences is enormous and growing. They are citizens, patients, and consumers. Meeting them in their preferred language builds loyalty, achieves compliance, and increases staff productivity while reducing expenses. The opportunities are clear, but the challenge is that—with hundreds of languages spoken in America today—it is very difficult for any organization to meet this demand.

North America is entering an unprecedented period of virtual learning, with most students doing some form of remote education as they enter the new school year.

This will impact all students, but particularly the 10 percent of students in the United States who are considered English language learners (ELLs). There is at least one English language learner in the majority of American high schools. 

These students and their families may require special assistance during distance learning. From letters home to parent-teacher conferences to individual learning plans (ILPs), educators must make a conscious effort to communicate in more than one language in order to achieve mutual understanding. 

Our new checklist is meant to stimulate thinking and guide schools through the process of empowering English Language Learners and their families during distance learning.

DOWNLOAD: Distance-Learning Checklist for Educators of English Language Learners

Demographic shifts tell us that financial consumers have become more culturally and ethnically diverse.

Over 65 million U.S. residents—or 21 percent of the U.S. population over the age of five—speak a language other than English at home. More than one out of every 12 people in the U.S. are limited English proficient (LEP), meaning they speak English less than very well. This group represents around nine percent of adults living in America.

Insurance is a complex and sensitive industry. Policyholders are seeking to protect the things and people that matter most to them in the world, and each has several points of contact with an agency or company, from quoting to enrolling to filing a claim to updating coverages.

Communicating the details of an insurance plan or a claim can be difficult enough in English, but when the policyholder speaks another language, the conversation can become even more challenging. This situation calls for a professional business interpreter. 

You buy a friend’s used car that seems perfect for your 16-year-old daughter, only to spend twice the list price on repairs in the first two months.

Buyer’s remorse can also happen when it comes to shopping for affordable language services—and sometimes, the results have significant consequences.

Even those who readily accept that plain language improves readability, understanding, and engagement often push back when it comes to legal documents. But numerous U.S. and global studies show that “legalese” results in lost opportunity for both the reader and the writer.

Legal documents, like all communications, should be easy to read, understand, and act on with the first reading. A study released just last month focused on the impact of plain language in legal disclosure documents.

Our healthcare partners are always seeking to bring language access closer to their patients’ bedsides.

One way to do this is through mobile interpreting. You can download the LanguageLine app to any networked mobile device and instantly be able to reach a live, professional interpreter in more than 240 languages at the touch of a button. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in video or audio-only formats.

There is yet another elegant solution that brings an on-demand interpreter to the patient.

We are living in a new normal. Faced with providing essential services from a distance, many organizations are being introduced to professional interpretation and translation for the first time.

In coming weeks, we will be producing articles on how to evaluate potential language-services providers. We also encourage you to download our ebook, Five Critical Criteria for Selecting Your On-Demand Interpreting Partner. An effective language-access program begins with knowing the languages spoken in your region. If you’re curious, we recommend downloading our new infographic, The Most-Spoken Languages Across America.

Clear communication has never been more essential. Our upcoming webinar is for those who look at their materials and find them too long, poorly organized, or full of jargon and insider language.

At LanguageLine, we consider “plain English” to be a language of its own. Our clients are consistently amazed at how much customer experience improves when they speak it.