Blog

LanguageLine Solutions President and CEO Scott W. Klein recently sat down for a just-published interview with Authority Magazine in which the future of health care in North America was discussed, in particular as it applies to limited-English speakers.

Asked what changes need to be made to improve the overall U.S. healthcare system, he responded:

“We see healthcare issues through the lens of language,” Klein said. “To us, it’s not shocking that there are massive health disparities for minorities living in the U.S. For example, it’s astounding that 45 percent of Hispanic boys and 53 percent of Hispanic girls living in the U.S. are predicted to develop diabetes in their lifetimes. In general, ethnic minorities here are twice as likely to develop a chronic disease compared to their non-Hispanic white counterparts.

Limited English speakers have historically found it difficult to access financial products and services.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau indicates many of the challenges they encounter are related to language access and financial literacy.

Banks, lenders, and other institutions ignore this audience at their own peril. The potential for new revenue among multicultural consumers is significant. On average, this diverse market is younger and growing faster than the general market, which suggests growth potential for the future.

By 2045, the United States as a whole is projected to become majority minority.

The bad news is your language service provider isn’t right for you anymore.

Now the good news: You have an opportunity to start fresh with a new provider. And, if you do it right, you can make the switch seamlessly, without impacting the individuals you serve or inconveniencing your staff. Before making the switch, here are five steps you should take to ensure you select and transition to the right provider.

If your organization has decided to undertake a localization project, you’ve already taken an important step toward expanding your reach to a global audience.

But, as we all know, the best-laid plans can come undone in the execution. Taking a few steps ahead of time to prepare your content to be translated and localized can help you avoid frustrating delays or costly oversights.

Arriving at a website that wasn’t intended for you can feel a lot like traveling to a foreign country you hadn’t planned to visit.

You don’t recognize the currency or know the exchange rate. You struggle to read the signs. You scan the landscape for something familiar, but nothing seems to be where you expect it to be.

Each week, LanguageLine selects five stories about language and culture that we think readers will find intriguing. Here is this week’s “Liner Notes”:

Time was, if you were creating a fantasy or sci-fi world in film or TV, you could simply make up some lines using sounds that English speakers didn’t hear much and get away with few people noticing or caring.

The internet has opened the door to any company that wants to go global.

With one click, a consumer can now buy shoes from Paris while lying in bed in Beijing or sitting in a Buenos Aires coffee shop. 

The world is digitally enabled and buying online. Almost 70 percent of European internet users made at least one purchase in 2018, with 36 percent of those users buying goods and services from countries besides their own. Meanwhile, the Asian e-commerce market is set to reach $1.4 trillion in the near future.  

Each week, LanguageLine selects five stories about language and culture that we think readers will find interesting, as they could have far-reaching implications.

We wrote earlier this week about how America’s failure to fund language education is creating a national security crisis. Reports suggest that fewer school-age kids in English-speaking countries are picking up a second or foreign language. This is an alarming trend as it makes students less competitive, in addition to leaving them with a smaller arsenal of the skills needed to thrive in an increasingly globalized and multicultural world.