While Spanish remains the most-requested language for telephone interpreting in the USA, other languages are showing growing demand.

The results of a recent report, published in a Mediapost.com article, show developments in the market for telephone interpreting in the USA.

Not surprisingly, Spanish is the most-requested language for over-the-phone interpreting, according to data gathered in the top 20 US cities between 2010 and 2011.

But Mandarin Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese are experiencing high levels of requests for phone interpreting, with significant jumps seen especially in Texas: San Antonio, El Paso, Austin and Houston.

Russian is also on the rise in many cities, including Language Translation Inc.’s home base, San Diego, where requests for phone interpretation in that language rose by 90%, compared to 57% in Memphis and 24% in San Francisco.

In general, the report shows that demand is increasing for phone interpreting services in an array of languages, including lesser-known tongues such as Burmese, Somali and Karen.

Part of this trend can be attributed to needs in the medical sector, as healthcare organizations strive to meet new standards concerning access to services for all, including non-English speakers.

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
  A leading language translation and interpretation service provider for more than 20 years.