Language Line Services’ Interpreter Demand Index(SM) Shows Rapid Growth in Arabic, Vietnamese Across Country

MONTEREY, Calif., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --  A report released today by Language Line Services, the global leader in interpretation and translation services, shows that while Spanish remains the most popular language nationwide behind English, demand for Arabic and Vietnamese grew strong across 20 major U.S. cities between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011.

(Infographic of Language Trends Across the U.S.: http://bit.ly/r8iFKD)

The report, titled the Language Line® LanguageTrak "Interpreter Demand Index(SM)" (IDI), uses proprietary data to rank the top 10 languages in each city by number of over-the-phone interpreter requests in the government and healthcare sectors. The LanguageTrak IDI(SM) also shows percentage growth in each language between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011.

"This real-time information addresses the ever-changing language needs of cities years before similar data is unveiled from the next U.S. Census," said Louis F. Provenzano, Jr., President & CEO of Language Line Services, which fields millions of interpreter-request calls each year. "This allows local governments, court systems, healthcare agencies and emergency services to better anticipate critical needs in their communities and ensure access to essential services."

According to the LanguageTrak IDI(SM), Spanish continues to be the most requested language in all 20 cities, supporting 2011 Pew Hispanic Center and 2010 U.S. Census data.

Interpreter requests in Arabic are rapidly growing, however, with increases in 13 of the 20 cities. The highest increases are in Houston (45.8 percent), San Antonio (39.7 percent) and Philadelphia (37.4 percent). Arabic also is among the top-five most requested languages in 11 of the 20 cities.

Requests for Vietnamese also increased in 13 of the 20 cities. The highest increases are in New York City (66.2 percent), Houston (45.9 percent) and Dallas (25.5 percent). Vietnamese is also among the top-five most requested languages in 14 of the 20 cities.

In addition to the report signaling Arabic and Vietnamese as rapidly emerging languages, Provenzano pointed to other surprising findings:

• Haitian Creole interpreter requests spiked 271.4 percent in Indianapolis -- the highest growth in Indiana for any language.
• Swahili was among the most requested languages throughout Texas, with significant interpreter increases in Houston (87.3 percent), Fort Worth (74.6 percent) and Austin (38.2 percent).
• Armenian was the third-most requested language in Los Angeles, where Armenian interpreter requests increased 13.7 percent.
• Chicago saw interpreter requests increase in Gujarati (146.2 percent) and Russian (38.5 percent).
• San Antonio saw major surges in requests for Cantonese (423 percent) and Spanish (141.3 percent). Cantonese was its fourth-most requested language.
• Nepali was one of the most requested languages in Memphis (366.7 percent increase), Austin (128.6 percent increase) and Dallas (50.3 percent increase).
• Detroit saw significant interpreter request increases in Bengali (57.1 percent) and Hmong (37.1 percent). Bengali was the fourth-most requested language.
• Karen interpreter requests in Jacksonville grew 122.6 percent. Karen, spoken by 1.3 million in Myanmar, formerly Burma, is one of the fastest growing languages in the U.S.
• Memphis saw major interpreter request surges in Amharic (400 percent) and Somali (150 percent). Somali was the second-most requested language.
• Burmese interpreter requests in Charlotte increased 64.7 percent.

Infographic of Language Trends Across the U.S.: http://bit.ly/r8iFKD

For a copy of the complete report, contact pr@languageline.com and type "LanguageTrak" in the subject field of your email.

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services, the global leader in telephone interpreting and language solutions, serves clients in government, healthcare, telecommunications, financial services, utilities, insurance and many other industries by quickly connecting them to their customers, patients and sales prospects in more than 170 spoken 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 United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, providing easy access to the industry's fastest language interpreting service at highly competitive rates.

For more information about Language Line Services' suite of telephone, on-site and video interpreting, document translation, interpreter assessment and training programs, please call (800) 752-6096 or visit http://www.languageline.com.

Contact:
Carla Collado
Olmstead Williams Communications
310.824.9000
ccollado@olmsteadwilliams.com
http://www.olmsteadwilliams.com

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Language Line Services