New York’s Long Beach Goes Multilingual with On-Demand Translation Service

In accordance with the city’s Language Access Policy launched this year that aims to provide “appropriate translation and interpretation services for Long Beach residents with limited English proficiency,” Long Beach, New York has launched an on-demand translation service. Partnering with language service provider Language Line Solutions, Long Beach expects this initiative to help their residents with limited English proficiency gain easier access to vital information.

The on-demand translation service will be used across a variety of communication channels. It will be used to translate documents and messages containing vital information for residents who require it. This will also allow Long Beach’s website, www.longbeachny.gov, to be translated into numerous languages.

Long Beach’s mobile app will also be using the translation service: users can report issues in Spanish and city officials will receive a translated version and may reply back in English which the app will then re-translate back into Spanish. At the moment, it is used on a phone service that provides on-the-spot translations of conversations from English to multiple languages. It also enables the city’s Emergency Notification System to give out alerts in Spanish.

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City Council President Len Torres said in the official announcement that the City Council values communicating to all of Long Beach’s residents in the best way possible, and that the policy ”ensures that all folks in our community will be reached, particularly in emergency situations.”