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During Hurricane Irma's press briefing, Manatee County made a serious error by relying on an unqualified interpreter to convey critical information. Instead of providing essential updates, the person signed unrelated words like "pizza" and "bear," causing confusion and frustration within the Deaf community. While some showed understanding toward his intentions, this incident underscores the importance of qualified, certified interpreters in ensuring equitable access to vital information. This example highlights how effective language services are essential in moments of crisis, where accurate communication can directly impact safety and well-being, especially when it comes to crucial procedures like emergency preparedness, or health. Providing American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting services in government settings is not only a legal obligation but also a vital public service responsibility. Offering ASL interpreter services ensures that the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community has equal access to public services, promoting inclusion, transparency, and effective communication. Table of Contents

- The Accessibility Gap in Government Services
- Understanding the Deaf Community and ASL
- Legal Requirements for Government Agencies
- The Benefits of Providing ASL Interpreter Services
- When to Use ASL Interpreter Services
- Implementing ASL Interpreter Services
- Common Misconceptions About ASL Interpreter Services
- Conclusion: Taking Action to Improve Accessibility Despite existing legal protections, many ASL users still face communication barriers in government settings. Even with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in place, many agencies struggle to meet the needs of deaf individuals effectively, leading to an accessibility gap that can limit deaf residents’ ability to engage with important civic activities like public meetings, legal proceedings, and government services. Unlike threshold languages, which are based on population size, American Sign Language (ASL) access is a civil right and should be ready at a moment's call to all Deaf individuals, regardless of the population size. ASL interpreter services are essential in bridging this gap, ensuring that communication is fully accessible and equitable for all members of the Deaf community. Accessibility in government isn’t just about legal compliance; it’s about public responsibility. Government services must be available to all citizens, regardless of their hearing ability. By offering ASL interpreting services, government agencies can take the necessary steps to fulfill this responsibility. American Sign Language (ASL) is a fully developed, distinct language used by over 500,000 people in the United States. ASL has its own grammar, syntax, and structure, making it a complex language in its own right—one that is fundamentally different from English. Written English and lip-reading often do not provide adequate access for many Deaf individuals, which is why ASL interpreter services are crucial for ensuring that individuals can fully understand and participate in government processes. It’s also important to recognize that ASL is not a one-size-fits-all language. As a relatively newer language, there are variations such as Pidgin Signed English (PSE), Signed Exact English (SEE), and different use cases like tactile interpreting for those who are both deaf and blind/low vision, or even home signs used by tightly-knit families or communities. For agencies, this means understanding that language access needs can vary widely within the Deaf community, and the provision of ASL services should reflect this diversity. Without qualified interpreters who can navigate these variations, government communications risk excluding a significant portion of the population, leading to inequities in services and programs. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act mandate that public entities provide “effective communication” for individuals with disabilities, including those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. These laws require that government agencies not only provide access to services but also ensure that their communications are accessible. "Effective communication goes beyond written text, captions, or relying on family, friends, or unqualified interpreters. It requires trained, vetted professionals who ensure true understanding. For many in the Deaf community, ASL interpreting services are necessary to ensure complete understanding. Failure to meet these requirements can result in negative outcomes for the individual, legal consequences, including complaints, lawsuits, or damage to an agency’s reputation. More importantly, it undermines the trust of the community and the agency’s credibility. Providing ASL interpreter services supports government agencies by making public services truly accessible to all. It promotes inclusion and advances equity for historically marginalized communities. For individuals who are deaf, having access to interpreters at public meetings, hearings, and services means they can fully participate in civic life, leading to more engaged and informed communities. But beyond civic engagement, ASL access is often critical in high-stakes or even life-or-death scenarios. Whether it’s a natural disaster, an environmental hazard, or a public health emergency, deaf individuals must receive timely and accurate information to stay safe and make informed decisions. Ensuring qualified ASL interpreters are available in these moments isn’t just a best practice—it’s a matter of public safety and civil rights. There are many scenarios where ASL interpreter services should be integrated into government settings. Public meetings, town halls, and community hearings are prime examples. These events often involve important discussions that impact local residents, and ensuring that deaf individuals can fully participate is crucial for fostering an inclusive environment. Additionally, ASL interpreters are essential for government services such as the DMV, housing offices, and benefits agencies, where in-person interactions occur. Emergency situations, such as disaster briefings or public health updates, also require immediate access to ASL interpreter services. Providing timely, accurate information during a crisis can be a matter of safety for Deaf individuals. To successfully implement ASL interpreter services, government agencies should start by assessing the demand for these services. Understanding when and where deaf individuals are most likely to require an interpreter will help agencies allocate resources effectively. It’s also crucial to partner with certified, professional ASL interpreter services to ensure that the interpreters are qualified and experienced. Training staff on how to work with interpreters is another important step. Ensuring that public employees know how to coordinate with interpreters and communicate respectfully with individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can make the experience smoother and more effective for everyone involved. This includes understanding what a relay call might sound like when a deaf individual contacts an agency with an interpreter on the line—so they’re not mistakenly hung up on. Simple awareness like this can make a meaningful difference in access and dignity. Additionally, agencies should actively promote the availability of ASL interpreter services to the public. Many individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may not know that these services are available, so clear communication about how to request an interpreter can increase access to services. Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) is also an option for remote communication and should be considered when appropriate, especially for virtual meetings and smaller gatherings. One common misconception is that writing things down or using family members to interpret is sufficient for communication. However, ASL interpreting services go beyond simple translation and require skilled professionals to accurately convey both the meaning and context of the message. Using family members or bilingual staff who are not trained interpreters can result in misunderstandings or legal risks, as their interpretations may not be accurate. Another misconception is that there is no demand for ASL interpreter services. Many Deaf individuals may not ask for services because they assume that these accommodations aren’t available. Agencies should proactively offer ASL interpreting services rather than waiting for requests, ensuring that all members of the community know they have equal access to government services. You may also like...
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Case Study: Bridging the Digital Divide with Embedded Sign Language Videos Providing ASL interpreting services in government settings is essential for fostering an inclusive, transparent, and equitable environment. By implementing these services, government agencies can not only meet their legal obligations but also demonstrate a commitment to accessibility and public service. The benefits of offering ASL interpreter services are far-reaching, improving equity, public trust, compliance, and community engagement. Government agencies have a responsibility to ensure that all citizens—regardless of their hearing ability—can access public services. ASL interpreting services play a crucial role in making this happen. By taking steps today to integrate these services into government communications, agencies can create a more inclusive and equitable future for all residents. Ready to improve accessibility in your agency? Partner with certified ASL interpreter services to create an inclusive, welcoming environment for all members of your community.

For so many of us—whether we’re caring for a child, a foster or adopted loved one, an aging grandparent, a live-in relative, a friend, or a trusted caregiver—getting medical care is rarely a solo experience. It often involves the people around us, and that means communication is a shared responsibility. Patients need to understand their care, of course—but when others are involved, they should be part of the conversation too. No matter what your family looks like, clear communication in healthcare is essential. And for families who speak a language other than English, that often means having access to translation services for families—not just during doctor’s appointments, but throughout the care journey. Imagine a parent bringing their child to a clinic, hospital, or emergency room. They deserve to feel confident they’ll understand the diagnosis, treatment plan, and next steps—and that they’ll be understood in return. But when English isn’t the family’s primary language, that experience can quickly become overwhelming. Miscommunication can lead to missed diagnoses, medication errors, and serious health risks. That’s where translation services for families make all the difference. These services ensure that everyone involved in a patient’s care can understand, ask questions, follow instructions, and make informed decisions. They don’t just support better communication—they build trust, safety, and inclusion. For millions of families across the U.S., this isn’t optional. It’s essential. Table of Contents

- Families Deserve More than Just Words
- What the Law Requires-and Why It Matters
- The Real-World Impact on Families
- Moving Forward: How Providers Can Improve Language Access
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Healthier Families, Stronger Communities Language barriers can make even the most routine medical visits stressful. Parents may struggle to understand what a provider is saying about their child’s condition. Grandparents might not follow after-care instructions after surgery. A caregiver could misinterpret medication dosages or fail to follow discharge instructions correctly.  Without access to translation, families may struggle to make informed decisions. The result is often worse health outcomes and higher costs for both families and providers. But when families can clearly communicate with their care teams, they're more likely to pursue preventive care, follow treatment plans, communicate openly with providers, and make the confident, informed decisions about their health that ultimately improve health outcomes.  You can learn more about how these services work by visiting our page on translation services and healthcare translation solutions.  It’s not just good practice to offer language support—it’s the law. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, healthcare organizations that receive federal funding are required to provide meaningful access to individuals who are limited English proficient (LEP).  This includes offering professional translation and interpretation services free of charge. According to HHS Office for Civil Rights, organizations must take reasonable steps to ensure LEP individuals can understand and access the services they need.  Failing to meet these standards can result in legal consequences—and more importantly, puts families at risk of not receiving effective care. For families, the absence of reliable language services creates a domino effect. A single misunderstanding can lead to a missed follow-up, which turns into a preventable emergency room visit. A caregiver who doesn’t understand a discharge plan may unknowingly worsen a loved one’s recovery.  In contrast, translation services for families build trust. They ensure parents can confidently consent to treatment. They help patients adhere to care plans. They give families the voice and agency they need to be active participants in their health—not just passive recipients.  Language access is also about dignity. Every family deserves to understand their own medical journey, regardless of the language they speak. Healthcare providers don’t have to overhaul everything overnight, but there are clear starting points. Working with a professional translation partner can help organizations assess where gaps exist and how to effectively close them. That could mean translating intake forms, providing access to on-demand interpreters during telehealth visits, or making sure discharge instructions are available in a patient’s preferred language.  Digital technologies are playing an increasingly vital role in improving access to healthcare for diverse families. Remote interpreting technology platforms, AI-driven translation tools like machine translation post-editing (MTPE), multilingual client portals, and telemedicine services are all helping bridge the gap—especially for families in rural or underserved areas. These tools aren’t meant to replace human connection, but they serve as valuable extensions, ensuring more inclusive communication and care. At Avantpage, we offer global language services tailored specifically for healthcare providers, enabling them to reach families in meaningful, accurate, and culturally appropriate ways. Our solutions include access to usage data and language data, helping providers understand and track the needs of their patients, making it easier to deliver care that truly resonates. You may also like... Language and Trust: How Communication Shapes Health Outcomes Why a Spanish Medical Interpreter is Essential for Equitable Healthcare Access How to Make Telehealth Services More Accessible for All Patients Any individual with limited English proficiency (LEP) is eligible for translation or interpretation services when receiving care from healthcare organizations that receive federal funding. This includes families whose primary language is not English. These services are required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which protect patients from discrimination based on language barriers.  No. Translation services for families in healthcare must be provided free of charge to patients with LEP when the organization receives federal funding. This includes in-person interpretation, phone or video interpretation, and translated written materials such as forms, prescriptions, and discharge instructions. According to the HHS Office for Civil Rights, these services must be readily available to ensure meaningful access.  Families should inform the front desk, admissions team, or care providers that they need language support. Hospitals are expected to have protocols in place to provide interpreters on-site, over the phone, or via video. In many cases, translated materials—such as consent forms or discharge instructions—should also be available. If families are unsure, they can ask for “language assistance” or “interpreter services” at any time during their visit.  Translation refers to converting written content (like forms or discharge instructions) from one language to another. Interpretation, on the other hand, is verbal or signed conversation and used during interactions—like doctor visits or telehealth appointments. Both services are critical components of effective language access for families.  While accurate translation is critical, cultural competency helps ensure that healthcare communication is not only understood but also respectful and relevant. Providers can work with professional language service providers who offer culturally informed translations. Training staff on cross-cultural communication and hiring multilingual personnel also strengthens this effort. Together, cultural competency and translation services for families build trust, improve patient satisfaction, and lead to better health outcomes.  Only if they’re trained and qualified as medical interpreters. Healthcare facilities must ensure interpreters meet competency standards in medical terminology, ethics, and confidentiality. While many bilingual staff want to help, relying on untrained personnel can lead to serious miscommunications and liability risks.  Onsite interpreters are best suited for complex, sensitive, or lengthy medical conversations. When in-person support isn’t selected, video remote interpreting (VRI) or over-the-phone interpreting (OPI) can effectively support simple interactions. Ideally, all three options should be accessible, allowing patients with limited English proficiency to choose their preferred method. Providers should consider the patient’s needs, the context of care, and the complexity of the visit when selecting the appropriate modality.  When healthcare is truly accessible—linguistically, culturally, emotionally—families thrive. Children receive timely, appropriate care. Parents feel supported in making medical decisions. Patients can manage chronic conditions with clarity and confidence.  The long-term benefits are powerful: improved health outcomes, lower costs, reduced disparities, and stronger trust between communities and care providers. Simply put, translation services for families aren’t a bonus—they’re the foundation of equitable care. If your organization is ready to make language access a priority, get a free quote and start building a better experience for every family you serve. Contact us to learn how we can be a trusted partner in your language access efforts.

When seeking out language services, one of the first things people ask is “What is the difference between an interpreter vs. a translator?” After all, interpreting and translation services are both used to convert words and sentences in one language into another. 

While it can be easy to mix the two terms up, the interpreter vs. translator distinction is quite simple: Interpreters work with spoken or signed language, while translators work with written language. They both play a key role in ensuring organizations like healthcare providers and government agencies can communicate clearly with people from different linguistic backgrounds.

In this article, we’ll look at the key differences between an interpreter vs. translator, focusing on the skills required of both roles. We’ll also answer some commonly asked questions about interpreters and translators, while also shedding light on why many organizations need to work with both in order to provide truly equitable and accessible services.  Table of Contents

- Interpreter vs. Translator: Defining the Roles
- What Is an Interpreter?
- What Is a Translator?
- Interpreters vs. Translators: Differences
- Interpreters vs. Translators: Similarities
- Why Translators and Interpreters Are Both Necessary
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Summary As we’ve discussed, interpreters work with spoken or signed language while translators work with written language. In short: Interpreters talk, translators type. Let’s take a closer look at the day-to-day work of an interpreter vs. translator. A professional interpreter works in real time, converting speech from one language to another language. This enables two parties who don’t speak the same language to have a free and spontaneous conversation with one another.

There are many different kinds of interpreting services:
Likewise, there are multiple different ways interpreting services can be delivered. While interpreters may deliver their services in person, it’s also common for them to do so on the phone (this is known as over-the-phone interpreting) or via video call (this is known as video remote interpreting).

Here are a few examples of instances where you might use the services of an interpreter: A professional translator, on the other hand, receives documents—such as brochures, webpages, forms, etc.—in one language and translates them into another language. 

There are many different kinds of translation services, each specialized for different kinds of texts. For example, legal translators are particularly knowledgeable about technical legal terminology that rarely comes up outside of legal contexts. Literary translators, on the other hand, take a more creative approach in translating works of literature, such as novels and plays.

One term you’ll often come across when seeking document translation services is “machine translation post-editing.” This is a service in which translation software is used to produce a translation of a text that is then reviewed and edited by a human who is familiar with the source and target languages, confirming that the text is accurately translated. This method saves quite a bit of time, though human translators tend to yield the highest quality, as they’re able to understand idiomatic phrases and cultural nuance better than translation software can.

Here are a few examples where you might use translation services: As we’ve discussed, there’s a clear distinction between an interpreter vs. translator. While their jobs may seem fairly similar, each role requires a unique set of skills. Besides their focus on written vs. spoken or signed language, there are several key differences that you should know about when deciding whether you need to contract the services of an interpreter vs. translator: 1. Mode of Communication: 2. Settings and Usage:
3. Speed and Timing:
4. Interpersonal Interaction:
5. Accuracy and Nuance:
6. Certification and Specialization:
7. Technology:
8. Cultural Sensitivity: Despite all of these differences, interpreters and translators do have their fair share of similarities: If you’re reading up on the difference between an interpreter vs. translator, odds are, you’re wondering which of the two is right for your organization. But if you work with a large number of LEP individuals, it’s likely you’ll need the services of both at some point. That’s because they complement one another, allowing organizations to fully offer their services in multiple different languages. 

The United States is an increasingly multilingual society: As of 2020, 22% of the population spoke a language other than English at home. That percentage has been steadily rising over the last few decades. Among this population, people speak English at varying levels. While many speak English, there’s a significant group of people who speak English at a very basic level, with about 25 million people—that’s 8% of the population—considered to have LEP.

If you provide your services to people with LEP, it’s not a question of interpreter vs. translator, but rather, when to use which. By working with both interpreters and translators, you ensure that LEP individuals have equitable access to the critical services provided by healthcare organizations, government agencies, and more.  While some translators also provide interpreting services, not all translators are equipped to provide interpreting services. Interpreters convert spoken or signed language from one language to another in real time. Translators, on the other hand, convert written texts from one language to another. It depends. If you need somebody to enable real-time conversations between two parties that do not speak the same language (for example, a patient with LEP and a doctor), you need an interpreter. If you have a document in one language and need it converted to another language, you need a translator. Hospitals typically work with both interpreters and translators. Interpreters allow patients with LEP to communicate with their care team and hospital administrative staff, while translators ensure that documents such as discharge forms, doctor’s notes, etc. are accessible to patients with LEP. Courts also work with both interpreters and translators. Courts typically work with interpreters during hearings to ensure that individuals with LEP can fully understand and participate in the hearing. Courts are required by law to provide an interpreter to LEP individuals at no cost. Additionally, courts may use translation services to make sure that relevant paperwork and documents are available to LEP individuals. The difference between an interpreter vs. translator is fairly straightforward. While interpreters work in real-time, converting speech from one language to another, translators work with the written word. But despite the clear differences between a translator vs. interpreter, they play complementary roles that enable organizations to cater their services to as many people as possible. By working with both interpreters and translators, you enable LEP individuals to access your services just as easily as a native English speaker could. If you’re looking for interpreting or translation services (or both), Avantpage can help. Fill out this form to get a free quote or contact us at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040 to learn more.

Language access plays a key role in healthcare equity — research shows that individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) are more likely to go without necessary medical care and face higher readmission rates than patients who speak English.  By providing language access measures that reduce the risk of miscommunication between LEP patients and their care team, healthcare providers can ensure equitable healthcare access for patients who don’t speak English. One simple way to do this is to work with a Spanish medical interpreter to aid your Spanish-speaking patients. After English, Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the United States, with more than 40 million speakers nationwide. Among the population of individuals with LEP, about 63% are Spanish speakers — that means having a Spanish medical interpreter on your team is a critical first step toward improving healthcare equity and supporting LEP patients. Table of Contents

- The Impact of Language Barriers on Healthcare
- The Growing Need for Spanish Medical Interpreters
- The Role of a Spanish Medical Interpreter in Healthcare
- How Spanish Medical Interpreters Improve Patient Outcomes
- Legal and Ethical Considerations
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion Patients need to be able to communicate seamlessly with doctors, nurses, and other members of their care team — when LEP patients don’t have access to an interpreter, things can go terribly awry.

One often-cited example of the importance of qualified medical interpreters is the Willie Ramirez case. In 1980, Willie Ramirez, an 18-year-old Spanish speaker went to the hospital for pain in his head. Friends and family stepped in to provide impromptu interpretation for Willie and his doctors, but doctors were unable to diagnose him properly due to miscommunication. In the end, Willie lost his arms and legs as a result of the delay in diagnosis and care — had a qualified medical interpreter been present, it’s likely that a diagnosis could have been made much faster.

Willie’s case might seem extreme, but the truth is that LEP patients face a wide range of barriers to healthcare that exert an emotional toll on them as well. Struggling to understand one’s care team can be a frustrating experience at best and a dangerous one at worst. Spanish is by far the most widely spoken language in the United States after English — with around 42 million speakers, Spanish is spoken by about 12 times as many people as the third most widely spoken language, Chinese. Almost 40% of those Spanish speakers are considered to have LEP, meaning that they speak little to no English.

And that population is growing: in the last 25 years, the Spanish-speaking population in the United States has risen drastically, from just under 30 million in 2000. According to Forbes, one in three people living in the United States is projected to speak Spanish by 2050.

With more and more Spanish speakers living in the United States, Spanish medical interpreters will play an even more important role in reducing gaps in healthcare equity and improving healthcare outcomes for Spanish speakers with LEP. Spanish medical interpreters enable seamless communication between patients and their caretakers, by translating speech in real-time between Spanish and English. As a patient explains their circumstances in Spanish, they relay that information to the care team in English; then, as the doctor or nurse speaks in English, the interpreter relays that information to the patient in Spanish.

Interpreter services for healthcare come in a few different forms:

No matter what kind of interpreter service you choose, an interpreter will help your patients express themselves freely in their native language. Whether you’re providing care to somebody in the emergency room or offering mental health services, a Spanish language interpreter will allow you to rest assured that your Spanish-speaking patients with LEP understand what you’re saying to them. Interpreter services for healthcare ensure that LEP patients have access to the same crucial information about their care that English-speaking patients do. In turn, this improves the patient’s sense of trust in their healthcare provider.

Studies show that language gaps and miscommunication lead to higher readmission rates among patients with LEP. By working with a qualified medical interpreter, your organization can build trust with LEP patients and reduce their likelihood of needing to be readmitted to the hospital. You may also like... Language and Trust: How Communication Shapes Health Outcomes 10 Common Misconceptions about Interpreting How to Provide Language Access for Indigenous Languages Besides enabling patients to receive adequate care, interpreter services for healthcare are also required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. These laws ensure that patients with LEP have a right to access interpreting services when seeking medical care from institutions that receive federal funding.

There are several other legal and ethical considerations to make. The interpreters themselves must comply with HIPAA regulations, ensuring patient confidentiality and privacy during all interpreted interactions. Additionally, a qualified medical interpreter must remain neutral and accurate, conveying information faithfully without adding their personal opinion or omitting any details. Here are some answers to common questions about Spanish medical interpreters. A Spanish medical interpreter is needed whenever a Spanish-speaking patient has trouble understanding or communicating in English during routine appointments, emergency care, mental health sessions, and follow-up appointments. A Spanish medical interpreter is a professional who is proficient in Spanish and another language (in this case, primarily English). Medical interpreters are trained on specialized medical terminology that allows them to act as a sort of linguistic intermediary between healthcare providers and patients with LEP, ensuring seamless and confidential communication in a healthcare setting. Healthcare facilities work with language service providers to offer a wide range of Spanish medical interpreter services, including over-the-phone interpreting, video remote interpreting, and on-site interpreting. They may also hire their own multilingual staff and interpreters. No. A medical interpreter works in real-time, enabling spoken communication between two parties that do not speak the same language. They often use consecutive interpreting methods, listening and translating speech in segments. Medical translators, on the other hand, translate written text from one language to another, such as member communications, member letters, evidence of coverage, brochures, medical marketing materials, and more. Although qualified medical interpreters may be trained in healthcare terminology, they may not necessarily be qualified to act as Spanish medical translators. The two roles require distinct skill sets. As such, it’s best to seek out a certified Spanish medical translator for any written documents you may need translated. Yes. Healthcare facilities that receive federal funding are required under Title VI of the Civil Rights act to provide language assistance, including a Spanish language interpreter, to patients with LEP. Although the actual conversation matter must remain confidential, the Association of American Medical Colleges advises healthcare providers to document the use of a qualified medical interpreter. The medical office should keep record of the following details:

- Date, time, and duration of the interpreter services
- Name or identification number of the interpreter
- The type of interpreter service used (over-the-phone, video remote, or onsite)
- Confirmation that the patient understood the medical information discussed
- Patient refusal of interpreter services (if applicable) Patients can request an interpreter at check-in, during appointments, or in emergencies. Most hospitals and healthcare providers have their own interpretation department to ensure the availability of interpretation services. This is not recommended. Some patients may rely on bilingual family members as informal or impromptu interpreters, but professional medical interpreters are a much safer option. Because professional interpreters are familiar with complex medical terminology, they’re better suited to help LEP patients than bilingual individuals who are untrained in interpreting or medical terminology. Spanish medical interpreters can save lives — by improving communication between Spanish-speaking patients and their doctors, interpreters empower patients to better understand and express their medical condition. By giving patients access to a qualified medical interpreter, healthcare facilities can do their part to improve equity in healthcare. Healthcare facilities looking to improve their language assistance services should invest in Spanish medical interpreters — get a free quote today, or contact us at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040 to learn more.

When you’re looking for a language service provider to translate content for your business, you want your translators to be familiar with the ins and outs of your industry. If you work in healthcare or life sciences, that means finding a language service provider that specializes in medical translations.
 
Medical translation encompasses a wide range of content relating to healthcare, such as training materials for medical devices, health insurance claims, clinical trials, and patient care instructions, just to name a few. Due to the sensitive nature of medical documents, most countries have strict regulations on the way these documents are handled during the translation process, so it’s critical that you work with specialized language service providers who are compliant with said regulations.
 
Medical translations tend to follow a more rigorous process than general translations — i.e., less specialized, non-sensitive texts like administrative documents, letters, and webpage content. Because medical documents often need to be delivered within a short timeframe, translators have to work with extremely short turnaround times, sometimes in as little as 4 hours. At the same time, medical translations cannot skimp on quality — these texts are often quite high-stakes and a decline in a translation’s quality can lead to a decline in the patient’s care.
 
Additionally, regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandate a degree of privacy for patients, requiring language service providers to take special security measures, like masking patient health information (PHI) and storing all data on US-based servers.
 
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the key ways in which the medical translation process differs from general translations. We’ll also explain how these differences ensure timely and high-quality care for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). There are three main ways in which translating medical documents differs from general translation: These aren’t just a matter of access — timely, high-quality medical translations enable improved care of LEP patients. By adopting a more rigorous translation process for these documents, we can create a more equitable and inclusive healthcare system for patients with LEP. Let’s take a closer look at each of these aspects: A delay in care can have a negative impact on a patient’s health outcome — as such, the translation process must take place as quickly as possible. At Avantpage, for example, we often work with health plan providers to translate and mail member letters to patients within seven to eight hours. This fast process allows us to help our clients meet strict regulations that such letters be delivered to the patient within a 72-hour timeframe. Such timeliness is critical because it minimizes any delays in patient care. In turn, this means patients experience improved health outcomes, and also protects healthcare providers from legal troubles. For example, a 2013 report from the National Health Law Program describes a medical malpractice suit in which a seven-year-old boy was misdiagnosed with strep due to his LEP father not receiving language access services in a timely fashion. By the time he was correctly diagnosed with Kawasaki’s disease, the child had experienced damage to his organs; when the case was settled, the provider had to pay more than $100,000 in damages and legal fees. In this case, timely translation services would have saved the boy’s organs and would have cost significantly less than the legal fees associated with the malpractice suit. Although translators typically work on an expedited timeline for medical translations, they can’t sacrifice quality. Due to the vital nature of their content, medical translations have very little room for error — it’s absolutely crucial that they be of the highest quality possible, as even minor errors can have a significant negative impact on the quality of patient care. Medical translations must be culturally and linguistically appropriate so as to ensure that patients can easily comprehend all medical communications — as if they were originally developed in their preferred language. Medical texts often feature complex, highly specific terminology, requiring translators who specialize in and are familiar with such terminology. Errors in medical translation can have a life-or-death effect, potentially worsening a patient’s condition, so it’s important to work with translators who have a proven track record in the medical translation field. The medical translation process also involves a series of in-depth quality assurance (QA) measures, to make sure that the final product meets industry standards. Proofreaders ensure that there are no typographical errors, while QA specialists run various tests to make sure that terminology is translated accurately and clearly. The QA process is particularly rigorous for medical translations, though it’s not uncommon for general translations to undergo a similar QA process. There are various regulations in place that language service providers must comply with when producing medical translations. The most notable is HIPAA, which requires healthcare providers to protect the privacy of their patients. When contracting medical translation services, you should make sure that your provider is equipped to fully comply with these regulations. One way language service providers might do this is by masking any patient health information (PHI) before it gets to the translators. Individual translators should not be able to access any data that could compromise the patient’s privacy, meaning details like name, social security number, address, etc. should all be removed before translation. Once the final translation is complete, these details can be added back in at the very last step. Technology like Avantpage’s AvantShield enables seamless PHI masking and ensures HIPAA-compliant medical translations. Another consideration to keep in mind is your language service provider’s geographic location. In some cases, patient data must be stored on US grounds. Additionally, there may be situations that require projects to be handled only by US-based linguists and project managers. Because of all the special considerations that need to be made during the medical translation process, it’s important that healthcare providers work with language service providers who are deeply familiar with medical translation. To recap, here’s how medical translations differ from the standard translation process: At Avantpage, we work closely with healthcare providers to ensure that medical translations meet their requirements for timeliness, quality and compliance. If you’re looking for a language service provider that can help you provide LEP patients with culturally and linguistically appropriate services, contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040.

If you’re looking to improve your organization’s language access measures, you may want to consider leveraging an advisory board that specializes in language access and accessibility. Advisory boards can play a helpful role in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your organization’s language access measures (or lack thereof) and provide actionable insights into improving services for limited English proficient individuals.

Whether you work for a federal government agency or an election office in a small town, it’s quite likely that your work impacts individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). An advisory board that specializes in matters of language access can help you identify ways in which your organization can better serve those individuals.
 
These groups can play an invaluable role in monitoring and improving your language access efforts, as they take a look at the bigger picture to point out weak spots that you may not notice when you’re focused on the day-to-day aspects of your work. They can also provide answers to any specific questions you might have and serve as a great way to crowdsource community members and find community leaders.
 
Advisory boards come in all shapes and sizes — essentially, they consist of a group of specialists and stakeholders who meet regularly to develop solutions to problems that a community might face. These can include language service professionals like translators and interpreters, but an effective advisory board will incorporate a broad range of perspectives: recruiting community leaders, individuals with LEP, and others who are impacted by your services will ensure that you have a wide range of viewpoints to develop an innovative solution.
 
There are plenty of advisory boards that focus on language matters already — for instance, the US Election Assistance Commission’s Language Access Roundtable convenes regularly to “discuss topics and resources available to election officials as they serve language minority voters.”
 
While it’s possible to join an already existing advisory board, you should also consider taking the time to set one up specifically for your organization or industry. This way, you can tailor the advisory board to your organization’s unique needs. In this blog post, we’ll show you how you can set up your own language access advisory board to set you up for success. How Language Access Strengthens Communities Case Study: Bridging the Digital Divide in Minority Communities Learn more about our Translation Services
Starting up your own advisory board can be a daunting task. If you’re not sure where to begin, we’ve broken the process down into four simple steps that will help you get started:
There are plenty of other advisory boards that focus on language-related issues already. Take some time to gather basic information on these advisory boards — look at their members and their experience, as well as their bylaws and meeting minutes if they’re publicly available. This will give you a better idea of what kinds of people to seek out when inviting different community members and stakeholders to join your advisory board.
 
This research should give you some inspiration for structuring your board and planning all the details out. A few examples of advisory boards you can look to in your research include the Language Access Collaborative in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Language Access Services Section of the National Center for State Courts. By getting familiar with the work that other advisory boards do, you can get a better sense of what you want yours to do for your organization.

After conducting research into and getting inspiration from other advisory boards, it’s time to narrow in on your own board. Start by determining the overarching goal of your advisory board — some common goals you might want to focus on include: Once you’ve figured out the scope of your advisory board, you can pin down the different experts and stakeholders you’ll need to serve on your board.
 
If improving language access is the focal point of your advisory board, you’ll want to focus your efforts on consulting with interpreters, translators, other language service experts, and multilingual community members who understand the needs of LEP individuals; on the other hand, if you’re focused more on diversity and equity as a whole, you’ll want to work with DEI specialists and the community members who use your services.
 

Advisory boards are most effective when they include a diverse group of voices — people who have LEP and community leaders should also play a key role in your advisory board.[3]  Make sure to target a wide range of prospective board members. You’ll want to get perspectives from the people who use your services, front of staff, buyers and requesters of services, industry leaders, and language-specific experts, just to name a few. If you already have some stakeholders in mind, go ahead and invite them to join the board directly. But don’t stop there — cast a wide net by posting open calls to sign up on social media and ask others to share as well. In your outreach efforts, be sure to be clear about your goals in setting up the advisory board and what your expectations are. If you need some inspiration for your outreach efforts, take a look at this Linkedin post from the New York City Civic Engagement Commission, promoting their Language Assistance Advisory Committee.
 
Notice that the application in the Linkedin post above is very clear about the commitment level expected of council members. In your outreach efforts, be as clear as you possibly can — outline the frequency of meetings and, if possible, when and where the board’s meetings will take place. Working with an advisory board is an excellent way to improve your organization’s language access services. And while there are many out there already, you may find that setting up your own advisory board allows you to gain more useful, custom-tailored insights into your organization’s strengths and weaknesses. Here are some simple steps to get started: If you’re looking to improve your organization’s language access plan, Avantpage can help. We offer language access consulting services that help you expand your language services and adapt to evolving needs. Reach out to us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040 to learn more.

Reframed this as bullet points, rather than questions — I think it's a little bit clearer now, but let me know what you think
Does "members" work better than "specialists and stakeholders" here?
Added a new sentence here, per previous comments Contact us today for a brief call to explore how Avantpage can be your trusted language access partner, working together to find the best solution tailored to your needs.

It’s simple, but true: Patients need to be able to trust their healthcare providers. From routine doctor’s appointments to calling their insurance provider, it’s important that patients are confident in their provider’s ability to give them the highest quality of care possible.   After all, the healthcare system can be daunting — fostering a sense of trust allows patients to open up and feel secure in doing so. And when patients feel open and secure, they’re able to advocate for themselves better, improving the outcome of their care.  Building trust with your patients can be a challenge, though, especially for health insurance providers. This is doubly true when it comes to building trust with patients who have limited English proficiency (LEP) and other minorities that have historically been marginalized within the healthcare system.   While programs like Medicare and Medicaid aim to improve healthcare outcomes for historically marginalized members of society, inequality in the healthcare system remains—research indicates that even today, racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower quality care than their white counterparts. As a result, it can be challenging for members of these groups to fully trust their providers. For individuals with LEP, language gaps can make it even more difficult to build trust.   Measurements of equity in the healthcare system like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Health Equity Index incentivize providers to emphasize equity in their practice—higher scores on these measures can help your patients trust you.   In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the ways in which health insurance plans can improve their communication with LEP patients and feel more trusting—because at the end of the day, that trust leads to a better patient-provider relationship, ultimately boosting the quality of care and saving lives.  Effective CMS Marketing for Multilingual Healthcare Materials Translating Member Letters for State-Managed Health Plans Listening is the foundation of trust — especially for LEP patients navigating the complexities of our healthcare system. By actively listening to LEP patients, health plan providers can gain insight into the unique challenges they face.  
 
Listening isn’t just about gathering feedback from plan members — it’s about actually doing something with that feedback. To build a sense of trust in your patients, it’s critical that you take their input and co-create relevant solutions with community leaders, advisory groups, and other experts. This approach fosters a sense of inclusion and empowers LEP members to voice their concerns openly — here’s how you can take an active approach to listening to your LEP patients. 
Surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews can give you valuable information about the experiences and needs of your LEP plan members.  
 
Working with a trusted language service provider, you can develop multilingual surveys that LEP plan members can complete. Likewise, you can partner with community-based organizations (CBOs) and other cultural experts to help coordinate focus groups and interviews in languages spoken prominently among the LEP communities you’re targeting. 
 
These are just a few examples of ways to get feedback from your LEP patients — by leveraging them, health plans can identify gaps in service, improve communications, and create a more seamless and comprehensive experience that fosters long-term trust and satisfaction. 
Feedback is a crucial tool for refining your services — by acting on the feedback you receive from LEP patients in surveys and focus groups, you can show patients you’re actually listening to them, thereby building a strong sense of trust. 
 
The feedback you receive from LEP members will likely uncover gaps in communication, accessibility, and overall service delivery. By creating consistent feedback loops — i.e., regularly conducting surveys and focus groups — you can address these issues proactively. This process not only improves the user experience but also demonstrates a commitment to listening and adapting.  
 
When you consider member feedback, you may find instances where you can make tangible improvements to the patient’s experience: you might find that you can simplify forms, develop better outreach strategies in certain languages, or improve interpreter access. These changes will all add up to build a sense of trust toward your organization.  
Be sure to be transparent and open when conducting these outreach efforts. Make sure to inform members of why you’re reaching out to them and how you plan to use their feedback. This transparency is essential to building trust with LEP plan members, while also building goodwill and trust. 
 
In some instances, it may be worthwhile to share the results of surveys and focus groups with plan members — this gives them a better idea of how you plan to act on their feedback. As you adjust your practices and act on feedback, patients can rest assured that you’re making changes that are rooted in their own ideas and insights. This incentivizes further participation and creates a foundation of trust that leads to stronger, more equitable healthcare relationships.  When LEP patients trust their health insurance provider, they navigate the healthcare system with a sense of agency and security that allows them to be the best possible advocate for themselves. As a health plan provider, building trust means listening to your patients and being adaptable to their input. Here’s how you can do that:  Foster and maintain confident relationships with your LEP patients and health plan members through translation, interpreting, and other language services. Contact us today at (530) 750-2040 or at info@avantpage.com to learn more about how we can help you. 

With more than 400 languages spoken within its borders, the United States is one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world. That’s thanks, in large part, to the nation’s large immigrant communities, who bring their languages here from all across the globe.  From widely documented languages like Spanish and Mandarin to less commonly spoken Native American languages and sign languages, the United States is undoubtedly a bastion of linguistic diversity.   In spite of the nation’s robust sense of multilingualism, English remains the predominant language of most aspects of life here. The descendants of the immigrants that make our country so diverse grow less and less likely to speak the heritage languages with each successive generation born here — that means that the US-born-and-raised grandchildren of Venezuelan immigrants, for example, are much more likely to speak English as a first (and only) language than they are to speak Spanish.  Without some sort of intervention, after a family migrates from one country to another, their language typically vanishes within three generations. In part, this is a natural phenomenon — people move to the US and their children pick up the language they encounter most frequently. Still, we can do more to preserve the linguistic heritage of immigrants and their children: Supporting local families to keep their native languages through interpreting, translations, and engagement has far-reaching benefits beyond cultural heritage and ethics.  By improving language access, we can slow down — or even reverse — the pace at which immigrant languages vanish, thereby strengthening the linguistic diversity of our country. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the ways in which improved language access and stronger linguistic retention can benefit American society.  Language and Trust: How Communication Shapes Health Outcomes The Positive Impact of Diversity and Immigrants How to Provide Language Access for Indigenous Languages Language access enables speakers of languages other than English to maintain their linguistic heritage — by offering translation and interpreting services in as many aspects of their day-to-day life as possible, we enable them and their children to engage in their native or heritage language without English impeding on it.   In turn, these languages will flourish in the United States, rather than disappearing after a few generations. Here are five key ways in which this linguistic diversity benefits everyone residing in the country.  Linguistic diversity directly contributes to economic vitality. Multilingual communities attract global talent and create opportunities for international partnerships, positioning cities as hubs of innovation and collaboration. It’s no coincidence that New York City — often heralded as the most linguistically diverse city on the planet — is the nation’s financial epicenter.  Local businesses thrive by catering to a diverse range of customers from different backgrounds, while multilingualism enables stronger connections in global trade. Furthermore, fostering language retention strengthens cultural tourism, drawing visitors eager for unique experiences tied to vibrant linguistic heritage.  Promoting language access also helps residents feel a sense of belonging in their communities. Providing multilingual resources in areas as diverse as healthcare, education, and public services reduces barriers and creates equitable opportunities for non-English speakers.   Inclusive policies that embrace linguistic diversity encourage greater civic engagement and empower residents to actively participate in shaping their neighborhoods. By supporting language preservation, we can strengthen interpersonal connections between diverse groups, and reduce social inequities.  Language access doesn’t just enable linguistic preservation — it also empowers immigrant communities to pass down their culture to the next generation. Speaking their heritage language allows the children and grandchildren of immigrants to interact with their ancestral culture — the art, film, literature, etc. These heritage speakers often create cultural hubs within their communities, organizing festivals and centers that celebrate their culture. Many of the cultural events that we enjoy most — cultural film festivals or concerts — are made possible by immigrants and their offspring.  Exposure to multiple languages improves cognitive skills such as problem solving and attention span. Students in linguistically diverse environments also gain valuable communication skills. These skills prove to be highly valuable outside of the realm of language: strong problem-solving and communication skills create lifelong learners who are well-equipped to contribute their knowledge to the good of society.  Classroom interpreters and native-language instruction support students' language retention and also ensure that they continue to use their home languages after starting school, strengthening their family ties and cultural identity. In addition, multilingual education creates inclusive classrooms that celebrate diversity and help all students develop empathy and an appreciation for different perspectives.  In an increasingly globalized world, the importance of multilingualism is hard to overstate. While English maintains a sort of global lingua franca status, people still prefer to communicate in their native language.  By supporting the use of non-English languages at every level of our society, residents of the US can be better prepared to interact and engage with people from different countries. This ultimately results in a better understanding of other cultures. On a local level, this means a better sense of harmony between immigrant communities and native-born Americans. On a global level, cities that embrace multilingualism are well-positioned as points of international commerce, diplomacy, and cultural exchange.   A multilingual society has many advantages. By supporting immigrant languages in the United States through language access measures like interpreting and translation, heritage speakers and English speakers alike can enjoy the following benefits of living in a linguistically diverse community:  If you’re looking to foster multilingualism in your community through improved language access, Avantpage is here to help. We offer a wide range of language services to help your organization connect with immigrant communities — contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040. 

Since ChatGPT dropped in 2022, large language models (LLMs) have been all the rage. ChatGPT and similar tools like Claude and Gemini have been heralded as high-powered productivity tools that can streamline your workflow and make many of our day-to-day work tasks significantly easier. And while it may be true that they can make our jobs a little bit easier, that doesn’t mean they can make our jobs easy. In the field of translation, LLMs have been widely applied alongside machine translation (MT) tools to produce fluent and accurate translations from one language into the next. But organizations looking to translate their content should be careful when employing tools like ChatGPT to translate texts — though they may yield accurate literal translations, these translations may not be fully adequate for your needs as a business. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at five key areas in which AI tools like ChatGPT are still lacking when it comes to translations. From their struggle to understand context to their tendency to editorialize, these are some of the most common issues you’ll want to look out for if you plan on using any of these LLMs to translate your content. Although LLMs can produce pretty accurate literal translations, they’re still not great for situations where you need to translate culturally nuanced language like idioms and other common expressions. According to a 2024 study, AI still struggles to make sense of (and thus, translate accurately) culturally nuanced phrases and ambiguities that human linguists are better prepared to parse out. So while these tools may excel with simple texts like routine forms and paperwork, you’ll still need a human in the loop when translating more complex texts like marketing brochures and web pages. If you’ve ever tried to correct ChatGPT after it produces inaccurate output, you know just how hard it is to get LLMs to correct themselves. But making corrections and editing our work is a key part of a translator’s work — language service professionals catch errors in the moment and adjust accordingly all the time. In a 2023 study, researchers found that LLMs have trouble “self-correcting” — that is, refining future output based, either on their “inherent capabilities” or on feedback to previous responses. According to the study, LLMs struggle to “self-correct their responses without external feedback, and at times, their performance even degrades after self-correction.” That means that these tools may produce errors and then repeat those errors throughout a given text. If you’re using these tools for translation, you’ll need to make sure somebody knowledgeable about both the target and source language is carefully reviewing the output and editing it to minimize these errors. LLMs have raised a wide range of data privacy concerns, and organizations working in highly regulated industries like healthcare and law should be leery of using them for translation tasks. Different industries and locations have different standards of data privacy, so it’s important to be aware of what is and isn’t acceptable for your circumstances. For example, LLMs are generally not HIPAA-compliant — healthcare organizations using this tool to translate texts into another language must make sure to mask any patient health information (PHI) such as name, date of birth, social security number, etc. before putting it into the tool. That means healthcare organizations must be careful to either manually or through automations (AvantShield) scan the original text for any such information and remove it entirely from the text, to avoid issues with HIPAA compliance. In addition to data privacy, another common concern that experts have raised about AI is its implicit biases. All sorts of AI models have drawn criticism for their biases — take, for example, Amazon’s recruiting tool that showed a bias against women applicants in the search and hire process. Such biases may also come up in LLMs performing translation tasks. LLMs are particularly notorious for tone-shifting and editorializing in their translations. They may shift the overall tone of a text to more closely align with its own standards of tone — for example, rephrasing a common yet pejorative buzzword like “woke” as something more neutral, like “aware of social inequality.” The translation of this phrase would in turn lose the connotation understood by the original terminology, harming the overall quality of the translation. Although LLMs can produce highly accurate and fluent text in languages like English, Spanish and French, the same isn’t true for all languages. These tools are trained on massive amounts of text in various languages, primarily taken from the internet — there’s more available input for languages like English and Spanish than there is for Pashto, for example. Languages with more training data will be easier to translate between; on the other hand, LLMs will struggle to produce accurate translations in languages that don’t have a large digital presence — like indigenous languages of the Americas, for example. LLMs may be useful tools, but they’re still far from adequate replacements for human linguists. Instead, human linguists should take a smart, balanced approach to incorporating AI tools into their workflow. By correctly identifying the proper use scenarios of AI in the translation process, we can leverage AI tools in an effective way that speeds things up without sacrificing the overall quality. Here’s why:
 
LLMs struggle to understand cultural or historical context that may be relevant to certain texts, making transcreation and localization tasks nearly impossible with AI alone.
These tools aren’t great at correcting themselves, even when they receive external feedback.
Organizations working in highly regulated industries like healthcare need to be careful not to violate data privacy laws.
AI is known for holding implicit biases which may affect the quality and content of the final translation.
The overall quality of translation will vary by language — languages that do not have a significant digital presence have less training data to draw from and produce an accurate translation.
 
At Avantpage, we’re well aware of the limits of AI tools in the translation process. We have a technologically driven translation workflow, with human linguists involved for quality control. If you need translation or localization services, contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040.
 

Translation and interpretation are a key part of making sure that government services and programs are accessible to everyone who lives in the United States, regardless of their linguistic background. But government agencies often work on a tight budget, and translating document after document and contracting interpreting services can be costly and time-consuming. Fortunately, translation companies understand the constraints that government agencies have to work under. In order to help government agencies reduce costs and save time, we leverage a wide range of technologies, such as machine translation, translation memory, and automated workflows, just to name a few. These tools streamline the translation process making every step quicker, from the initial phase of commissioning language services to the actual translating of documents from one language to another. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at four different kinds of translation technologies that are widely used to help government agencies reduce costs and improve efficiency of language services. If you’ve ever used apps like Google Translate or Microsoft Translator, you’re familiar with the basics of machine translation (MT). In the language services industry, businesses use more advanced MT tools that allow for a degree of customization. When you use a free tool like Google Translate, the process is fairly simple: You input text in one language, and the app generates a translation of that text in a matter of seconds. But this can yield inconsistent and, perhaps more importantly, inaccurate translations. When professional translators utilize MT tools, the process is much more complex — we factor in glossary creation and translation memory to make sure that the translation generated matches the client’s standards. The glossary creation process entails the creation of a database of key terms and phrases that are typically specific to a client’s industry or company. Oftentimes, literal translation of these words from one language to another will lead to inaccurate results; by creating a glossary to incorporate into the MT process, you ensure that these terms will be translated appropriately and consistently. Likewise, translation memory (TM) technology stores past translations so that the MT tool can re-use them when needed. This can be helpful for specific phrases, sentences or paragraphs that come up frequently in your documents — think forms, boilerplates, etc. Over time, TM can reduce the actual word count of your translation projects, in turn lowering the cost as well. Some of our clients who leverage this technology translate an average of around 60 words for every 100, thanks to previous translations that TM reuses. These technologies come together to reduce the turnaround time and cost of your translation. Glossary creation and TM make your translations more consistent, while MT makes the translation process much faster. Language service providers work with human linguists during each step of the MT process, ensuring that translations produced by MT tools are accurate. These linguists carefully review MT output so you can be assured that your translations are of high quality. Acting as centralized hubs for communication between clients and language service providers, client portals simplify workflows and offer tools that can save time and overhead costs. When it comes to language services, there are three main types of client portals: general, one-stop-shop portals, interpreting platforms and translation management system (TMS) platforms. The former are comprehensive platforms where clients can manage translation projects, submit files, track progress, and even handle payments in one place. These platforms can include cloud storage for file management, template requests for recurring projects, and data insights, which allow users to monitor project trends and performance. On the other hand, interpreting platforms focus on interpreting services — using a company’s interpreting platform gives you access to real-time language services like on-demand video remote interpreting and over-the-phone interpreting. Many interpreting platforms also highlight domain-specific expertise, regulatory compliance, and transparency regarding minimum fees or subscription requirements. Agencies that have their own internal language teams may want to work with a translation company that also has a TMS platform. Your linguists may use this portal to monitor progress on projects, perform the translations, and communicate preferred terminology. By leveraging these platforms, government agencies can enhance their efficiency and responsiveness, delivering high-quality language services while staying within budget. The general portals ease communication between you and the translation agency — after all, it’s easy to lose track of important information when all your communication is over email and phone calls. It also gives you the data needed to analyze how you’re using language services and how to be more efficient. Likewise, interpreting platforms allow you to tap into a network of interpreters that are ready to provide their services at a moment’s notice. To translate documents efficiently, translators need to receive documents in editable formats such as .txt and .doc files. When clients provide non-editable texts such as .pdfs or paper documents, the LSP must convert them into editable formats – in the past, this was a rather tedious and time-consuming task requiring manual keying. Fortunately, optical character recognition (OCR) technology has made this process a breeze, allowing for automated file processing. By eliminating the need for manual data entry, OCR technology saves you time and money. Companies use OCR technology to scan files such as .pdfs and physical documents and convert them into text that can be easily edited in a .txt or .doc file. Beyond simple conversion, automated file processing can be seamlessly integrated into translation workflows. For example, once a document has been scanned using OCR, it can be automatically categorized, tagged, and prepared for translation. Likewise, text that has been processed by OCR can be copied and pasted into MT tools to kickstart the translation process. Custom automated workflows provide the flexibility needed to handle unique client requirements. These workflows streamline repetitive tasks and allow organizations to tailor the translation process to their specific needs. Automating your workflow requires us to identify manual steps that can be optimized, such as file preparation or document formatting. A custom workflow might automate tasks like converting documents into required formats, or applying pre-approved glossaries and translation memories to speed up the translation process. By leveraging custom automated workflows, translation companies improve the consistency of translation projects commissioned by a given client. Not all language service providers are equipped to offer customized workflows — if you’re interested in these workflows, check with prospective providers to make sure it’s an option. Language service providers with internal IT teams are often better equipped to offer these tailored solutions. Such teams can design, implement, and maintain custom workflows that align perfectly with a client’s operational goals. Whether you need to translate routine paperwork into Spanish or want to expand the number of languages you can provide over-the-phone interpreting for, translation companies have a wide range of technologies that can make these services affordable without sacrificing on the quality of service. At Avantpage, we’re proud to leverage our proprietary technologies like AvantPortal, AvantMemory, and AvantShield to streamline the translation process for our government clients. If you’re in need of a technology-driven language service provider for your next project, look no further — contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administer critical programs for residents of the United States in need of free or low-cost health plans. These programs are particularly critical for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) — in 2021, nearly 20% of the nation’s population with LEP were enrolled in Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs had LEP. Likewise, 23% of children enrolled in Medicaid had parents who spoke English “less than very well,” back in 2019. As important as these programs are for millions of LEP patients across the nation, their effectiveness ultimately hinges on their ability to connect with and enroll eligible residents. That’s why it’s particularly important that CMS marketing strategies utilize multilingual content — after all, it’s hard to make your message resonate with an audience if they can’t understand the very words you’re using. LEP patients often report difficulty understanding their eligibility for CMS programs. Similarly, many LEP individuals are completely unaware that these programs exist in the first place, due to the prominence of English-language marketing that is simply inaccessible. Multilingual CMS marketing strategies can help with all of this. From creative content like informational videos and brochures to more run-of-the-mill content like SMS messages and letters addressed directly to patients, it’s absolutely critical that Medicare and Medicaid providers connect with people in the language that they speak. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the different approaches you can take when developing a multilingual CMS marketing strategy. While these approaches differ slightly, the end result is the same: CMS marketing campaigns that resonate with people no matter what language they speak. Depending on the resources and budget available to you, you can either craft the marketing content directly in your target languages or you can create content in English first, working with a trusted language service provider to translate the content into your target languages. It may be daunting to craft marketing content in a language you don’t speak — but using this approach allows you to develop marketing campaigns that are authentic and tailored specifically to your target communities. Creating content directly in the target languages requires you to work with a wide range of professionals: in-language copywriters, SEO specialists, marketers and designers, to name a few. By leveraging AI tools, you can easily generate content briefs in the target language and send them off to content specialists who will develop whatever you need — blogs, social media posts, scripts, etc. — in the languages you need them in. By eliminating the need for a translation step, you can ensure that your CMS marketing materials are culturally and linguistically appropriate, without having to wonder if something got lost in translation. That said, there are a handful of trade-offs to this method. To start, contracting marketing professionals in several different languages can get costly. Depending on the number of target languages you’re working in, you also risk fragmentation across different languages — for example, your Spanish content may end up being visually and tonally quite different from your Chinese content. When you work with a language service provider to translate English source material, the provider handles all of the hiring work on their own — if you choose to create content directly in the target language, all of the work of searching for, vetting, and hiring marketing professionals will be placed on your organization. Consider how much time and money your organization has to put toward these materials before opting to go with this approach. You’re likely to find that it’s cheaper and less labor-intensive to create English materials and translate them. If you don’t have access to content marketing professionals who work in your target languages, you can instead develop English-language marketing materials in house before commissioning translation or localization from a language service provider. If you go this route, there are two different approaches you can take: Either you can create content using your brand’s standard tone and voice, or you can use plain language, which will help streamline the translation process and make your content more easily understandable. Below, we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of these two options. This is likely to be the easiest approach for healthcare providers. Your marketing team can simply craft their content as normal, adhering to your standard branding, style, and terminology. Once the content’s been drafted, you can send it off to your language service provider and request the translation services needed. Maintaining your brand voice in the target language will likely require your language service provider to transcreate — rather than simply translate — your content. Though they are closely related processes, transcreation goes a bit deeper than translation. Transcreation attempts to mimic the tone and feel of the original documents, so transcreation specialists have to take into account several additional elements beyond the text itself, such as SEO, local culture, copywriting best practices, design, etc. In the end, this will yield a final product that closely aligns with your brand’s style, while also making sure that the content resonates with LEP individuals. However, transcreation is a more complex process than plain translation. Your language service provider will have to spend more time focusing on your brand’s voice and style, which means you should anticipate a longer turnaround time on projects and potentially higher costs to complete. The term “plain language” refers to writing that is concise and easy to understand on the first read. Standards of plain language might differ quite a bit from your brand’s standard voice and tone, but it can be worth it in the long run to sacrifice your branding a bit for plain language content. Plain language tends to be easier to translate and doesn’t usually require . That means language service providers can typically provide you with a quicker turnaround time on marketing materials that have been written in plain language. This means that it’s particularly suitable for healthcare content under strict regulatory deadlines, such as notices of action and member letters that must be translated and delivered within 72 hours. But using plain language isn’t just about lowering costs and reducing turnaround time on your translations. Health literacy rates in this country are low — 36% of adults in the US have basic or below basic health literacy rates. Plain language breaks down complex medical concepts into small chunks that readers can easily understand. By explaining things in clear, concise language, you make medical information more accessible, enabling patients to understand your message and improve their health literacy. Plain Language Guidelines: Translation Begins with the Source Multilingual marketing strategies are the key to connecting with individuals with LEP. When it comes to programs like Medicare and Medicaid, it’s important that healthcare providers make an effort to engage individuals in all languages so that they can understand their eligibility for free or low-cost healthcare services. Here are a few different approaches to developing multilingual CMS marketing content for LEP patients: No matter which approach you select, the end product will be a CMS marketing campaign that effectively reaches patients with LEP. At Avantpage, we’ll gladly assist you in developing a multilingual marketing strategy. Whether you need translation, transcreation, or web localization, we can help — contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040 to get started.
Browse our most recent blogs covering topics surrounding health equity, language access, and improving social determinants of health through culturally competent care.

For millions of immigrants and refugees living in the United States, navigating essential federal programs poses quite a challenge. Individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) often struggle to access critical services like Medicare — even though these agencies are required by law to offer language access services, individuals with LEP often have trouble accessing them as easily as their English-speaking counterparts. This difficulty arises in part due to the fact that the federal government’s guidelines for supporting individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) are rather outdated — most federal agencies today utilize guidelines based on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) LEP Guidance published in 2002. A lot has changed in the last two decades — so our approach to language access at the federal level should adapt to reflect those changes. In fact, there are a couple of key challenges with the current federal approach to language access. Firstly, federal agencies today usually follow a single set of LEP guidelines for all programs, rather than tailored language access plans for each. While this one-size-fits-all approach might have worked in 2002, it falls short as programs have diversified and gone digital. Additionally, there is little transparency about the effectiveness of these language access plans. Although agencies are required to have them, few processes exist to evaluate their efficacy or enforcement. If you work with a federal agency and are looking for ways to develop a unique and creative language access plan, this blog post will give you some insight into how you can address these challenges, particularly in the research and early phases of development. We’ll start with a look at the stakeholders who will be most impacted by changes to your LEP guidance and then explore the other areas you need to consider, from data collection to IT support. Common Components of a Language Access Plan
While language access measures are put in place to help individuals with LEP, those end users aren’t the only people who will be impacted by changes to your agency’s language access guidelines. It’s also important to consider how this will impact your frontline staff, who are often the first point of contact for LEP individuals. You’ll want to consider the ways your staff typically interact with LEP users — do they talk to them on the phone or is communication mostly through mail or online, text-based channels? Answering questions like this will help you identify weakness in your current processes and customize your plan to a specific program. Ensuring that these staff members are equipped with the necessary training and resources to effectively communicate with LEP individuals is critical for the success of any language access plan. Depending on how they interact with users, you may want to hire additional bilingual staff who can perform these tasks in a language commonly spoken among LEP individuals who seek your services.
Odds are, you’ll need a lot of support from outside sources — vendors like language service providers, as well as DEI consultants, research organizations, community representatives and community-based organizations (CBOs) should play a prominent role in the development and implementation of any language access plan. You can work with language service providers to identify the kinds of language services you need, whether it’s over-the-phone interpreting, document translation, website localization, or something else. Meanwhile, consultants and other organizations can share valuable insights into the specific needs of LEP users. For example, a CBO that works with specific immigrant populations can help you organize focus group sessions with LEP residents who seek access to your programs; DEI consultants can provide you with information about the best practices for making sure your language access plan is equitable and inclusive.
A solid language access plan starts with comprehensive data. Use existing sources like U.S. Census data and the American Community Survey (ACS) to identify LEP demographics and common languages spoken among the immigrants who are most likely to need your services. You should also supplement this with internal data on service usage, user feedback, and past interactions to uncover current language access gaps. Combining this data with the insights provided by vendors and other third parties like CBOs can provide first-hand insights from LEP individuals and staff who interact with them. Collecting both quantitative and qualitative data ensures your language access plan is targeted, effective, and responsive to the actual needs of the community.
The way we connect with one another has changed quite a bit since 2002 — social media and the internet have become critical outreach channels and as such, effective language access requires using them to reach individuals with LEP. Be sure to integrate a mix of digital and traditional methods such as online platforms, printed materials, phone services, and in-person interactions. Websites and apps should be optimized for multilingual access, with clear navigation in users’ preferred languages. Be careful not to put all your eggs in one basket though. Digitization is important, but it’s also important to use print media and other channels, as individuals with LEP (especially elderly folks) may face digital inclusion barriers that English speakers don’t. Don’t overlook community hubs like churches and local nonprofits that LEP individuals trust. Partnering with these groups can help amplify outreach and build awareness of available services. By diversifying communication channels, you enhance the likelihood that LEP users can access critical information and support seamlessly.
In the early phases of planning and developing LEP guidance, you’ll also want to consider the ongoing support you’ll need after the plan’s been implemented. Maybe you’ll need additional support from your IT specialists after localizing your website to make sure that everything functions properly (i.e., you don’t want a link on the Spanish version of your website to direct users to an English webpage or PDF). Additionally, you’ll also want to work with CBOs and community members to receive regular feedback on your language access measures to make sure that you’re able to adapt to the needs of your programs’ LEP users.
Modernizing your language access plans can be a major task — as the DOJ’s federal guidance on language access hasn’t changed much in two decades, there’s a lot to consider after two decades of change in other dimensions. Here are some key questions federal agencies should ask themselves if they plan on developing a language access plan for the modern era: If you’re looking to revamp your agency’s LEP guidance and implement a more modern approach to language access, Avantpage has you covered. We offer translation and interpreting services that are crucial to any language access plan — not to mention, we also offer in-depth language access consulting services to help you lay out a roadmap for your organization. Contact us today at info@avantpage.com or (530) 750-2040 to learn more.