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I celebrated my birthday and Thanksgiving with a visit to the gorgeous Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay Area. The weather was cold and sunny, with beautiful views of  San Francisco, Marin County and Berkeley. We also visited the US Immigration Station (USIS), which is also known as the Ellis Island of the West. Unfortunately, its natural beauty is tempered by the ugly history of the USIS which mirrors the immigration politics and xenophobia playing out in our current political season. As European immigrants arrived by the thousands in the 1800s, Asians already here were seen as a threat and deprived of the most basic rights. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act (CEA) was enacted by the federal government, to prevent any new Asians — primarily Chinese — from coming in to the USA. Sadly, the USIS primarily became nothing more than a detention center to enforce the CEA. When Angel Island became a California State Park in the late 20^th century, park rangers discovered beautiful carvings on the walls of the main building. Detainees had written poems and messages on the walls as they waited for their cases to be processed.  Many of these poems have been restored and translated, and are chronicled in several books. The US’s racist laws and policies were not repealed until the Immigration Act of 1965, which gave every nationality the same immigration foothold. Today we know, of course, that immigrants are a huge asset to the American economy and society. The Chinese are considered a “model minority” who achieve higher levels of success than many other Americans. The linguistic and racial diversity from immigration continues to propel the US economy ahead of the rest of the world. Keep this in mind as you hear the heated rhetoric during this election season.

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) was launched in 2011 to provide an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens. The US is a founding member and today the OGP has 69 participating countries. In all these countries, government and civil society work together to develop and implement ambitious open government reforms. One of the requirements for participation in the OGP is to release an Open Government National Action Plan every two years detailing steps the US is taking to advance open government initiatives. The third version of the plan was released in October, 2015, and includes directives for federal agencies to provide meaningful access for Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals. “The United States will ensure that public- facing programs and activities, including recipients of Federal financial assistance through the General Services Administration, have policies and practices in place to provide meaningful access to limited English proficient individuals. The General Services Administration will conduct outreach and training efforts with its employees and recipients of Federal assistance to inform these policies and programs,” reads the report. Clearly, the US government recognizes that an essential part of access is providing information in language that the public understands. For the first time, the US includes mandates to reach out to its LEP population through Language Access plans, as well as to use “plain language” in how it describes its objectives and goals. Under the recent initiatives, the US federal government will use the General Services Administration to channel its efforts to ensure that public facing programs and activities, including recipients of federal financial assistance, provide meaningful access to LEP individuals. We welcome the continuing efforts of the US Government to empower its LEP population! Image: The White House

Great news for Californians! Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last month ensuring all patients will get prescription drugs with labels and instructions in their own language. As we’ve mentioned before, providing comprehensive medical care every step of the way in a patient’s own language is the right thing to do. It’s simply good business and in many cases, it’s the law. California has more immigrants than any other state in the US. More than 10 million immigrants -- one in four of all the foreign-born population nationwide -- call California their home. In 2011, a full 27 percent of California's population was born outside of the United States, which is about twice the percentage nationwide. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the Limited English Proficient (LEP) population of California reached 6.8 million by 2013, or 27 percent of the total state population. Immigration is clearly an important engine of growth for the United States, especially as our birth rate dips below the replacement level. Providing services that integrate immigrants into our society makes us a more welcoming and desirable place, as well as providing long-term economic gains for the country. New York passed the Safe Rx Act in 2012 and now California stands with them as a progressive and forward-looking state where immigrants will increasingly come to settle and integrate. It’s important that the remaining 48 states do all they can to ensure immigrants have access to safe and reliable information during every step of their healthcare journey.   Image: Charles Williams

According to recent census data, the number of immigrants in the US requiring translation services has doubled in the last 25 years. A full 22 million people in the United States now rely on translation resources in education, healthcare, business, and professional environments. The number climbs even higher when you take into account the country’s undocumented immigrants. This tremendous growth has enriched our culture and economy beyond major cities like Los Angeles and New York, spreading all the way into metropolitan and rural areas of the country. As a result, the United States is enjoying the most growth of any developed economy since 2008. Non-traditional immigrant states like Nevada and North Carolina need help providing translated documents that support these new arrivals. To assist local governments, lawmakers, and other organizations seeking opportunities to help local Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations access translation services, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has launched the Language Access: Translation and Interpretation Policies and Practices project. We especially recommend the use of MPI’s Language Portal, a searchable database filled with translated documents that are adaptable to several types of service areas, including education, health, and public safety. Dozens of languages are represented in the portal, as are materials and content from all 50 states. The influx of US immigrants shows no signs of slowing down so it’s more vital than ever that businesses and government organizations do all they can to help LEP populations get the translation assistance they want and need. MPI’s Translation and Interpretation Policies and Practices project is a great resource to get started.

As healthcare in the United States increasingly becomes available to lower income and immigrant populations via the Affordable Care Act, most health insurance plans are removing barriers to eligibility and increasing benefits. As a result, they’re gaining millions of new customers and many of the new enrollees are recent immigrants with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). In order to best serve the LEP population, health insurance plans are providing translated materials to new members to help them understand the terms, benefits, and details of their new health care plans. Forward looking plan providers are discovering that LEP members are loyal and profitable. Language access is a small expense that pays huge dividends. A series of upcoming bills in California makes it the law to provide even more translation support: We expect Governor Jerry Brown to sign these measures to provide even better and more accessible information to the newly insured LEP populations of California. Over the next few weeks and months we will discuss each of these bills in greater detail and explain the effect they will have on patients and healthcare providers alike. Image: Shawn Campbell

What do Microsoft, Intel, Google, Ebay and Procter & Gamble have in common? They are either led by, or were founded by, immigrants to the United States. In fact, Forbes recently reported that a whopping 40% of the largest US companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Let’s look at some other relevant data points: A large number of today’s very successful immigrants could not speak English well when they first arrived in the United States. They and their families needed document translation, bilingual teachers, social services, and a myriad other kinds of support to acclimate to their new culture and make strong contributions to the U.S. and the world. Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, says it best. “Immigration is not undermining the American experiment; it is an integral part of it. We are a nation of immigrants. Successive waves of immigrants have kept our country demographically young, enriched our culture and added to our productive capacity as a nation, enhancing our influence in the world.” So, let’s keep the immigration doors open. We are a nation of immigrants; it has served us well for over 300 years and it is one of our secret weapons. Compare the U.S. with developed countries like Japan and most of the EU that are closed to immigrants. The benefits are clear and it’s one of the reasons I started my company in the USA! Image: lendingmemo.com

I am an immigrant to the United States and, like many immigrants today, I originally came on a temporary student visa, and was seduced by the beauty and vitality of this alluring land. I got married, became a citizen, and love both my new country as well as my country of origin, Mexico. My then wife was also an immigrant, hailing originally from French Canada. Our little family represents a melting pot of cultures, and our lives provide a window into the ways in which we have survived, thrived and contributed – both socially and economically. I am a business owner, active in my local community, and my organization provides jobs for others on a national as well as a global scale. I have three beautiful sons who have graduated from college and are embarking on productive lives and careers. Our boys are part of the millennial generation, younger adults who are just starting on their economically productive lives and making contributions to both Medicare and Social Security at far higher rates than they are taking. Both new and first-generation immigrants contribute much more to social and health programs such as Medicare than they take out. Why? One reason: immigrants tend to be younger on average than the overall US demographic, and they visit doctors and hospitals less often than older folks tend to. As younger working adults, they contribute to Social Security now, while their time to benefit from these funds themselves is far in the future. And according to a new report by the Partnership for the New American Economy, an immigration advocacy group, U.S. immigrants' net contribution to Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund was $183 billion between 1996 and 2011. For U.S.-born Americans, the net contribution was negative $69 billion. Per person, immigrants contributed $62 more to the trust fund than U.S.-born citizens, and claimed $172 less in benefits. My demographic (aging baby boomers), will need all the help we can get, since non-immigrants receive more than they contribute on average. Yes, when immigrants first arrive in this country, they have immediate needs like document translation, linguistic and interpretation services. And figuring out the customs and cultural expectations of a new country takes time, regardless of whether or not you have mastered the language. Support services, education, family and community help recent immigrants to assimilate, and soon they adapt, integrate, and go on to make positive cultural, social and economic contributions to society. As a United States citizen, I am forever grateful for the opportunities offered to me as well as to future generations of my family. And, as a son of my beautiful birth country, Mexico, I am able to love and appreciate this amazing locale in which generations of my family began their life journeys. I am a product of both countries, proud to be an immigrant, proud to be a citizen, and proud to watch my sons continue my legacy as they make their way in America. Image: Sohum

Numerous studies show that communicating with patients in their own language results in better health outcomes, leading to healthier patients and lower medical costs for the patient and their insurers. When reflecting on why this is so, it occurs to me that it is just plain old common sense.  When patients, doctors, and medical staff have the ability to communicate, either through well-translated documents or the use of an interpreter, patients receive better medical care. They are able to communicate to their caregivers exactly what is wrong, and in turn doctors and nursing staff are able to explain the diagnosis and treatment clearly so that the patient understands and can follow through with medication and appropriate after-care. So why is it that health care professionals sometimes drag their feet regarding language services? Numerous providers see language services as a burden and an added cost for which they do not get reimbursed. In addition, in our current fee for service system, providers actually lose money if the patient consumes less or lower cost services! Talk about perverse incentives. In truth, provider reimbursement for language services occurs in nontraditional ways: patients come in for treatment earlier before medical situations reach emergency status; they are less likely to ignore discharge instructions because of lack of understanding, and they recover more quickly. All of which leads to lowered costs incurred by insurers and health care organizations. By translating signage, documentation and other media into languages other than English, health care organizations promote clear communication and good will while breaking down language barriers that lead to confusion for LEP patients. Furthermore, when patients know they have access to medical care that is presented in a language they understand, they are more apt to seek out needed care earlier, rather than waiting until a situation reaches emergency status. Now in it second year, the Affordable Care Act encourages better outcomes through proactive care and wellness initiatives. And in today’s new health care marketplace, providers must compete with each other for LEP patients, and to do so they must be able to offer information, services and documentation in languages understood by these groups. Insurance providers now have an added incentive for reaching out to the LEP patients in their own languages. LEP patients are a critical part of Obamacare, and they make up a large number of the newly insured. Again, common sense dictates that language services play a critical role in attracting LEP patients and keeping them happy and healthy.  Addressing language barriers in the health care industry should be part of every provider’s strategy moving forward.

Quality in the translation industry means much more than translating words or sentences correctly.  High quality translation is error-free, culturally sensitive, intuitive, accurate, meets reading level criteria, and addresses individual client and language requirements. “Quality” is subjective and therefore hard to quantify or measure, but from a client’s perspective, quality translation enhances communication, ensures understanding, builds brand awareness, attracts more customers, and helps to boost the bottom line. Translators can only do so much – it’s up to the client to provide source content that is well-written, mistake-free and easily understood in the source language. Translators are responsible for accurately translating words and sentences into the target language, not for rewriting original content that is poorly crafted, has grammatical errors or typos, lacks readability or plain doesn’t make sense. The reading level of the audience being translated for plays a critical part in the quality of the translation. Translators must be extremely sensitive to reading levels, and even when translating difficult medical terminology, complex financial data or legal documentation, they must maintain strict adherence to the reading level of their audience. Translators should be able to accommodate reading levels from elementary school through high school/college, choosing the proper wording, sentence structure and terminology that will best serve the end readers’ needs. Client style guides and glossaries further enhance the accuracy, consistency and high quality of translated documents.  Style guides let translators know the linguistic and stylistic preferences of the audience they are translating for, and glossaries provide important terms and their preferred translations for each client. A good translation organization will offer to create and maintain style guides and glossaries for each client, and work with them to keep these electronic documents current so that translators can utilize them whenever necessary. At Avantpage, we measure quality one satisfied client at a time. Avantpage’s commitment to quality encompasses consistency, accuracy, linguistic excellence, the knowledge and expertise of our translation teams, and the processes and procedures we follow to ensure exceptional service.  Providing quality to our clients is our number one priority, day in and day out.

Occasionally we like to use our blog to remind our clients and prospective clients about services they may not be aware of. Today, we’d like to make brief mention of Rapid Fire translation – a great option for smaller projects that come up quickly! Whether you need it “now,” “ASAP,” or even “five minutes ago,” Avantpage delivers! Our Rapid-Fire translation service gives you high quality, error-free, accurate translation within a three-hour turnaround time so please check with us for details for your specific language needs. In addition, you can submit your Rapid-Fire translation requests 24/7 via text message, voicemail or through our website. We deliver completed translations to you through text or email. Rapid-Fire translation is ideal for posting important notices or information on your website, creating promotional, educational or informational materials for special circumstances, and keeping your LEP clientele up to speed with critical changes, updates and revisions as they happen. Rapid-Fire translation offers: How does Rapid Fire translation work? Just contact us to set up a Rapid Fire Translation Solution for you. Our Rapid Fire response team is ready for any and all “emergency” translation requests. At Avantpage, we provide a wide variety of translation solutions to enable our clients to communicate more easily, accurately and quickly with their LEP customers. For more information on all our linguistic services, contact us today.

For Hmong refugees arriving in the United States forty years ago, life was confusing, stressful and complex. As political refugees from Laos, many Hmong established communities in California. The Hmongstory 40 project was created to trace the immigration experience of the Hmong in California, through artifacts, photos, tapestries, clothing, artwork, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. Hmong throughout California are encouraged to contribute their personal stories and loan artifacts to be displayed in this unique traveling exhibit. Hmongstory 40 will present Hmong customs, culture and life stories in a way that people can understand and relate to. The exhibit will go on full display first in Fresno during the Hmong New Year in December of 2015, and then it will travel to Sacramento and Merced, California, in 2016. Through the Hmongstory 40 exhibit, visitors will gain an understanding of how it felt to arrive in America, experience the hardships, challenges and triumphs of adapting to a foreign culture and eventually become settled in a new country. Many Hmong refugees arrived in California, found work, assimilated into American culture, raised families and became contributors to society. However, they kept their history and heritage alive through family stories, a deep commitment to the Hmong communities, and the celebration of their culture in their adopted country. Today there are about 62,000 Hmong living in California’s Central Valley, mainly in the Sacramento and Fresno areas. They are professionals, community leaders, teachers … but none has forgotten the stories of their families’ past. Those stories will be brought to life for others to experience through the Hmongstory 40 project. So far, exhibits in the Hmongstory 40 project include Life in Laos; Laos and the Secret War; Thailand Refugee Camps; California; Storytellers; Fine Arts; Refugee Mural and Fashion. For those wishing to contribute photos, stories or other memorabilia, they can visit the Hmongstory 40 website and follow instructions for submissions. At Avantpage, we frequently get requests to translate materials into Hmong, and we have access to a number of translators fluent in Hmong and English who can swiftly and accurately address these needs. Contact us today to learn more about our translation services.

Organizations that rely on translation services to communicate information about their products and services to diverse cultural and ethnic groups know that project management, workflow management and linguistic assets management are a large part of the translation process. Some work with Translation Management Software (TMS), and others do much of the work manually. Those who work with TMS have found that their multilingual projects are completed more quickly, with fewer errors, higher quality and greater control of projects from initiation to invoicing. Rather than sending, receiving, organizing and managing projects manually, TMS automates the translation workflow system and reduces the margins for error throughout the process. Using a software system designed for translation management takes the guesswork out of the translation process and ensures that projects are completed on time, that workflow is automated from start to finish, and that all people involved in a project have the same access to resources needed throughout the project’s completion cycle. Once a translation project is decided upon, TMS can gather and select appropriate source files and content, batch them, and have them ready for the next steps immediately. All translation team members have access to the same software platform in real time, enabling them to work concurrently, see changes as they happen and monitor quality control every step of the way. TMS is able to locate and access an organization’s specific glossaries, style guides and translation memory through secure cloud-based storage. Translators, in-house reviewers and project managers can access these resources for specific projects instantly through TMS. Another big plus: using TMS ensures that the latest versions of translated files are automatically renamed, filed and delivered to the Cloud, ready to be exported when needed. Avantpage uses AvantFlow 2.0, powered by XTRF, which is an integrated translation management system, for all client projects. AvantFlow 2.0 is a proprietary system developed for Avantpage to give clients a better way to automatically manage every aspect of their projects from beginning to end. AvantFlow 2.0 provides clients with an easy-to-use customized dashboard portal that allows them to automatically do everything from tracking projects to paying invoices. From Avantpage’s perspective, this system frees project managers from manually creating quotes, emails or POs, ensures 100% accuracy, and allows PMs increased personal one-on-one time with clients. As a result, there is greater understanding of client needs, less repetition of tasks, and quicker completion of projects, coupled with greater translation accuracy and overall efficiency.