MONTEREY, Calif., LanguageLine Solutions, the global leader in on-demand interpretation, is celebrating 40 years since it revolutionized the language-services industry, the company announced today.
It was in 1982 that two police officers conceived of a remote-interpreting service to assist Vietnamese refugees. The extent of LanguageLine’s infrastructure back then was a three-party phone and a box full of 3×5 index cards that contained interpreter names and numbers. Both sat on a gas-powered dryer in a Monterey rental home, with the founders feverishly pairing callers with linguists who would be their bridge to understanding.
Interpreters had only been available in-person to that point. Suddenly they could be reached virtually and made available 24 hours a day. A language revolution was born.
Today LanguageLine handles in excess of 60 million calls per year – that’s more than one connection created every second. The company employs nearly 17,000 interpreters across more than 240 languages. Most are available on-demand within seconds. The company has grown to also handle translation and localization of the written word, as well as virtual meetings, telehealth, and the testing and training of bilingual employees.
LanguageLine has more than 30,000 clients in total and was recently ranked atop two industry lists of the world’s leading language-access providers.
“There are lessons that only time and repetition can teach. Through the handling of more than a billion calls, LanguageLine has become a company that is not just smart, but wise,” LanguageLine President and CEO Scott W. Klein said. “At the same time, we are just getting started. Each of us is thrilled by the opportunity to wake up each day and work on such life-altering challenges.”
LanguageLine will commemorate the 40th celebration throughout 2022 by releasing content that highlights the role that interpreters play in creating mutual understanding and empowerment across languages and cultures.
Klein said the 40th celebration would not be possible without LanguageLine’s clients.
“For us to do our job effectively, we must have a partner who believes that assisting every individual – regardless of language, culture, or ability – is the right thing to do,” Klein said. “Together we have strived to create a world in which language and cultural barriers no longer exist.”
He added that LanguageLine’s employees – especially its professional linguists – are the firm’s “heartbeat.”
“We are a talent-led business,” Klein said. “LanguageLine will always be about using technology to better enable human interaction. Our people are our lifeblood. They have enabled our company to do transformational work.”
Klein said the future is incredibly bright for LanguageLine and the language-access industry as a whole.
“Our society is becoming more culturally complex and multilingual. Despite being little known, language access could soon grow to become one of the largest industries in the world,” Klein said. “Across the globe there are nearly 70 million displaced persons. They are crossing borders and speaking more than 300 languages and dialects.
“To be understood is to be empowered. Our solutions will enable these people to express themselves wholly and equally, helping dignify the full voice to which they are entitled.”
LanguageLine has been the world leader in innovative language-access solutions since 1982. The company sets the global standard for phone, video, and onsite interpreting, as well as translation, localization, and testing and training for bilingual staff and interpreters. LanguageLine is trusted by more than 30,000 clients to enable communication with the limited English proficient, Deaf, and Hard-of-Hearing communities. LanguageLine provides the industry’s fastest and most dependable access to nearly 17,000 professional linguists in more than 240 languages – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
This article was shared with Prittle Prattle News as a Press Release by PRNewswire
