Language Line Services Report Shows Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin Are Top Spoken Foreign Languages in U.S. After Spanish

MONTEREY, Calif., April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from Language Line Services, the world's largest provider of language services, reveals that between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012, Arabic, Mandarin and Vietnamese were the top spoken languages in the United States after Spanish.

The quarterly Language Line® LanguageTrak "Interpreter Demand Index" uses proprietary data from 20 million over-the-phone interpretation-request calls the company fields annually in 170-plus languages. The report tracks calls for the government and healthcare sectors across 20 major U.S. cities, and ranks the top-10 most requested languages in each location, as well as percentage growth for each language.

"These findings reflect the growing diversity of the communities Americans live in today," said Louis F. Provenzano, Jr., president & CEO of Language Line Services. "Arabic, Vietnamese and Mandarin have consistently been among the most-requested languages in the nation's largest cities. Businesses, local governments, court systems, emergency services and healthcare agencies need to think beyond Spanish to ensure no one is left without critical services because of a language barrier."

While Spanish remains the No. 1 language across the 20 U.S. cities in the report, Arabic, Vietnamese and Mandarin each ranked among the top-three requested languages in nine of the 20 cities.

Spanish interpretation requests increased in 14 of the 20 cities. Meanwhile, Arabic requests increased in 17 of the 20, with the highest increases in Phoenix (60 percent), Memphis (59.6 percent) and San Francisco (55.6 percent). Mandarin interpretation requests also rose in 17 of the 20 cities, with the highest increases in Detroit (258.2 percent), El Paso (150 percent) and Charlotte, N.C. (61.9 percent). Vietnamese requests were up in 15 of the 20 cities, with the highest jumps in El Paso (168.8 percent), Detroit (167.4 percent) and Memphis (116.1 percent).

Other key findings in the report:

• Somali interpretation requests grew significantly in numerous cities -- Phoenix (123.6 percent), Memphis (92.5 percent) and Fort Worth (38.2 percent). Somali was also the second most-requested language in Memphis and Columbus, Ohio.
• Burmese was the second most-requested language in Jacksonville, Fla., and Indianapolis.
• Requests for Haitian increased significantly in Jacksonville, Fla. (76 percent) and New York City (38.6 percent).
• Los Angeles reported notable increases in interpreter requests for Vietnamese (61.3 percent), Mandarin (39 percent) and Russian (35.3 percent).
• El Paso reported triple-digit growth in requests for Farsi (183.3 percent), Amharic (183.3 percent) and Korean (175 percent).
• Interpretation requests for Nepali increased in nine of the 20 cities, including San Antonio (167.9 percent), Dallas (100.2 percent) and Philadelphia (72.4 percent).
• Indianapolis saw the largest growth for Russian (80.7 percent) and Karen (53.2 percent), which is spoken by 1.3 million people in Myanmar, formerly Burma.

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services, the global leader in language solutions for over 30 years, serves clients in government, healthcare, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, retail and many other industries in more than 170 spoken and written languages, as well as American Sign Language (ASL) and Mexican Sign Language (LSM). Language Line Services is recognized as a trusted partner to thousands of public and private organizations throughout the world, providing easy access to the industry's most dynamic and comprehensive suite of language solutions that drive a strong return on investment. Language Line Services is known for solving customers' complex language communication issues with leading services that include telephone, on-site and video interpreting, translation and localization, as well as interpreter assessment and training programs. Please call (800) 752-6096 or visit http://www.languageline.com.

Contact:
Carla Collado
Olmstead Williams Communications
310.824.9000
[email protected]
http://www.olmsteadwilliams.com

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SOURCE Language Line Services