Interpreters flourish despite economic slump

US Border Patrol in southern Arizona faced a great challenge when they picked up a group of Chinese illegal immigrants last month. Their challenge was how to communicate with them.

"As an agent I don't speak Chinese, so it's very hard. Usually, the only word they understand is 'passport,'" Border Patrol agent Mike Reilly said of the eight migrants nabbed on November 24 near the border town of Sasabe.

Like many other firms from US law enforcement agencies to hospitals and financial firms, the agency asked the help of an interpretation service to be able to communicate through them.

To break the wall of incomprehension, the duty agents called the Language Line Services, the largest among many US based firms providing on-demand interpretation either through phone or on-site, 24 hours a day.

This California-based firm has around 5,200 interpreters speaking 176 languages varying from common languages like Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Polish, Russian and Vietnamese to more obscure dialects from some African tribes and even Mayan villagers from Mexico. The firm helps clients evaluate what language the individual speaks by using a trained operator or language ID cards. Often, Language Line and other rival firms can provide an interpreter on the telephone in less than a minute.

"We have to open a case, and we have to find out how they got to the United States, and for that we need an interpreter," Reilly said.

INTERPRETERS NEEDED

In the US, understanding everyone is a big problem. According to the U.S. Census Bureau some 54.4 million people, spoke a language other than English at home last year, up from 47 million in 2000.

"Very often the difference between life and death is being understood," said Language Line president Louis Provenzano.

Other U.S.-based firms such as CommGap and Cyracom offer qualified spoken word interpretation through on site or a one-touch phone call. In July, Language Line formed an alliance with NetworkOmni, another firm in the sector, and now provides over-the-phone interpretation.