2008 American Community Survey and Census Data on the Foreign Born by State

Each month we search for web pages we think may help you better understand the limited English communities you serve.

Once again this month's featured page comes from a favorite source of ours, the Migration Policy Institute, and its MPI Data Hub, which showcases in-depth and latest data on immigrant trends and patterns:

"While the immigrant population of the United States increased by 6.9 million between 2000 and 2008, the impact of this growth varied considerably from state to state in terms of population size and characteristics.

Once you've reached this page, click on in the image of your state to generate fact sheets about the demographic & social, education, workforce, and income & poverty characteristics.

A sampling of the types of data included in each of the four fact sheets for each state:

• Demographic and Social - (updated with 2008 data): top countries of birth, geographic mobility, children in immigrant families;
• Language and Education: rates of limited English proficiency and levels of educational attainment in 1990, 2000, and 2006, rates of linguistic isolation in 2007;
• Workforce: the foreign-born share of the workforce, top occupations and industries;
• Income and Poverty: average incomes, income distributions, poverty rates.

State Rankings - (updated with 2008 data)

• Number of Foreign Born by State
• Percent Foreign Born by State
• Numeric Difference in the Foreign Born by State
• Percent Change in the Foreign Born by State

The data tool you'll see on this page is a project of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.

Per MPI, it was made possible with generous support from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

If your organization is anything like most who call us for an interpreter, Spanish is the #1 language you ask for.*

Even so, obviously not every American resident of Hispanic ancestry needs an interpreter to communicate in English.

Among 50 million Hispanics residing in the U.S., the majority either speaks both Spanish and English at home, or English only.

In the recently launched "AOL Hispanic Cyberstudy", market researchers segment three distinct groups of Hispanic Internet users:

• Hispanic Dominant (23%) - Predominantly speak Spanish at home; most media consumption in Spanish; Foreign-born; Mean age of 40; and have lived in U.S. seven years average


• Biculturals (31%) - Speak both languages at home; most media consumption in English; Foreign and U.S.-born; Mean age of 34; and lived in U.S. 22 years, and


• U.S. Dominant (46%) - Speak English at home; most media consumption in English; U.S.-born; Mean age of 37; and lived in U.S. 36 years.

Whether your organization actively markets your products and services to the Hispanic market - or are planning to begin marketing in Spanish and/or English in 2010 - you will find this new study helpful. We have.

Web pages you'll want to visit:

• Three old notions about the Hispanic market proven wrong


• If the term "acculturation" was as new to you as it was to many of us, and


• Where you can download the complete 37-page "AOL Hispanic Cyberstudy"

* We tallied the number of interpreter requests we received last year and recently reported 2009 vs. 2008 percent increases in the 20 most multilingual U.S. cities. Requests for Spanish-language interpreters ranked #1 in all twenty of them (http://www.languageline.com/page/top20/).

Ancient tribal language becomes extinct as last speaker dies

Death of Boa Sr, last person fluent in the Bo language of the Andaman Islands, breaks link with 65,000-year-old culture

By Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk

The last speaker of an ancient tribal language has died in the Andaman Islands, breaking a 65,000-year link to one of the world's oldest cultures.

Boa Sr, who lived through the 2004 tsunami, the Japanese occupation and diseases brought by British settlers, was the last native of the island chain who was fluent in Bo.

Taking its name from a now-extinct tribe, Bo is one of the 10 Great Andamanese languages, which are thought to date back to pre-Neolithic human settlement of south-east Asia.

Though the language has been closely studied by researchers of linguistic history, Boa Sr spent the last few years of her life unable to converse with anyone in her mother tongue.

"Her loss is not just the loss of the Great Andamanese community, it is a loss of several disciplines of studies put together, including anthropology, linguistics, history, psychology, and biology," Narayan Choudhary, a linguist of Jawaharlal Nehru University

Read the rest of this Guardian UK article here >>

Photo: Venkatesh K from Bangalore, India via Flickr.com
http://www.flickr.com/people/24512729@N00

Click here for larger version of islands photo above
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Andaman.jpg

As a Language Line Services client, you have access to a variety of training tools that help you communicate with your limited English-speaking patients.

Some we've designed to train your staff on how to access and efficiently work with medically trained interpreters.

Others are designed to let your limited English speaking patients and family members know they are valued and will be served by an interpreter.

The Language Line Phone is one of the latter group. And perhaps the most versatile.

We now have the new Language Line Phone for you and your customers (see photo above).

Its many new features and benefits include:

• Improved keypad design for faster interpreter access
• Duplexing speaker phone
• Speaker phone volume control
• Headset ready
• Individual handset volume controls
• Anti-theft security tab
• Improved ergonomics
• Larger visual call notification indicator, and
• Hygiene-friendly through technology

If you are a Language Line Services customer, you can order the new Language Line LL-2100 Phones today by completing the form here >>

For more information, either contact your Language Line Services representative or...

Customer Service at 1-800-752-6096 option 2, or CustomerCare@languageline.com.

Selected News of the Month

• Over-the-Phone Interpretation Continues to Grow Despite U.S. Economy. Real-time Data from Language Line® LanguageTrak Points to Record Increases in Demand


• Language Line Services' - Cross-Cultural Update for February 2010. Useful Cultural News, Tips and Timely Information


• "Language Line Services Does an About Face (-to-Face)" by Nataly Kelly of Common Sense Advisory and the Global Watchtower

Read more Language Line Services news here >>

Language Line Services, the leader in language interpretation, is seeking to increase its interpreter team in many languages including:

• Chru
• Edo
• Garre
• Kotokoli
• Kpelle
• Mam
• Mixteco
• Trique
• Punu
• Putian
• Sango
• Sinhalese
• Uzbeq*

As for professional and experienced on-site interpreter positions, we are seeking the following within Contra Costa County, CA only:

• Spanish
• Farsi
• Cantonese
• Mandarin
• Punjabi
• Tagalog
• Hindi
• Laotian
• Mien
• Russian
• Arabic
• Sinhalese
• Uzbeq*

And, finally, among non-interpreter positions, here is a selection for which we are interviewing:

• Account Manager
• Collections Specialist
• Customer Contract Salesforce Administrator
• Human Resources Compliance Manager
• Product Sales Executive
• Project Manager - Lingo Systems Div.
• Response Center Specialist
• Senior Sales Executive

For non-interpreter positions, please apply at: www.languageline.com/careers. Click on "Apply Today" under "Corporate Careers" and follow the directions to add your profile.

EEO/AA Employer.

* Some positions may have been filled by the time you apply. However, new positions open every week.

Are you interested in becoming an over-the-phone interpreter?

If you have excellent proficiency in English, with strong listening and comprehension skills as well as good customer service skills, you can become an interpreter for Language Line Services.

Visit www.languageline.com/careers.

View the "How to Become an Interpreter" Video.

Then, click on "Apply Today" under "interpreter Careers" OR "Corporate Careers" and follow the directions.

Here's what one valued client recently said about one of Language Line Services' excellent interpreters:

"...interpreter #6100 for Farsi was fantastic... We had a very difficult client that your interpreter made so easy for me. Thank you..."

Join Us!

Each month you'll receive our free monthly email newsletter...

featuring news, tips, interviews, surveys, stats, special offers and other useful information to help you better serve limited English speakers.

If you enjoyed this issue, share it with your colleagues and friends. Just ask them to visit our website and subscribe.

They'll receive the bonus "11 Tips for Working with an Interpreter" as our way of saying thank you.

By the way, your information will never be shared with anyone, ever! See our Privacy Policy here.