Once again our lead story comes from an excellent source of language, cultural and migration data - MigrationInformationSource.org.

We hope you enjoy learning more about "Immigrants in New-Destination States", written by By Aaron Terrazas, Migration Policy Institute.

"As diverse as the United States is in terms of its geography, climate, and culture, there is a longstanding tradition of immigrants choosing to settle in the same places year after year.

"In fact, since the 1960s just seven states - California, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, and Massachusetts - have collectively attracted more than 60 percent, and in some years as much as three-quarters, of the entire foreign-born population in the country.

"In the past 20 years, however, there has been an increasing trend of immigrants in the United States settling outside of what would generally be considered the traditional locales.

"Read the rest of this Migration Policy Institute story here"

Related MPI Stories:

• Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrants in Suburban America


• How Los Angeles Deflected Mexican Immigrants to the American Heartland


• The Changing Face of the Gulf Coast: Immigration to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama

If you're like many users of Language Line Services, you have noticed a greater need for over the phone interpreters, as well as an increasing number of languages you need interpreted.

One look at our regular feature below "We Are Hiring! Join Language Line Services" and you'll see we are recruiting interpreters of languages that perhaps you have never heard of:

• Cakchiquel (a language of Guatemala)
• Chru (Viet Nam)
• Edo (also Binji: a language of Republic of Congo)
• Hausa (Nigeria and other Afriican nations)
• Karenni (Myanmar, formerly Burma)
• Lusoga (Uganda)
• Mankon (Cameroon)
• Trique (Mexico)
• and several others (see our Web site)

That's why, when researching another story for "In Other Words", it was amusing to run across an InfoPlease.com article that listed the languages of:

• China - Standard Chinese (Mandarin/Putonghua), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages
• India - Hindi 30%, English, Bengali, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Kannada, Assamese, Sanskrit, Sindhi (all official); Hindi/Urdu; 1,600+ dialects
and the
• United States - English 82%, Spanish 11% (Census 2000)

Since that 2000 Census we know that the percentage for English has gone down, and for Spanish it's gone way up.

We also know that the remaining percentage for U.S. spoken languages other than English and Spanish has also grown substantially since that Census was taken.

So, how many language are really spoken in the U.S. you ask? Depends on whom you ask.

Of the top ten sites listed by Google, many quote the 2000 Census, and some quote the highly respected Ethnologue.com

A couple sites answer the question "how many *indigenous* languages are spoken in the U.S." and one site answers a question we'd not thought of asking, "How Many Languages Are Spoken in Queens, NY?" (You'll have to read on to learn the answer to that question :)

Here are five of the top ten websites listed on Google when searching for the number of languages spoken in the U.S.

Ranked #1 on Google: Wikipedia, the Free Online Encyclopedia

Languages of the United States: "Approximately 337 languages are spoken or signed by the population, of which 176 are indigenous to the area. 52 languages formerly spoken in the country's territory are now extinct" (Source: Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.). (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the world.).

Editor's Note: If you visit just two websites from this article, don't miss Wikipedia.com and Ethnologue.com

Ranked #2: Gadling.com

How Many Languages are Spoken in the U.S. Exactly? According to article's author, Jaime Rhein, "I've found a Web site, 'Ethnologue - Languages of the World' with some interesting U.S language statistics. Here they are":

• Number of languages spoken in the U.S.: 311
• Those languages indigenous to the U.S: 162
• Those that are immigrant languages: 149

Editor's Note: Today's Ethnologue says: "The number of individual languages listed for United States is 245. Of those, 176 are living languages, 4 are second languages without mother-tongue speakers, and 65 have no known speakers."

Ranked #5: YourDictionary.com

Indigenous Languages Spoken in the United States: "Language scholars believe that prior to the arrival of Columbus, approximately 300 languages were spoken in North America; since then, the number of indigenous languages has dropped considerably. Figures on current language use vary but indicate that roughly half of these languages are now extinct. Many of the remaining languages are considered near extinction."

Ranked #10: About.com

How Many Languages Are Spoken in Queens, NY?: "More languages are spoken in the borough of Queens, NY, than in any other area in New York City, New York State, or the whole United States. (London claims the title for most linguistically diverse city in the world.) Approximately 138 languages are spoken in Queens (according to NY State Comptroller)."

So there you have it. You may not know the answer to "So, How Many Languages Really Are Spoken in the U.S.?" but we hope you enjoyed the ride.

"The New Joint Commission Standards for Patient-Centered Care", co-authored by two former hospital administrators with nearly 60 years of combined language-access expertise, calls attention to the lack of compliance with language access requirements for limited English proficient patients, as new regulations by The Joint Commission enter a year-long pilot phase this year.

Download your free, 12-page report here. No email address or registration required.

The report details the challenges ahead as healthcare organizations struggle to provide necessary language access services and integrate these new and revised standards into their day-to-day operations.

Once again, download your free, 12-page report here. No registration required.

When you have a question, concern, compliment, or any type of feedback at all, we want to hear from you.

Whether you wish to report a technical issue, comment on an interpreter, or pass along a commendation for someone who did an outstanding job serving you and your limited-English speaking customer, the Voice of the Customer" (VOC) process is the fastest, most efficient way to reach us.

Our VOC program:

• Provides you and your staff with a speedy, efficient way to tell us how we are doing;
• Allows us to respond just as fast to your requests, questions, and suggestions; and
• Helps us resolve your issues and concerns quickly and thoroughly!

Download this VOC service info sheet >>

Everyone in your organization who uses Language Line Services' over-the-phone interpretation should know that help is just a VOC away. So please share this information with your staff and colleagues.

For more about the Voice of the Customer process,

• View this new Video Tutorial;
• Visit this page on our website; or
• Contact our Customer Care Team at 1-800-752-6096 or wecare@languageline.com

Thank You!

Language Line Services, the leader in language interpretation, is seeking to increase its interpreter team in many languages, as well as offering a wide variety of corporate openings.

Dual Role Interpreters in California

An exciting new opportunity is available to experienced medical interpreters living in or near Palo Alto, California. Interpreters will now be able to do both on-site, face-to-face interpreting as well as over-the-phone interpreting in the following languages: Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and American Sign Language.

Experienced on-site interpreters of Punjabi, Tagalog, Mandarin, and Arabic that reside in the Contra Costa County area of California are encouraged to apply for the position of On-site Interpreter.

As for work-at-home, over-the-phone interpreters, we have openings, especially in Spanish, and in a number of other languages including:

• Arabic
• French
• Somali
• Cantonese
• Korean
• Lithuanian
• Nepali
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Vietnamese

As well as...

• Cakchiquel
• Cape Verdean (Portuguese Creole)
• Chru
• Edo
• Garre
• Hausa
• Indonesian
• Karenni
• Kurdish
• Lingala
• Lusoga
• Malay
• Mankon
• Mixteco
• Nepali
• Papiamento
• Punu
• Susu
• Trique
• Urdu
• and several others (see our Web site)

And, finally, top Corporate opportunities include:

• Human Resources Coordinator
• Sales Executive - Federal Government
• Senior Sales Executives in Business Partnership Development, Healthcare, Government, General Markets, and Face-to-Face Interpretation
• Account Managers in Healthcare and General Markets
• Business Manager - Face-to-Face Interpretation
• Reporting Analyst - SQL Server
• Spanish Tester for Language Line University
• Customer Service Representative
• Scheduler

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 up every week.

Visit our Career Center here >>

• Monterey Herald: "Language Line Services CEO sees more need for interpreters" by Lane Wallace


• Report from Hospital Administrators: Few Hospitals in Compliance with New Language Access Requirements


• Federal Court Awards Language Line Services Broad-Reaching Injunction in Trade Secrets Case Against Language Service Associates


• Gainesville Times: "911 dispatchers handling more foreign-language calls"


• Frederick News-Post: "Diversified childhood population means adaptations for Frederick County Public Schools"

Read more Language Line Services news here >>

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