Migration Policy Institute's New Guide to the Language Portal

By Laureen Laglagaron, Policy Analyst National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy Migration Policy Institute

MPI's new Language Portal is a digital library of close to 600 resources relating to the use of language access services in social services and public safety agencies.

Developed with guidance from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Language Access Practitioner's Network and support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy has sought to leverage existing knowledge and expertise on language access issues and services through the creation and launch of our Language Portal.

Read the rest of this Migration Policy Institute article - and explore the Language Portal - here >>

More from the Migration Information Source

• Country Profiles - Short, concise reviews of the migration histories and major policies of countries around the world.


• MPI Data Hub - Includes the US Historical Trends page shows the patterns and characteristics of the foreign-born population of the United States through time.


• Archives - Feature stories, data insights, spotlights, and up-to-date news articles filled with ideas.

Once you've learned to correctly pronounce every word in the following poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world.

If you find it tough going, do not despair, you are not alone. Multinational personnel at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters near Paris found English to be an easy language until they tried to pronounce it.

To help them discard an array of accents, the verses below were devised.

After trying them, a Frenchman said he'd prefer six months at hard labor to reading six lines aloud.

Try them yourself.

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.

I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you

With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,

Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Download the rest of this puzzling poem (PDF) here >>

Subject matter expert speakers available to your organization on a variety of topics related to language access, standards, best practices, and more.

Language Line Services, through its "Center for Language Access Excellence", now offers subject matter expert (SME) speakers on:

• Language access, standards, best practices,
• Ensuring compliance with the Joint Commission new and revised standards, Federal and State regulations/statutes, Title VI, CLAS standards, and more,
• Performance measurement and quality improvement, and
• Developing and implementing a language access program

Speakers from Language Line Services include:

• Louis F. Provenzano, Jr., President & CEO, speaking on topics including: Interpreting the Difference, Implementing a Language Access Program, Reimbursement, Lobbying and Advocacy.


• Jeanette Anders, Manager of Healthcare Strategic Initiatives. Topics will include: Stakeholder Relations, Compliance


• Oscar Arocha, Senior Executive, Global Strategic Initiatives. Topics: Patient-Centered Care Technology and Language Program Operations


• Martin Conroy, Senior Manager for Public Sector Programs. Topics: Government Affairs, State Regulations, Compliance


• Danyune Geertsen, Director of Interpreter Training and Quality. Topics: Interpreter Competency Testing, Training, Certification


• Douglas Green, Senior Sales Executive. Topics: Utilization/Cost Efficiency Models


• Lourdes (Lulu) Sanchez, Senior Manager, Customer Experience. Topics: Language Access Implementation, Cultural & Linguistic Training & Awareness

Tap into Language Line Services' consultative experts who can provide advice on many of the issues facing healthcare providers today.

To learn more, or to request a speaker, visit this page.

When completing the form, please use the "Comments" box to let us know the dates and location of your event, proposed topic area, and any other information that will help us provide the best speaker for your group. Thank you!

The Maiwand Market in Fremont, CA offers meat and imported foods from Afghanistan

The commercial area known as Little Kabul is a cultural hub for the (San Francisco) Bay Area's sizable Afghan-American population.

Signs in the Dari language dot the storefronts along this small stretch of Fremont Boulevard.

At Maiwand Market, visitors line up every day for the traditional Afghan bread that is made fresh there.

Fresh-baked naan is a best seller. Naan to Go

Maiwand Market sells hundreds of items imported from Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere - including rice, almonds and chickpeas - but it's the naan bread that is Maiwand's biggest seller. The naan measures almost three feet long, weighs two pounds and is a bargain at just $2.

Homey Atmosphere

The wait for naan is made easier by the traditional Afghan music on the market's stereo system and by all the intriguing wall hangings - Afghan rugs, photos of Afghanistan's last king and images of Kabul and the Afghan sport of buzkashi.

Read the rest of this fascinating New York Times article here >>

It seems that despite the facts of a situation, some people still continue to see reality through blurry lenses.

By Joel C. Tuzynski, GoErie.com Contributing writer

I think the truth about a refugee's journey to Erie needs to be explained so our community understands it is not a haphazard or random process.

Refugees are brought to the United States by the U.S. State Department, as part of America's humanitarian mission around the world, to provide a safe haven for those who fear for their lives in their homelands.

Each year, a quota of new admissions is set by the State Department and the president, and presented to Congress for approval.

Annually, at least the last two years, America has established a maximum number of 80,000 people for relocation to America.

That's a fraction of the more than 14 million people around the world who are living in exile or imprisoned because of their race, religion, nationality or membership in a particular social or political group.

All refugees had lived in fear for their lives, and many were warehoused in large refugee camps and could not leave the camp or maintain a job in the community. They become literally prisoners of the country they are in, and many refugee populations have lived in refugee camps for decades. Read the rest of this GoErie.com article by Joel C. Tuzynski, (executive director of the Multicultural Community Resource Center in Erie) here >>

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.

Over-the-phone, Certified Medical Spanish Interpreters (CMI) to work from home in the U.S. Must have passed the National Medical Interpreter Certification Exam or be CMI certified through Language Line Services.

We are very actively seeking two experienced on-site interpreters in Contra Costa County, California. One in Punjabi, the other in Farsi. Formal training/certification preferred.

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

• Cakchiquel
• Chaldean
• Hassaniyya
• Hausa
• Karen
• Karenni
• Mixteco
• Nepali
• Trique
• and several others (see our Web site)

And, finally, top Corporate opportunities include:

• Account Manager - Healthcare East Coast
• Customer Service Representative II, Monterey, CA
• Payroll Specialist-Monterey, CA
• Sales Associate- Monterey, CA
• Sales Executive- East Coast
• Sales Executive- Northeast

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 >>

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