All of this ethnic moving around has spawned a myriad of new business services, among them companies dedicated to facilitating communications between employers and their non-English speaking employees.

Translators work with the written word, transferring text from a source language into a target language. This is far more than replacing one word with another. The translator must also convey the style, tone, and intent of the text. The finished document should read as if it had originally been written in the target language for the target audience.

Interpreters work with the spoken word, transferring speech from a source language into a target language. In addition to speaking the two languages fluently, the interpreter must also communicate the style and tone of the speaker, while taking into account differences of culture and dialect.

For years, large corporations have turned to language firms to help them produce multi-language employee handbooks, newsletters, memos, even PowerPoint presentations. Today, it is difficult to find a company of any size that does not have some non-native employees, especially in Florida. That language challenge has caused companies of all sizes to reach for help communicating with their other-language employees, especially when accidents occur.

“Work injuries are a sad but inevitable fact of corporate life at even the best-run companies, and they can be traumatic for everyone involved,” said Mary Mapp, account executive with the translation and transportation firm of Albors & Associates of Winter Park. “But when the injured worker is not well-versed in English, the language barrier can seem insurmountable. That's where a translation company such as ours can be invaluable.”

Although Florida does not currently require that employers provide such services to injured workers, industry experts say that making this extra effort can result in reduced attorney involvement and faster return-to-work outcomes.

The company has provided translators and interpreters to insurance companies and employers for over two decades, working through an established network of trained personnel. “It is incredibly reassuring to the injured worker when he can speak to one of our staff members in his own language. We calm his fears, bridge that communication gap, and provide the employer with vital updates on his recovery,” Mapp said.

The majority of Albors' language business (approximately 97 percent) is providing on-site interpretation in the workers' compensation arena. Clientele include insurance carriers, third-party administrators, case management companies, employers, and attorneys. The attorneys requesting services may represent either the carrier or the injured worker. The remaining three percent comes from industries such as human resources, meeting planners, sales and marketing, and web site translation for various industries.

You Talkin' to Me?

The way in which translators do their jobs has changed with advancements in technology. Today, nearly all translation work is done on a computer, and most assignments are received and submitted electronically. This enables translators to work from almost anywhere, and a large percentage of them work from home.

There is no universal form of certification required of all interpreters and translators in the United States, but there are a variety of tests people can voluntarily take to demonstrate proficiency. The American Translators Association provides accreditation in more than 24 language combinations for its members; another option is the certification program offered by The Translators and Interpreters Guild. Federal courts have certification processes for Spanish, Navajo, and Haitian Creole interpreters, and many state and municipal courts offer their own forms of certification. The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators also offers certification for court interpreting.

The National Association of the Deaf and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) jointly offer certification for general sign interpreters. In addition, RID offers specialty tests in legal interpreting, speech reading, and deaf-to-deaf interpreting–which includes interpreting between deaf speakers with different native languages and from ASL to tactile signing.

National companies such as Black Diamond Services in Pompano Beach and Albors use independent contractors who meet specific internal criteria.

You Drive, I'll Talk

Transportation and translation services seem to go hand-in-hand. Invariably, a translation company also will offer non-medical ambulatory services to deliver injured workers to doctor's appointments or health-care facilities.

Black Diamond is a prime example. “Because we were really the first workers' compensation transportation company in the state of Florida, that product came first for us,” said the company's Director of Language Services Gail King.

On the language side of the house, King said their workers' compensation jobs are “probably 80 percent face-to-face interpreting, about 10 percent telephonic, with the rest documents and medical record translations.”

Albors demonstrates the flip side in its corporate history. “The first service we provided to our customers was interpretation,” Mapp said. “However, transportation was a need often expressed by our clients and interpreters alike. Oftentimes, we would receive calls from our interpreters while at appointment locations stating the injured worker had not arrived. This was often due to lack of transportation. Such obstacles are not only more than an inconvenience, but also a setback to our clients' efforts in the return-to-work process. Therefore, transportation became another service offered to our customers.”

The company offers a unique customer-service guarantee: “We will reimburse our clients the cost of a medical appointment if it has been cancelled due to the tardiness or absence of an assigned interpreter. Also, we provide a summary for each doctor's appointment where an interpreter was present. If this summary is not sent to the customer within 24 hours of the appointment time, we will not charge for the interpretation services,” Mapp reported.

Translation rates usually are based on time involved; per-hour fees fluctuate according to the “popularity” of the foreign language. Transportation fees are usually based on the mileage involved in getting the injured worker from the pick-up point to the drop-off point. If an injured worker also has language needs, companies arrange for an interpreter along with the transport.

For employers who are counting on their high school Spanish to get them through the language barrier and save money, King at Black Diamond has some unsettling news. “While Spanish is the predominant foreign language overall in the U.S., that varies by state,” she said. “In Michigan, we get more requests for Bosnian, Farsi, and Russian. Currently in Florida, Creole is catching up to Spanish very quickly; they are almost neck and neck. And Creole has several different dialects with it, making it even more challenging.”