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Language Access Plans: A Strategic Guide
In today’s multicultural landscape, language accessibility has become increasingly important. Nearly 68 million people in the United States, or about one in five, speak a language other than English at home. Among them, over 25 million people have limited English proficiency. Recognizing the need for effective communication with these individuals, more and more organizations are developing and implementing Language Access Plans.
Ensuring Equal Access: The Importance of Language Access Plans
Language accessibility promotes fairness and equity by ensuring all individuals, regardless of their language proficiency, have equal access to services and information. This access can be essential for individuals who have been historically marginalized and may otherwise face discrimination and exclusion due to limited English proficiency.
A Language Access Plan (LAP) is a comprehensive strategy that outlines how to communicate with and provide services to individuals who do not speak English as their primary language. Organizations create LAPs to better serve linguistically diverse individuals, giving them more meaningful access to their programs, services, and other offerings.
By implementing a LAP, an organization demonstrates a commitment to social responsibility, by ensuring that everyone is treated equally. LAPs also help organizations comply with laws and industry regulations that apply to language access. Non-compliance with these laws can not only result in legal repercussions but can damage an organization’s reputation.
Getting Started: Assess Language and Communication Needs
A LAP should be unique to your organization and focused on the specific language needs of your community or customer base. Start by evaluating your audience:
- Determine the languages your audience speaks and their preferred communication methods (e.g., phone, social media, text, video). Demographic data, surveys, interviews, and focus groups can provide valuable insights.
- Are you engaging individuals who are hearing impaired, deaf, or have visual impairments? How are they communicating with your organization?
- What are the challenges or pain points people with limited English skills or disabilities encounter when engaging with your organization?
- Your staff and other stakeholders can provide valuable insights about the challenges they encounter due to language barriers. Are there specific services, procedures, or materials that would make it easier for your staff to engage with individuals across languages?
Assess Your Resources
After identifying the language access and communication needs, evaluate what is needed to address those requirements.
- Does your organization have the resources to meet identified language needs and effectively address communication preferences?
- Do you need to hire additional staff, acquire new technology, or identify service providers?
Components of a Comprehensive Language Access Plan
The following section includes some essential components to consider when developing your LAP. While no two LAPs are alike, these guidelines will help you address the requirements of your community or customer base and create a tailored plan specific to your organization’s unique needs.
Policy Development: Develop clear statements outlining your organization’s commitment to language access. LAPs should align with and support broader diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Translation: Define which materials will be translated, and into how many languages. This may require a phased approach. First, identify vital documents, such as forms, website notices, and other information that is necessary for people to access services or otherwise engage with your organization. These materials are phase one. Then, identify other types of less critical materials to be translated in later phases, or as the need arises. Consider available resources and develop realistic timelines that will keep the process manageable.
Provision of Interpreting Services: Identify whether interpretation will be needed, and into which languages. Determine the modalities most appropriate for providing these services (e.g., in-person, telephonic, or video interpretation).
Terminology Management: Consider building a glossary of pre-approved terminology. A multilingual glossary – also called a terminology database, term base, or lexicon – is a list of terms and their corresponding translations in the target language(s). Glossaries maintain consistency in the terminology used across all translated content, enabling translators to use the pre-established terms correctly and consistently each time they appear in the text.
Quality Assurance: Establish quality assurance procedures to ensure translated materials are error-free, on brand, fit for their intended purpose, and consistent across all translated content.
Do you have internal resources to dedicate to translation review? Internal review is an essential step in the translation process, adding an additional layer of quality control to ensure your brand is communicated effectively. It typically takes place after a language services provider completes translation, editing, and quality control to ensure that translated material reflects your organization’s unique voice.
Establish Budgets and Timelines: Based on the needs established in the steps above, set a budget for translation, interpreting, localization, printing, and other accessibility services.
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Communicating the LAP
Developing your LAP is just the start. Next, it needs to be communicated to your staff and stakeholders.
- How will you let people know that language access services are available?
- Will notices be posted in physical locations, and/or on your website?
- Will you develop collateral or purchase advertising to raise awareness about your language access services?
For people to effectively utilize your services, communication materials should answer the following questions:
- Which services are available (translated materials, in-person, or over-the-phone interpretation)?
- Which languages are offered?
- Will any assistive technologies be available (listening devices, captioning, audio description, etc.)?
- Are there specific timeframes and locations where services will be available?
- How can resources be accessed?
Internal Training on the LAP
Everyone in your organization should understand the purpose of your LAP and what language support is available. Train staff to effectively implement the LAP and deliver services to individuals with limited English proficiency.
Identify which staff members will receive training, and what that will entail. Public-facing or client-facing staff may need more thorough training on ways to communicate with and offer language resources to individuals. A schedule should be in place to give appropriate employees the proper training and provide ongoing, periodic updates as the process evolves.
Monitoring and Evaluating the Plan
Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are crucial to the effectiveness of your LAP. Is your LAP delivering on your goals? Consider the following as you plan a strategy for ongoing assessment:
- Feedback: Implement feedback mechanisms to gather input from LEP individuals and staff. Continually reassess your organization’s needs and the needs of your audiences.
- Performance Metrics: When the LAP is reviewed, what will be assessed? Use performance metrics to assess the LAP’s impact and identify areas for improvement.
- Regular Reviews: Periodically review and update the LAP to reflect changes in the community, technology, and regulations. Establish how often the plan will be reviewed.
- Responsibility: Identify who within your organization will be responsible for monitoring the plan and implementing updates.
A LAP is not a one-time effort. It should evolve with your organization, adapting to changing circumstances and needs.
Language Access Plans: Serving Your Multilingual Community
Creating and implementing a successful LAP is essential for ensuring that your organization can effectively serve its multilingual community. By prioritizing language access, you promote an inclusive and equitable environment for all service users. Begin developing your LAP today to better connect with and serve your diverse audiences.
