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Phoning It In

A free interpretation service for limited English speakers is a nice idea, but the one we've got now in California does less for individuals than for large businesses.

By Margarita Hirapetian
LALA Reporter

Phone conversations are intimidating in a foreign language: eyebrow gymnastics, hand gestures, and little sisters can't help. Figuring out where to open a bank account or just making a dental appointment over the phone can be tough for immigrants with limited English.

As a response, AT&T has teamed up with a Monterey, Calif.–based company called Language Line Services to create "Your World. Your Language," a free phone interpretation service that links limited English speakers with banks, department stores, public transit, and other businesses and services. Language Line Services provides flesh-and-blood translators and "patent-pending" technology, and AT&T routes the calls.

Initially launched last October in San Francisco, the service is now available in much of Southern California in Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog (Filipino), and Vietnamese. According to a Language Line Services news release, our whole nation of immigrants will have access to it by the end of 2008, in the selected languages.

At LALA, we were glad to hear about the service, and skeptical. To test it, I volunteered my grandfather, who grew up in the former Soviet Union. In addition, UCLA student Roger Wang reviewed the service in Mandarin, and LALA reporter Stephanie Tavitian tested it in Spanish.

The Senior Citizen Test

I realized that I needed my grandfather along for the fun after calling the toll-free number (888-855-0811) and then pressing buttons for a while before speaking with an actual person in Russian. My younger collaborators and I were used to telephone mazes, and we all speak fluent English. My papik has learned to say "please," "thank you," "hello," and "goodbye" in English and was more than happy to help me out with my little "project."

On his first attempt he pressed a wrong button and got nothing but silence on the other end. He called back and this time there was complete silence. After I stepped in and helped out a bit, he got the hang of the buttons. He followed the automated instructions and finally selected Union Bank of California to inquire about a credit card. For a Russian speaker, in fact, Union Bank was the only bank in all of "Your World. Your Language."

About five buttons and five minutes later, my grandfather reached an interpreter, not a bank employee, who mediated between him and the bank. His question was "how can I receive a credit card through Union Bank?" and the answer was less than helpful. The interpreter told my grandfather to contact Citibank to ask for a credit card, but she wasn't able to connect him with that bank or even to give him a phone number. She said that a Russian speaker at that bank would be able to assist him. All in all he wasn't able to receive a straight answer. To sum it up my grandfather told me that he felt no need for the service and would probably never use it again.

From the Russian portion of the service alone, we could tell that a lot of things about it were upside-down or severely limited. Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Tiffany's were the only store options, and smaller local businesses were not represented. The process seemed to serve member businesses first, and limited-English clients only as a necessary afterthought.

Later, I learned that there is a considerable difference among the options offered for each language. In Chinese, for example, two out of three services were banks, and there was no 1-800-DENTIST or Tiffany's.

At the toll-free number, the first automated query after language was city. I could choose from Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach, San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. For L.A., I could find out about medical services (which meant 1-800-DENTIST), travel and transportation, banking and credit cards, and ordering a satellite dish.

It's Saying They Do Thank You, and 'Live Richly'

Calling in Mandarin Chinese, Roger had the best experience of the four reviewers. He initially chose San Francisco on the phone tree to inquire about opening a credit line. He was connected directly to a Citibank representative who spoke good Chinese. This time there was no interpreter in the middle.

However, when Roger called the L.A. line with the same request, he was connected to an interpreter, a very polite, older-sounding lady whose Chinese was less polished. Through the interpreter, an English-speaking Citibank representative said that, as much as he would like to help, he could discuss credit with the customer only. The representative offered to send information by mail and then connected Roger to an automated message, in English, that explained how to start a credit line. The interpreter stayed on the line, and soon the automated voice and her own began to overlap.

Despite all the confusion, Roger says, "I didn't know this kind of thing existed, so I think I would recommend it, definitely." Considering both phone calls, he added that the overall quality of interpretation on the service was high.

At another extreme, Stephanie's experience was bewildering. Fully bilingual in Spanish and English, she could not make out the "monotone" automated options in Spanish and managed to select Los Angeles only with difficulty and on the second try. Still struggling to understand "the robotic voice," she chose telephone and Internet services, then high-speed Internet. Predictably, that led to AT&T's high-speed Internet service—and then she got cut off.

On a second call, Stephanie tried residential telephone services, was placed on hold for a couple of minutes, and was finally treated to a combination of muzak and a woman's muffled voice. She thought the music might have come from somewhere else, maybe lines that crossed. Stephanie reports: "I screamed that I couldn't hear, that the music was playing. She said to hold on, and that was it for about three minutes. Finally, I hung up with the muzak still playing."

The entire ordeal yielded one frustrated reporter, another uninterested reporter, one indifferent senior citizen, and only one (sort of) happy customer. Though Roger's experience seemed worthwhile, the rest of us will most likely save our thumbs for the remote control.

Date Posted: 3/1/2007