PRO Act

Have you ever used an interpreting agency or hired an individual interpreter for your language needs? Have you placed your request and received an answer: “Let me check the interpreter’s/my schedule?” Have you ever wondered why that is? How come interpreters are not always available when an agency or client needs them? It’s because the majority of linguists work as independent contractors, servicing multiple clients and at least a handful of agencies. The majority of agencies, and even state and federal courthouses, don’t hire full-time interpreters and translators. Some larger entities will have a few full-time employees, mostly Spanish interpreters,…

When working with clients from India…

India, with a population of 1.353 billion people, is linguistically diverse with hundreds of languages and 22 scheduled (official) languages. And over 2.6 million people born in India are currently residing in the US! So what are some of the most common Indian languages that you are likely to encounter when working with a client from India? With 322 million native speakers and 270 million second languages speakers, Hindi is also the most spoken Indian language in the US with more than 863,00 speakers (as of 2016). Our Hindi interpreters are keeping busy, especially since many of them speak multiple…

India- A Linguistically Diverse Country

Did you know that only 43% of Indians are native Hindi speakers? With over 1.35 billion people comes great diversity, including linguistic diversity. Which is probably why India has identified 270 languages with more than 10,000 speakers according to their 2011 census. But 96.7% of India’s population speaks one of its 22 scheduled (official) languages natively. What are these languages? Here are the top 10 most spoken languages in India Other languages include Assamese: 15 million speakers Maithili: 13.5 million speakers Santhali: 7.3 million speakers Tamil: 6.9 million speakers Kashmiri: 6.8 million speakers Nepali: 2.9 million speakers Sindhi: 2.7 million…

Happy Arabic Language Day!

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Arabic Language Day falls on December 18th in celebration of the day the UN adopted Arabic as its 6th official language in 1973. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the standardized version of Arabic used in books, television, newspapers, etc. But the dialects can differ significantly from region to region. For example, words used in a spoken dialect can be completely different than a written word with the same definition. So someone trained in only MSA may have difficulties communicating with Arabic speakers in some regions. But can all Arabic speakers understand each other? It depends! There will always be some…

Happy Hindi Day!

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Hindi Day or Hindi Diwas, celebrated September 14th, is an annual national day of celebration in India to commemorate the adoption of Hindi written in the Devanagari script as one of India’s official languages. It marks the day the Constituent Assembly of India approved the adoption of the language and the birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha, a Hindi scholar who advocated its adoption. Beohar Rajendra Simha September 14th, 1929 – October 25th, 2007 Today, Hindi is the 4th most spoken language in the world! With an estimated 615.5 million speakers worldwide! Did you know Hindi belongs to the same Indo-European…

Our latest GSA Contract!

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Taking our interpretation to the sky! I recently had an opportunity to get out in the field and watch my interpreters in action. It was a great pleasure to visit the training facility at Crestview and meet my interpreters, the students and instructors, as well as the contracting officers overseeing the GSA contract. The experience reminded me just why we do what we do… find the right specialized interpreters for specific events so that everyone can engage and have a fulfilling and productive experience. 🙂 But I also asked one of my amazing Spanish interpreters, Damaris, for her perspective on…

International Mother Language Day 🌏

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February 21st is International Mother Language Day Language is more than an aid in communication. It is shared culture, memories, identity, traditions, etc. Learning a foreign language is more than just vocabulary and grammar but learning a whole new way of thinking. It is what makes translators and interpreters so valuable. They are able to translate meaning between cultures and promote understanding between different peoples. Globalization has streamlined a handful of languages and made it possible for a variety of people to understand each other without the aid of linguists. But with a push to speak the few major languages…

Spanish isn’t always the right choice!

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When scheduling interpreters it’s easy to assume the language of the speaker based on the country of origin. If your client is from Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina, or Peru it’s tempting to order a Spanish interpreter, especially if the client speaks Spanish during initial interactions. But reality isn’t as simple. South and Central America contain a plethora of indigenous languages, many which are still is use today! In South America alone there are more than 370 identified languages! With another 21 Mayan languages used in Central America. In addition, other European languages are spoken, like Dutch in Suriname, French in French…

The future of Remote Interpreting is here!

A discussion about face-to-face (F2F) interpreting being far superior to remote interpretation has been echoing in the industry for years. And we agreed. In our previous blog post we made it clear, nothing compares to F2F interactions. Referencing a 2010 study we asserted that face-to-face services were significantly better than remote options such as telephone and video. But that’s 10 years ago! Over that time technology has improved drastically. Is it still better that your interpreter be in the same room? Especially in a busy environment where it would be difficult to capture everything that is going on at once with…

Language Barrier 2020

When traveling in foreign countries, have you ever struggled to understand (and be understood) with a pocket dictionary? How about using a more modern translation program like Google Translate to communicate? Technology has improved our ability to communicate, whether on a vacation or in a business meeting, with people who don’t share our language. This ability has opened up new worlds and opportunities within our global community. But anyone using these technologies has also experienced mistranslations, inaccuracies, and just poor delivery. The 2015 Skype Translator glitch that turned innocent English into Mandarin swear words comes to mind. Will there be…

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About us

LEGAL INTERPRETERS LLC is an interpreting agency founded by an actual interpreter with a broad and extensive interpreting experience. Agata Baczyk has been working as an independent interpreter for several years and decided to start her own interpreting agency in order to address the industry's need for professional and experienced interpreters. Most interpreting agencies are not able to screen or assess their interpreters effectively because they don't have the needed tools and knowledge of what that job entails. As a company led by a professional interpreter we are able to ensure that the linguists we contract with are knowledgeable and experienced.