{"id":9026,"date":"2021-09-13T17:13:50","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T17:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/?post_type=cde-knowledge-base&p=9026"},"modified":"2025-08-27T09:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:19:32","slug":"identifying-spoken-language","status":"publish","type":"cde-knowledge-base","link":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/knowledge-base\/language-access\/identifying-spoken-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Identifying spoken language"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Identifying spoken language<\/strong><\/h3>

Languages that you have never heard before might be hard to identify\u2014an important first step in finding an interpreter! There are a few strategies to try.<\/span><\/p>

Language identification posters<\/b><\/h4>

If you are working in person with a survivor who is unable to tell you the English name for their language, but may be able to recognize their own written language, start with language identification cards or posters<\/b><\/a>. <\/span>To be most effective, the cards or posters should invite survivors to identify to you which languages they speak.<\/span><\/p>

Over-the-phone interpretation or \u201clanguage lines\u201d<\/b><\/h4>

Generally, when you use over-the-phone-interpretation (OPI), you dial toll-free number and provide your account information. You are immediately asked for which language you need interpretation, or the \u201ctargeted language.\u201d If you do not know the name of the language and cannot identify it, the service can help you. Once the language has been identified, you are transferred to an interpreter.<\/span> See \u201cInterpreters\u201d <\/b><\/a>for more information on OPI services.<\/span><\/p>

Language banks<\/b><\/h4>

Language banks have been developed by several organizations around the country. Volunteers and staff from throughout the community serve in a \u201cbank\u201d of interpreters who agree to be \u201con call\u201d when language access services are needed. Language banks that have a coordinator or other central contact point may be able to assist advocates to identify a survivor\u2019s spoken language.<\/span> See \u201cInterpreters\u201d<\/b><\/a> for current examples of language banks.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Last updated 2021<\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Identifying spoken language Languages that you have never heard before might be hard to identify\u2014an important first step in finding an interpreter! There are a few strategies to try. Language identification posters If you are working in person with a survivor who is unable to tell you the English name for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17871,"template":"","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]"},"media_category":[146,228,235],"media_tags":[266,291],"class_list":["post-9026","cde-knowledge-base","type-cde-knowledge-base","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","media_category-esperanza-united-departments","media_category-toolkits","media_category-language-access","media_tags-free","media_tags-training-and-technical-assistance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base\/9026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cde-knowledge-base"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base\/9026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36822,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base\/9026\/revisions\/36822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"media_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_category?post=9026"},{"taxonomy":"media_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_tags?post=9026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}