In today's diverse and interconnected world, language barriers can pose significant challenges for ensuring effective communication. When it comes to public sectors like education or government, leaders often face an additional layer to these challenges: needing to comply with language accessibility regulations.
Leaders from Fresno Unified School District and Tompkins County Administration leverage language technology to address these challenges and streamline translation for their communities. Zuleica Murillo, Executive Director of Translation and Interpretation Services for Fresno Unified School District, and Dominick Recckio, Communications Director at Tompkins County, recently joined Smartling for a virtual discussion about their strategies for tackling language barriers in their communities and meeting compliance standards.
Tompkins County is home to a relatively small community of 100,000 residents, with a widely diverse population due to the presence of Cornell University and Ithaca College. Recckio faced the challenge of ensuring this diverse community’s access to county information in their own native languages. With thousands of pages of critical public information living on the Tompkins County website, relying on manual translation would have not only been inefficient and cost-prohibitive, but nearly impossible for any county administration to tackle on their own.
Recckio looked to language technology to address this challenge. Smartling’s Global Delivery Network (GDN) empowered Tompkins County to translate thousands of pages of critical public information into any language instantly, breaking down language barriers in real time. Tompkins County also uses Smartling to efficiently translate multimedia content such as videos, which allows them to connect with communities via content types they’re accustomed to consuming. This language technology helps residents feel included and at home in Tompkins County, regardless of which language they speak.
Fresno Unified School District is California’s largest school district, home to over 73,000 students and more than 100 schools. Students and families speak over 30 different languages throughout the district, and the district set lofty goals for meeting the translation needs of this diverse community: a 30-day turnaround for Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and a 72-hour turnaround for all other translated materials. Prior to partnering with Smartling, Murillo realized that the district’s tedious manual translation processes simply could not keep pace with their translation needs.
Murillo and her team implemented Smartling’s translation management solution to translate materials more efficiently, meeting language access compliance standards along the way. The centralized platform keeps her team on track and informs stakeholders of progress, and features like Smartling’s CAT (Computer Aided Translation) Tool help translators work more efficiently by enabling them to translate with visual context. This technology helps Fresno Unified School District meet their lofty goals and establish a reputation for efficiency and reliability within the district.
Murillo and Recckio’s experiences shed light on the crucial role of language technology in creating inclusive communities whose leaders can meet compliance standards with ease. Looking ahead, Dominic envisions a future where all county staff can confidently use language technology to serve individuals in any language, at any time. Murillo, on the other hand, discussed future plans of dispelling negative perceptions of AI so that the district can use more AI tools to power more efficient translation. By harnessing the power of technology, such as Smartling’s GDN and CAT tool, leaders can demonstrate their commitment to improving language access in their communities.
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Want to learn more about breaking down language barriers through translation? Watch the full webinar here.
