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Communicating With A Multilingual Public: Snapshot of Federal Agency Websites and Hotlines

This report analyzes the language access capabilities of federal agency websites and hotlines, highlighting best practices and areas for improvement in communicating with multilingual communities.

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Communicating With A Multilingual Public: Snapshot of Federal Agency Websites and Hotlines

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  1. Communicating With A Multilingual Public: Snapshot of Federal Agency Websites and Hotlines Phillip Rowland-Seymour The Annie E. Casey Foundation September 2011

  2. Why? The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States.

  3. Background AG February 17, 2011 Memo: Renewed commitment to Language Access obligations under Executive Order 13166. 8 action items Language Access Working Group Evaluate/update current response to LEP needs Establish schedule to periodically evaluate update LEP needs Ensure that staff can identify LEP points of contact and provide meaningful assistance at those points Notify the public of your LEP policies, plans, and procedures (in ways that will reach LEP communities they serve) Determining extent to which non-English proficiency is a useful hiring criteria Collaborate with other agencies on shared translated written resources Draft recipient guidance for agencies that provide federal financial assistance

  4. Notify the public… • “Notify the public, through mechanisms that will reach the LEP communities you serve, of your LEP policies, plans, and procedures, and LEP access-related developments. Provide a link to materials posted on your website to Federal Coordination and Compliance Section so that it can be posted on LEP.gov.”

  5. Websites Survey of 90 agencies’ websites, looking for: • Plain language statement • Social media buttons • Mirror site • GobiernoUSA.gov • Translate the page

  6. Languages • Spanish • Chinese • Vietnamese • French/Haitian Creole • Hindi (and related) • Korean

  7. Website findings Almost 15% have a mirror site available in Spanish. Approximately 11% link to GobiernoUSA.gov Almost 6% use Google Translate on their homepage. 1/3 of the agencies provide links to agency-specific translated documents on their webpage.

  8. Website findings Links to Spanish resources were usually labeled “Spanish”. Only 1 agency has mirror sites in more than just Spanish. 8 agencies provided translated text/documents in more than just Spanish. 29 agencies had easily identifiable “Plain Language” statements and 54 have social media buttons.

  9. Hotlines Survey of 90 agencies’ hotlines, looking for: • Automated or live? • Languages available? • Prompts for non-English languages at the beginning or end of announcement

  10. Hotline findings 50% automated lines had another language as an option 4 live hotlines were accessible in Spanish

  11. Top 10 Best Practices for Multilingual Websites http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/multilingual/best-practices.shtml

  12. Language Online communications must address the language preferences of users. The use of machine or automatic translations is strongly discouraged.

  13. Culture Regardless of language used, the online experience must be culturally relevant to the audience.

  14. Access Enable users to find your multilingual website via prominent access on the English site.

  15. URL Strategy Use a stand-alone, dedicated URL.

  16. Comparability and Maintenance Comparable user experience to your English site.

  17. Manage Users' expectations… by letting your users know when they are going to navigate to an area of a different language.

  18. Toggle Enable users to toggle between comparable content or features on the English and multilingual websites if available.

  19. Online Features and Functionality Provide interactive features and functionality on multilingual websites.

  20. Integrated Operations and Marketing Integrate your multilingual website initiatives into your overall online-offline strategy.

  21. Online Marketing Develop and execute a targeted multilingual online marketing program.

  22. Conclusions There is still work to be done. There are many resources available.

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