By Kristen Gerencher
MarketWatch
Health care makes up about a third of the business at Language Line Services, which provides telephone-based interpreting services for $1.50 a minute on average. Its president, Louis Provenzano, said the company serves more than 170 languages by staffing interpreters in 18 time zones who are available to customers by phone or sometimes video at all hours. More than half its staff is based in the U.S.
Despite the recession, the company continues to grow, Provenzano said. Spanish drives 70% of the U.S. business volume, and Mandarin Chinese is the second most in-demand language. It’s not just acute-care facilities and emergency rooms that are calling for help. New customers are coming on board in the area of preventive care, disease management and needs related to the pandemic H1N1 flu virus, he said.
“No matter which side of the fence you sit on immigration, there’s a fundamental complexity in terms of the demographics of this country,” Provenzano said. “One of every five citizens speaks another language other than English.”
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