Popular languages

After Spanish, the top languages requested for interpretation in the U.S. in the last year were Arabic, Mandarin and Vietnamese, according to a study by Language Line Services, one of the world’s largest interpreting service companies. The Monterey company identified the top languages by tracking the growth of its over-the-phone requests for interpretation in the first three months of 2012, compared with the same period in 2011. The company offers interpreting services for more than 170 languages. It declined to release the number of calls, only percentage changes. Among other findings in the study:

•Los Angeles reported big increases in interpreter requests for Vietnamese (61%), Mandarin (39%) and Russian (35%).

•Somali interpretation requests grew significantly in Phoenix (124%), Memphis, Tenn., (93%) and Fort Worth (38%) in the 12-month period.

•Burmese was the second-most-requested language in Jacksonville, Fla., and Indianapolis.

•Requests for Haitian shot up in Jacksonville, Fla., (76%) and New York City (39%).

•El Paso reported big growth in requests for Farsi (183%), Amharic, spoken in Ethiopia, (183%) and Korean (175%).

Source: Language Line Services