Why Businesses Should Test Heritage Speakers’ Language Skills

Your company’s business depends on the professional communication skills of bilingual employees. How does this play a role in the hiring process? According to the resumes reviewed, many candidates are heritage language users of the languages needed. If these applicants already speak the desired language, why is it important to test their language proficiency?

The United States is linguistically diverse, and by testing your applicants’ language skills, you will open your company and candidates up to more opportunities. Beyond these professional advantages, assessing their proficiency has personal benefits, too. Encouraging heritage language users to learn more about their heritage language also enables them to establish connections to the past while carrying histories and traditions into the future.

What Are “Heritage Language Users”?

The term “heritage” refers to how individuals acquired their language abilities—not to how proficient they may or may not be in the language. For this reason, testing the language skills of heritage language users must be part of the hiring process.

Many heritage language users learn their heritage language in an informal setting (e.g., at home or in their communities) and use that language with family, friends, and co-workers. They may have native-like pronunciation, be confident when dealing with highly familiar topics, and engage freely and fluently on topics related to everyday life. Heritage language users are typically exposed to their heritage language in childhood but may or may not have learned the language to its full functional capacity because another language became dominant in their day-to-day interactions. They may have never even received formal education in their heritage language. In fact, heritage language users residing in the U.S. have typically received most of their formal education in English-speaking schools, and for this reason, they may not have all the functional abilities in their heritage language that they have in English.

While heritage language users may be more fluent in a second language, such as English, they are at an advantage compared to language users starting without any background knowledge. Heritage language users already have exposure to their first language and culture, making it easier for them to learn or relearn their heritage language.

The primary importance of heritage language is that it allows individuals to connect culturally and linguistically to their ancestors. Being proficient in a heritage language also offers professional benefits and opens the door to more job opportunities.

Heritage Language Users and Language Proficiency

The term “heritage” does not indicate or predict any specific proficiency level. Heritage language users’ extensive exposure to the language in informal contexts may result in profiles that differ from those of traditional second language users. Nonetheless, their functional ability of language is assessed according to a common set of criteria, which corresponds to a given proficiency level. Their language skills can be assessed at any level of the proficiency scale as described in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines – 2024.

With ACTFL assessments, heritage language proficiency is fluid, and each level has specific criteria and descriptions, so the heritage speaker has information on which level they are at in each skill. The main difference between each level is the language user’s ability to communicate, read, listen, or correspond through writing to native language users while contributing their thoughts and ideas to the conversation.

Different Levels of Language Proficiency

The language proficiency of a heritage language user can differ from second language speakers depending on their exposure level to their heritage language. For example, a heritage speaker at the Intermediate level may have the same proficiency skills as an intermediate second language user regarding lack of vocabulary and limited structural control. However, in some cases, heritage language users can be at the Intermediate level and still possess a higher level of fluency and confidence than Intermediate second language users.

Advanced-level heritage language users typically perform Advanced-level tasks with quantity and quality. Their native-like pronunciation and fluency, as well as their extensive vocabulary and structural control, may distinguish them from their second language user counterparts. When asked to perform tasks at the Superior level, Advanced-level heritage language users may not demonstrate errors in language control nor diminishing fluency but rather may avoid addressing a Superior-level task. For example, rather than supporting an opinion, they may provide anecdotal information; rather than discussing a topic at the issues level and from an abstract perspective, they may resort to a concrete treatment of the topic; rather than speculating on possible outcomes when asked to hypothesize, they may describe a real situation.

Heritage language users at the Superior level demonstrate the ability to sustain the Superior-level tasks in extended discourse, using precise vocabulary, and with no patterned errors. They are not rated Superior because of the way they sound but rather because their ability to use the language effectively falls within the functional requirements for that level.

Reasons to Test Heritage Language Users

Why, then, should businesses test heritage language users’ language skills? The term “heritage” does not identify what language users can do with language, nor does it indicate how well they can communicate in different situations. Simply identifying oneself as a “heritage speaker” of a language does not provide evidence to a prospective employer as to whether that person has the language skills appropriate for the demands of the workplace. Official testing of language abilities does provide this information. Testing heritage language users, using official ACTFL assessments and reporting results based on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, enables employers to have confidence in their hiring decisions.

Testing proficiency in a heritage language is an excellent way to reduce time-to-hire and the cost-per-hire whether you are looking for candidates internationally or for specific language positions. Language testing measures specific elements of languages and gives data you can use to make the best hiring decisions. High test scores also indicate how likely an employee is to be successful in their position, which may aid in improving retention rates.

Test Heritage Speaker Proficiency With Language Testing International®

Improve your hiring process with Language Testing International®. We are the exclusive licensee of ACTFL and offer various commercial and official testing options. Each ACTFL assessment offers accurate proficiency scores to enable employers to compare testing abilities with linguistic requirements and hire heritage language users with confidence.

Since the creation of Language Testing International (LTI) in 1992, we have been a leader in language proficiency testing. Our ACTFL language assessments are under full accreditation and are widely recognized and accepted by academic institutions, corporations, and government agencies. We invite you to complete our online contact form to learn more about our wide range of testing options for heritage speakers and other language users.

Languages Can Help Reopen the United States

The COVID-19 crisis has caused drastic lockdowns of major sectors of the American economy in order to stop the spread of the virus. As the curve begins to flatten and states are allowing a phased reopening of local economies, we cannot forget how important qualified language professionals will be in helping ensure that the reopening is done effectively and safely.

Small businesses have been especially hit hard by the lockdowns, with much of the pain being felt by minorities. According to the United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, minority owned businesses “accounted for more than 50 percent of the two million new businesses started in the United States and created 4.7 million jobs. There are now more than four million minority-owned companies in the United States, with annual sales totaling close to $700 billion.” Over 99.9% of minority owned businesses have fewer than 500 employees.

The COVID-19 crisis has also heavily affected minority communities. African Americans are about 3.5 times more likely than white Americans to die from COVID-19, and Latinos are about two times more likely to die from the virus than white Americans. Even before the epidemic, minorities faced numerous obstacles gaining access to healthcare. As the debate rages on about if and how to reopen the economy, policymakers, health experts, and community activists will need to develop a plan to reopen the economy in a safe manner that limits exposure to the virus, especially among hard-hit minority communities.

The importance of languages to the success of such plans cannot be overstated. With effective language strategies, we can help minority owned businesses and communities recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19 and ensure that the re-opening process does not backfire. Governments, businesses, healthcare facilities, and nonprofits need to ensure that their people and communication strategies can effectively deliver the crucial messages that need to be conveyed. As Nelson Mandela stated, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

We must first remember that English is not the official language of the United States, in fact, there isn’t an official American language. American citizens are free to speak to each other in any language they so choose. Over 35 million American citizens (over 66 million if including non-citizen residents) speak a language other than English at home. Of that population (including non-citizens and residents), over 60% can communicate in English “very well.” That means that about 26 million Americans do not speak English “very well.” These statistics are important to the reopening of the United States, because these Americans also own businesses and live in communities hit hard by COVID-19.

In order to truly understand complex instructions and regulations that deal with healthcare, personal safety, and business, someone would need to speak English “very well.”  Peoplenot understanding these instructions and regulations due to a language barrier could put their life, and potentially the lives of others, at risk. Effective government and healthcare recommendations will mean nothing if significant portions of the American population are not able to understand and take them to heart due to a language barrier.

Local leaders, especially, can lead the charge in reopening the United States, because they know their communities better than federal officials in Washington D.C. or even than their own state governments. They can identify the key language groups in their communities and encourage translation of resources and instructions from the government and healthcare providers to those groups. Local minority owned businesses are often the cultural and commercial hubs of the community they serve. For example, growing up in Miami, Florida, I saw that there were numerous Cuban restaurants that acted as informal community spaces and news often spread within the community through these restaurants, and always in Spanish. This happens all across the United States through nearly every community with a concentration on a specific ethnic group.

Failure of translating these resources can lead to harm, but mistranslations and errors in interpreting can also be equally devastating. Language professionals who undertake the efforts to properly communicate with minority businesses and communities need to have a high level of language proficiency in the languages of those communities to faithfully translate complex resources. If there are mistranslations, people can be seriously harmed and legal liabilities may arise. For example, if a minority business owner who does not speak English does not understand instructions for keeping his or her employees safe and an employee gets ill, the business may get shut down, the owner may go to jail, the employee’s health may be put at risk, and other employees may lose their jobs. There are many very real examples of lawsuits filed due to mistranslations, and a death due to a mistranslation is simply an unnecessary death.

That is where Language Testing International (LTI) can help. LTI is the exclusive licensee of ACTFL assessments, widely recognized and accepted by government institutions, healthcare professionals, and businesses across the world. Thus, it is a perfect standard, as those key sectors will need to work together to address language barriers that may affect the reopening of the United States and ensure that their messages are effectively communicated without the risk of liabilities due to mistranslations.

The reopening of the United States will take time, and many lessons will be learned along the way. Special attention will need to be paid to minority businesses and communities to address the devastating effects of COVID-19. Languages are absolutely critical to the success of the reopening, and our leaders will need to ensure that all Americans, including those who are not fluent in English, are truly able to understand the messages needed to guide us to recovery. Partnering with LTI would be an effective strategy to achieve these goals.

Closing the Communication Gap on COVID-19

COVID-19 may be “coronavirus” in every language, but how we, as a global community, address it requires healthcare professionals who speak the native languages of the patients they care for and the diverse communities they work in. Language proficiency has become a fundamental skill for healthcare teams charged with communicating and sharing coronavirus precautions more effectively. How is your organization evaluating the language proficiency level or your multilingual employees?

While the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a household term these days, the provision of culturally and linguistically competent patient care is a challenge faced by healthcare professionals and agencies alike. For example, healthcare workers in diverse communities must quickly learn how the coronavirus spreads, how to protect themselves, how to help people prevent infection, how to care for patients that present symptoms, and so on. Considering that there have been confirmed cases in over 148 countries (UNifeed, 2020), all composed of multiple cultures, languages, and norms, it is easy to see how complicated the situation becomes for healthcare organizations when faced with communicating critical information to their multilingual patient communities.

Although English is the primary language of communication in the United States, there is a critical need and urgency for linguistically appropriate ways to communicate information regarding this pandemic; it literally has become a matter of life and death. The bottom line is that this crisis requires us to communicate on a global scale. Currently, basic vetted public information about coronavirus can be found in fifteen languages (Washington State Department of Health, 2020), including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese. However, the need for communicating this information accurately and effectively is much greater than just making it available in fifteen languages on the Internet or in printed materials!

Healthcare providers are asking themselves: Do we have employees on staff who can help us communicate in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner to meet the needs of our patients? With a global literacy rate of approximately 86% (meaning 14% illiteracy rate; Roser & Ortiz-Ospina, 2018) varying by country, literacy levels in reading, writing, and comprehension can have an impact on the level of readiness to combat coronavirus.

To add to the complexity of the situation, “health literacy” levels are low. “Health literacy,” as defined by the Institute of Medicine’s report Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, is “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (National Network of Libraries of Medicine, n.d.). According to the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), only 12% of U.S. adults scored in the highest healthcare literacy proficiency levels (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.).

Based on the data, to truly ensure that culturally diverse people, communities, and countries can enhance their understanding of what is involved in preventing and treating the coronavirus disease, it essentially comes down to healthcare professionals who can communicate in languages other than English.

Since 1992, Language Testing International (LTI), a Samsung company, has been a leader in the development of language proficiency testing for more than 120 languages, globally. In partnership with the ACTFL, we proudly offer our healthcare partners valid and reliable reading, writing, speaking, and listening tests. Each test is designed to properly determine the specific proficiency level of an individual and ultimately to provide a valid and defensible language credential.

LTI works closely with your human resources department to identify the appropriate level of language proficiency required for the position at hand. Once your needs have been identified, we will help you qualify the right candidates with the language skills needed to be successful.

Contact us today for a free consultation on best practices for hiring multilingual talent!

 

References

National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.). What is PIAAC?

National Network of Libraries of Medicine. (n.d.). Health literacy.

Roser, M., & Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2018). Literacy.

UNifeed. (2020). WHO/COVID-19 update.

Washington State Department of Health. (2020). Novel coronavirus fact sheet.

 

 

Leverage Your Credit Union’s Language Skills

As our communities become more diverse and connected to the global commerce, credit unions will need to ensure they leverage their language skills to remain competitive. Languages are not a “nice-to-have” skill but an absolute necessity for succeeding in diverse markets and reducing risks associated with language miscommunication. Languages will be among the most important skills to develop for many credit unions in our changing economy.

While the United States has historically focused on just speaking English, multilingualism is growing rapidly. From 1980 to 2018, the percentage of multilingual Americans nearly doubled from about 10.68% to about 20.55%. One factor that could explain this is that the United States is generally becoming more diverse. For example, since 2000, more than 109 American counties have become majority non-White. Another potential explanation is the realization that multilingualism, even if English is one’s native language, brings enormous benefits to an ever increasingly globalized economy. The New American Economy think tank produced a study showing that demand for multilingual workers has more than doubled in five years, including for both low- and high-skill positions. Studies in Europe have illustrated the macroeconomic impacts of speaking foreign languages. Switzerland estimates that 10% of its gross domestic product (GDP) is generated from its multilingual skills, while the United Kingdom estimates that a lack of multilingual skills has cost them over 3.5% of its GDP.

Credit unions are perfect examples of institutions that need to develop language skills. They offer complex products and services to consumers to help them achieve their financial goals, and they are focused on serving their communities and members, not shareholders. As our communities become more linguistically diverse, credit unions need to be able to effectively communicate their value in the languages spoken by their members. The large banking institutions understand the value of languages, as the New American Economy report showed that more than a third of Bank of America’s job postings online required foreign languages skills.

There are enormous benefits for credit unions to reach into multilingual markets. I grew up in a majority Latino community, and both of my parents are Latin American immigrants whose first language is Spanish. Firms that could not effectively communicate their value or serve their customers in Spanish did not do well in my community. Immigrant communities in general are underserved by financial institutions. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reports in 2017 that Latino, African American, and immigrant communities have higher percentages of members being unbanked or underbanked than the overall American population. As the spending power of these communities grows, these markets will only become more lucrative for credit unions.

Ineffective language skills are a major risk to firms and credit unions. The United States Committee on Economic Development estimates language and cultural misunderstandings cost American businesses over $2 billion dollars per year. Due to the complex nature of financial products and services, and the potential detriment they can cause if mismanaged, financial institutions have been held accountable for not providing adequate language services to those who don’t speak English. Wells Fargo was accused of not providing Spanish-speaking loan officers and taking advantage of Spanish-speaking borrowers by steering them to more expensive and higher risk loans.

So how do credit unions effectively leverage their language skills to achieve the benefits mentioned above? Although credit unions can contract for translating services, it is often an expensive option that may not provide the flexibility credit unions need. Instead, credit unions should hire multilingual staff to serve their customers who don’t speak English. How do you ensure that your staff is proficient enough in language to communicate important and complex product information and services? A valid and reliable language proficiency credential from Language Testing International (LTI) will guarantee that candidates have undergone the most rigorous language testing and assessment in the industry. LTI offers language certifications developed by ACTFL that are widely trusted, recognized, and accepted everywhere.

Leveraging language skills will benefit credit unions by being better able to serve their customers, grow into multilingual markets, and reduce their language communication risks. Credit unions should not ignore the importance of language skills if they don’t want to be left behind by their competition.

About Language Testing International

Since 1992, Language Testing International (LTI), a Samsung company, has been the leader in the development of language proficiency testing for more than 120 languages, globally. In partnership with ACTFL, we proudly offer our corporate clients valid and reliable reading, writing, speaking, and listening tests. Each test is designed to properly determine the specific proficiency level of an individual and ultimately to provide a valid and defensible language credential.

From Fortune 500 corporations to small and midsize companies, LTI works closely with your human resources department to identify the appropriate level of language proficiency required for the position you are looking to fill. Once your needs have been identified, we will help you qualify the right candidates with the language skills needed to be successful.

Contact us today for a free consultation on best practices for hiring multilingual talent!

Language Proficiency: A Matter of Life and Death

doctors running patient in bedLet’s face it, there is a strong and growing demand for multilingual talent as a natural result of the evolving demographic shifts in the United States. According to a study by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers, “American employers are operating in an increasingly multilingual and multicultural economy in which 65 million U.S. residents speak a language other than English (40 percent with limited or no English proficiency), and 96 percent of the world’s consumers and two-thirds of its purchasing power reside outside U.S. borders.” However, effective communication is likely to be most critical in the healthcare sector given that language proficiency (or lack thereof) could truly influence and determine the level of care provided to patients with limited English proficiency.

The cultural and linguistic competences of physicians, nurses, and medical teams have a tremendous impact on the level and quality of care that advances health equity and eliminates disparities for a diverse patient population, their families, and the community. An article in BMC Health Services Research entitled “Overcoming Language Barriers in Healthcare: A Protocol for Investigating Safe and Effective Communication When Patients or Clinicians Use a Second Language” states that there is an increase in the number of healthcare professionals whose first language is not the majority language in their country, and also a growing population of patients using healthcare systems where they do not share a first language with their practitioner (Meuter, Gallois, Segalowitz, Ryder, & Hocking, 2015). This represents a major communication barrier when conveying and understanding important healthcare information, it could also represent a safety hazard if left unaddressed, and it is happening all over the world.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health (n.d.) challenges the healthcare sector, its leadership, and human resources professionals to establish policies, practices, and training that provide effective, equitable, understandable, and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs. Therefore, being intentional in your recruitment, promotion, and support of a culturally and linguistically diverse workforce requires investing in its professional development and credentialing. One way to ensure that your team members are proficient in another language is to assess their speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills in their second and subsequent languages.

Still not convinced?

In a study conducted to determine whether hospitals measured up the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards, participants reported the following (Diamond, Wilson-Stronks, & Jacobs, 2010):

• Only 13% of hospitals met all four of the language-related CLAS Standards.
• 19% of the hospitals in the study met none.
• Most hospitals reported using family members and untrained staff as interpreters in the care of linguistically diverse patients, posing a threat to safe healthcare practices and best standards in care.

Where does your healthcare organization measure up regarding the CLAS Standards?

Is your staff culturally and linguistically prepared to address the needs of a growing pool of diverse patients?

Certify your healthcare team today by contacting Language Testing International (LTI).

LTI administers language assessments to hundreds of thousands of candidates every year, and is one of the largest and most respected foreign language proficiency test providers in the world. We offer the highest level of client service as well as convenient online test scheduling and reporting over secure client networks.

Based on ACTFL’s rigorous test development research, standards, and best practices, our testing program and ratings have become a standard measure of language proficiency in the U.S for the past thirty years.

LTI provides valid and reliable reading, writing, speaking, and listening tests for our corporate clients in over 60 countries and 120 languages.

Learn more about our assessments here.

Contact us to get started!

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References

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). (May 21, 2019). Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers. Retrieved from https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/wp-content/uploads/MakingLanguagesOurBusiness_FullReport.pdf

Diamond, L., Wilson-Stronks, A., & Jacobs, E. (2010). Do hospitals measure up to the National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards? Medical Care, 48(12), 1080–1087.

Meuter, R. F. I., Gallois, C., Segalowitz, N. S., Ryder, A. G., & Hocking, J. (2015). Overcoming language barriers in healthcare: A protocol for investigating safe and effective communication when patients or clinicians use a second language. BMC Health Services Research, 15(371), 1–5. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-015-1024-8

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. (n.d.). The National CLAS Standards. Retrieved from https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlid=53

Language and Beyond

stock-vector-demographic-usa-with-alaska-map-abstraction-people-color-mosaic-usa-with-alaska-map-of-persons

As customer demographics change, companies and hiring managers need to look closer at language and culture as part of the customer service experience. Language proficiency is an indicator of an individual’s ability not only to connect with a customer but also to identify cultural nuances in a shared language that would create trust and customer retention.

 In customer service, there is always a script aligned with the introduction, Q&A, and closing that is part of employees’ training. While scripting helps to maintain consistency, how that script is translated has an effect on the customers who are receiving the information. Translations are affected by the language competency of translators or interpreters and their cultural experiences and awareness. Customers are influenced by their language competency, use of language variations (i.e., slang), and their cultural background. When a translated script is presented to a customer, how the script language is constructed, along with the customer’s language proficiency and cultural background, has an effect on that customer’s acceptance or declination of the information (Clute Journals, 2009). Having employees who are certified in speaking and writing in a target language creates an advantage in customer service for multicultural customers in the following ways. 

  • Having a high level of language proficiency allows representatives to nuance their conversation to meet the needs of the customer’s preferred mode of communication (i.e., formal, informal, dialect-specific speech).
  • With language proficiency comes experience. A representative who can communicate effectively can also identify idiosyncrasies in the conversation that allow him or her to change direction and support customers the way they need to be supported.
  • Language proficiency aligns with cultural awareness. When representatives are proficient in a particular language, they bring with them their experiences, culture, and past interactions with others that represent the tapestry of that particular language. For example, Spanish is a commonly spoken language. However, there are cultural differences between Castilian Spanish, Caribbean Spanish, and Central and South American Spanish, for example, that do affect how people with a similar language background may interpret a conversation. Representatives that demonstrate high levels of proficiency in a language may also have a greater degree of experience in multicultural speech across a particular language that allows them to communicate more effectively.

As we continue to globalize in all human interactions, taking into account language proficiency and cultural awareness is imperative in continuing to meet the promises made to customers in effective, efficient, and supportive customer service.

The Importance of Communication in Light of the COVID-19 Outbreak

stock-photo-side-close-view-of-female-doctor-specialist-with-face-mask-holding-buccal-cotton-swab-and-test-tubeThe Importance of Communication in Light of the Coronavirus Outbreak

We’re in the midst of a global health emergency. As the Coronavirus continues to spread, healthcare providers can expect to see an increase in the number of patients with limited English proficiency. How can healthcare organizations best be prepared to serve everyone in need of assistance?

Preparing for Public Emergency

Healthcare providers already have plenty of patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). However, with the current public health concerns and the expected volume of people being affected, they’ll need to be prepared for an increase in patients who need varying levels of language services, which means making sure that they have all the appropriate resources in place to handle the task at hand.

Certified multilingual healthcare professionals are imperative when addressing LEP and patient communication, otherwise the quality of care provided suffers. The language skills your organization needs could mean hiring new staff, or it’s quite likely you already have several multilingual speakers on your team. The real question is who is qualified to deal with today’s communication needs.

In the case of a public health emergency, it’s important to have all hands on deck. Multilingual employees can be an indispensable asset when their language proficiency has been confirmed by a valid and reliable language assessment.

Language testing administered by LTI allows you to measure a multilingual person’s proficiency in speaking, writing, reading, and listening in a reliable and legally defensible manner. This is essential in the healthcare environment, and even more so when dealing with the effects of the pandemic we are currently facing. All communication must be accurate and clear between patients and providers to avoid any confusion that could open the door to miscommunication, medical mistakes, malpractice suits, or worse yet, patient suffering.

Every health care professional in need of language services should be able to quickly and with confidence connect to professional, vetted, and verified language support services to address patient communication. Particularly in cases of COVID-19, all patients and their families should have the right to equitable access to healthcare, regardless of the language they speak.

Certified Language Skills: A Pathway to Foreign Language Incentive Pay

stock-photo-company-leader-giving-money-bonus-in-paper-envelope-to-happy-smiling-office-worker-congratulatingCertified Language Skills: A Pathway to Foreign Language Incentive Pay (FLIP)

Ever wonder if your proficiency in a language other than English could increase your income potential? The answer is absolutely, 100%, YES! A recent report by ACTFL, entitled “Making Language Our Business,” unveiled that the demand for foreign language skills is greater than ever before for U.S. employers. Whether it is in the boardroom, in the field, with customers and partners, or on social media, companies today are increasingly more likely to conduct business in a language other than English.

However, one of every three U.S. employers reports a foreign language skills gap when asked if their employees are able to meet their multilingual needs. In addition, nearly 25% of employers acknowledge losing or being unable to pursue a business opportunity due to shortcomings in language skills. That’s where your multilingual skills can come in handy, and companies are willing to pay an extra premium to put your language proficiency to work for their benefit.

Employer compensation salary incentives that recognize and compensate multilingual workers for their language skills are called Foreign Language Incentive Pay (FLIP) programs. FLIP can be disbursed as a one-time bonus or paid in the form of a higher salary. To get an idea of how organizations may compensate their employees, you can check out the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) FLIP program and the foreign language proficiency bonus established for U.S. military members.

According to the above ACTFL study, the industries that rely the most on a multilingual workforce are Hospitality & Travel, Healthcare & Social Assistance, Educational Services, Trade, Construction, Professional & Technical Services, and Manufacturing. The following is a list of the top languages needed and the percentage of U.S. employers who rely on them most:

-Spanish (85%)
-Chinese (34%)
-French (22%)
-Japanese (17%)

Language proficiency is a valuable asset that employees can bring to the workplace, and employers are willing to pay for it. With Language Testing International (LTI), you can certify your language skills, helping you boost your marketability and thrive in an increasingly global economy. Assessments for speaking, writing, listening, and/or reading, each about a half-hour in length, can be taken from the convenience of a computer or laptop at home or at work. Once you take your language test and receive your certification, which includes your level of language proficiency, you can share your credentials with your employer, ask to participate in their FLIP program, and add it to your professional profile or resume.

Stand out from the crowd, get language certified!

Why is Language Certification so Important in Healthcare?

Why Is Language Certification Important in Healthcare?

Language certification is essential in healthcare because it ensures optimal patient care and increases safety. Speaking more than one language in healthcare positions helps nurses, doctors, and care teams provide quality care for diverse communities. Overcoming language barriers in healthcare is crucial because it ensures patients receive and understand correct medical information and advice. It’s also a legal requirement for medical facilities to provide services in different languages.

Certify Employee Language Skills Today

Why Is Language Certification Important in Healthcare?

Language certification in healthcare overcomes the language barrier in healthcare, preventing medical misinformation and miscommunication. According to the United States Census Bureau, 67.8 million American residents speak a language other than English. Approximately 39% of Spanish speakers, 35% of Arabic speakers, 52% of Chinese speakers, and 57% of Vietnamese speakers have limited or no English proficiency.

A significant part of patient-centered care is language access. Healthcare providers must ensure patients understand the correct medical information and advice they receive. Language diversity also helps medical practices comply with legal regulations. The government legally requires healthcare facilities to address language differences because it ensures individuals have equal access to medical care.

Providing certified language services to non-English speaking individuals and their families is essential because it benefits patients and workers in the following ways:

Enhanced Patient Care and Safety

Language certification is crucial in healthcare because it helps reduce the disparities linguistically and culturally diverse patients experience. Language testing and certification validate a multilingual healthcare professional’s proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It legitimizes an individual’s language skills.

Multilingual healthcare professionals often facilitate communication between medical staff and patients with minimal or no English proficiency. Multilingual providers can explain procedures and risks to patients and their families. They can also help patients navigate the complex healthcare system. Multilingual healthcare workers who are proficient in the necessary language, culture, and contextual barriers can successfully advocate for patients with limited English proficiency.

Greater Career Opportunities for Healthcare Workers

The healthcare industry critically needs workers with language skillsets, and language certification helps individuals elevate their professional profiles. Certification makes healthcare workers more marketable and provides the opportunity to explore jobs with higher salaries.

Individuals can take language assessments conveniently from their homes, offices, and laptops and add certifications to their resumes. Healthcare workers can better impact their patients and the healthcare industry with language certification.

How to Certify Multilingual Healthcare Workers

Multilingual healthcare workers such as interpreters, translators, nurses, and patient care technicians are uniquely qualified to provide optimal care to patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). However, not all self-proclaimed multilingual individuals have the appropriate language skills to interpret or translate medical information.

Providing quality healthcare services begins with ensuring employees reflect the community’s diversity and can help overcome the language barrier. Responsible healthcare providers use valid and reliable assessments when hiring multilingual staff, especially those on the front lines and those who make up the biggest part of a hospital or health center’s care team.

As a healthcare hiring manager, consider requiring candidates to take language assessments during the interview process. An assessment provides proof of an applicant’s language proficiency. ACTFL language assessments properly evaluate language proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Language Testing International® (LTI) is the exclusive licensee of ACTFL language tests and can help you identify the appropriate language proficiency levels and tests for the positions you fill.

Take the guesswork out of hiring multilingual staff. The demand is clear. Ensure your organization is prepared to serve your growing community and mitigate risk.

About Language Testing International

LTI is the exclusive licensee of ACTFL language assessments. LTI has been a language testing leader since 1992 and delivers tests in over 120 languages in more than 60 countries. You can trust LTI to deliver ACTFL tests that accurately evaluate language proficiency. The healthcare industry trusts ACTFL language certification because ACTFL assessments test workers’ abilities to use languages in everyday contexts.

With ACTFL language certification, healthcare workers can boost their careers and increase their chances of acquiring higher-paying positions. Employers can use ACTFL tests to hire the most proficient applicants and ensure their multilingual employees are proficient enough to meet patient needs.

Learn More About Language Certification for Healthcare Providers and Employers

Patients depend on proficient multilingual healthcare providers. Multilingual doctors, nurses, and care teams can help patients with limited English proficiency navigate the healthcare system. They can ensure patients receive accurate medical information and advice to make informed decisions.

LTI can help healthcare providers and employers evaluate language proficiency. As the exclusive licensee of ACTFL language assessments, LTI delivers tests that assess reading, speaking, listening, and writing skills.

ACTFL tests help employers determine the most proficient applicants. They also help healthcare providers enhance their resumes and increase their career opportunities. Contact us to take a test and increase your marketability if you are a healthcare provider. Learn more about ACTFL language assessments and certification for evaluating candidates if you are an employer.

Benefits of Pre-employment Language Testing

The Benefits of Pre-Employment Language Testing for Law Firms & Corporate Legal Departments

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Attorneys know that Rule 1.1 of the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct “ABA Models Rules,” which has been adopted by most states, requires that attorneys “shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation.”

So what happens when a potential client who doesn’t speak English requests the services of that attorney? This scenario is becoming increasingly common. The United States is generally becoming a more diverse country, and the number of cities and counties with minority-majority populations is growing. In cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and others one can hear numerous languages spoken in the streets. This also means that many individuals who may need legal assistance may not be able to communicate in English. How does an attorney provide competent representation if the attorney and client do not communicate in the same language?

While most of us can recall a funny “lost in translation” moment, the legal implications of mistranslations is not a laughing matter. Attorneys know that use of language and word choice matters, and can make or break a case for a client. This is also true when the language is not English.

First, it is important to note there is a legal distinction between “interpreting” and “translating.” The United States Supreme Court held in Taniguchi v. Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd. that “the word interpreter applies only to those who translate orally” while “the words translate, translations, translator are used when the immediate result of the work is a written text.”

There are two ways to address the language issue. The first is to hire attorneys and staff who speak foreign languages. The second is utilize the services of professional interpreting and translating services. The key question that applies to each of these options is how does an attorney confirm that the people who claim to be fluent in the language are actually capable of competent interpreting and translating?

Is your organization taking shortcuts in determining the proficiency level of your multilingual job candidates and professional language service providers?

For many companies, hiring and outsourcing are long and difficult processes. It requires a lot of resources —both in time and money— to find the right person who will not only fit the job’s requirements but will also fit with your existing team. Thus, how can you make your hiring and outsourcing process more effective and efficient, and at the same time not take short-cuts to ensure that the people or professional language services you hire truly have the language skills showcased on their resumes?

Taking shortcuts like using Google Translate will not be enough, and as anyone who speaks multiple languages can tell you, it is prone to mistranslations. ABA Model Rule 1.4 requires that Attorneys communicate relevant information to their clients. Also ABA Model Rule 5.3 imposes certain responsibilities upon law firms and associations for the non-lawyer services that they employ. The New Hampshire Bar Association Ethics Committee issued an advisory opinion regarding this rule stating that “When the attorney cannot communicate directly and fluently with the client in a language that the client can understand… the attorney must make use of the services of a qualified, impartial interpreter. Ideally, the attorney would accomplish this by associating with a bilingual attorney, working with a bilingual employee or staff member who can interpret communications between the attorney and client, or utilizing a commercial or community interpreter service.”

Case law can show us how even the mistranslation of one word can lead to significant loss. Willie Ramirez was rushed to a Florida hospital after falling unconscious. Mr. Ramirez didn’t speak English and wasn’t properly treated due to the mistranslation of the word “intoxicado.” As a result, Mr. Ramirez suffered brain damage, was left quadriplegic, and reached a settlement with the hospital for $71 million dollars.

Here is why using legally defensible assessments is so crucial to your organization.

To reduce the risks of costly “lost in translation” moments that can compromise the rights of your client, seek staff and professional services who are certified with a legally defensible language assessment. Such assessments should be constructed to be reliable, accurate, and fair. The questions should be well written and appropriate, prompts are delivered in a secure environment, and responses scored using best practices and well-respected standards. The assessments measure, as accurately as possible, a participant’s “true” language ability or performance level to accomplish specific tasks.

Standardized pre-employment language certification is one of the most effective ways to simplify yet add the appropriate rigor to the hiring process—provided that it’s done properly. Unfortunately, not all pre-employment language certifications are made equally. Some are excellent tools for helping you choose candidates and professional services, while others fall flat—and could even leave your firm or organization in a precarious legal situation as mentioned above.

Legal challenges may come from individuals or groups who claim the organization itself, the processes followed (e.g., administration, scoring, setting passing scores) or the outcomes of the testing (i.e., whether a person is certified) are not legally valid. Essentially, the legal defensibility has to do with the question, “Are the assessment results, and more generally the testing program, defensible in a court of law?” In the event that a firm or organization faces a language-related lawsuit, it needs to rely on the certifying organization being able to withstand legal challenges.

There are four main areas where language certifications need to prove their value: reliability, validity, fairness, and cut scores. Each of these areas requires consideration when developing, administering, and reporting (conducting research) on assessment results. Language testing is a high-stakes test, which means it is critical to meet these requirements.

Cheating on tests and breaches of security are areas of concern that throw into question the validity of assessment results. If assessment results cannot be trusted to be an accurate reflection of a participant’s “true” ability or performance level, then the validity of results is questionable and the legal defensibility of the assessment program may be in jeopardy. Security is important in ensuring legal defensibility. Defensibility requires vigilance both in terms of process and information use.
Organizations offering legally defensible language certifications assemble and maintain a defensibility evidence portfolio that shows how they have adhered to best practices and documented their processes and procedures.

How do you know if a pre-employment test makes the grade?

Here are some best practices to help guide you based on the EEOC Employment Test and Selection Procedure Fact Sheet.

1) Pre-employment assessments and procedures must be valid, job-related, and appropriate for the employer’s purposes.

Employment testing is perfectly legal, provided that it meets a few requirements. The test must be valid, reliable, and grounded in research by subject matter experts. That doesn’t just mean having professional question writers. Psychometric guidelines need to be followed, along with certain standardized processes inherent to written or online tests.

2) Pre-employment tests cannot in any way discriminate against a group based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or protected disability.

U.S. law very clearly prohibits discrimination against anyone on the basis of these protected classes. That means a pre-employment exam that’s within the law must be designed to offer all potential employees an equal chance to display their knowledge, independent of their background.

3) Pre-employment tests must be consistently updated to ensure that the above factors remain true.

Pre-employment tests should constantly evolve to provide the best measure of assessments. Ongoing test research and development provides a valid and reliable testing instrument.

Language Testing International (LTI) offers pre-employment language tests that determine the proficiency level of a multilingual person. Assessments are available for speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Our tests don’t just simplify the hiring process for your organization—they are also legally defensible. To learn more about LTI and speak to a language testing specialist contact us today!