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Resources for departments

Language access is about ensuring individuals with limited English Proficiency (LEP) can fully access County Government programs and services. Available resources should include providing translation and interpretation assistance that comply with Federal law (Title VI) and local County policy (Executive Order 046-10).

Internal Language Resources

Language-Certified Employees

Use the Language Certified Employees Database to find County employees who have passed a language certification exam in one of the County's approved languages. They are certified at the basic, advanced, or expert level. These employees provide language assistance to departments and staff, or directly communicate with customers in other languages.

Other departments may ask language-certified employees for translation or interpretation assistance at no cost to those departments.

Learn more about the Multilingual Certification Program for Montgomery County employees.

Training

All frontline staff and those who may interact with LEP individuals must take the Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Course. This three-hour class is offered through the Office of Human Resources (OHR).

Translations Unit

The Translations Unit, located within the Community Engagement Cluster’s Office of Community Partnerships, was established in 2022 to provide written translation services to Montgomery County Departments. The mission of the Unit is to remove language barriers to government services and programs.

To request Translation Unit services at no cost to your department, email [email protected].

The Unit provides these services:

written translations from English into these languages:
- Amharic,
- Chinese (Traditional),
- French,
- Korean,
- Spanish, and
- Vietnamese.
proofreading previously translated material created by contractors or language-certified employees.

External Language Resources

When internal language resources are not available, departments can request translation or interpretation services from contractors. Departments must pay for these contractor services.

Telephone Interpretation Services

Montgomery County Government's telephone interpretation vendor is Cyracom. The Police Department administers the contract. For questions about this contract, contact Captain Eric Stancliff at [email protected] or 240-773-6948.

Cyracom offers 100 languages and is available instantly, 24/7/365.

"Interpreters Available" poster (PDF), 11 inches x 17 inches, available as foam boards at no charge from the Language Access team.
Telephone interpretation access instructions (PDF)
List of available languages with language codes (PDF)

To use this service:

Request an account number and a PIN from your Department LEP Liaison.
Call 866-998-0352, followed by your department's PIN.
Say the language you need.
Confirm the language selection.
Hold temporarily as you are connected to an interpreter.

The fee is between $0.90 and $1.10 per minute, depending on the language and technical difficulty of the call.

On-Site Interpretation Services and Translation Services for Written Documents

Montgomery County has three vendors that provide interpretation (oral) and translation (written) services. The contracts are administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. For contracting and vendor issues, contact Department Liaison Karen X. Gutierrez at [email protected] or 240-328-3409 (cell phone).

For interpretation and translation services, contact your preferred vendor below.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Every Department needing services is responsible to contact the contractors directly and make arrangements for the payment of services.

FOR INTERPRETATION REQUESTS: include these details in your email request to the vendor

Copy these details into your email request to the vendor. Update each item with your event- or task-specific information.

Timeline of request: please submit your request for interpretation at least 2 weeks prior to event.
Department Name: Departments are billed directly by the vendor for this service, please provide your department name for payment purposes.
Event Name: Provide the official or public final name of the event.
Services requested: How many interpreters will be needed (exact number)? What language or languages are needed/requested for the event. What mode of interpretation is needed, i.e. will this be for simultaneous (interpreter translates as the speaker is talking) or consecutive (the interpreter translates after the speaker has completed their message).
Date: Provide a date of events and please update the vendor if the date changes.
Time and Duration: List the exact total hours of the event (scheduled). And please request the interpreter to be at the event 30 minutes early for a walk through.
Topic: Provide a brief description of the event to the vendor and if possible, share any material you want the interpreter to have ahead of the event to help them prepare.
Meeting Type: Will it be a community panel/meeting or will it be a community fair, virtual, etc.
Location: Provide details on any specific location or entrance name/street (Entrance #1, etc. or if any specific security measures are needed), and if possible, provide information about parking.
Point of Contact (POC) on site/at event: Provide the name, email and cell phone of the person who will be onsite / at event.

Vendor	Instructions
Schreiber Translations, Inc.	To request in-person interpretation services, call 301-424-7737, extension 107, or e-mail [email protected]. To request document translations, email [email protected].
Andean Consulting Solutions International, LLC. (ACSI)	To request in-person interpretation services or document translations, call 202-599-8456, extension 3, or email [email protected].
Ad Astra, Inc.	To request in-person interpretation services, or document translations, call 301-408-4242 or e-mail [email protected].

Vendor

Instructions

Schreiber Translations, Inc.

To request in-person interpretation services, call 301-424-7737, extension 107, or e-mail [email protected].

To request document translations, email [email protected].

Andean Consulting Solutions International, LLC. (ACSI)

To request in-person interpretation services or document translations, call 202-599-8456, extension 3, or email [email protected].

Ad Astra, Inc.

To request in-person interpretation services, or document translations, call 301-408-4242 or e-mail [email protected].

Sign Language Interpretation

See details for requesting sign language services (SharePoint).

Get more language access help

Contact your department’s LEP Liaison for more language access help. You can also contact our Language Access team by email at [email protected].