Service crosses language barrier

Updated 10/23/2006 1:04 AM ET

By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY

Trying to communicate with a bank, broker or cellphone company can be frustrating enough, but try doing it if you don't speak English fluently.

As the population of non-English-speakers in the USA continues to rise, so does the need for services to help them communicate, says Louis Provenzano, president of Language Line Services, which has provided interpreting, via the telephone, for 25 years.

"Every 31 seconds a limited-English speaker enters the United States," Provenzano says. One out of every five people here speaks a language other than English, he says, and high levels of immigration continue to increase that number.

The trend has serious consequences for businesses because, according to Language Line, people are four times more likely to buy a product or service if the business is communicating with them in their native language.

"Businesses need to talk to them in their own language," Provenzano says.

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