Know The Facts: The 10 Questions You Should Ask Any Language Service Provider

Before you enter into a relationship, do your homework.


Find out whom you're dealing with and make an informed decision. Ask questions, and keep asking them until you're completely satisfied with the answers you get.

Here are 10 basic questions to help get you started. Protect your company by asking questions.


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The Truth About Language Service Providers

A Brief glimpse at what you're not being told


The Truth for Healthcare Providers (PDF)

The Truth for Everyone Else (PDF)

10 Questions You Should Ask Any Language Service Provider (PDF)

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The 10 Questions You Should Ask Any Language Service Provider

  1. Question #1 - Interpreter Staffing: how do you recruit, train, monitor the performance of your interpreters and are they your employees or independent contractors?
  2. Question #2 - Interpreter Quality: what methods do you use to recruit your interpreters, confirm their experience, evaluate their character, run background checks, assess their legal work status, implement their training, and monitor their performance?
  3. Question #3 - Trained Professional Interpreters: how do you train interpreters specifically in legal, financial, and medical terminology, or for emergency response calls to ensure service quality and how do you certify these interpreters?
  4. Question #4 - Privacy: what measures do you have in place to ensure data security, customer privacy, and protection of private patients information?
  5. Question #5 - Compliance: what requirements and safeguards does your organization employ to establish and maintain full compliance with regulations such as SOX, GLB and HIPAA?
  6. Question #6 - Call Efficiency: what is your average connect time to reach an interpreter, what is your call completion rate on the first attempt and can you validate your numbers?
  7. Question #7 - Call Control: can you maintain the kind of call control necessary to guarantee call quality, data security, and interpreter accountability? Do you subcontract or outsource calls for specific languages to a third-party provider?
  8. Question #8 - Technology Infrastructure: do you own and operate your own telephony systems and infrastructure? Describe them in detail.
  9. Question #9 - Business Continuity: how does your technology enable you to scale services for surges in demand, ensure complete redundancy and recovery during unanticipated service disruptions? How quickly can you do that?
  10. Question #10 - Risk Management: what kind of business insurance coverage do you have to protect against error and omissions, bodily injury, property damage, and theft or disclosure of confidential information? Does your policy provide true worldwide coverage to protect your company?

Make informed decisions. 

Call Language Line Services first

1-800-752-6096 option 4