New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has ordered city agencies to offer all services in the six most widely spoken languages in the city: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole.

“The fundamental basis of government is its interaction with its citizens,” the mayor said before signing the executive order at City Hall on Tuesday. “If people don’t know what we do, don’t know what they should do, what the law requires them to do, don’t know how to get services, all the money that we’re spending providing those services, providing those laws, is meaningless.”  www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/nyregion/23translate.html

According to the Mayor's Office, there are 1.8 million residents with limited proficiency in English.   

An article in the International Herald  Tribune  www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/23/america/NA-US-New-York-Languages.php noted that  "Never again will we have to ask our children and grandchildren to translate complicated government forms for us," said Yorelis Vidal, of Make the Road New York, an advocacy group.

Are your documents accessible to your employees and customers?  Or, are they being translated by nine year-olds?

http://www.pandltranslations.com