Over time, that belief became a body of real work—interpreters stepping into hospitals, conferences, community events, and live situations where clarity truly matters. In those moments, language is not abstract; it is urgent, emotional, and deeply human.

A single sentence can carry relief, confusion, hope, or fear—and interpretation becomes the bridge that makes understanding possible.

But just as importantly, the company has always carried a second heartbeat: culture, celebration, and connection.

From holiday greetings and cultural festivals to team gatherings, music, and shared moments of joy, Monterey Language Services reflects the full range of human experience—not only the serious and high-stakes, but also the warm, expressive, and communal.

This same spirit flows through its growing archive of 90+ videos, capturing both critical real-world interpretation work and the lived culture around it.

What has been built is more than a language services company—it is a record of human connection in every form, and a foundation that blends professional expertise with genuine cultural life.

The untold stories of medical interpreters: Courage, Compassion, and Connection:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr2GRCtm5U6yonnL_e6hj_en&si=0z_JL70pKBssc6k9

★Major Playlist

Our Work in Action: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr1i2DMoYWim6SbHeROKNqXX&si=3SEjeLcffgexBSh9

Multilingual Localization: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr2wkV_G7CLhoSINDOXe1pKj&si=ClzGP-3Gg7umHUSj

Global Family Celebrations: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr32m8jh4UgmCEInXVan-bLI&si=4ugEd-9QKmLbOXiS

Translation and Interpretation Services: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr3VduLMGzD9UGzQZ5ZVfoGO&si=G15LG9oTInQurc6Z

Chinese Localization Sample and Case Study: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr14xqfiR38Mp-EhHAmclsUY&si=rd3Xocb0Ud9nWNc1

Interpreters and Voices: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr2MdhbLPPGszMw8Rdc5J9aI&si=HbiwF9bT4zr6S3hd

Mood Booster: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-QGEbwcTr3OJJh-NjBcMrvH9VCN0fsi&si=EFMYK_1Ai1UzvcDR

★Featured videos About Us

Interpreters and Music: https://youtu.be/yl0vHQPHXA8?si=PygDRdShZgsLiGRR

Monterey Language Services has had a strong partnership with Central Coast Community Energy for 5 years. During that time, we have helped to translate materials so that their customers can have a greater understanding of promotions, bills, and other notifications. Our great service and quality is why year after year, Central Coast Community Energy chooses to work with Monterey Language Services for its language needs.

“Dear Mei-Ling, Happy Holidays to you. We are grateful for our partnership and the important work we do together.” – Peter

“Happy Holidays Mei-Ling! Have a wonderful season” – Lena

“Dear Mei-Ling, Happy Holidays to you and your team! Thanks for all you do.” -Luke

Though these two piano short clips are not played perfectly or professionally, we hope you can still feel our most sincere wishes being conveyed to you. There’s a certain rawness and unpolished sound from the music that goes straight to the deepest of our emotions. We don’t have to be a professional musician to tell a story or convey emotion, and that’s exactly what human touch or human aura is all about, and that’s what we would like to share for this year!

Happy New Year to everyone from Monterey Language Services! We wish you good health, peace, and success in the coming year! We have also prepared a holiday playlist for you to enjoy.

Please join us wholeheartedly in greeting the year 2024! Here’s to a year of aura and joy. Have a wonderful holiday season!

First music: played by Mei-Ling, our director of translation
Second music: played by Mei-Ling’s piano teacher Dian

To celebrate interpreters’ success stories, Monterey Language Services has put together a video showcasing the friendliness, professional, expertise, and different roles of our interpreters in shaping the harmonious community of our nation.  You can view the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYxpYyoC7z0

Interpreters can spend years honing their skills to become subject matter experts in their fields, such as healthcare, education, or the legal sphere. Some have even worked in these fields as doctors, nurses, teachers, paralegals, and more before becoming language experts.

Interpreters believe in the fidelity and fairness of their work. Interpreters ensure that information is relayed accurately between the parties involved, making sure that nothing is omitted or erroneously said and everyone is on the same page. This is incredibly important in medical and legal settings.

Interpreters describe their work as rewarding and fulfilling. Many times, the act of interpreting contains an emphasis on helping those limited or non-English speakers or hearing disabled persons who are in need, such as to help with healthcare or education. This gives many interpreters great satisfaction in giving back to the community and keeps them looking forward to their work.

Monterey Language Services has the pleasure working with so many talented, devoted, professional interpreters, providing excellent service for your needs, whether your event is large, small, private, or a personal matter.

Thank you so much to our interpreters for working with us for all these years, and for the years to come.

At Monterey Language Services, we do not only provide interpretation services, but also interpretation AV equipment to facilitate understanding. We regularly provide transmitters, receivers, headset microphones, and headsets for simultaneous interpretation events. Transmitters and headset microphones are for the interpreters, and the receivers and headsets are for your visitors. Within seconds, the equipment can be set up and adjusted to your visitor’s comfort.

By using our equipment, the speakers do not need to pause for the interpreters to catch up— instead, they can keep speaking. Simultaneously, the interpreters relay the information to your visitors in their native language. This way, your visitors wearing the receivers and headsets can receive information via the interpreter. At the same time, the audience of the main language does not hear the interpretation and can better focus without any distractions. As a result, the communication at your event will be more effective, and the speech and/or conversations will proceed smoothly and seamlessly.

When we receive a request for interpretation at an event, we gather all relevant information for the event: date, location, language, number of attendees, anticipated length, subject matter that are required for the work.

For smaller events, we provide receivers and headsets for the audience, where the interpreters are able to follow the audience and keep mobility from one location to another. For larger events, we use Interpreter Consoles, where the interpreter stays in a booth to relay information to a larger number of event-goers who speak different languages. We also use a hybrid mix of portable equipment with fixed stations. Please feel welcome to email us to find out more at info@montereylanguages.com

Just as we provide the most suitable interpretation equipment to fit different situations, we ensure to assign interpreters who are experts in the field of your event. For effective interpretation, especially simultaneous interpretation events, multiple interpreters are often needed and we send only those who are knowledgeable in the subject matter. For example, conference interpreters usually specialize in a particular subject, whether it is IT, Business, International Tech Reseller meetings, Product Training, Marketing, or Finance, etc.

We’ve provided services for top tech companies with our portable equipment including for visitors from Latin America and Asia. We’ve provided for large marketing and conference events with interpretation console equipment. Our methodology works. Our easy-to-use and effective equipment, knowledgeable interpreters, and detailed planning rise high to each and every occasion. We owe it to our clients to provide the very best, after all.

If you are available and have completed 100 hours of CCHI approved interpreter training, could you briefly let us know your experience, rate, and how far you are from CA 94804, so we can follow up with you?

Please feel welcome to refer colleagues as well. Thank you!

Language: English/Spanish

Hours (two days a week):
Monday (10am – 4:30pm)
Thursday (9am – 3:00pm)

Location: Richmond, CA 94804

Subject: Prenatal and Productive Health Care

Email can be sent to Director of Translation, Mei-Ling Chen at the following address.
mei-ling@montereylanguages.com

So what is 1557?

Section 1557 of the ACA “prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs and activities.” The term “national origin” is understood to include providing language services for those with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Section 1557 was first put into place in 2010, and had a few issues with it. For example, the then-legal standard was for “competent” interpreters to assist LEP individuals; this could allow a loophole for family members or even non-adult family members, or bilingual/multilingual staff at the agency to provide interpretation. Without proper, certified medical interpreters, there may have been many miscommunications, to say the least.

Major Revisions

The Obama administration’s revisions took effect in 2016. Under this revision, some changes were that “competent” interpreters were changed to “qualified” interpreters; minors and family members were only allowed to interpret under special circumstances such as emergencies; and bilingual/multilingual staff were held back from interpreting unless they were able to sufficiently demonstrate proper interpretation abilities. Translation of written materials was also required.

Many things changed in 2020 due to the Trump administration, however. For example, the wording was changed to have a more general requirement of language services to LEP people, rather than each and every LEP person. Federally funded organizations had to undergo a test to determine how to provide language services; the Trump administration changed this again to be more based on the “likelihood” of servicing an LEP individual rather than each specific instance of servicing an LEP individual. Standards of remote video interpretation were also removed, focusing instead on telephonic interpretation only.

Finally, citing too many expenses (presumably for translation fees, extra paper space, and ink), there was also a change to not require that each state have the top fifteen languages represented in a tagline on a non-discrimination notice. Taglines are short statements written in non-English languages that notify the reader that they can access language services free of charge.

Proposed Revision

As mentioned previously, the US Department of Health and Human Services has released a proposed rule to reverse the changes implemented by the Trump administration and to strengthen language access in general compared to the rulings from the Obama administration. Some proposed changes include the following:

Previously removed definitions will be added back for the following terms: language assistance services, limited English proficient individual, qualified interpreter, qualified translator, and qualified bilingual/multilingual staff. Care will also be taken to provide each LEP individual with language access, as well as those who need assistance such as sign language; this will be aided by the requirement of taglines on a large number of documents.

Other changes include the restoration of standards for remote video interpreting, the requirement to take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to each LEP individual, the requirement to inform individuals of their rights, and the requirement to have a specific employee be responsible to coordinate compliance with 1557. Another change would be applying Section 1557 to Medicare Part B, which notably has not had requirements for Section 1557 despite being federally funded through trust funds.

Our Conclusion

These proposed new rules seem to be taking a huge step toward fair access to language services. Especially exciting is the requirement returning to provide each LEP individual with language access, rather than a general estimate of people. We at Monterey Language Services believe that everyone deserves the right to access to information and services in the language of their choosing, and we’re all for the proposed rules and hope they come to pass sooner than later.

Requirements:

1. Have completed 100 hours of CCHI approved interpreter training
2. Experienced with in-person medical interpretation
3. Have reliable transportation to and from Richmond or Antioch
4. Enjoy working with young children and particularly mothers
5. Familiar with OBGYN or prenatal services
6. Female interpreters preferred; male interpreters welcomed as well
7. Entry-level is welcome
8. Culturally competent
9. Professional in conduct and appearance
10. Authorized to work in the US

What to Expect:

1. We need someone who is living or willing to relocate to the Richmond/Antioch areas in California for in-person interpretation
2. This will be a 2-year contract
3. Part Time (15 hrs or more per week)
4. Be available to stay on-site for blocks of time to be designated every week
5. Able to work on a team and work well with others
6. May need to shadow physicians and nurses and provide interpretation when necessary
7. Occasionally interpret remotely (via phone or video)
8. Willing to undergo a background check and health screening/immunization
9. Willing to undergo some training to ensure that all guidelines will be followed
10. Willing to follow hospital immunization and safety procedures

If you are interested in joining us, as a first step, please go on our website and in particular answer the questions about your medical interpreting experience, so we can follow up with you. Please also feel welcome to refer entry-level colleagues by sharing this email. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

https://www.montereylanguages.com/send-a-resume.html

Language List:

Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Farsi, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mien, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese

If you are interested, could you briefly let us know your language, experience, rate, and how far you are from CA 94553, so we can follow up with you. Please also feel welcome to refer colleagues.

Emails can be sent to Director of Translation, Mei-Ling Chen at the following address.
mei-ling@montereylanguages.com

Thank you!

Five or six months ago, the phrase “social distancing” was barely known, and was just starting to be introduced. Every time a news anchor mentioned it, they had to explain its meaning, maybe even show a little diagram to illustrate the concept. Now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you hear anyone and everyone talking about “social distancing” several times a day. The same is true for other COVID-19 related terminology, including phrases like “flatten the curve.”

People are endlessly creative, even during pandemics. This is seen in the fact that people across the world are coming up with new words to express new concepts that have emerged due to coronavirus. One of the most popular examples of this in English is the word “covidiot” (“covid” + “idiot”) which describes people who willingly don’t follow the guidelines around COVID-19 to protect themselves and others. This is a fun list that gives some more examples of new and repurposed words in many different languages.

The COVID-19 guidelines that we are following might also change how we actually speak. We are wearing masks when we go outside and staying at least six feet away from people we encounter. Both of these practices protect our health, but also make it much more difficult to talk and hear each other. Sometimes we end up almost yelling just to have a brief conversation. For some of us, the difficulties of having an in-person communication make us weigh our words more carefully and focus on communicating as efficiently as possible- we don’t want to spend energy yelling about things that don’t matter!

As always, it is important to consider people who communicate differently than us, and do what we can to help them. One group of people facing particularly difficult communication challenges now is the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Many of them rely on lip reading and seeing facial expressions to understand others, and with masks, this is now impossible. People have designed and started creating masks with clear plastic windows in them to allow for lip reading; there are several places now to purchase such masks online, or you can make your own by following a guide like this.

As professionals in the language industry, we at Monterey Language Services are fascinated by how this pandemic is changing our language and communication styles. We like to stay on top of these changes so that we can continue communicating as effectively as possible!