At Monterey Language Services, we believe that a language is much more than a set of rules or a list of vocabulary—it is a living, breathing pulse of culture. This perspective is at the heart of our Language Evaluation Services, a process we find deeply meaningful, refreshing, and vital for keeping global heritage alive in our modern world.

A Meaningful Connection

Language evaluation isn’t just about checking boxes; it’s a delightful exploration of human connection. When we evaluate a speaker’s proficiency, we are essentially witnessing the bridge between an individual and their community. It is an inspiring way to honor linguistic diversity and ensure that every voice is understood with precision and respect.

How Our Process Works

We take great pride in the rigor and authenticity of our methodology. Our process is designed to be both comprehensive and person-centered:

• Native Speaker Expertise: For every request, we assign highly qualified native speakers who possess the cultural nuance necessary to assess true fluency.

• Structured Assessment: Our evaluators utilize a sophisticated framework of targeted questions designed to measure various levels of comprehension, oral fluency, and grammatical accuracy.

• Tailored Results: We don’t just provide a “pass” or “fail.” We deliver a clear picture of a candidate’s ability to communicate effectively in professional or community settings.

Celebrating Global Diversity

While we provide evaluation services for all languages, we have recently seen a beautiful surge in requests for both widely spoken and rare indigenous languages. Our recent work has included successful evaluations in:

• Commonly Requested: Spanish and Cantonese.

• Indigenous & Regional: Mixteco Bajo, Pashto, and Lao.

• Global Dialects: Gujarati, Cebuano, Igbo, Tongan, and many more.

Whether you are looking to verify the skills of a potential hire or ensure the quality of your community outreach team, our evaluation process ensures that no nuance is lost in translation.

In accordance with Assembly Bill (AB) 635 (Atkins, Chapter 600, Statutes of 2016) which was passed with little objection, and Senate Bill (SB) 165 (Atkins, Chapter 365, Statutes of 2019) which passed unanimously:

On August 31, 2021, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced that Medi-Cal beneficiaries will be receiving increased interpreter support in several regions in California, including Contra Costa County. The aim of this was to ensure that all patients, no matter what language they speak, are able to receive the care that they deserve without having to worry about communication.

The project is called Medical Interpretation Pilot Project. Through the legislatively mandated project, medical interpreters in the following languages are needed or will be called upon. This is to cover Medi-Cal assignments in the area either on-site or remotely, either via phone or video conferencing.

Arabic
Armenian
Cambodian
Cantonese
Dari
Farsi
Hindi
Hmong
Japanese
Korean
Laotian
Mam
Mandarin
Mien
Mixteco
Pashto
Punjabi
Russian
Spanish
Tagalog
Thai
Vietnamese

Monterey Language Services is proud to be part of the MIPP team, providing interpretation services in Richmond/Antioch area.

In this blog post we interviewed one of our Arabic colleagues, Laith Ibrahim.  

Monterey Language Services (referred to as “M”): Thank you for participating in this interview. Can you briefly introduce Arabic to us?

Laith (referred to as “L”): Arabic is one of the Middle Eastern languages, which also include Dari, Urdu, Farsi, Pashto and Kurdish. These languages all use Arabic letters but depending on the language, each one may have additional letters or extra sounds. I am originally from Iraq. Before settling in the U.S. I have worked in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, where I used a mix of standard Arabic and the local and Iraqi dialect.

M: I’ve heard that in Arabic the term “lion” can have hundreds of names. That sounds very interesting? How is it possible?

L: There are in fact at least 500 names for the word “lion.” The word “sword” is another example. It has around 300 different names that are given based on the characteristics of the sword like shape, size, thickness, weight, etc. 

M: Can you share more differences between Arabic and English?

L: There are many differences, for instance:

• Arabic is written from right to left and in cursive format, with no distinctions between upper and lower case. Arabic has 28 letters and each has up to 4 shapes depending on its location: the beginning, middle, or end of the word. The shape of a letter is also affected by the predecessor and successor.

• Arabic has no vowel letters. Instead, it uses small characters that are written above or below the letter to change the sound of the letter. These are called diacritics (in Arabic, “Harakat”) indicate sounds not represented by the basic alphabet. Arabic text is usually written without them unless a word can be read in a different way if they are not used.

• Arabic has letters that produce sounds that don’t exist in English. Also, the sound for P, CH, V, X don’t exist in Arabic.

• Most words have one form and are written in one way. For example, my name “ليث” has only one way of writing it in Arabic. In English it can be written as “Laith” or “Layth.”

M: Thank you for sharing! One last question, what does your name “Laith” mean in Arabic?

L: (Laughs) “Laith” is actually “lion” in Arabic. It’s a bold, strong lion.

Monterey Language Services was out in the park at the celebration of Marina’s 35^th Anniversary, among cultural groups such as Kiwanis International, Youth Leadership Forum of Medicine, Our World Peace Park, and many others. 

People who speak different languages came by and talked to us, Czech, Pashto, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, etc.  People shared with us their experience dealing with interpreters.  We also got interviewed by local TV.

This was a great day to witness our community’s incomparably rich culture diversity.  It’s hard to grasp the significance of the culture mix until you come out and see it for yourself. 

It’s wonderful for Monterey Language Services to be out and reach local resources & make translation and interpretation services accessible to the people in the community.