Category: Blog

3 min read

As a part of our 20^th anniversary celebration, Language Services Associates decided to make a contribution to the charity World Vision as one of the 20 charities we partnered with. Our involvement with World Vision was to sponsor Ofrine, an 8-year-old boy from Zambia, for a year. Our support provides him and his family with medicine, clothing and school supplies, among other things.

LSA recently received an annual progress report from Ofrine that gave us a sneak peek at his life in Zambia and an overview of his family, hobbies and progress in school! Since we began sponsoring him in February, Ofrine has advanced from 3^rd grade to 4^th grade, receiving 100 marks in math, science, English and handwriting.

Here are some other things we learned about Ofrine:

Favorite Hobbies:

• Listening to music
• Playing football

Favorite Day:

• Christmas Day

Community Involvement:

• Child rights advocate
• Good news club

For more information about World Vision, please click here.

To find out how Language Services Associates can support your interpretation, translation and localization needs, please call 1-800-305-9673 or visit our contact page

8 min read

In this section of LSA Resources, you will find a myriad of useful information relating to LSA’s BCP for the upcoming flu season.  Please check this site frequently for continuous updates.  You can also contact a member of our BCP project management team by clicking here.

Press

Horsham, Pa. (September 21, 2009) – LSA (Language Services Associates), a leading provider of premium language-based solutions, today announced its comprehensive business continuity plan (BCP) for the 2009-2010 flu season.  The strategy, which was devised by LSA’s BCP project management team, has been created to ensure the company is prepared for an increase in demand for language assistance in the event of a potential Swine Flu pandemic. (click here to continue reading).

LSA’s BCP was recently featured in Bucks County Courier Times.  Please click here to read the article.

Background Documents

Wondering how you can stay healthy at work this flu season?

Please click here to download the PDF.

FAQ’s

Why did you decide to develop a BCP for the upcoming flu season?

We have decided to create a BCP to ensure our company operations are not adversely affected by a potential Swine Flu pandemic.

How long did it take to develop this plan?

Our plan took approximately one month to develop, from the beginning of August to early September.

Who was responsible for creating this BCP?

Members of our BCP project management team have been tasked with spearheading this project, with help from a number of department managers.

Why is a continuity plan so important in your industry?

Should there be a Swine Flu pandemic, the need for language services will undoubtedly increase.  This BCP was developed to ensure we are prepared for a potential increase in demand for language assistance.

What external sources did you use to aid in the development of this plan?

We found the following sources to be extremely helpful in putting together a business continuity plan for the flu season:
https://www.flu.gov/professional/business/businesschecklist.html
https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu
https://www.who.int/en/
https://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/site/default.asp
https://www.flu.gov/
https://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/
https://www.google.org/flutrends/intl/en_us/

Can we see a copy of your BCP?

While we will not release the complete version of our plan to external contacts, we have provided a detailed abstract below.

What advice do you have for other companies working on a similar plan?

It is always a good idea to develop a detailed business continuity plan because it can be easily modified to cover other scenarios, such as a heavy snow storm or flash flooding.

Plan Abstract

LSA’s BCP consist of two stages: a preventive stage and a full implementation of the plan.  Some of the preventive measures/pre-disaster initiatives we have taken in stage 1 include the following:

• Ensure that all employees with home capabilities have been trained and have the ability to work from home
• Cross train employees in other departments to ensure adequate backup for the call center
• Assign a back-up to every key staff member
• Determine schedule availability and willingness of employees to take calls from home
• Separate call centers coordinators so there is one empty space between each other
• Develop internal IM system for easy communication between on-site and work from home employees
• Deliver hand sanitizer to every work station
• Flu shot incentive program for all employees
• Email distributed company-wide: “8 ways you can stay healthy this flu season”

Stage II of our BCP will be executed if one of the pre-identified action plan triggers has been exceeded.  A blast email and call tree will be initiated by a member of the plan activation authority to inform employees that the BCP is in full effect.  Key customers will be notified by our sales and marketing team and all meetings will take place via a conference call or the Internet.  Common work areas will also be closed to avoid increasing the likelihood of spreading the disease.

We hope you have found this section helpful and informative.  If you have additional questions regarding our continuity plan for the flu season, please contact a member of our BCP project management team by clicking here.  Thank you.

2 min read

According to the results of a recent study, bilinguals are not capable of “turning off” a language entirely.  The study, conducted by Ghent University psychologists Eva Van Assche, Wouter Duyck, Robert Hartsuiker and Kevin Diependaele, found that knowledge of a second language actually has a continuous impact on native language reading.

The study examines 45 Ghent University bilingual students.  The participants were asked to read several sentences containing both controlled words (plain words in their native language) and cognates (words that have a similar meaning across languages).  The moderators were observing the students to see where their eyes paused.  The researchers came to the conclusion that a second language is always active and has a direct impact on reading another language.  The study has been published in Psychological Science, the flagship journal of The Association for Psychological Science.

Interested in hearing more about Ghent University’s bilingual study?  Please click here for the full article.

To find out how Language Services Associates can support your language needs, please call 1-800-305-9673 or visit our contact page.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/science/Not-possible-for-bilingual-people-to-turn-off-a-language/articleshow/4925161.cms

2 min read

Did you know that every 14 days a language dies?  And that by the year 2100 more than half of the 7,000+ spoken languages have the potential of becoming extinct?  National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Project is an initiative designed to introduce the public to the geography of global language diversity and the language extinction crisis that currently exist.  In this article, you will learn the importance of National Geographic’s initiative and how languages die out in the first place.

To learn more about National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Project, please click here to read the full article.

To find out how Language Services Associates can support your language needs, please call 1-800-305-9673 or visit our contact page.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/mission/enduringvoices/index.html

2 min read

In an effort to restore some of the nearly 100 languages once spoken by California Indians, lawmakers are moving forward with Assembly Bill 544, an initiative that will allow fluent speakers to teach American Indian languages in California’s public schools.  If passed, tribal leaders will have the opportunity to lecture on ancient languages, giving students some insight into California’s history and culture.

To learn more about Assembly Bill 544, please click here to read the full article.

To find out how Language Services Associates can support your language needs, please call 1-800-305-9673 or visit our contact page.

Source: https://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1944799.html

2 min read

In this article, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), examines the prevalence of disappearing languages and what can be done to preserve them.  The article provides some eye-opening, relevant statistics, including the following:

• Among the 6,000 languages existing in the world, 2,500 of them are about to disappear or have already stopped their existence.
• Approximately 3,000 languages inevitably lose their carriers every year.
• By the end of the 21st century, dominating languages will supersede 90% of all the existing ones.

To learn more about how the world’s many languages are dying out, and what can be done to stop this from happening, please click here to read the full article.

To find out how Language Services Associates can support your language needs, please call 1-800-305-9673 or visit our contact page.

Source: https://www.examiner.com/x-2627-DC-International-Travel-Examiner~y2009m6d16-Worlds-many-languages-are-dying-out-can-we-stop-it