A look back on 2022 language industry headlines 

Now that 2022 has come to an end, it’s time to reflect on some important moments in the language services industry. Here are some of the major headlines from interpreting, translation, and other language news from last year.  

White House hires full-time ASL interpreters – March 2022  

At the end of last March, the White House made history by hiring its first full-time American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. The interpreters assisted in ensuring President Joe Biden’s live broadcasts were heard by all.  

The first official White House ASL interpreter is a ground-breaking position, which went to Elsie Stecker who is completely deaf. In addition, the Biden administration also hired non-deaf ASL interpreter Lindsay Snyder. According to the American Translators Association, the positions come after advocates sued to get live ASL interpreting during COVID-19 briefings.  

British Sign Language becomes an official language in the UK – April 2022  

While British Sign Language (BSL) was recognized as a language in 2003, it had no legal protection until April 28, 2022. The new law passed by the House of Lords formally acknowledges BSL as a language in all of the United Kingdom.

However, Scotland already passed legislature back in 2015 legally recognizing BSL. The UK Government has been made responsible for providing better guidance to public services and government departments on BSL. 

HHS proposes new rule to improve language access – August 2022  

A new rule to improve language access was proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services back in August of 2022. The rule expands language access through the Affordable Care Act and ensures free and effective language assistance services are provided to limited English proficient (LEP) individuals. The rule also includes standards for video remote interpreting and a requirement that healthcare entities with 15 or more employees designate an individual to coordinate compliance.  

On October 6th, HHS announced its relaunch of the Language Access Steering Committee to support the implementation of language access obligations under President Joe Biden’s Executive Orders.  

European Parliament interpreters call off strike – October 2022  

After going on strike in June of 2022, the European Parliament’s (EP) in-house interpreters made an interim deal and called off their strike on October 17th. The strike occurred in protest of problems that arose due to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) teleworking during the pandemic and complaints of deteriorating health conditions.  

According to an EP spokesperson, the deal secures a good compromise between the need for operational continuity and the interpreters’ health concerns related to working methods.  

2019 Census Bureau report on languages – December 2022  

The U.S. Census Bureau released its 2019 report, which states that about 67.8 million people spoke a language other than English at home. This number tripled from the 1980 data of about 23 million people. But the number of English speakers also increased from 187.2 million in 1980 to 241 million in 2019.  

The most common non-English language in the US is Spanish which accounts for about 62%. This is followed by Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic.  

There are numerous other language industry stories that came out of 2022 and many can be found on the American Translators Association website.  

Teneo Linguistics Company is a certified small, woman-owned business that provides customizable language services in more than 180 languages. Learn more about how TLC can support your company by visiting www.tlctranslation.com.