How has the coronavirus pandemic impacted language services?

The coronavirus pandemic has affected just about every aspect of people’s lives with face-to-face services taking the biggest hit over the past two years. In turn, this has had a big impact on the delivery of interpreting and translation services.

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, interpreters found themselves applying for unemployment as businesses and organizations across the globe shut down. The biggest impacts were seen in the hospital and travel industries. 

Hospitals relied heavily on face-to-face interpreting services. But with the overwhelming number of COVID-19 cases, cutbacks and layoffs occurred so as to not risk the safety of interpreters. 

The travel industry also took a big hit when countries shut down and airlines canceled flights across the globe. This created less of a need for in-person interpreting services. 

However, the need didn’t completely diminish. The U.S. Department of Defense utilized interpreters to convey important information and instructions regarding the virus and testing. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the top three requested languages for these services have been Spanish, Vietnamese, and Arabic. 

Well into the pandemic, hospitals and other impacted industries began to adapt and turn to remote interpreting services.

This adaptation led to a rise in the demand for remote translation and interpreting services. Industries responsible for the demand included e-commerce and other online services due to many populations’ “stay at home” orders. Telehealth is one area where these remote interpreting and translation remain valued. 

Over time this has created a shift in the markets for interpreting and translation services. Online businesses and healthcare have shown the biggest increase in need while travel has now become the lowest in demand for these services. 

Language services have been negatively impacted by the pandemic, like most things. But on the positive side of things, it has led to innovation with the installation of new equipment, systems, and methods. 

In addition to reopening for in-person interpreting and translation work, Teneo Linguistics Company has adapted amid the pandemic and offers remote services. This can be anything from a virtual doctor’s appointment to training videos, telephone interpreting, online document translation, and remote website localization. 

TLC also implemented its own online interpreting management platform. Customers can now easily schedule their own face-to-face interpreting service over the phone or using video through the platform. 

To learn more about TLC’s language services and how they are offered, visit www.tlctranslation.com.