Language Tools and Resources

The Migration Policy Institute's (MPI) Language Portal is a Translation and Interpretation Digital Library where anyone can search the database to find resources used to provide services to LEP individuals, including:

The Translator Journal features linked articles primarily related to translating, though interpreting is also mentioned.  Additionally, it features links to translation tools. 

A Comprehensive Bibliography of Translation & Interpreting Directionality by Matthias Apfelthaler (updated in 2018) offers a list of relevant publications: 30 pages in all.

The State of Languages in the U.S.: A Statistical Portrait  is a 23-page report published by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The report explores the language skills of Americans and how they acquired or learned those languages, the state of bilingualism in the U.S., language education in this country and more.

The NCIHC Languages of Limited Diffusion (LLD) webpage offers a resource database where you can type in either a language (such as Arabic) or a term (such as kidney); trainer tips; and reviews of many resources.

The Center for Atypical Language Interpreting (CALI) continues to produce new resources. It has just added to its collection of videos that help interpreters apply critical thinking and ethical reasoning.

The LLD Workgroup identifies resources, information and guidance for interpreting students who speak LLDs.

We are often asked about English/Spanish flashcards for medical terminology. Seso Inc, sells a kit for $45.00. The learning tool provides over 300 definitions of medical procedures, medical equipment, common disabilities and chronic conditions in English and Spanish.

Languages.State.Gov features federally-funded programs for Americans who wants to study languages.

Nimdzi Insights has just released the 2021 edition of its popular Language Technology Atlas.

The Canadian Language Museum provides an interactive map of language museums around the world.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has developed an Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. It details the criteria for endangerment and the six degrees of endangerment UNESCO developed for the project.

 Multilingual Sites

  • WordReference - a valuable, user-friendly online dictionary. Select the two languages, type in the word for which a translation is desired in one language, and the translation of that word (and other information) appears instantly.

  • Terminology, by Agile Tortoise, includes a dictionary, thesaurus and word research tool in an integrated package.

  • Freedict offers links to bidirectional dictionaries in 16 languages.

  • Your Dictionary - Features a range of online dictionaries, thesauruses, word games, and other references.

  • Dictionarist - Multilanguage dictionary helpfully provides many example sentences; a bit of experimenting suggests usability may be lower outside of European-based languages.

  • Lexicool - online dictionary search engine currently has links to over 3500 bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries.

  • Logos: 1,275 glossaries in over 60 languages

  • The Lanfrica platform hosts 2,199 different languages indigenous to Africa.

Educational glossaries

For bilingual glossaries of Department of Education Terminology in several languages (Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Urdu, click here to go to the website of New York City Schools.

Eriksen Translations has released its COVID-19 glossary of 150 words translated into languages that include Haitian Creole, Hindi, Korean, Urdu and more.

Social and human services glossaries

Glossaries of commonly used terms in human and social services put out by the San Francisco Department of Human Services, and available in:
     - Russian
     - Spanish
     - Vietnamese

French glossaries

  • For Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program informational materials in French, Spanish, and other languages, click here.

  • For The SIL French/English Glossary of Linguistic Terms, click here.

Legal/Court terminology glossaries
     - General District Court
     - Circuit Court - Criminal
    - Circuit Court - Civil
    - Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court
    - Foreign Language Services Division

Social Security (Spanish only)

For the glossary that was put out by the U.S. Social Security Administration, click here.

Public Health

This glossary, available in Spanish, French and Portuguese, is on a website with many tools for translation. It was developed by the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services. Click here. 

Colloquial and vulgar language

Interpreters often say they cannot interpret the "bad words" because they don't know them. For Spanish interpreters, the following may be a helpful resource:

Glosario de Términos Vulgares e Insultos. Malas Palabras

Green’s Dictionary of Slang is online for free in a searchable digital edition.

An online glossary of Mexican slang

Hand-held Bilingual or Graphic Aids

Polyglot Systems "ProLingua MP" is a hand-held device (not free of charge: see the website for details) that permits hospital staff to speak directly with LEP patients.

It does not claim to be a substitute for interpreters. However, by using the ProLingua device, hospital staff can initiate conversation with patients while waiting for an interpreter to arrive. It can also be used for simple, common questions and directives. Click here for details.

An analogous device for Spanish and English called the Converser, also not free of charge, has been produced. Details are available at www.spokentranslation.com. (The authors have no familiarity with these devices and cannot attest to their accuracy or value.)

For a report on symbol usage in health care settings for LEP patients published by the Hablamos Juntos program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, click here.

Polyglot Systems has produced, for a fee, a set of laminated "Patient Initiator Cards" with universal symbols for LEP patients to point to indicate that they want to have an interpreter, find a nurse, get something to eat, make a telephone call or learn where , ythe bathroom is.

Language Specific Resources

The Language of High School LEVEL A: English to Spanish by Érik Ólmsted contains more than fifty 1-2 page English-Spanish glossaries on school topics.

The Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), a government-funded organization, offers the first published ISL dictionary.

In 2015, the Washington State Coalition for Language Access (WASCLA) created The Tools for Health project. It offers a collection of materials about consumer rights and how to obtain language services in the 31 most-commonly spoken languages in that state.

The Cross-Cultural Health Care Program (based in Seattle) has made available for purchase a Ukrainian version of their 2600-word bilingual medical glossary.

Health Information Translations offers a wealth of health information translated into more than a dozen languages; for example, what a 'bone marrow biopsy' is -- in Korean -- and what would be involved in preparing for this test.  Search by language, topic, or keyword.

The National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland has launched an e-learning portal featuring thousands of articles in a wide variety of languages with the idea of offering students of language an almost bottomless resource for study and self-improvement.  The topics may be browsed for free, though a subscription is needed to view the content (currently $5 a month for individuals).

The Polish Language Website created by Oscar Swan, Director of Slavic Language Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, is devoted to the teaching of the Polish language worldwide. It is free and contains an on-line Polish dictionary, a reference grammar, a first-year Polish course, computer-graded language quizzes, a collection of Polish short stories, a Polish songbook and more.

First published in 1997, the magazine Materiales para la enseñanza multicultural is issued by the Spanish Education Office in Washington DC, USA. It includes articles about teaching and learning and practical ideas that are ready to use in class at all levels.

Spanishdict.com is more than a Spanish dictionary; it also features online translators, verb conjugations, grammar practice, and flashcards.

Silvia Schrage offers an article for medical translators that will also help interpreters. Her piece goes into detail on how to find equivalents for medical terms in another language.

A promotional video for Netflix as a language-learning tool.

Need help identifying a spoken language? An article from Boostlingo offers specific resources, from the famous “I Speak” posters to free or affordable apps.

Other Resources for Interpreters

ATA created these useful definitions for what professional interpreters do—and also what translators do.

Healing Voices: Interpreting for Survivors of Torture, War Trauma and Sexual Violence is a free training offered by MCIS.

Community Translation - Research and Practice is available as an ebook or printed copy.

This compilation of resources from the European Commission includes a virtual video library on consecutive interpreting--in several languages.

The U.S. National Center for State Courts (NCSC) published a progress report on efforts to improve language access in the U.S. courts: Called to Action: 5 Years of Improving Language Access in the State Courts, 2012-2017. Access to Justice for Limited English Proficient Litigants.

The European Commission created this interpreter skills toolkit, complete with sample speeches to help you polish your craft.

The Video-Mediated Interpreting (VMI) website includes a wealth of resources on this topic.

CSA Research (a language industry research firm) has gone to CEOs of the top 193 language service providers to ask how their perceptions and business plans have changed since the start of the COVID pandemic. And the survey results are free.

Based on the training Healing Voices: Interpreting for Survivors of Torture, War Trauma and Sexual Violence, MCIS has developed a free online training on secondary trauma and fostering wellness for interpreters.

A helpful piece from Wired shows how you can study and practice American Sign Language at no cost.

A recent post in the Techforward blog brings up an impressive list of interpreter uses for, and resources available on, tablets.

Authored by Paola Gentile, Interpreting Democracy: Interpreters as Drivers of Democratization seeks to establish a connection between community (public service) interpreting and three basic pillars of democracy.

A graduation paper from the University of Bucharest called: Interpreters in War Zones: From Linguistic Mediators to Cultural Agents.

This chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Interpreting examines the “Key external players in the development of the interpreting profession.”

From the UK comes a brief, clear guide on how to prepare for a public service interpreting assignment.

Proteus, the quarterly newsletter of NAJIT, offers to following article: “Why Do I Need to Know About LBGTQ+ Terminology?”

The AIIC offers this UN Negotiating Delegation position paper on remote in extremis.

Avoiding the Scars: Your Guide to Coping with Vicarious Trauma When Interpreting is a free presentation with valuable resources and guidance.

The UK’s Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) published this 24-page report on translators and technology.

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) has a special webpage offering free resources for remote interpreting.

The Ontario Council on Community Interpreting (OCCI) offers a collection of interpreter resources with a focus on COVID-19 information.

Get free access to the “Decalogue for Requesting a Linguistics Expert Report.”

Here is a set of practice standards developed by Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf for professional sign language interpreting agencies.

A research article: Training Translators and Interpreters for a Digitised and Globalised World: Wikipedia, Lingua Francas and Critical Thinking. Translation and Interpreting: Convergence, Contact and Interaction.

Read about interpreter credentialing on the ATA website.

This report analyzes differences in pay between New York State Court interpreters and other court positions, as well as federal pay scales for comparable work.

Tamara Cabrera is the author of this 2017 paper of almost 60 pages: The Translation and Interpreting Industry of the United States.

For information about court interpreting and interpreter rates in courts across the U.S. see the following:
National Center for State Courts data
Court Interpreting Research data

The St. Catherine University CATIE Center has released a new publication titled Experiential Learning in Interpreter Education.  Those interested in experiential learning and/or interpreter education take note: it is available free to download.

NAJIT presents this detailed 24 page report titled Advocacy 101 for Interpreters and Translators. 

Nimzdi has created a visual atlas mapping Translation Management System (TMS) technology from the 1980s to 2010.

Use this toolkit from Innovation Interpreting to overhaul and refresh your LinkedIn profile, something increasingly important and critical for Language Professionals.

Here is an amazing resource for interpreters, especially those who perform conference and community (including medical) interpreting. InterpretimeBank is an online community of interpreters who help each other out, not only by sharing resources and knowledge--but also practice time. You simply donate time to help other interpreters around the world practice, and you get the same hours in return.

The Deaf Interpreter Institute site serves as a "learning, sharing, and networking site for deaf interpreters", in addition to those faculty, staff, and other interpreters who work with them.

The famous Interactive Terminology for Europe (IATE) database has just been revamped. Its new design has updated technology to make it as user-friendly as possible. It offers more than 8 million terms, 1.18 million entries—and 26 languages.

Therapists today often need interpreters. Yet their experiences are not always positive.  Enter Mothertongue, a UK nonprofit that runs a mental health interpreting service and has extensive experiences with refugees. They offer a free training video to show how mental health professionals can work effectively with interpreters.

The University of Arizona provides some great links for resources to practice your simultaneous interpreting skills.

The Southeastern Health Equity Council (SHEC) released its Cultural Competency Resource Guide and a White Paper in fall 2015. The white paper defines the field and addresses key terms and concepts.

Interpreters residing in or around the state of Washington interested in court certification may find a full overview of the process here.

The Life Course Toolbox includes a board game on community health that plunges players into a storyline, from birth to death, that walks anyone through what it means to have—or not to have—health insurance, privilege and protective factors, among other social factors, and the long-term consequences of the cards we are dealt in life.

The “first-ever” comprehensive study on pay for U.S. court interpreters was published in 2016.

In anticipation of a report on remote interpreting that InterpretAmerica is preparing, you watch the opening and closing plenary sessions and read a teaser of three key IA 6 findings taken from the upcoming white paper.

Given that all interpreters need strong short-term memory skills, this resource offers 9 exercises to improve short-term memory while interpreting. They range from “shadowing with a twist” to attentive listening—and remembering messages that you disagree with or find offensive.

Are you confused about language proficiency levels? This colorful poster makes everything easy to see at a glance.

The CIOL Insights: Careers and Qualifications report tackles survey results from 320 linguist respondents, more than half of them translators and about 14% interpreters.

Cooperativeness – A necessary trait for interpreters? A study on temperament and character dimensions of experts in different fields examines whether certain character traits affect interpreters’ expert performance.

NCIHC hosts a webpage with valuable resources on related to the topic of supporting Limited English Proficient patients who are LGBTQIA.

The Immigration Advocates Network offers a valuable range for resources useful to interpreters and translators who work in areas involving refugees, asylum seekers and other immigrants who may have experienced trauma.

Interpreters and translators alike may benefit from this online “master list” of Mexican slang. 

A third online “webshop” module of about 60 minutes for DeafBlind Interpreting is available from the DeafBlind Interpreting National Training & Resource Center. (The earlier two modules are available with CEUs on their website.)

Trex is a bilingual contextual dictionary in five language pairs. In other words: (a) it focuses on the translation of phrases, not words. (b) It provides not only translations but also examples of the usage of those phrases in various sentences.

The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) offers a free toolkit called Improving Well-Being for Refugees in Primary Care: A Toolkit for Providers.

Sign-language interpreters may find Unfolding Scenarios a valuable resource. It offers 12 interpreting scenarios.

Neural Machine Translation Report: Deploying NMT in Operations focuses on a dozen major tech companies. It highlights their aggressive race to enhance machine translation and natural language process.

Washington state’s new Code of Professional Responsibility for Judiciary Interpreters.

The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has released a series of videos in Spanish with English subtitles about public service (or community) interpreting.

“The Challenges of Mental Health Interpreting when Working with Deaf Patients” - this paper co-authored by two researchers was published in 2005 in an Australian journal—and it’s still valuable.

ATA Position Paper on Machine Translation: A Clear Approach to a Complex Topic.

The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT) offers a webpage listing by their frequent blogger, Athena Matilsky, listing many practical resources for “LOTS” (Languages Other Than Spanish) interpreters.

This paper explores why and how interpreters should indeed be tested for remote interpreting by phone and video.

An ASL Interpreter Equates Deaf Voice with the Invention of Community Interpreting.

The U.S. National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has just come out with a two-page guidance document for court staff and interpreters during COVID-19.

Here are two articles from Boostlingo on how to maximize SEO for language service providers (LSPs): Part 1 is about “how to market” for LSPs and Part 2 has further steps for building out SEO.

If you’re not sure how to get started, Part 1 about “how to market” for LSPs will help. And Part 2 will send you on your way.

“Justice in June: A course of action and learning” is ostensibly a program for sign language interpreters—but valuable for all of us.

In the field of remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI) platforms, Interpreters Reveal video offers helpful info, with expert Katty Kauffman.

Here is an easy-to-use bank of community social and health information in about 70 languages.

This 2015 research paper by Olalla García Becerra examines response rates for interpreters surveyed for research in three different ways: in person; through an invitation to participate in an online survey; and by including the questionnaire in the text of an email to subjects.

If you’re looking for a resource with career advice about working as a translator, this free guide for translators might fit your bill.

Here is an article pertaining to certification for translators.

Translators can now download the New York-based Authors Guild’s model contract for literary translation—without joining the guild.

A report from the UK: “A demographic snapshot of the profession: The 2021 Census of sign language translators & interpreters in the UK.”

Check out these publications related to diversity, equality and inclusion from M&N Language Services.

Of general interest, check out the Great Courses lectures called Language Families of the World, by Professor John McWhorter.

Collected resources related to interpreting for LGBTQIA clients or patients:
LGBTQIA Resources for Healthcare Interpreters and Interpreter Trainers
Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society—Interpreting for LGBT Patients
GLAAD Spanish Language Resources for LGBTQ People
Allied Linguists for LGBTQ Access
Sign Language and LBGTQ: Learn and Understand LGBTQ Sign
Translation of LGBTQ terms in Asian Languages
Resources for Spanish-speaking LGBT People
Interpreters’ Help LGBTQ Glossaries
LGBTQ Glossary Bridging Language Gaps
A-Z Glossary of LGBTQ+ Terminology in English and Spanish

For both trainers and interpreters, here are several resources on trauma-informed interpreting that may prove helpful:

  1. A resource guide on socio-culturally, linguistically-informed trauma-informed mental health interpreting from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

  2. A PowerPoint resource by the Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence on Trauma-informed Language Accessible Services.

  3. A short InterpreTips video (by me) on trauma-informed interpreting.

  4. A curriculum on Interpreting Effectively and Safely for Deaf Survivors of Violence by the amazing VERA Institute of Justice.

  5. A paper Katharine Allen and I presented at a CIT (Conference of Interpreter Trainers) session on Training Trauma-informed Interpreters for Signed and Spoken Languages—in the Same Classroom.

  6. An ATA Chronicle article I wrote on trauma-informed interpreting for victims of crime.

  7. The PowerPoint of a training I gave on this subject a few years ago.