San Francisco Language Access Ordinance Summary Report LAO 2020 - Jan 31 FINAL | Page 15

Looking Forward
Recommendations and Priorities for the Coming Year
More robust support and training for bilingual employees
In the past year, OCEIA has increased the number of City employees trained through the Language
Access Academy, a series of trainings developed to address the specific needs of City staff. As
more employees gain confidence in their language skills, they will need ongoing support and skill
development to ensure the highest quality public service. In order to meet this need, OCEIA is
developing a comprehensive interpreter training series targeting bilingual City staff to address
their unique needs and challenges.
Expanding language competency to reflect community diversity
Although San Francisco’s largest Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations are Spanish, Chinese,
and Filipino speaking, the City serves many residents who speak languages of lesser diffusion, also
called minority languages. These are languages that may have fewer speakers, but are communities
with significant language access needs that deserve equal access to City services. With recent
changes in how the U.S. Census Bureau calculates and codes language data, the number of
languages spoken in San Francisco has increased from approximately 40 languages to 109. This
change does not mean that there was a mass migration of LEP speakers into San Francisco. It just
means that the U.S. Census Bureau data now more accurately reflects real world situations. The
City currently certifies bilingual employees in 10 languages. Certification ensures that employees
meet a minimum standard of proficiency in their language skills and comes with a modest pay
incentive to encourage more bilingual employees to utilize their language abilities. To better serve
our diverse residents, certification could be expanded to all languages that are consistently used
during the course of an employee’s work.
Supporting written as well as spoken language
Much of OCEIA’s work with City departments has focused on increasing the number of bilingual
public contact staff and supporting their skill development, in response to the primary way
many LEPs seek services. However, as departments increase their investment in language access
resources and perform proactive outreach, the quality and consistency of translated materials
across departments is important to monitor. Currently, the City does not have a certification
process for translators but this is an area of opportunity to develop quality standards. This will
be especially important as more departments translate their websites and learn the risks of using
machine translations such as Google to manage these conversions.
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