Improve the way government agencies conduct their business

The service shouldalso improve the way government agencies conduct their business. It Rosetta Stone will be considerably less costly for thetaxpayer by reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings andtime consuming repeat visits to agencies.How will thegovernment agencies use the service?It will be used intwo ways. Firstly, a government agency participating inthe pilot will be able to connect to the service when anethnic person phones the agency and is able to communicatethe language they speak. A considerable amount of educationis being done in ethnic communities about the languagesavailable through the service, and the need to communicatethe language spoken to the six participatingagencies.However, the service is also expected to beuseful to government agencies when ethnic people come intothe office. Providing the ethnic person can point to thelanguage they speak on a specially designed chart, theagency will be able to contact Language Line and conduct aface-to-face interview. Why not just focus on teachingEnglish?Learning English takes time but for new migrantsobtaining work, organising housing and other needs are anurgent priority. The Government wants to ensure thatlanguage is not a barrier to ethnic people settlingeffectively. English improves through everyday livingexperiences as well as in formal class settings. Learningto talk directly with government agencies without a supportperson or advocate, ensures non-English speakers gainconfidence in expressing their needs and making themselvesunderstood to officials. Hearing an interpreter repeatphrase by phrase in English what they are saying in theirown language, assists people to put in practice the Englishthey are learning in ESOL classes.Providing a telephoneinterpreting service also recognises that there will alwaysbe people for whom English is a second language andsomething they struggle with when communicating over complexor stressful matters.Why only a pilot?We don't knowthe full extent of the demand for the service and we won'tknow until the service has been running for some time andits availability is known throughout New Zealand's ethniccommunities. How much will the pilot cost and how will itbe paid for?Funding Rosetta Stone Chinese of nearly $1 million has beencontributed by the six participating agencies and by theMigrant Levy.Why only six agencies?The six agenciesparticipating in the pilot are the Police, Department ofInternal Affairs, Accident Compensation Corporation, HousingNew Zealand, Work and Income and the ImmigrationService.These agencies have been chosen because each havelarge operations throughout New Zealand and operate indifferent ways, some focusing on personal contact atneighbourhood centres or by home visits, and some have largenational call centres. By limiting the pilot to these sixdifferent agencies, we can more accurately measure the bestprovision of interpreting service for all types of agenciesin the future.Why not agencies in other areas, such asthe health sector?Some areas of the health sector haveresponded well to the need for interpreting, particularlywhere there are legal issues of informed consent to medicalprocedures. Some District Health Boards (DHBs) haveinterpreting services, mainly working face to face. It isalso open to them to contract their interpreting services toother DHBs or indeed other health services. The LanguageLine is not intended to duplicate where there are existinginitiatives.Why those 30 languages?One aim of thepilot will be to establish the level of demand for thedifferent languages.The first 30 languages have beenchosen for a number of reasons: - high volume highproportion of non English speakers with fewer Englishspeakers of that language to support them (Census resultshave provided this information) very differentspoken/written language from English, thus speakers takelonger to learn English very different experience ofgovernment in the country of origin, thus speakers takelonger to understand how to use our agencies are the keylanguages of refugees or those from traumatic situations whohave high settlement needs.When will the service beavailable?It will be available between 10 am and 6pm,Monday to Friday. Research shows this is the period in whichmost people access government agencies.Outside normaloffice operating times, staff may not be available toprovide the information people are Rosetta Stone French seeking. If there areemergency situations, the agency may be able to contactother interpreters.