Language line telephone interpretation
24/02/2020
Telephone interpretation is one of the services Moray Council uses to support customers whose first language is not English. Guidance on how to use it can be found on the intranet at http://intranet.moray.gov.uk/FinanceStandard/Procurement/Ecats/Interpretation%20%26%20Translation/Interpretation%20and%20Translation%20Services%20October%202019.pdf.
The service has some advantages over face-to-face interpretation. These include:
- It is accessible 24/7
- There is no need to book in advance
- There is no minimum call-out charge
- There is no need to pay the interpreter’s travel and other expenses.
For these reasons, the service is often cheaper and suitable for short or unexpected meetings. Some people, however, are uncomfortable with using a telephone interpreter, of if using language line for a planned meeting, make sure that the customer is happy with this.
A word of caution…
Language line is not free. Calls cost 68p per minute. This cost is to be paid by the service using it. To access the service you will need to give the operator at Language line the Access Code for your department/service which is given in the guidance
All calls made to language line have to be verified before we can pay the invoice. It would help if you can say your name clearly when asked, or even to spell it. Because the service is conducted over the phone, it is easy for names to be misheard making it difficult sometimes to check that the invoice is correct.
Please don’t share the access codes. If someone other than the Language Line operator asks for the code, tell them it is in the guidance on the intranet. There have been a number of occasions where calls were made by someone who doesn’t work for the council. These calls were made by someone who somehow managed to get hold of the access code.
When you have made a phone call using Language Line, it would be great if you could let me know by email at don.toonen@moray.gov.uk, giving me the date and an approximate time of the conversation. I appreciate, though, that this may not be foremost on your mind at the time.