Salt Lake City Schools: 100 Languages Spoken

The Story

Over the past 20 years, the cultural makeup of the SLCSD has changed tremendously. As the number of international families and students has grown, so has the number of languages spoken. Up until a few years ago, the district had to utilize numerous individual interpreters to communicate with its diverse population.

In an effort to streamline workflow and create cost efficiencies, the SLCSD Board of Education made the decision in 2017 to significantly pare down its translation partners. After a rocky start with another agency, Translator Coordinator Bob Muench made the decision to give LinguaLinx a try. A few trial projects later, he was sold.

“The translation product is absolutely wonderful. I don’t find errors, and I don’t find untranslated text,” said Muench. “Having the documents in so many languages that we need is a wonderful assist—a wonderful help—to all of the families and school district personnel.”

Receiving translated documents back in their native file formats is an aspect of the process that Muench finds particularly helpful. “With those languages that don’t use a standard font, such as Burmese, LinguaLinx will send me both the native document, as well as a PDF, to ensure it’s formatted properly.” 

While Muench also appreciates the immediacy and efficiency of the company’s project management software, Plunet, it’s the team’s positive attitude and commitment that gets top marks. “LinguaLinx has shown me that they’re willing to do anything that needs to be done to make the account work. I feel comfortable asking them to go the extra mile.”

“They recognize the effort of a good job.”

Final grade: A+