Project by Emma Mari, Luz Ramos, and J. Faith Malicdem
View our methodology here.
Download our data here.
Written by J. Faith Malicdem
On the boston.gov website, when one looks up “language,” “communication,” “accomodation,” the first three recommended articles are Who is language and communication access for?, What is Language and Communications Access and why is it important?, and How can the Office of Language and Communications Access help you? At the top right corner of the website is a button that reads: TRANSLATE.
In 2016, previous Mayor of Boston and now U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty J. Walsh signed the “Establishing Language and Communications Access for City Services” ordinance, which holds the stride towards Boston being a more inclusive and equitable city. Prior to this ordinance, the city had language accommodation services for those who were appearing before boards or commissions, according to boston.gov. The practice expanded under Walsh, encompassing interpretation, translation, and assistive technology support services throughout all of the city’s programs and departments. The TRANSLATE button, which is powered by the city’s Department of Innovation Technology through the Google Translate program, offers a disclaimer regarding the translation feature and its inaccuracies, as well as a step-by-step how-to on suggesting a better translation than the ones being offered.
The New York City website, as well as the Los Angeles city website and Chicago city website both offer the same translation service through Google Translate. It is offered without the disclaimer, and without the option for a civilian to edit the translation in the case of it being incorrect. Most other major city websites don’t offer the same extensive language accommodation services that Boston does. Meanwhile, the Miami City website only offers translations for Spanish and Haitian Creole.
But how accessible is Boston's language accommodation services?
After calling and emailing countless main street and community organizations, as well as the City of Boston's Language and Communications Accessibility Department, no response was on the other side of the line. There was lack of insight into how the city and its affiliated organizations where running their translating and interpreting services, who they were serving, and how happy users of the accommodations were.
For some context, however, according to the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) Research Division Analysis, there were a total of 623,355 residents aged five and up living in Boston in 2016. Residents who spoke another language at home made up 37.4% of that total, and residents who did not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to speak, write, read, or understand English – also known as the population making up the Limited English Proficiency population – made up 17.1% of that same total. The report does not make it clear if the latter two percentages are mutually exclusive (Figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 (scroll right to see full visualization)
The city of Boston released a Language and Communication Access Demographic Data Report to highlight Limited English Proficiency, or LEP. It includes the above data, as well as the top ten spoken languages in the city including: Spanish, Haitian Creole, Mandarin - Chinese, Vietnamese, Cantonese - Chinese, Cape Verdean Creole, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, and French.
The report also includes the ratio of residents with LEP in any given Boston neighborhood to the total amount of residents with LEP in the greater Boston area (Figure 1.2)
Figure 1.2 (scroll right to see full visualization)
With that being said, the data report also breaks down the languages spoken in each neighborhood and the LEP ratio to the total neighborhood population [Figure 1.3].
Figure 1.3
With the above information, one can conclude that the Dorchester and East Boston neighborhoods are in need of the most language accommodation in the city. However, when compared to Figure 1.2, it can be noted that East Boston has a higher percentage of LEP residents in relation to its total neighborhood population than Dorchester does, while Dorchester has the highest percentage of LEP residents in relation to the entire city population of Boston.
The Language and Communications Access section of the city website allows for Boston residents to volunteer their language skills, find approved interpreters and translators, and more accessible services catered to those who are deaf or blind.
In an email communication, Interim Director of the Language and Communications Access office for the City of Boston Jeniffer Vivar Wong shared a submission to the office's “Comments, Complaints and Feedback” form, revealing just two responses. One of which concerned the terminology for the disabled community the city had used on the website, and one concerned the accessibility of the city’s services:
“I think that all of the above ideas for bringing us all together as a strong diverse community are good but as a woman that grew up poor in the projects it will take more than those highly educated approaches to reach people that are scared, embarrassed, hungry, poor etc, to teach them how to reach out for help. It takes a normal, ordinary person with a smile and an honest desire to help them individually, believe me I know how to smell out someone that is only in it to make him/her feel better.”
Although a short and limited view into the receiving end of language and communication, this response offers an insight into the accessibility of these services to those who are underrepresented and underprivileged – especially communities who are poor or homeless. The fact that this is one of two responses in the city's form does not prove the city's accommodation services to be very effective or far-reaching. For further research, it would be invaluable to reach out to not only more community organizations, but also centers for the accommodation and care of people who are homeless, with more aim towards learning about how the city of Boston accommodates the poor and homeless population.
Written by Luz Ramos
According to Data USA, the amount of non English speakers in the state of Massachusetts is slowly increasing every year. There has been a two percent rise in the percentage of top four languages for non-English speakers: Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Haitian. There are a total of 632k Spanish speakers making up 9.67% of the state population, 206k Portuguese speakers who make up 3.15% of the state, and 148k Chinese speakers with 2.27% total state population. There is a total of 24.7% of Massachusetts citizens who are non-English speakers, which is higher than the national average of 22%. The bar graph visualization is a display of the most common languages within the state. There are over one hundred and sixty eight different languages spoken across Massachusetts, including the city of Boston. (Figure 1.4)
Figure 1.4
The second graph gives a visual representation of the top four spoken languages and its increase over time from 2016 to 2019. (Figure 1.5)
Figure 1.5
The New Bostonians Graphic Report led us to the understanding of the city's immigrant communities. There were difficulties in obtaining updated information because most of the data on immigrants are not categorized correctly which is why the information provided is not specific data but as a matter of fact and overview of New Bostonians. The report was collected through various sources and is derived from the 2000 census. The report includes state information while focusing specifically on the Boston area. Locally, Boston has the 5th highest percentage of immigrant residents among the largest cities in the US. The fastest growing communities are Latino and Asian. The top ten countries of origin of these New Bostonians are Haiti, Dominican Republic, China, Vietnam, El Salvador, Cape Verde, Jamaica, Ireland, Colombia, and Brazil. (Figure 1.6)
Figure 1.6
Written by Emma Mari
The Boston Foundation, the Greater Boston’s community foundation, and the Commonwealth Corporation worked together on the Breaking the Language Barrier report which examines English language services in Greater Boston. This report shows exactly how many people are receiving language accommodations in Boston. The report found that although some neighborhoods of Boston serve many students, there are other neighborhoods that are lacking.
The figure above shows that while students in Chinatown receive a significant amount of accommodations, neighborhoods such as Hyde Park, Charlestown, and Mattapan do not. It is also important to note that in figure 1.3, East Boston was the highest neighborhood in need of language accommodations, however, there are significantly less students receiving language services in East Boston compared to Chinatown. The question is, why are there so few students receiving accommodations in these neighborhoods?
The answer is that there are significant gaps in language services in Boston. The report also included survey results that the Commonwealth Corporation sent out to ESOL providers to collect from their students. The survey asked if there are any improvements that need to be made to language services in Boston.
The figure above shows the survey results. Nearly half of respondents (46%) claimed that they needed additional classroom hours. This means more available classes so they have more flexibility with scheduling. These are adults with families, jobs, and busy lives. It is important that they have options when it comes to attending classes. Other gaps to note are lack of infrastructure, employee relations, funding, and support services.
A large part of why these gaps exist is that the majority of teachers at these organizations are only part-time employees. They often lack credentials that would allow them to provide more services and are paid low wages which result in frequent employee turnovers.
These findings show that there are a lot of improvements to be made in language services in Greater Boston. While Boston does offer many language services, there is always room for improvement and greater accessibility. That starts with more funding, both for the students and for the teachers. In order to close these gaps, teachers need to have better support. This, in turn, will guarantee more support for students.
In addition, the limited scope in the research done for this project (see methodology here) was due to lackluster and outdated data and reports. The inability to get in touch with these organizations is indicative of the efficiency of these services and the slow progression of language accommodation. It should not be so difficult to get in touch with city representatives and community organizers regarding the important work that they do, because that work is work that must be uplifted more in the news.