Supporting National Need

The concept of the National Language Service Corps (NLSC) began in response to the horrific aftermath of September 11, 2001, addressing deficiencies of a culturally and linguistically rich nation like the United States in providing language support to her residents. Although the organization began in response to a national emergency, the NLSC model supports National need. 

Since Congress authorized the NLSC Pilot in 2006, the NLSC has matured. The program currently has over 3,600 volunteers world-wide representing 246 languages. Member assignments correlate directly to requesting agencies’ belief in the ability of the NLSC to support National needs.

NLSC has supported emergent assignments when others were not available.  Past missions include planning conferences, cultural orientations, training exercises, and translation & interpretation activities both domestic and abroad. Examples of these assignments include:

• Interpreting for the US Army Pacific (USARPAC) in Thailand and Indonesia for humanitarian and training exercises,
• Serving on board U.S. Coast Guard Cutter FORWARD for six weeks in support of African Maritime’s Law Enforcement Partnership (AMLEP), and
• Interpreting during town halls and community outreach, for the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) in support of the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster.