NLSC Members Learn the Cultural and Historical Significance of Yoga

On June 17, 2017, 21 National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Members from the Hawaii Regional Chapter participated in a unique cultural and educational opportunity as a means to network with one another and further develop a sense of comradery among the membership.

NLSC Washington D.C. Regional Chapter Enjoys Chinese Brush Painting Workshop

Twenty-three National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Members from the Washington D.C. Regional Chapter participated in a Chinese Brush Painting Workshop at the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts (VisArts) in Rockville, MD on November 5, 2016.

NLSC Washington D.C. Regional Chapter Learns about The Language Flagship

On Saturday, March 5, 2016, the National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Washington D.C. Regional Chapter met for its first event of 2016: a keynote luncheon highlighting the Arabic Flagship Program of the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). 

Members complete Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training to prepare for NLSC assignments

In January 2015, National Language Service Corps (NLSC) Members in three of its four Regional Chapters chose to participate in a nationwide emergency preparedness initiative known as Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

NLSC Staff attends Workshop in Fort Polk, LA

The National Language Service Corps’ (NLSC) staff participated in a Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) Training Enablers Workshop from Wednesday, October 14^th – Friday, October 16^th in Fort Polk, Louisiana. Participation in The RAF Workshop afforded the NLSC an opportunity to present a brief and learn more about fellow participants’ organization.

Members conclude international assignment with U.S. Central Command

The National Language Service Corps (NLSC) successfully completed an international assignment with the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). During the past six months the NLSC’s partnership with CENTCOM has yielded an increase in the language support provided for the Command’s military exercise planning and operations. Throughout this period, 20 Members fluent in Russian, Dari, and Arabic have supported CENTCOM with language and cultural expertise.


A special thanks to our Members in supporting these assignments.--

NLSC Members Homayun (left) and Karin participated in the June 2012 assignment in Kyrgyzstan. 

Designation as a standby can still lead to participation in an assignment

Maryland native Liliya Robinson never imagined that her standby status for a three week assignment in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s would materialize. Liliya is one of approximately 415 talented Russian speakers in the National Language Service Corps (NLSC) pool. Her status changed from a standby to a primary candidate when a primary Member dropped out at the last minute. Currently, a self-employed translator and interpreter, Liliya states that the NLSC assignment was different from other language efforts that she has supported, “Because we are volunteers supporting an assignment and have a spirit of volunteerism, it creates a different atmosphere.” Liliya was one of eight Russian Members providing language support to the U.S. Central Command during their June Regional Cooperation exercise.

Liliya, a NLSC Charter Member since 2009, remarked the Bishkek assignment reaffirmed her understanding of the NLSC and its mission of providing readily available language support to any federal government agency in need. A sizeable subset of the 3,500 NLSC Members—like Liliya—are temporary federal employees. The volunteer Members in this on-call status are available to assist federal agencies in fulfilling their language needs at a moment’s notice. Their support ranges from surge requirements for federal agencies’ day-to-day operations to boots on the ground during national crises. According to Liliya, the NLSC staff provided outstanding support day and night, making it possible for the NLSC Members to concentrate on their translation duties. Liliya visited the NLSC office during the weekly staff meeting on July 3^rd 2012, and personally expressed her gratitude on behalf of all the Members who participated in the assignment. 

Potential assignment for Dari and Russian interpreters/translators

The National Language Service Corps (NLSC) has a potential interpretation/ translation assignment that may occur as early as in February 2012.  You must join the NLSC in order to be considered.  If you meet the required qualifications listed below, and are interested in finding out more about this potential opportunity, please apply to join the NLSC as soon as possible.

Qualifications:

• Professional interpretation/translation experience in Dari or Russian
• Experience working with military and/or military operations
• Extensive interpretation experience in a conference setting
• Extensive document translation experience
• Willingness to travel
• Willingness to take a language test administered by the NLSC Language Certification Team
• Willingness to be federally hired
• Simultaneous interpretation (booth experience)
• Active secret clearance

If you meet these qualifications, and are interested and available to assist as an NLSC language volunteer in the capacity of a Dari or Russian interpreter/translator, please apply to join the NLSC as soon as possible. There is no membership fee to join the NLSC.  All Members are volunteers but are paid a stipend for any hours worked. This is not a full-time position, but rather a short-term assignment. Further details will be provided upon your selection as a potential candidate.

To be accepted as an NLSC Member, you must be at least 18 years old and a U.S citizen.  To apply to join, click here and then click Apply.  When prompted for an EXP code, enter 12-16. Also, when prompted, upload your resume in Microsoft Word format.  Your resume should highlight your translation/interpretation-related experience and education.

Urgent need for native speakers of Spanish, Vietnamese, Khmer, Croatian, French, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Lao and Thai

The National Language Service Corps (NLSC) is a one-of-a-kind organization that offers citizens with language skills the chance to help communities and the government during times of crises and emergencies as well as non-emergencies; domestic or abroad. The NLSC currently has translation opportunities to provide aid for the Gulf Oil Spill recovery effort.

We are seeking volunteers for two different short-term translation assignments, a 100-page government report from English to Spanish, and a five-page executive summary for that report from English to Vietnamese, Khmer, Croatian, French, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Lao and Thai. Both opportunities are work-from-home assignments and would require you to become a member of the NLSC.

There is no membership fee to join the NLSC and all members are volunteers and are paid a stipend for any hours worked. These are not full-time positions but rather assignments that require someone with these skills for a short period of time.

The work is expected to begin in the next two to three weeks. There are multiple positions per language for each assignment.

Please read the minimum qualifications below. If you meet the required qualifications and would like to be considered for either of these opportunities please email us at as soon as possible.

Required minimum qualifications:

• US Citizen only
• 18 years of age or older
• Bachelor´s Degree in Linguistics or Translation, or a related discipline, OR an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Native speaker of your language
• 5+ years of professional translation experience
• Must possess computer skills, including MS Office
• Must possess excellent English language written communication skills
• Must be willing to take a language proficiency test in the native language administered by NLSC Language Certification Team
• Available to devote one to two full days per week for the executive summary, or two to three weeks of full-time work for the report.

Charter Members and staff comment on the NLSC and being involved

At our meeting with several NLSC Charter Members last month we had a video crew ask those members and staff about the NLSC and their involvement. Here are the highlights.

Here's a larger version:

New video explains the NLSC

Here's the video we've been talking about, which we unveiled at our meeting with several NLSC Charter Members earlier this month. We added a new ending, calling for the viewer to volunteer, which is why we didn't post it immediately after the event ... we pulled together the original on a VERY tight schedule, so we didn't have time to have the alternate ending ready at the same time. So without further adieu, here it is:

Here's a larger version:

On Training

We want our Charter Members to succeed when they are sent on a task. We offer on-line training tailored to that task. The first activity was an excercise with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. We send three Members, one Russian speaker, one Mandarin speaker and one Marshallese speaker, to help the CDC with its non-English web pages. Training for this included an intro to the CDC as well as basics like security and proper conduct.

Our next major task is to send three Indonesian speakers to participate in Operation Garuda Shield in Indonesia, a military and humanitarian co-ordination exercise with the US Pacific Command and the United Nations.

Since our civilian Members will be working, eating and housed with military staff, we need to make sure that they become familiar with the military culture. So we're creating a course that will explain military traditions, courtesy and etiquette, how to identify someone's rank, and how to adjust to communal military living. All of this is important as we want our Members to have credibility ... We civilians might not recognize that a soldier and a marine are not the same thing, likewise for a ship and a boat, but if we're going to work alongside members of our armed forces, getting these little things right can make a big difference in our success.

In Los Angeles for the Thai New Year festival

Four of our team were in Los Angeles to promote the NLSC at the 6th Annual Thai New Year Songkran Festival on Hollywood Boulevard. We set up a booth near one of the stages, spoke with many people, distributed brochures and business cards. At one point, Ben Komenkul, President of the Thai Association of Southern California, and NLSC staff got up on one of the stages to announce the NLSC and invite everyone to visit our booth, in English AND Thai, which was very cool.

Mr. Komenkul is undoubtedly one of the best connected community leaders in Thai Town, and is very excited about our organizations. He referred us to some Thai newspapers (Asia Pacific, Serechai, Siam Media, Thai LA, Khaosod, and Thai Town) and provided us with some valuable feedback about our application and our Thai print brochure.

As a bonus ... the event was held near LA's Little Armenia, so quite a few Russian speakers came by. Staffer Bonnie surprised them by speaking to them in Russian, and several filled out our contact cards.

CDC Exercise complete

We've successfully completed our first exercise with some Charter Members. Tanya Clark, a Russian speaker, Carol Curtis, a Marshallese speaker, and John Wu, a Mandarin speaker, each spent a week with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Tanya served from February 23-27, Carol from March 2-6 and John from March 9-13. At the end of each week, they traveled to the NLSC offices in Arlington, VA to give us feedback on their experiences. This was our first exercise, after all. The feedback was all good.

Our three members participated in a pandemic flu exercise, and helped the CDC with the content on the organization's non-English web pages. The CDC was quite happy with the work, particularly because our members went beyond just offering translation assistance to offer cultural insights that will make a difference.

Below, Tanya with the NLSC's Bill Castan, Carol sharing feedback with the NLSC's Wanda Penn, and John (center) with the NLSC team.

New marketing campaign begins

We've just launched a new market campaign in print and online media.  We're focusing on five of our ten target languages ... Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Hindi and Indonesian.  A multicultural marketing firm helped us identify specific newspapers and web site to target.  When appropriate, the ads are in the specific language, otherwise they are in English.  

This campaign is scheduled to run for ten weeks.