Introducing the Language Lobby

By Katharine Allen & Barry S. Olsen

Published: 25 June 2013

From politico.com...

Article excerpt: Two language industry groups have launched a new advocacy push with a lobbying component. The American Language Enterprise Advocacy is the brainchild of the Globalization and Localization Association and the National Council for Languages and International Studies. It’s not a separate new organization, the founders tell PI — just the advocacy face of the two groups, which together represent a broad coalition of educators, companies and other stakeholders. 

Link to the full news story.

InterpretAmerica's take: In recent years, the interpreting industry has struggled with how to create visibility on Capitol Hill. A fairly major push was made in 2010-2011 by IMIA and Language Line centering on issues of misclassification of freelance interpreters. Until now, however, our profession has not had regular access to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. on issues critical to our future viability. This new initiative brings together a long-standing lobbying organization, the National Council on Language and International Studies, which has traditionally focused on language education, and theGlobalization and Localization Association, the largest international professional association for language services companies. The effort creates much-needed and long-overdue links between language education, the translation and interpreting professions, and those who craft national policy on language.