Long Beach to build new translation booths in City Hall’s Civic Chambers – Press Telegram

Long Beach will soon start construction on new translation booths in the Civic Chambers — to help improve access to public meetings for non-English speakers.

As it stands, Long Beach provides various services aimed at improving language access, including interpretation services for City Council meetings, which are provided remotely from various locations within City Hall, according to a Thursday, Dec. 11, city memo.

“Interpreters are not stationed inside the chambers because of space constraints and need for a quiet space to be able to provide simultaneous interpretation as accurately as possible,” the memo said. “Oral translation is transmitted through dedicated frequencies, accessed by the public through headsets distributed during the meeting.”

But while that system currently allows all meeting attendees to hear City Council proceedings in their native languages, there are some issues with it. Audio quality, the memo said, can be inconsistent, and some users experience disruptions when interpreters need to relocate to translate certain parts of meetings.

“Best practices in the field emphasize the importance of interpreters having direct visual access to the proceedings so their interpretation can accurately reflect speakers’ tone, body language and real-time interaction,” the memo said. “Additionally, interpreting from an enclosed space allows interpreters to work freely and at an appropriate volume without risk of disrupting meeting attendees.”

So to fix that issue, the city is planning to begin construction on three new translation booths inside the Civic Chambers on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

The booths will provide interpreters and attendees with a dedicated space to translate what people are saying, and will be supported by a new audio-visual booth next to one of the new booths.

“Moving the AV booth inside the Civic Chambers,” the memo said, “will allow the AV technicians to hear real-time audio and equalize the audio levels for an overall enhanced experience.”

Construction will take place from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday.

“All work will cease, and the chambers will be returned to functioning city use, by 2:30 p.m. each day, allowing afternoon meetings to proceed as scheduled,” the memo said. “Measures will be taken to ensure staff and community member safety, including blocking construction areas and covering construction materials.”

The project is expected to be finished around mid-February.