LanguageLine Solutions
reviews and complaints

Please email me to: justiceforinterpreters@gmail.com. Languageline really mistreated all the interpreters. Need to get our voice heard!

I completely agree. I was let go of this company and, frankly, I thank the heavens above; otherwise, I would have stayed much longer because I love being an interpreter. I was a qualified & trained community interpreter with 5 years of experience when I started working for this company. In addition, I have an AA degree with an emphasis on Cultural Anthropology. I speak, read, and write proper Spanish fluently. They did not care about any of the formal training and qualifications that I had, they still paid me $15 an hour. I could go work at my local McDonald's or Wal-Mart for those same wages, with much less homework and work overload.

While working for LLS, I developed many scripts, in several fields of work and industries to make my job easier. All of that is homework that you do not get compensated for. In addition, the phone calls are non-stop, back-to-back, and you have to force your brain to switch from one language specialization to another in less than a minute. For example, you could take a phone call from a pharmacy, then the next one would be from an auto insurance company, followed by an airport company, and so on and so forth. The phone calls are NON-STOP. The minute one call ends, there is another one coming in.

Also, the representatives from the companies you interpret for, do not always allow the interpreter to finish their introduction before they begin speaking. Therefore, it interferes with the session going smoothly. Other times, both the representative and LEP (Limited English Person) will step on the interpreter's toes and not allow you to do your job. Then, confusion occurs, information gets lost, and they get angry at the interpreter.

Interpreters do not get PTO, paid vacation, holiday pay, or decent health insurance. You may request time off but even if it is due to illness, it still counts against your attendance record. If you have a technical issue, good luck getting a hold of someone from the Interpreters Help Desk. They never answer.

I urge all fellow interpreters to not work for this company. They need to improve on a lot of things, beginning with their pay rate. The only thing I am thankful for after working for Language Line Solutions was the opportunity to serve diverse fields of work, service areas, and industries, which allowed me to expand my bilingual vocabulary. However, all of that knowledge was obtained while being an abused interpreter at a remote sweatshop.

You are correct I had been working for them for 5 years and they never gave me any benefits or increased my salary even when I asked for a raise. They overwork interpreters and stress them out constantly have various different supervisors most are not qualified, and they just get orders from HR on how to give bad reports and threaten you 100 percent of the time they will fire you that's their biggest threat since day one. Then supervisors don't address your concerns properly because they are also struggling. They call anytime without a warning hear your conversations during breaks and lunchtime and if you are not available, they threaten you again. If you go a little over a break they threaten to let you go. Then they prep to fire you at their will even giving out approximate dates over the phone but never written. They stress you all the time during each call claiming they only monitor a few calls but it's a lie. They fire you at will use their own rules to their advantage and manipulate you so their system is wrecked they fake it and say that clients are complaining because you end calls or miss a call which is a lie but you have no way to prove it as the interpreter. after the first year, they never give you recognition for your good work because that involves a commendation where they have to send you a 20 dollar crappy gift card. They make you feel harassed, underpaid, and uncomfortable all the time and they want you to not complain and keep your mouth shut. Their timing is horrible because they stress you out on the job instead of supporting you. They don't explain to clients their strict protocols and hold times so that the client might become upset at you easily and even if you get no complaints for years like I did and then get one complaint they use it in their manipulative ways to add up to letting you go. If you are excellent they make up lies and the supervisor pretends to slip and tell you they are cutting down on staff in a couple of months so that you might quit ahead of time and save them the trouble but send a letter expressing their concern for legal purposes saying they are not pushing you to quit it is your decision. Then out of the blue they have collected fake proof and HR calls you and fires you on the spot the same day. They make up N/I's that are irrelevant and remove buttons at the end where you can complain so that you just do as you are told. They make up rules after their strict training saying protocols and rules go beyond what they trained you for and not all 911 calls are emergencies and you have to evaluate what type of call it is even if it comes through as a 911 call. Very lame excuses and they have the hand over you at all times so they can do as they please. Interpreters that have the need to work from home because of their family or other reasons think it might be okay because the pay is on time but it's not worth it really they won't respect you at all and if you don't take them lightly you might become ill from high blood pressure, have a heart attack or stroke because if the pressure they put on you. Just be really careful with this exploiting company that uses two different names and that is shady as well they use cyracom and tell the interpreter to answer as voyance language services at times as well. Very obscure shady evil works behind closed doors watch out.

Beware of them! I worked as a contracted interpreter for 3 years and with less than one day's notice, several contractors of various languages were told that their contracts would not be renewed. Yes, we were ALL let go with less than 24 hours notice! It happens all the time, so unless you choose a short-lived career with a company and zero benefits, do NOT go near this one.

So can you recommend a different company?

This company has absolutely no regard for their hard working interpreters, not even those who have been with them for many years. Apparently, they also don't have much regard for the quality of service they provide either. Nor for anything else except their profits and stuffing the pockets of upper-level management. Their business strategy over the past few years was to hire as many people for near-minimum wage as possible, while getting rid, or not giving any business to higher-qualified, experienced interpreters with better rates. The way they do away with them is by slashing their wages - so experienced, qualified people leave on their own. Some of them they simply dismiss due to "business needs." Others get fed up after working for them for many years for grossly inadequate compensation that never improves (or even gets demoted) and hardly any benefits. Pretty soon, the majority of their work-force will be only those willing to work for near-minimum wage. Some of them will still be really good, well-educated interpreters, what about others? Hope clients will catch on to that - this company is rapidly becoming a total disgrace!

After working with Pacific interpreters since 2011, I can now certainly tell that the transition to Language Line has been a complete disaster to many freelance interpreters. The latest of LL intimidation was to either agree to work under reduced compensation rate or expect less calls. As a contractor interpreter, it was absolutely not the right time to accept more work for less pay, being Nationally certified and accumulating years of experience meant nothing to them. long story short, 10 days after their threat, I received a notice that my services are no longer need for "strictly business purposes" rather than any form of misconduct. I hope that interpreters who care about their profession will consider this example before signing up for cheap services.

I completely agree with you.Language Line solutions is abusing interpreters, they are now after highly qualified interpreters who used to work for Pacific Interpreter.Now they invented a new application called HOME ADVANTAGE PLATFORM,
This new innovation is nothing but a new way to suck the blood out of their interpreters.They don't consider anyone, even after emailing them for hundred times no body answers, they are treating pacific interpreters as their slaves.Demanding them to keep the phone set on their head as long as they are working.Clients should know that so many of pacific interpreters are no longer working for LLS, they are qualified and educated.They wont work day and night for only $14 an hour.Please don't sign up any contract with LLS and interpreters should know that LLS is not reliable at all, they might fire you without any kind of prior notice.

Please don't waste your time with this agency as they will only cause you trouble and waste your time

This is not "resolved" in any way, shape or form. Their pay essentially attracts unqualified interpreters and I still get constant complaints from my previous clients when I run into them in the Russian store nearby. The latest one was just a couple of days ago. The translators are horrible or sometime don't even show up.

Language Line Solutions is, in fact, an insurance scam.