USAHello provides clear, practical information to help immigrants make important decisions and navigate U.S. systems. One of the key ways we support this goal is by offering high-quality, accessible translations.
For many of our readers, translated information makes the difference between understanding their options and feeling uncertain. Quality translations help immigrants to make informed choices about work, health, legal matters, and daily life.
Our focus on clear, dependable translations has set USAHello apart. By providing translations directly on our pages instead of separate PDFs, our content is easier for our audience to search, find, and use.
How to give feedback on translations
Your feedback matters to us! If you notice any issues with a translation, please let us know. You can use the green feedback tab on each page or email us at [email protected]. Your insights help us improve and provide the best possible experience for everyone.
Current languages
Our site is currently fully translated into 9 languages:
- Arabic
- Simplified Chinese
- Dari/Persian
- French
- Haitian Creole
- Russian
- Spanish
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese
We also offer certain pages by topics in additional languages including Amharic, Burmese, Hindi, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Nepali, Oromo, Pashto, Portuguese, Punjabi, Somali, Swahili, Tagalog, Tigrinya, and Urdu.
How we choose languages
With thousands of languages spoken across the U.S., we carefully select the languages to focus on based on several factors:
- Community needs: We look at data on how many people speak a language at home and have limited English skills.
- Existing resources: We aim to fill gaps where fewer resources exist in certain languages.
- Community feedback: We listen to the voices of those we serve and prioritize underserved communities.
- Demographics: We also consider factors like income and access to resources for each language group.
While we wish we could offer even more languages, translation is expensive, so we will prioritize those with the greatest need.
Types of translations
In 2024, USAHello transitioned to a new translation management platform that allows us to expand and improve our translations. The new platform lets us update content faster and build on existing translations to help us improve quality and efficiency going forward.
This system uses two types of translations:
- Advanced machine translations: Machine translations are generated by software that translates content into different languages automatically. Unlike basic tools like Google Translate, our advanced machine translations use several high-quality tools and consider the full meaning of each sentence to make translations more accurate and natural. This allows us to offer information in more languages quickly and affordably. However, the quality can vary by language.
- Human reviewed translations: Professional translators review the advanced machine translations to ensure they are accurate, clear, and culturally relevant. This extra step helps us provide information that is both easy to understand and dependable.
How we choose the type of translation
Our choice to use either human reviewed translations or advanced machine translation depends on the content and its potential impact.
Human reviewed translations are used for pages where accuracy is especially important. This includes topics like immigration processes, citizenship, legal rights, mental health support, and English learning resources. We also prioritize human review for languages where machine translation is less accurate and for pages with high traffic or cultural considerations.
Advanced machine translations are used for pages that see lower engagement or have content that is less likely to mislead someone or cause harm with small inaccuracies.
Our translation review process
USAHello is committed to providing high-quality translations.
For human reviewed translations, expert translators thoroughly check for accuracy, clarity, and cultural context. They make sure our translations follow USAHello’s plain language and easy-to-understand style.
Our advanced machine translations may also be reviewed by our internal linguist team. They check for any major inaccuracies or glitches, such as stray English text. While we have not reviewed every MT page, we are steadily working toward someone checking each of these pages.
Managing the cost of translations
Translations are one of USAHello’s most significant expenses. Each new language costs a lot of money. With the large amount of information pages we offer, these expenses grow quickly. USAHello has over 250 information articles, which equals over 2,500 translated pages.
As AI technology advances, we hope that machine translations will become more cost-effective and reliable, allowing us to expand our language offerings further. For now, our priority remains providing high-quality, reviewed translations in languages with the highest need.