THRESHOLD LANGUAGES EMERGING LANGUAGES
The LAO requires that all public-serving City departments in San Francisco provide equal access to information and services for LEP individuals . This means that Departments must inform members of the public that they have the right to language assistance and must deliver the same quality of information and services to LEP individuals as they give to English speakers . In addition , Departments must track their language access activities and report compliance data on an annual basis . OCEIA staff members are available throughout the year to provide language access tools and guidance to Departments .
THRESHOLD LANGUAGES EMERGING LANGUAGES
Departments are required to translate vital information into the threshold languages .
The three threshold languages are currently Spanish , Chinese , and Filipino .
Under the LAO , a “ threshold language ” in San Francisco is a language population that has at least 10,000 or more Limited English Proficient ( LEP ) persons . 12
Departments are encouraged to translate information for Emerging Language Populations .
The LAO defines “ Emerging Language Populations ” as language populations that comprise at least 2.5 % but less than 5 % of San Francisco ’ s population and use a Department ’ s services , or at least 5,000 but fewer than 10,000 city residents , who speak a shared language other than
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English .
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San Francisco Administrative Code , Sec . 91.1 ( b )( 7 ). San Francisco Administrative Code , Sec . 91.2 .
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