Contact us by email at interpreting@alsglobal.net or via phone at 1-800-951-5020 for a free estimate on our ASL and CART services.

Trusted CART & ASL Services in Germantown, PA

American Language Services has been helping businesses and other entities reach the deaf and hard of hearing community for more than 35 years. While in-person interpreting, at one time, was the only option, recent technological advances opened the door to other options. Since we offer full-service Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), this article will be comparing Virtual American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting with Communication Access Real-Time Translation (AKA- Closed Captioning & Real Time Subtitling) known as CART.

 Please note that according to the American Disability Act (ADA) that deaf and hard of hearing community have the legal right to receive full access through the use of ASL and or CART services. The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and providing ASL interpreters for deaf individuals complies with federal law and promotes equal accessibility.

Some interesting Facts About the City of Germantown

• Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland.
• With a population of 90,676 as of 2013 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Germantown is the third most populous place in Maryland, after the city of Baltimore, and the census-designated place of Columbia, Maryland.
• If Germantown were to incorporate as a city, it would become the second largest incorporated city in Maryland, after Baltimore.
• Germantown is located approximately 25–30 miles (40–48 km) outside of the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., and is an important part of the Washingtonian metropolitan area.
• The original plan for Germantown divided the area into a downtown and six town villages: Gunners Lake Village, Kingsview Village, Churchill Village, Middlebrook Village, Clopper’s Mill Village, and Neelsville Village.
• The Churchill Town Sector at the corner of Maryland Route 118 and Middlebrook Road most closely resembles the downtown or center of Germantown because of the location of the Upcounty Regional Services Center, the Germantown Public Library, the Black Rock Arts Center, the Regal Germantown Stadium 14, and pedestrian shopping that features an array of restaurants.
• Three exits to Interstate 270 are less than one mile away, the Maryland Area Regional Commuter train is within walking distance, and the Germantown Transit Center that provides Ride On shuttle service to the Shady Grove station of the Washington Metro‘s Red Line.
• It is the most populous Germantown in Maryland and is the only “Germantown, Maryland” that is recognized by the United States Postal Service, although there are others: one in Anne Arundel County, one in Baltimore County, and one in Worcester County.
• In the 1830s and 1840s, the central business area was focused on the intersection of Liberty Mill Road and Clopper Road.
• Several German immigrants set up shop at the intersection and the town became known as “German Town”, even though most residents of the town were of English or Scottish descent.
• Germantown did not have a public school until after the end of the American Civil War. During that time, education was handled at homes.
• In 1868, a one-room schoolhouse was built on Maryland Route 118, near Black Rock Road, which hosted children from both Germantown and neighboring Darnestown.
• In 1883, a larger one-room schoolhouse was built closer to Clopper Road.
• Another, newer school was constructed in 1910, on what is now the site of Germantown Elementary School. This school had four rooms, with two downstairs and two upstairs, with each room housing two grade levels. After the eighth grade, the students would head via train to nearby Rockville, for further education.
• Although it avoided much of the physical destruction that ravaged other cities in the region, the American Civil War was still a cause of resentment and division among residents of Germantown.
• Many Germantown residents, particularly those of German ancestry, were against slavery and had sons fighting for the Union Army.
• In contrast, other residents of Germantown, particularly those of English ancestry, owned slaves, and even those who weren’t slave-owners had sons fighting for the Confederate Army.
• As a result, many people in Germantown, who were once on friendly terms with each other, tried not to interact with each other, such as switching churches, or frequenting a store or mill miles away from the ones they would normally do business with.
• On April 20, 1865, George Atzerodt, a co-conspirator in the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, was captured in Germantown.
• He was assigned by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate U.S. Vice President Andrew Johnson, but did not do it and instead fled Washington, D.C., on the night of the Lincoln assassination.
• He was captured at the farm of his cousin Hartman Richter, on Schaeffer Road near Clopper Road.
• Augustus Selby was the first owner and manager of the new Liberty Mill, which opened in 1918.
• Electricity was brought into Liberty Mill and served the homes and businesses nearby, making Germantown the first area in the northern portion of Montgomery County to receive electricity.
• “Feed the Liberty Way” was used as a slogan for Liberty Mill which, with eight silos, became the second largest mill in all of Maryland, supplying flour to the United States Army during World War II.
• Cornmeal and animal feed were also manufactured at Liberty Mill, and a store at the mill sold specialty mixes, such as pancake and muffin mix.
• In January 1958, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission was relocated from its location in downtown Washington, D.C. to Germantown, which was considered far enough from the city to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack.
• The facility now operates as an administration complex for the U.S. Department of Energy and headquarters for its Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
• Following the end of World War II, the Liberty Mill went into disrepair, and was finally destroyed by an arsonist in 1971. In 1974, the completion of a sewer line helped the development and growth of Germantown.
• Since the early 1980s, Germantown has experienced rapid economic and population growth, both in the form of townhouses and single-family dwellings, and an urbanized “town center” has been built.
• Germantown was the fastest growing zip code in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and Maryland in 1986, and the 1980s saw a population growth of 323.3% for Germantown.
• The BlackRock Center for the Arts is in the downtown Germantown, at the Germantown Town Center.
• The BlackRock Center for the Arts also sponsors the Germantown Oktoberfest, an annual festival held every year in the fall, which includes various genres of music, including traditional German folk, rock, and pop.
• The Harmony Express Men’s Chorus is a 4-part a cappella men’s chorus based in Germantown.
• The band Clutch is also from Germantown, MD.
• Germantown is featured in several episodes of the science fiction television series, The X-Files, notably as a hotbed for biomedical engineering and research, as in reality.
• Germantown is featured in the 2008 video game, Fallout 3, where the town has been destroyed by a nuclear war and one of its police stations subsequently used as a mutant-run prison camp.
• Sam Fisher, the protagonist of the Splinter Cell video game series, lives on a farm in rural Germantown, according to the novelizations of the series.

Reference Source: Kiddle

Germantown ASL & CART Language Interpreters

American Language Services is known for our high-quality, In-person and Virtual interpreters, as well as the outstanding client services we provide. We work in 200+ languages including Legal and Medical Certified and Qualified.  ASL and CART are the fastest growing languages in Germantown today a language interpreter can be a very underestimated professional in the world today. There are over 100 languages spoken in the Germantown Metro area alone. Many of us know one language, and we specialize in one field of study. Our Germantown Interpreters are fluent in English and at least one other language, and they are knowledgeable in a wide range of specialized fields including legal, medical, technical, manufacturing, and engineering.

A brief history of ASL Interpreting in Germantown

Most people know that ASL stands for American Sign Language. But not everyone knows that it is a distinct language—not simply an offshoot of American English. Though its beginnings are murky, many believe that ASL originated from a merger of French Sign Language (SLF) and local U.S. sign languages. While ASL and SLF are distinct languages, there are still some similarities between their signs.

What actually is ASL?   ASL a complete, natural language that has the same linguistic properties as spoken languages with grammar however that differs from English. ASL is expressed by movements of the hands and face.  ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the fundamental features of language, with its own rules for pronunciation, word formation, and word order.  Because of the physical nature of ASL, a two-person team of ASL interpreters is required for assignments longer than 1 hour in duration.

The National Center for Health Statistics claims that 28 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, though only between two and eight percent of them are natural ASL speakers.  Helping these select individuals translate the audible into the understandable is the job of an ASL interpreter.  If you have ever been to a play, a concert or watched a government briefing, you have probably seen an ASL interpreter signing just out of view.  An interesting side note is that Statista estimates that there are currently around 60,000 active ASL interpreters in the USA.

The Benefits of ASL Interpreting in Germantown

When it comes to communicating with hard-of-hearing or deaf audiences, there are a few reasons you might want to opt for a Germantown ASL interpreter over CART services. These include:

• A More Personal Connection: A real person has several advantages over a computer screen. First, human interpreters have an easier time conveying emotion. Second, they are better equipped to point out speakers and assist with pronunciation issues. Finally, an interpreter gives a deaf or hard of hearing person a chance to bond with another person.
• Enhanced Speed: Skilled interpreters can hold pace with even the fastest speakers. Lack of delay makes it easier for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to keep up with the conversation.
• Cost Effective:  While costs range by the type of ASL you need (Legal, medical, business, etc.) and when the assignment is scheduled, the cost off ASL, across the board, is less money than CART.

What Is CART?

While the majority of people know what American Sign Language is, the same cannot be said for Communication Access Real-Time Translation. Often referred to as CART, this communication method for the deaf and hard of hearing is best described as subtitling for live discussions. Unlike ASL, which relies on a professional interpreter, CART services are provided by a well-trained stenographer or transcriptionist. They transcribe anything said and then broadcast the resulting text to a phone, computer, or TV screen.

CART is often seen as a cost-effective and efficient way to ensure everybody can follow along. While often used to help deaf students in the classroom, CART captioning benefits anyone that can read.  Much like ASL interpreting, it can be done both onsite with a physical transcriptionist or remotely with an offsite one.

Why You Should Consider CART for the Germantown Market

Communication Access Real-Time Translation is growing in popularity due to the following characteristics:

• It Serves a Wider Array of Deaf People: If you do a little math, you will realize that 65 percent of hard-of-hearing people in the USA do not speak ASL fluently. CART makes it so these people can join in on the conversation as well.
• CART Makes It Scalable: While people in the front rows can easily make out what an interpreter is signing, it gets harder as the distance increases. Since captions can be beamed to multiple screens simultaneously, they do not have to factor speaker distance into the equation.
• The Text Provides a Written Record: Having a transcript of everything your professor said would be a godsend come finals. Having a record of a meeting can also provide clarity to all those involved as well. The physical nature of CART recording makes that possible. This ability is one reason so many college students opt for CART over traditional ASL interpreting. 

About American Language Services

Founded in 1985, American Language Services was there to help pioneer the rise in remote ASL interpreting options. Our dedication to quality and client satisfaction in interpreting allowed us to shift from a one-woman agency into one of the most successful language agencies in the world. Our language experts provide ASL & CART interpreting services to people all around the world. Because of our 24/7 availability, you’ll never have to worry about us not being available, on off times, for an assignment.

AML-Global has some of the most impressive linguistic talents in the world. These highly skilled language professionals are recruited, screened, and tested to ensure high-quality work.

Contact us by email at interpreting@alsglobal.net or via phone at 1-800-951-5020 for a free estimate on our ASL and CART services.