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 in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles ASL & CART Services

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 Los Angeles

• When Los Angeles was founded, the city’s first name was “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angeles Sobre el Rio Porciuncula.” This, when translated from Spanish, reveals a beautiful meaning, “The town of our Lady Queen of the angels on the Porciuncula River.”
• Los Angeles is the only city in North America chosen to have hosted the Summer Olympics twice. It hosted the 1984 Olympics Ceremony and would also host the 2028 Olympics.
• Los Angeles houses more than 105 museums, 225 theaters, 55 magnificent structures by the world’s best architects. The city is also home to 16 of the world’s most beautiful gardens. It also has more than 1,500 theatrical productions taking place every year.
• It is illegal to lick a toad in the City of Angels. Many teenagers are caught doing so because it contains drugs and is, therefore, not allowed in L.A. If you visit the city, this is one thing you need to keep in mind for sure.
• In Los Angeles, there are more cars than there are people. It is nearly impossible to find parking in the city.
• Los Angeles is widely famous for its interesting nicknames such as the ‘City of Angels,’ ‘Angel town, ‘La La Land,’ ‘Tinsel Town,’ ‘The Big Orange,’ ‘City of Flowers & Sunshine,’ and the most popular ‘L.A.’
• Tally’s Electric Theatre was the first movie theater in Los Angeles and even in California. The theater opened on April 2, 1902.
• Zoot suits have been prohibited in Los Angeles since the Zoot Suit Riot in the year 1943. The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of racist attacks in which White servicemen and civilians attacked and stripped youths who wore Zoot Suits because the outfits were considered unpatriotic and extravagant during wartime.
• In-N-Out Burger is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants. The In-N-Out menu consists of three burger varieties: hamburger, cheeseburger, and “Double-Double.” It is very famous across the streets of Los Angeles. In-N-Out wasn’t started in Los Angeles. Actually, it was in an unincorporated city called Baldwin Park, where World War II Veteran and founder Harry Snyder grew up. The burger joint is still run by his family who is famous as LA burger royalty.
• The City of Angels is so diverse that it is home to people from more than 140 countries who speak over 200 different languages. One can experience different cultures and languages by visiting nearby towns such as Chinatown, Korea Town, Little Tokyo, Little Ethiopia, Thai Town, and Little Armenia, etc.
• LAX or Los Angeles International Airport is the largest and busiest airports in California and 2nd busiest airport in the U.S. behind Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson. It is the 4th busiest airport in the world.
• Los Angeles was actually part of Mexico under the Spanish Empire before it was annexed by the U.S. in 1848 during the Mexican-American War.
• Los Angeles is the second largest city by population in the US after New York. It has a population around four Million.
• Los Angeles always tops the list of world’s worst traffic congestion cities. According to reports, the time and fuel wasted during traffic congestions cost more than $2,800 to a typical driver.
• Los Angeles and San Francisco are getting 2.5 inches closer every year due to their placement on opposite sides of the San Andreas Fault Line.
• Los Angeles is home to the prominent US film industry. In 1870 Hollywood was a small community and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, and soon after a prominent film industry emerged, eventually becoming the most recognizable film industry in the world.
• Owing to the traffic congestions, The Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board has taken various initiatives to discover L.A. without a car. Car Free L.A. enlists a series of self-guided “car free” vacation itineraries, with which, one can experience the hidden gems of L.A.’s diverse neighborhoods via foot, bike and Metro.
• With more than 10 million inhabitants (as in 2017), Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, is the most populous county in the United States.
• With a diverse economy in a broad range of cultural and professional fields, Los Angeles is one of the most prominent economic engines within the United States.
• September 4, 1781 is the official birthdate of Los Angeles when 44 village settlers from the Mexican provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa made their home in what is now Downtown Los Angeles.
• When the area of Los Angeles was under the Spanish control, it was a town; however, when the territory was transferred from Spain to Mexico, the town officially declared a city in 1835.
• During the Mexican-American War, Mexican rule ended, and after a series of battles, which culminated with the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847, Los Angeles became a part of the United States.
• When petroleum was discovered in the surrounding areas of Los Angeles, it helped California becoming the largest oil producer in the United States.
• In 1910, Hollywood merged into Los Angeles, and by 1921, Los Angeles had become home to more than 80 percent of the world’s film industry.
• When World War II exploded into American life, Los Angeles became a center of wartime manufacturing including shipbuilding and aircraft.
• Sprawled around the city centers of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, the Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was the largest electric railway system in the world in the 1920s. However, with the expansion of the Interstate Highway System during the 1950s and 1960s, resulted in the demise of the city’s electrified rail system.
• With the first ARPANET transmission, which was sent from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to SRI in Menlo Park in 1969, Los Angeles became the birthplace of the Internet.
• In April 1992, Los Angeles witnessed one of the largest racial riots in U.S. history. On April 29, 1992, after the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King, an African-American, a white trucker named Reginald Denny was savagely attacked by a mob; leading to a series of riots, which resulted in the destruction of 3,000 structures; leaving $1 billion in property damage and 54 people killed.
• In the late 1990s, Los Angeles witnessed one of the most widespread cases of documented police corruption in U.S. history; known as the Rampart Scandal. In the scandal, more than 70 police officers were implicated in some form of misconduct including unprovoked beatings, unprovoked shootings, the framing of false evidence, illegal trade in narcotics, bank robbery, perjury, and the covering up of evidence of these activities.
• In 2002, the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood embarked a secession drive that nearly split Los Angeles apart. However, voters in Los Angeles rejected the Valley’s effort to break away.
• At 5,074 ft (1,547 m), Mount Lukens of the San Gabriel Mountains is the highest point in the City of Los Angeles.
• The Coral Tree (Erythrina caffra) is the official tree of Los Angeles. The tree is native to Southeastern Africa and is often cultivated in India.
• The official flower of Los Angeles is the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae). The plant is indigenous to South Africa.
• Los Angeles often subject to earthquakes; because of its location on the Pacific Rim of Fire. There are approximately 10,000 earthquakes annually in Southern California.
• After New York, Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Jews in the United States.
• Dedicated in 1956 and situated on Santa Monica Boulevard in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, The Los Angeles California Temple was the largest in the world when completed.
• Los Angeles is home to many significant Buddhist congregations, formed by the immigrants from Asia, making the city home to the greatest variety of Buddhists in the world.
• With one in every six people in the city employed in a creative field, Los Angeles is often termed as the “Creative Capital of the World.”
• With more than 841 museum and art galleries, Los Angeles has more museums per capita than any other city in the world.
• The Getty Center, which is a part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, is considered as the wealthiest art institution in the world.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles today a language interpreter can be a very underestimated professional in the world today. There are over 100 languages spoken in the Los Angeles Metro area alone. Many of us know one language, and we specialize in one field of study. Our Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles

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 Los Angeles

When it comes to communicating with hard-of-hearing or deaf audiences, there are a few reasons you might want to opt for a Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles 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.

ASL Interpreting or CART in Los Angeles: Which One Better Suits Your Needs?