American Sign Language (ASL) & CART Services In Long Beach, CA

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 Long Beach, CA

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 Long Beach

Long Beach is 50 square miles in area and is home to more than 460,000 people, making it the 7th largest city in the state of California.
Long Beach was originally named “Wilmore City,” but because of its long, wide beaches it was renamed “Long Beach” in 1888. Long Beach is bordered by 5 1/2 miles of clean, sandy beaches. Walk, run, bike or blade on the smooth, fully paved bike path that spans the length of the beach from Downtown to Belmont Shore. Or enjoy an array of watersports such as swimming, sailing, kayaking or jet skiing. You can access the beach in the Belmont Shore / Alamitos Bay area of Long Beach, or from Downtown’s marina green park or bluff park.
With its sparkling waterfront, diverse architecture and film-friendly weather, Long Beach has been a popular location for filming television and movies, including features such as Iron Man, Knight and Day, Transformers 2 and 3 and the latest Star Trek movie.
Located less than 30 miles from Hollywood production studios, Long Beach is the backdrop for several TV shows, including Miami for Dexter and CSI Miami. NCIS: Los Angeles, True Blood and Criminal Minds are also filmed in the city. It’s not uncommon to see camera crews in Belmont Shore, Alamitos Bay Marina and on Shoreline Drive for coastal stand-in locations and downtown Long Beach’s East Village Arts District or Third, Cedar and Pine Avenues for urban settings.
The Queen Mary has been docked as the historic centerpiece of Long Beach Harbor since 1967. Although it is still afloat and even moves up and down with the tides, it no longer functions as a passenger ship.
The temperature averages 74 degrees Fahrenheit year round with about 345 average days of sunshine.
The Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific is actually home to two whales… full-scale replicas of the world’s largest mammal, the Blue Whale, which hang in the Aquarium’s main hall. Although the Aquarium is currently not home to live whales or dolphins, over 12,000 other marine animals do call it home. Its residents include seals, sea lions, bat rays, sharks, bass, sea dragons, and much, much more. Don’t miss the “Lorikeets” which will feed right out of your hand!
In 1933, an American physician (and Long Beach resident) named Francis Townsend penned a lengthy “Letter to the Editor” to address poverty among the elderly. That article was published in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. It struck a chord with readers and led directly to a formalized plan (developed by Townsend himself) to enact a sales tax to give everyone over 60 a pension of $200 a month. As noted in the L.A. Times, the plan “drew millions of adherents, a nationwide flood of publicity and the nervous concern of politicians in Washington.” Ultimately, President Franklin D. Roosevelt would flout Townsend’s idea and develop his own social security system, which was decidedly less generous (it maxed out at $41.20 a month). But it’s undoubtable that Townsend had forced the issue for the U.S. government, and had popularized the idea of social security (and thus easing its passage). As cited at the Social Security Administration’s website (which offers a bizarrely thorough takedown of Townsend’s 80 year-old plan), Roosevelt was quoted as saying that “Congress can’t stand the pressure of the Townsend Plan” unless it had “a solid plan which will give some assurance to old people of systematic assistance upon retirement.”
It’s said that Walt Disney used to take his children to the merry-go-round at Griffith Park, and that the attraction had inspired him to build his own fortress of themed-entertainment (this story has been vetted by one of his daughters). While the merry-go-round was built by the Spillman Engineering Company, it’s also said that some of the horses were carved by Charles Looff, a Danish-American who, to this day, is regarded as a master builder of carousels. Looff’s resume is unimpeachable. He’d built Coney Island’s first carousel in 1876, and would later head west to bring his attractions to Santa Cruz, Venice Beach and Santa Monica (where he built the Hippodrome and basically founded the Santa Monica Pier entirely). He also installed a carousel at (the older version of) The Pike in Long Beach, and he took up residence on the second floor of the building that housed the twirling contraption. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the carousel in 1943, and The Pike would later shutter in 1979. Today, Looff’s Lite-A-Line on 2500 Long Beach Boulevard serves as a museum dedicated to the wide bounty of Looff-created amusements from The Pike.
Catch the convenient red Passport shuttle, which runs approximately every 5-10 minutes. It’s free in the Downtown area and can transport you to all of the must-see Long Beach attractions, including the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, Shoreline Village and Pine Avenue. For only $1.25, Long Beach Transit continues your journey to the attractions of Belmont Shore, Alamitos Bay and Cal State Long Beach. During summer months, the AquaBus is also available to transport you between selected sites in Rainbow Harbor. Also during the summer, you can hop aboard the new AquaLink catamaran for a swift journey to Alamitos Bay. If you have additional questions, friendly transit advisors are available by phone at (562) 591-2301. Or visit the Transit Information Center on First Street and Promenade.
During World War II, the U.S. government commissioned Howard Hughes and his company (the Hughes Aircraft Company) to develop a huge aircraft that was capable of hauling a large number of soldiers and equipment—it was also expected to be able to float on water. The problems rose from the start; because of wartime restrictions on steel, Hughes decided to construct the plane out of laminated wood (hence the “Spruce”). This dubious frame was then outfitted with eight propeller engines, and doused with $23 million in developmental costs. Ultimately, it took so long to make that the war had ended by the time it was completed. Eventually, Congress demanded that Hughes demonstrate the plane to show that the money went to a good cause, and what resulted was an unannounced flight test in Long Beach Harbor on November 2, 1947. As noted in a Times article that covered the event, “an estimated 15,000 persons jammed beaches and piers along the course” to watch the trial…which turned out to be pretty anti-climactic, as the Spruce Goose flew only a mile before landing. It wasn’t quite as dull for the guys inside the plane, however, as they reported a nervy experience in which “the hull skipped from wave to wave when the speed increased,” and a “violent motion shook the cockpit,” as well as a “hollow booming of its hull.” The plane never flew again. It was later kept in a climate-controlled hanger that took $1 million a year to manage, and then moved to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
On June 23, 1921, an oil well that was dubbed “Alamitos No. 1” sent a geyser of “black gold” shooting 114 feet into the air. It marked the beginning of what is known today as the Long Beach Oil Field, one of the most productive in the nation’s history. According to the American Oil & Gas Historical Society, the oil field was deemed by the Paleontological Research Institution as being the largest in Southern California at that time, which is made even more impressive by the claim that, by 1923, California was supplying a quarter of the world’s entire output of oil. Within two years of Alamitos No. 1’s discovery, the field was turning out 68 million barrels in a single year. And by the mid-20th century it had the highest oil production per acre in the world, according to the Atlantic. Not surprisingly, the city went on to have a complicated history with oil. The proliferation of oil derricks became an eye-sore (see: photo above), and the field was said to be the basis for Upton Sinclair’s Oil!, a pointed critique of oil and the dangers of unchecked capitalism (the book itself was an inspiration for 2007’s Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood). Also, recent research suggests that drilling at another site (in Huntington Beach) may have caused the Long Beach Earthquake of 1933. The 6.4-magnitude quake led to 120 deaths, including 52 in Long Beach and 17 in Compton, making it the deadliest ever in Southern California.
It’s true that several people have claimed to encounter strange and unusual sites while on the Queen Mary. With almost seventy years of history as a luxury liner, WWII troop-ship, and now hotel and attraction, the Queen Mary has several stories within her steel walls. It has been told that wet footprints are commonly found near what was once used as the first class swimming pool. Odd because that pool has been dry for decades. There is also the occasional sighting of a long-ago worker who was crushed in one of the Queen Mary’s watertight doors.
Certainly, the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Library has long been hailed as one of the most picturesque gardens in the L.A. area. Fewer Angelenos are aware that, at another corner of the county, there’s another Japanese garden that’s similarly lush and heart-achingly beautiful. The Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, nestled inside the campus of Cal State Long Beach, is 1.3 acres of meticulous landscaping. Introduced in 1981 after more than three years of planning (which saw its principal architect—Edward Lovell—taking repeated trips to Japan for research) the garden contains such botanical wonders as laceleaf Japanese maples and pink cloud cherries. The spread is anchored by a sprawling pond filled with koi fish.
The large white dome next to the Queen Mary, at 115 feet high and 400 feet wide, is definitely an eyecatcher. It is the world’s largest, free-span aluminum geodesic structure and was specifically designed to house Howard Hughes’ giant flying boat, the Spruce Goose. The Spruce Goose is no longer located within the dome, which now serves as the Long Beach Cruise Terminal at the Queen Mary. Carnival Cruise Lines has 2 cruise ships home-ported in Long Beach.
That 1933 earthquake, as devastating as it was, had one positive effect on the city: it turned it into an Art Deco playland. As noted as the Press-Telegram, the earthquake came at a time when a number of factors had converged to spread Art Deco fever; there was the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts that gave birth to the movement; the enactment of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration to bring in a stronger labor force; and a new generation of talented architects such as Cecil Schilling and Horace Austin. After the quake, Long Beach (which suffered $50 million in damages) became a kind of clean slate for architects and laborers to work on, and they imbued the new buildings with the burnished flair of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne. According to Long Beach Art Deco, there was a functional aspect too: as the city passed new laws to ensure structural safety, Art Deco became a suitable style, as “most buildings were built of reinforced concrete, and decorations were integral to the architecture rather than separate pieces added on.” The examples are plenty, from the Soft Water Laundry on Anaheim Street, to the former Long Beach Skating Palace on Alamitos Avenue, to George Washington Middle School on Cedar Avenue. And let’s not forget that the interiors of the Queen Mary itself were designed in the mode of Art Deco.
If you were to believe the Kings’ former owner Jack Kent Cooke, the team’s original color scheme was gold and “forum blue.” The name of the latter hue is—aside from being code for “purple”—a reference to the Great Western Forum, where the team played from 1967 to 1999. Ostensibly, the Forum was the Kings’ first home when they entered the NHL in 1967. But if we were to split hairs here, it’s the Long Beach Arena that was the team’s first pad, as they played their first two home games there. This hockey blog, which did some good sleuthing, also notes that the Kings would end up playing six games in total at the arena (and tallying a 3-3 record). Why didn’t the Kings kick things off at the Forum? Simply because it hadn’t opened yet. The Forum, which was being built by Cooke (he also owned the Lakers, by the way), wasn’t slated to open until December 30, 1967. The NHL season started in October, however. As such, the Kings split their time between the Long Beach Arena and the Los Angeles Sports Arena (R.I.P) until they moved into the Forum. Also of note for hockey fans: that first home game involved both the Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers, both of whom were expansion teams that year. As such, the Long Beach Arena not only saw the first game ever played by the Kings, but also the second game ever played by the storied Flyers franchise.

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

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 Long Beach

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