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 Minneapolis, MI

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 Minneapolis

• Minnesota is infamous for its cold winters. Luckily, Minneapolis residents can stay warm with the Minneapolis Skyway, an indoor pedestrian walkway system that links many downtown buildings. Spanning 69 blocks and seven miles, it’s the longest continuous skyway system in the world.
• Minnesota’s capital city isn’t Minneapolis—it’s St. Paul. Although Minneapolis is a bigger city, St. Paul is home to the state’s government.
• Prince was born and raised in Minneapolis, and remains a proud local to this day. In the late 1970s, he pioneered what music magazines would soon dub the “Minneapolis sound”—a hybrid of R&B, funk, rock, pop, and new wave.
• In the fall of1885, East Coast reporters visited Minnesota and called St. Paul “another Siberia, unfit for human habitation.” The Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce responded by hosting a giant winter carnival replete with food, ice palaces, and winter sports. The event was held on and off over the years until the St. Paul Winter Carnival finally became an official seasonal tradition in 1946.
• In 2012, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis hosted the world’s first Internet Cat Video Festival, which was, well, a celebration of cat videos on the Internet. An estimated 10,000 people showed up for the event.
• Although it’s known as a friendly Midwestern city, St. Paul was once a hub of nefarious criminal activity during the Prohibition era. Thanks to the city’s police chief, John O’Connor, gangsters could “freely roam St. Paul as long as they stayed out of trouble and paid a percentage of their earnings to the department,” writes Chad Lewis in The Minnesota Road Guide to Gangster Hotspots.
• Bob Dylan attended the University of Minnesota from 1959 to 1960, and became involved in the local Minneapolis folk music scene. He dropped out after his freshman year to move to New York City.
• Minneapolis recently surpassed Washington, D.C. to become America’s “Most Literate City.” Conducted by Central Connecticut State University president Dr. Jack Miller, the study evaluates and compares urban areas’ local bookstores, library resources, newspaper circulation and education levels.
• It’s also one of the most giving. As of 2011, nearly 40% of adults in Minneapolis and St. Paul devoted some of their free time to volunteer work. 
• Located right outside the Twin Cities in Bloomington, Minnesota, the Mall of America is a great place to go clothes shopping—especially because Minnesota has no sales tax on apparel and accessories. But while it’s the biggest mall in America, it’s not the largest in North America. That honor belongs to West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada.
• Despite its cold climate, Minneapolis is a mecca for outdoors cyclers. In 2014, the city was named the nation’s third most cycling-friendly urban area, ranking just below Chicago and New York.
• The original single girl in the big city wasn’t Carrie Bradshaw—it was Mary Richards in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The 1970s sitcom followed the triumphs and tribulations of a 30-year-old woman as she adjusted to life on her own in Minneapolis after a bad break-up.
• Before F. Scott Fitzgerald hobnobbed around Paris with Hemingway or became an East Coast city slicker, he spent his adolescent years in St. Paul. When Fitzgerald was a young man, his future wife, Zelda Sayre, broke off their engagement. To win her back, Fitzgerald moved back into his parents’ house in St. Paul, where he worked on the manuscript that would someday be known as This Side of Paradise. The novel was a bestseller, Fitzgerald became famous, and Zelda returned to his side.
• Cool public art installations aren’t limited to trendy coastal cities. With 11 acres of more than 40 permanent art installations, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is the largest urban sculpture garden in the country.
• A Minneapolis City Council candidate was indicted by a grand jury for serving Twinkies to groups of elderly voters. After the scandal, a fair campaign act was established, which is now commonly known as the “Twinkie Law.”
• The inventor of the first pop-up toaster, Charles Strite, was born in Minneapolis. Later, he first marketed his invention in the same city.
• Several streets in the North East region of Minneapolis are named after US Presidents in the order that they served. This was done to help immigrants prepare for their citizenship tests.
• Famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow based his poem, “The Song of Hiawatha,” on Minnehaha Falls. Ironically, he had never actually seen the waterfall in person.
• The Minneapolis Skyway, spanning 69 downtown blocks, is the longest continuous skyway system in the world.
• General Mills’ famous baking icon, Betty Crocker, had her debut on a Minneapolis radio station. She was originally voiced by Agnes White.
• Minneapolis also helped bakers everywhere by designing the Bundt pan and creating Bisquick.
• The honeycrisp apple was invented at the University of Minnesota.
• Halsey Hall, a Minneapolis sports reporter and announcer, was the first person to say “Holy cow” as a home run call on radio.
• Minneapolis is the nation’s third most literate city, only topped by Seattle and Washington.
• With 5,000 acres of park, Minneapolis is ranked as having the best parks in the country.
• The Mars Inc. candy company was founded in Minneapolis as Mar-O-Bar co in 1920. They gave the US favorite treats like Milky Way and Snickers.
• Minneapolis (combined with St. Paul) is the 3rd largest theatre market in the US and is second only to New York City for the most live theatre seats per capita.
• Not only did the recording studio Sound 80 make the first digital audio recording to be commercially released, but they also recorded several Grammy award winning musicians, including Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens.
• Minneapolis’ name comes from the Sioux word mini and the Greek word polis, together meaning “city of waters”.
• Brave New Workshop is the oldest sketch comedy theatre in nation. It’s also where Al Franken, one of the two original writers of “Saturday Night Live,” performed before working on the hit TV show.
• Despite popular belief, The Mall of America in the Minneapolis suburb Bloomington is not the largest mall in the country. However, it is the busiest and has the highest number of stores (which is what really counts).
• The now Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown used to be the building where legendary musician Bob Dylan lived.
• Minneapolis has the highest number of golfers per capita in the nation.

Reference Sources: Movoto, Mental Floss

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

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 Minneapolis

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