ICBC to roll out translation service to all 20 of its driver licensing offices by Fall 2012

Customers who need language assistance during the handling of their driver licensing transactions will now be able to converse freely with the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) in more than 170 languages through an interpreter.

The initiative, provided by Language Line Services, is an on-demand, over-the-telephone translation service that will be rolled out to all 20 of ICBC’s driver licensing offices by Fall 2012.

All interpreters are trained in licensing terminology. On average, it takes only a few seconds to be connected to an interpreter.

ICBC in 2010 launched the translation service in claim centres and through its Dial-a-Claim service. More than 15,850 calls used the language assistance in 2011 alone.

The most in-demand languages were Mandarin (approximately 4,800 calls), Cantonese (approximately 4,200 calls), Punjabi (approximately 3,000 calls) and Korean (approximately 1,800 calls).

Other commonly requested languages include Vietnamese, Farsi, Spanish and Japanese.

The expansion of the translation service to all ICBC driver licensing offices follows a successful pilot at licensing offices in Abbotsford, Burnaby, Point Grey, Richmond, Surrey and Vancouver East.