ONE DAY AFTER making the state’s unemployment insurance portal available in Portuguese, the state added versions in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Haitian Kreyol.
The new versions were added this week with little fanfare and weeks after the Baker administration indicated they would be forthcoming. The Spanish language version was announced in April by the governor himself during an interview with El Mundo Boston. At the time, his administration said translations in other languages would be coming in a matter of days.
Advocates are still hoping that the unemployment insurance portal application is translated into Cape Verdean Kreyol, a language spoken by at least 65,000 people in Massachusetts.
Bethany Li, an attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services who has been helping Cantonese and Mandarin speakers, welcomed the new translations.
“Language access for initial applications is the first step” she said. “Making the process easier for people to stay on unemployment insurance and talk directly to representatives with any problems is also important for stabilizing people’s lives during this crisis.” The organization has processed over 1,200 unemployment applications in other languages.
More than 1.5 million residents speak a language other than English in the Bay State, according to census data. According to the Census Bureau’s 2018 community survey, about 240,000 speak Spanish, 180,000 speak Portuguese, and 125,000 Cantonese and Mandarin combined. Over 74,000 speak Haitian Creole, and 41,000 Vietnamese. These numbers are expected to increase significantly in the 2020 census.
Here are links to the various versions:
File for unemployment in Chinese
File for unemployment in Vietnamese
File for unemployment in Haitian Kreyol