Bilingual Statewide Website

Oregon Legal Services Community -  030092

Abstract Number: 030092

June 2003

In developing its statewide website, Oregon launched both an English site and a fully bilingual Spanish website, available in English at: http://www.oregonlawhelp.org/ and in Spanish at: http://www.oregonlawhelp.org/index.cfm/language/39/state/OR. This bilingual website reflects the Oregon legal services community's longstanding commitment to ensuring that Spanish speakers have full access to legal services as well as community legal education materials.

The majority of material available on the Oregonlawhelp.org website were translated over the past fifteen years as community legal education materials and, as a result, were readily available in both English and Spanish for placement on the website. In selecting which material to include on the website, LASO placed a premium on materials that were already available in both Spanish and English.
Administrative law materials were the least frequently available in translation. Due to the large number of documents available only in English, LASO prioritized the administrative law materials and translated the most important and frequently used documents. Oregon will post the remaining materials in both English and Spanish once translations are available. Where appropriate, the Oregon stakeholders advocate the use of standardized language in various materials. This approach saves money on costly, yet unnecessary translations for repetitive sections.

Bilingual legal services staff, volunteers, and professional services are all used for translating material. All translations are reviewed by other bilingual attorneys for quality and legal accuracy. Websites, such as the Mexican Consulate in New York's website, available at: http://www.consulmexny.org/, were used as models for translating website navigation features. Access Oregon's statewide website at: http://www.oregonlawhelp.org/.

Contact Information:

Aleta Doerr
Legal Aid Services of Oregon
700 SW Taylor, Suite 310
Portland, Oregon 97205
Phone: (503) 224-4094
Fax: (503) 417-0147
Email

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