SAN DIEGO, CALIF., August 3, 2020 – Interpreters Unlimited Celebrates 50th Anniversary in the Language Service Industry.
2020 has been an unforgettable year for everyone. It has been especially unique for every business throughout the United States. At Interpreters Unlimited (IU), 2020 has been a year of adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, making sure to continue to provide interpretation and translation services uninterrupted. This year also marks a great milestone for IU, it is their 50th anniversary as a Languages Service Provider.
Since 1970, IU has been one of the largest and most trusted Language Service Providers in the US, growing and expanding year after year. The bulk of the IU growth and expansion has taken place over the past 13 years, since the company was acquired by President and CEO Sayed Ali. Through acquisitions and opening offices in other states, Sayed has expanded the IU presence from their headquarters in California to offices in Colorado, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia. With this expansion IU now offers over 200 languages and serves over 2,000 active clients.
With 50 years of industry experience comes expertise, reputation, trust and reliability. As a testament to that, since Sayed took over, the IU team has increased revenue by over 500% and expanded market reach to state and federal government entities, healthcare and medical facilities, insurance companies, legal firms, universities, school districts and corporations. IU has also seen an increase in positive reviews, going from just a handful a few years ago to nearly 200 reviews totaling 4.6 stars between Yelp, Google and Facebook, making IU one of the highest ranked Language Service Providers amongst direct users.
Over the years additional recognition has included awards ranging from Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, to the SBA Minority Owned Business of the Year, to San Diego Business Journal Largest Private Companies Additionally there have been personal awards for Sayed like the SBA Small Business Person of the Year and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Semi-Finalist for 4 consecutive years, including 2020, and Finalist in 2019. IU has also been consistently named to the Common Sense Advisory Top Language Service Providers and Nimdzi Top Interpreting Leaders lists.
IU has come a long way in the past half century, including acquiring the domain premium interpreters.com and seeing the launch of a sister company, Interpreter Marketplace, a smart phone app for business and personal use which puts scheduling an interpreter right in the palm of the customers hand. Through their growth and acquisitions IU has expanded service offerings to include not only interpretation, translation and localization, but a dedicated American Sign Language company, language classes and non-emergency medical transportation. Today, IU is pivoting to putting more focus on video remote interpretation and over the phone interpretation, localization, translation, transcription and eyeing expanding internationally in a continued response to COVID-19 and the future of business.
50 years of service is commitment. A part of this commitment has been IU’s involvement in the industry and for the industry, beyond providing services to customers in need. The company has been a member of the Association of Language Companies (ALC) for over 13 years now with IU Vice President Shamus Sayed on the ALC board. IU is also a member of the American Translators Association helping to foster growth and development of the interpretation and translation profession. They sponsor industry events and are involved in policy summits to raise awareness of the industry goals like increasing and enhancing language education. Additionally, IU is a member of the California Court Interpreters Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the education, training and practice of court and legal interpreting services.
Sayed and IU have also been fighting for the industry as they make efforts seeking exemptions for linguists in California’s AB5 Bill, a bill which takes away the opportunity for individuals to work as independent contractors and has a huge negative impact on Language Service Providers, on independent contractors who are in jeopardy of losing their ability to work, on the California economy, and on those who need language services in their daily life, most importantly in emergency situations. Sayed has been championing an effort between IU and other affected California businesses in opposition of the ruling. To this day he is in constant contact with legislators in attempts to work together to have this ruling amended for the good of the industry, contractors, and customers.
On this landmark occasion, Sayed says, “We are extremely proud to be able to celebrate 50 years of business as a Language Service Provider. We are committed to adapting to whatever the business world throws at us and continuing to expand, offering our full suite of language services to those who need it most, no matter what. I am excited for the years to come.”
About Interpreters Unlimited, Inc.
The IU Group of companies include: Interpreters Unlimited, Accessible Communication for the Deaf, Albors & Alnet, Arkansas Spanish Interpreters and Translators, and IU GlobeLink, LLC, and are headquartered in San Diego, California as a minority-owned company. IU Group is committed to providing equal opportunity in the work environment with its diverse team to aid in supplying linguistic and cultural interpretation services to clients. A combined 70 years in the industry has demonstrated a surplus of leadership and best practices, which has helped establish its respected role in the language services community. Its services include interpretation, document translation and non-emergency medical transportation.