The resources below are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Department of Justice or by the Federal Interagency Working Group on LEP.
Related pages: Translation, Language Access Planning
What are Digital Services?
Digital services involve the electronic delivery of information across multiple platforms or devices, such as text, audio, video, mobile applications, and graphics that are transmitted for viewing over the internet.
How to Create Multilingual Content
Language Access in Digital Portals and Data Collection Systems, August 11, 2023.
U.S. Web Design System (USWDS), Language Components, November 14, 2022.
- Language Selector Component- Allow users to select their preferred language when visiting a website.
- Preferred Language Component - Help a user to choose the languages they prefer for communication.
Guide: Improving Access to Public Websites and Digital Services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Persons (PDF), Limited English Proficiency Committee, Title VI Interagency Working Group, December 2021.
Webinar: Language Connections: Tips to Create, Maintain, and Present Non-English Digital Content, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and General Services Administration (GSA), February 2022.
- Webinar Recording (28 minutes)
- Webinar slides (PowerPoint, 3.1 MB, 20 pages)
- 10 Tips to Create, Maintain, and Present Non-English Digital Content, May 23, 2022.
Multilingual Community of Practice, hosted by Digital.gov, General Services Administration (GSA)
Webinar: ConsumerFinance.gov: Strengthening information accessibility for consumers with LEP, slides (.pptx), May 2023.
Webinar: USAGov: Usability Test Reports, slides (.pptx), November 2022.
6 Ways Translation Glossaries Help Agencies Succeed In Sharing Information, July 27, 2021.
Spanish Language Style Guides and Glossaries, July 2020.
Designing for Translation, December 2018.
Video: Multilingual Huddle: Designing for Translation, May 2021.
Video: Creating Videos in Languages Other Than English, April 2018.
Video: Connect With Your Spanish-Language Audience on Social Media, October 2017.
Use of Automatic or Machine Translation
Digital.gov, GSA
- Introduction to translation technology: How and why to use translation technology to create multilingual content, May 2023
- What are the downsides of using translation technology?, May 2023
- Webinar: Using Neural Machine Translation for Multilingual Communication, October 2019.
- Lost in Translation: Automatic Translation Good Solution or Not, October 2012.
Guide: Improving Access to Public Websites and Digital Services for LEP Persons, page 5.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, General Questions about Section 1557, Question # 42, May 2017
Dear Colleague Letter: English Learner Students and LEP Parents, page 38, footnote 103, U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, January 2015.
Should a recipient use automatic or machine translation software or applications to provide language access to limited English proficient individuals?, DOJ, Title VI Newsletter, Fall 2014.
Webinar: Machine Translation Ensuring Meaningful Access for LEP Individuals (PDF), U.S. Departments of Labor and Justice, June 2014.
Top Tips from Responses to the Survey on Language Access Strategies Used by Federal Government Agencies, page 3, item 5, DOJ, September 2008.
American Translators Association: Position Paper on Machine Translation | Machine Translation
Requirements for Agencies
Disclaimer: On March 1, 2025, an Executive Order “Designating English as the Official Language of the United States” revoked Executive Order 13166 and directed the Attorney General to rescind any policy guidance documents issued pursuant to EO 13166 and provide updated guidance consistent with applicable law. The Department is currently reviewing guidance documents for compliance with the new Executive Order. The new Executive Order does not “require[] or direct[] any change in the services provided by any agency.”
The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), Section 3(e) requires any public federal agency website created after December 2018 to “be in compliance with the website standards of the Technology Transformation Services of the General Services Administration [GSA]." IDEA, Pub. L. No. 115-336, 132 Stat. 5025; See also GSA Blog, January 22, 2020. The GSA U.S. Web Design System standards include the Language Selector and Preferred Language Components.
Federal agencies can determine how much information to provide in other languages based on an assessment of your audience. Digital.gov, Multilingual Digital Content, July 2014.
International Resources
Translating content on gov.bc.ca, Government of British Columbia, Canada, June 2022.
Providing multilingual information online, State Government of Victoria, Australia, May 2017.
How to publish on GOV.UK, Translations, Government Digital Services, February 2022.
Options for bilingual web content and navigation, National Library of New Zealand, December 2007.
Internationalization (i18n) Activity, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Machine translation for public administrations — eTranslation, European Commission.
eLUNa: the United Nations computer-assisted translation interface, United Nations.
TERMIUM Plus® , The Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank.