Americans Against Language Barriers

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Americans Against Language Barriers

AALB is a nonprofit dedicated towards improving the quality of life of those with language barriers. Learn more by visiting the our website at www.AALB.org.

Americans Against Language Barriers (AALB) is a charity that is dedicated to improving the quality of life of deaf and limited English populations. We help address the shortage of professional interpreters by training medical interpreters with an extremely high degree of efficacy; our medical interpreter training course is accepted by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, the N

ational Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters, and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. AALB works to connect trained interpreters to volunteer their time in an effort to help other charities, such as free health clinics, provide free services reach those with language barriers. Through these efforts, we hope to improve both the quality of healthcare and healthcare access for patients with barriers to care. In addition, we are working to help protect the civil rights of those with language barriers by defending the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Nondiscrimination Provision of the Affordable Care Act; AALB is facilitating systematic change to work towards greater equality of access to essential services for deaf and limited English populations.

05/22/2026

Today, we celebrate every student, graduate, trainer, and member of our staff who has been part of this journey.

We’ll continue empowering voices that make a difference.

05/21/2026

Different cultures. Different languages. One shared humanity.

At AALB, we believe that recognizing and respecting the world’s diverse cultures helps break down language barriers, strengthen trust, and ensure that all individuals can fully participate in and serve the communities to which they belong.

We believe that breaking down language barriers is part of building a world where every voice can be heard, understood, and valued.

We remain committed to breaking down language barriers and building bridges between cultures through communication, respect, and understanding.

Happy World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development!

05/15/2026

Your bilingual skills can open doors and change lives. Train with AALB.
Join us this Sunday, May 17th by registering now at www.AALB.org/register or through the link in our bio.

05/08/2026

Are you familiar with the benefits we offer at the AALB Alumni Center?

Practice sessions, memberships, exclusive access to resources, and more.

If you're an AALB Alumni, contact us and take advantage of your benefits.

04/30/2026

Save the date!

We look forward to seeing you at our 2nd Lurie Children’s & AALB Joint Conference – 2026 Edition.

Access to True Language: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Register here: https://aalb.org/conference-2026

Designed for both emerging and experienced professionals, this conference brings together medical interpreters, healthcare providers, advocates, and language access professionals to explore the evolution of language access in healthcare: where we’ve been, where we are today, and where we’re headed, while learning, connecting, and helping shape the future of language access.

04/23/2026

Your bilingual skills can open doors and change lives. Train with AALB.

Join us this Thursday, April 30th by registering now at www.AALB.org/register or through the link in our bio.

04/15/2026

Today we're exploring a French expression that only makes sense in French. Translate it literally into any language and you'll just get confused looks.

"L'esprit de l'escalier" means "the spirit of the staircase." Spooky? Nope. It's that perfect reply you think of after you've already left the conversation. You're walking down the stairs and suddenly... THERE it is. Too late.

The Germans know this feeling too. They even have their own word for it: Treppenwitz ("staircase joke").

English? No equivalent. So we just use the French.

It's a perfect reminder that true communication is about capturing meaning, not just swapping words.

What's a phrase that only makes sense in your language and you always find yourself explaining? Drop it in the comments!

04/07/2026

Health begins with clear communication.

There is nothing more reassuring than being heard and understood when health is at stake. This April we celebrate the human connection that makes medicine possible.

AALB is proud to serve as the voice and ear of those seeking healing and care, regardless of the language they speak.

03/31/2026

Can you see the future? Swipe to find out why that question makes perfect sense in some languages… and none at all in others.

When an Aymara speaker gestures about the future, they literally point over their shoulder. When they talk about the past, they reach forward. Researchers captured this on video. It's not just vocabulary, it's embodied. The body moves differently because the mind maps time differently.

Now imagine an Aymara speaker in a medical appointment, being told to "look ahead to recovery" or "put this behind you." An interpreter who understands only the words, but not how that culture inherently experiences time, is missing half the conversation.

How does time move in your language? Tell us in the comments.

Núñez & Sweetser (2006) in Cognitive Science/ Boroditsky & Gaby (2010) in Psychological Science.

03/19/2026

Your bilingual skills can open doors and change lives. Train with AALB.

Join us this Wednesday, March 25th by registering now at www.AALB.org/register or through the link in our bio.

03/14/2026

Meet Sanskaari, our Pet of the Month and our Executive Director’s very dedicated (and very fluffy) supervisor.

She has quietly overseen more than 130 training sessions, adding up to over 7,800 hours of interpreter training. From keyboard inspections to strategic naps during lectures, Sanskaari takes her supervisory duties very seriously.

If Sanskaari suddenly appears in one of your training sessions, don’t be alarmed. She’s probably just making sure the interpretation is accurate, complete, and, of course, ethically sound. After all, she has a reputation to maintain.

Rumor has it she has excellent listening skills, but she strongly prefers consecutive over simultaneous, mostly because it allows more time for naps between segments.

And speaking of languages… Sanskaari is here to share a fun fact for language enthusiasts.

Address

1 East Erie Street
Chicago, IL
60611

Website

http://aalb.org/

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