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New York, NY – The North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE per its Spanish language acronym) has renewed its agreement with the General Services Administration (GSA) to collaborate to improve and standardize the use of the Spanish language in federal government communications.
The ANLE-GSA relationship, created in February, 2009, also supports GobiernoUSA.gov, the official federal government portal in Spanish, in its goal to develop an official directory of federal agencies in Spanish. The directory can be used and adopted by governmental agencies, content providers and Spanish-language translators and communicators in the United States.
“ANLE is honored and pleased to be recognized as the authority on Spanish language usage in federal agencies and welcomes the renewal of the agreement with the GSA,” said Gerardo Piña-Rosales, president of ANLE. “The past two years of work have been fruitful, and we look forward to closer collaboration going forward.”
ANLE, a national, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, promotes the study and proper use of Spanish in the United States and helps Spanish-speakers become fully bilingual. Its mission is based on the belief that bilingual individuals help the nation in a highly diverse culture, and aid it in competing more effectively in a globalized economy.
ANLE is an active member of the 22-member Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE) and one of the two academies not headquartered in a Spanish-speaking country (the Philippines is the other). It was created in 1973 to satisfy the growing need to organize and capture the Spanish of the United States, the sole organization doing such work. ANLE takes part in all major ASALE projects on use of the language: its Dictionary; the New Spanish Grammar; Orthography; and the Dictionary of Spanish usage in the Americas.
ANLE, which has collaborated with government agencies for more than 15 years, has a portal at http://www.anle.us. The federal government’s Spanish language portal is www.GobiernoUSA.gov. It offers easy access to information and services from government sources. GobiernoUSA.gov is part of www.USA.gov, the web portal of the U.S. government.
GobiernoUSA.gov is part of a broader federal government program that seeks to:
· Facilitate access for people with limited English proficiency to government information and services, such as applying for benefits, locating health information, and completing government forms
· Serve as an educational tool for Spanish speakers to learn about the U.S. Government and its programs and services
· Provide resources for educators who work with students learning English and Spanish
· Highlight government initiatives that benefit the Hispanic community
· Improve the quality of Spanish-language information and services on U.S. Government websites.GSA and ANLE continue a formal relationship that serves the greater needs of their constituent communities. The objective is for ANLE to serve as the academic arm that supports the initiatives of GobiernoUSA.gov that seek to provide Spanish-language standards to federal agencies and contractors working on Spanish-language content for those agencies.
Per the agreement, ANLE will establish standards for the government to use and help with the development of government-wide glossaries for all agencies to use as reference material. The agreement is valid for two years.
Laura Godfrey, manager of GobiernoUSA.gov, said on behalf of GSA that “the value of the relationship with ANLE is clear and can only grow as we work together on issues of common concern. Our mutual goals are service to Spanish-speakers and respect for the norms of the Spanish of the United States.Commenting on the agreement, Leticia Molinero, a full member of ANLE and co-chair with Godfrey of its GobiernoUSA.gov/ANLE committee, said that “the agreement is vivid testimony of the pivotal role that ANLE plays in Spanish language matters in the United States. The GSA-ANLE partnership can only prosper as Spanish becomes a more prominent player in governmental and public discourse.” |
