How Social Security Helps Non-Native English Speakers

Many U.S. government agencies, including the Social Security Administration, have developed systems to ensure that people with limited English proficiency have meaningful access to services. The SSA says it is “committed to providing access to the programs we administer regardless of an individual’s ability to communicate with us in English.”

Here’s how Social Security works to help non-native English speakers access customer services and manage the benefits they’ve earned.

Online and print materials in other languages

The SSA maintains a Spanish-language website that duplicates its English-language online content, with sections on services, payments, creating a My Social Security account and more. Click on the “Español” link at the top of the Social Security home page.

The agency also has an online multi-language gateway, with informational publications, forms and fact sheets on core topics such as retirement and disability benefits, Social Security numbers and cards, earnings rules and Medicare, in 16 other languages:

• Arabic
• Armenian
• Chinese (traditional and simplified)
• Farsi
• French
• Greek
• Haitian Creole
• Italian
• Korean
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Somali
• Tagalog
• Ukrainian
• Vietnamese

Interpreter services

Social Security provides an interpreter at no charge, via telephone and at Social Security offices, to anyone who requests or shows a need for language assistance. The interpreter might be a government employee — many SSA offices have bilingual or multilingual staff members available to serve in that role — or an outside contractor.

For Spanish-language assistance by phone, call the SSA’s national customer help line, 800-772-1213, and press 7. For other languages, stay on the line until you are connected to a representative, who can contact an interpreter.

If you’re unable to complete your business or resolve an issue by phone, the SSA will make an appointment for you at a local office and arrange for an interpreter to be there. Customers with limited English proficiency can also use a family member, friend or other person of their choosing if the person is at least 18 years old and meets Social Security’s criteria for a qualified interpreter. This means the person must:

• Be fluent in English and the other language.
• Be familiar with basic Social Security terminology.
• Agree to comply with the agency’s disclosure and confidentiality rules.
• Agree to accurately relay both sides of the conversation and not assume or infer facts the customer or the SSA representative does not provide.
• Have no stake in the outcome of the customer’s Social Security business that could present a conflict of interest.

Additional information on interpreter services is available in multiple languages on the SSA website (click on the "Other languages" link at the bottom of the home page) and on posters in Social Security field offices. If you still have difficulty receiving services because of a language barrier, contact Social Security’s regional communications director for your state.