AT&T; Giving Consumers Access to Translator Service

American Telephone & Telegraph on Tuesday extended to consumers its worldwide telephone interpretation service that gives callers 24-hour-a-day access to translators in about 140 languages.

The service is designed to help non-English-speaking immigrants in the United States, Americans traveling abroad and Americans needing translation services for foreign or domestic calls.

The program is an expansion of AT&T; Language Line Services, an operation that provides translations to help institutions communicate with callers who do not speak English. That service was started in February for businesses, public utilities, institutions and providers of emergency services such as fire and police departments but has not been offered to consumers until now.

“We’re responding to requests to make this available to those outside our subscription base service for institutions,” said Jeff Munks, director of marketing and sales for Language Line Services. “This addresses a very real need. People have been eternally frustrated because of a lack of a service like this.”

Munks said hundreds of translators have been retained, some on the staff at the Language Line Services headquarters in Monterey, Calif., and some on a contract basis. The service costs $3.50 for each minute and can be billed to major credit cards, the company said.