Stuart Bennett started The Language Doctors in 1994 as a small language tutoring service while in school, which has since grown into a $4 million business providing translation and interpretation services in over 40 languages. The Language Doctors has over 250 linguists on staff and offers services for both government and private sector clients, including translation, interpretation for in-person and remote settings, and language consulting. As the first small business awarded a General Services Administration contract, they are able to conduct over $6 million in business annually with the federal government.

1. L
THE LAN GE DOCTORS
The Language Doctors: Specialists in
Interpretation and Translation
W
at started out for
tuart Bennett as a
mall: privat~ language
utonng serv1ce to
make money while in school has
blossomed into a $4 million foreign
language enterprise known as The
Language Doctors (TLD), located at
500 H Street, NE. Established in
1994, Bennett says that The Language
Doctors is "committed to providing
the highest quality language services
and resources that constantly exceed
the expectations of our clients."
TLD's services include:
•
Translation and transcription
services for government and
private sector clients in various
fields, including law enforcement,
business, law, medicine, science,
engineering, banking and
finance
Complete resources and facilities
for simultaneous interpretation in
multiple languages, including
interpreters' booths and electronic
interpretation systems
Interpreters for consecutive
interpretation
The Language Doctors Staff: Jeffrey Lodermeier, Stuart Bennett
Norma Mack, Andreas Zierold, Damien Bishop and Diego Guasco.
•
•
Tele-support interpretation
services for teleconferencing
and corporate customer
service functions, as well as
simultaneous interpretation
conference service and equipment
Mono and bilingual services in
the areas of management
consulting, public relations and
facilities support
"There is no room for misunder-
standing or misinterpretation in this
business," states Bennett. "Effective
translation and interpretation requires
not only knowledge of the technical
subject of a particular document, Web
site, speech, newsletter, etc., but also
sensitivity to the intended tone and
cultural context. We select the most
qualified foreign language specialists
for each assignment from our core
staff of over 250 linguists," he said.
Over, please

2. Bennett said that his staff members
have extensive translating, interpreting
and teaching experience in one or
more of over 40 languages. TLD
provides services for local and federal
government agencies, doctors,
lawyers, and companies that have
businesses or do business overseas.
TLD was the first small business in
the country in the area of language
services to be awarded a General
Services Administration (GSA)
Schedule, which provides them the
opportunity to do more than $6
million in business with the federal
government. T LD is SBA SA-
approved, H UB-zone-approved
(historically underutilized business),
and local small disadvantaged business
enterprise-approved.
In addition to providing services to
clients in the U.S., TLD maintains
satellite offices in San Juan, Puerto
Rico and Dublin, Ireland. TLD
regularly sends linguists with security
clearances to federal government
offices in New York, Miami, Los
Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas.
TLD sought to locate on the H Street,
Northeast commercial corridor in
Washington because it is close to
government offices and it is in a
HUB-zone. Bennett says that what has
made TLD successful is that the
company is "committed to treating
each of our clients as our most
important client. Whether it's a large
government contract, or a walk-in
client who wants a birth certificate or
other document translated, both are
equally important to us."
Bennett is a native of Virginia, and
has a bachelor's degree in English
from the College of William and
Mary. H e has completed graduate
studies in speech language pathology
at the University of the District of
Columbia.
This article was reprinted with permission from the Community Xpress, a publication ofthe
H Street Community Development Corporaton.
For more information, contact:
The Language Doctors
500 H Street, NE, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20002
Some of the languages
TLD inteprets and
translates:
American Sign Language
Amharic Arabic
Armenian Azerbaijani
Belize Creole Chinese
Czech Danish
Dutch English
Farsi French
Georgian German
Greek Gujarati
Hebrew Hindi
Icelandic Italian
Jamaican Japanese
Patois Korean
Latin Norwegian
Persian Polish
Poshtu Portuguese
Punjabi Russian
Serbo-Croatian Slovenien
Spanish Swahili
Swedish Turkish
Turkmen Ukrainian
Urdu Uzbek
Vietnamese
Toll Free (800) 414-6140 · Voice (202) • 544-2942 · Fax (202) 547-2311
E-mail: info@tldinc.org · Web site http://www.tldinc.org
THE LAN UAGE DOCTORS