Interpretation Services

Telephonic Interpretation

The School District of Philadelphia provides free access to telephonic interpretation only to public schools and District offices. LanguageLine offers interpretation services in 200 languages. This service is not a substitute for an in-person interpreter and we strongly discourage its use for IEP meetings.

Telephonic interpreters can assist you with one-on-one calls, or they can call your party and establish a conference call with families and staff.

For access to telephonic interpretation, call LanguageLine at 1-866-874-3972, provide the School District Client ID # 507454, and the Access Code for your school or office. To obtain your school’s access code, click here.

Click on the Quick Reference Sheet for a step-by-step guide to access the service.

In-Person Interpretation Request

The School District of Philadelphia provides free in-person interpretation services to public schools and District offices. We provide interpretation services at IEP meetings, parent/teacher conferences, psychological evaluations, disciplinary and expulsion hearings, District-wide events, and at any encounter with a limited-English proficient individual.

Our interpreters can assist you in the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Belorussian, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, Dari, Falam, Farsi, French, Fulani, Greek, Haitian Creole, Karen, Khmer (Cambodian), Hakha, Indonesian, Javanese, Kurdish (Sorani and Kurmanji dialects), Malayalam, Mandarin, Matu, Nepali, Pashto, Portuguese, Pular, Russian, Soninke, Sundanese, Spanish, Teddim, Thai, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, and Wolof.

Please request an interpreter at least 1 week prior to your meeting date. We will do our best to satisfy any emergency request! 

 
* IMPORTANT: If you do not hear back from us within 24 hours, please follow up with an e-mail to translation@philasd.org or call 215-400-4180, option 4.

Need a Document Translated?

Use our document translation request form to submit a document for translation. Submitting through this form allows us to better track both workflow and demand for this service. Should you encounter any technical difficulties, please contact IT personnel at your school or call IT help desk at 215-400-5555 for assistance.