PORTLAND, Maine — Town & Country Federal Credit Union has launched a new program that brings translation language services to anyone in need of them.
It's an effort to mostly help new Mainers struggling with English.
"We want to help them in any way that we can, and we can't help them, we can't understand their needs financially or otherwise if we can't speak their language," Jon Paradise, vice president of public relations and communications for the credit union, said.
Nowadays, every branch is offering language translation services to people who show up inside and request them.
The credit union is partnering with "House of Languages" to provide phone and video translation services in more than 30 different languages.
The credit union hopes this effort can make banking services more accessible to all.
"We are serving probably anywhere between 30 and 50 different countries at this time, and I think in the greater Portland area there are close to 60 different countries represented at any one time, so I think this is going to go a very long way as we are seeing more and more people come from different countries looking for financial services, so we want to make it as accessible as possible," Paradise expressed.
Dolly Hersom started "House of Languages" in Portland and is one of its translators.
"Well I think that refugees and immigrants are often seen as people that need services, but it's important to remember that we work, we contribute to the Maine economy, we are business owners, employees, so access to banking services is very important," Hersom said.
People who want a translation service can acquire one inside any Town & Country Federal Credit Union branch. The services are not available through the drive-thru option.
"In order to serve them best financial services wise, we need to understand and be able to communicate and I think this removes a huge barrier in moving that forward," Paradise said.