New York City will start offering services in six foreign languages most commonly spoken in the city besides English. These idioms are Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole. The new program is designed to broadly enlarge the town’s translation and interpretation services.

An executive order signed Tuesday by Mayor Bloomberg creates for the very first time a homogeneous language policy. All city agencies that directly cooperate with New York residents are compelled to provide interpretation services, both oral and written translation services, and the translation of important public papers in the chosen languages.

The city-wide policy could help out people encountering difficulties when trying to understand the meaning of a city code, or a couple who wants to get assistance when requesting a marriage license. These are only a few examples.

The attempt is an imperative requirement when talking about improving customer service, which is “a fundamental concept in the business world, and should be just as valued in the government," said Michael Bloomberg Tuesday at City Hall. From this time forth, inhabitants of New York City with partial knowledge of English will be given the possibility to “approach the city with confidence knowing that we have the systems in place to respond to their needs."

Since 2003, city's 311 information hotline has been offering information for callers in 170 additional languages. From now on, an estimated 2 million New Yorkers with poor ability to communicate in English would be able to interact almost without difficulty with the government.