Translation Services in Brentwood, TN

Languages spoken in Brentwood

10.3% of Brentwood residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, and 2.6% speak English less than “very well.” Chinese, including Mandarin and Cantonese leads, followed by Spanish and Korean.

Language spoken at home	Residents	Speak English less than “very well”
Other Indo-European languages	1,052	n/a
Chinese, including Mandarin and Cantonese	884	n/a
Other Asian and Pacific Island languages	840	n/a
Spanish	489	n/a
Korean	365	n/a
German and other West Germanic	98	n/a

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates for Brentwood city (tables C16001, C16002, B05002, B05006) (opens in a new tab). Figures with a wide margin of error are not shown.

Language access rules in Tennessee

Court interpreter program: Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), which by statute creates, maintains, and posts on its website a registry of persons credentialed as court interpreters of spoken foreign languages under Tennessee Supreme Court rules; court-appointed foreign language interpreters submit their invoices for compensation to the AOC.
Court-certified languages: Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 42 sorts court interpreters into three tiers: certified, registered, and non-credentialed. Anyone seeking to become a credentialed court interpreter for spoken foreign languages must supply fingerprints and pass a TBI/FBI criminal history check. For deaf parties, a qualified interpreter is one certified by the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf or the Tennessee Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, with Legal Skills or Comprehensive Skills certificate holders sought first.
The rule: Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 42 governs the appointment of foreign language interpreters; under Rule 42, Section 3(f), a court must appoint a certified court interpreter if one is reasonably available, and if it appoints a registered or non-credentialed interpreter it must summarize its efforts to obtain a certified or registered interpreter. T.C.A. 24-1-211 (formerly 24-1-103) requires the court to appoint a qualified sign language interpreter whenever a deaf person is a complainant, defendant, or witness in any case in law or equity or before a grand jury, with the fee paid from general county funds.
Interpreters for deaf persons in agency proceedings: T.C.A. 24-1-211 requires any state or local department, board, commission, agency, or licensing authority to appoint a qualified interpreter when a deaf person is a principal party of interest, and the appointing authority pays the fee from its own funds.
Interpreters for deaf arrestees: When a deaf person is arrested for an alleged violation of Tennessee criminal law, the arresting officers must procure a qualified interpreter for interrogation, and no statement taken before the interpreter is present is admissible in court (T.C.A. 24-1-211(b)(3)).
Court interpreter background checks: T.C.A. 16-3-813 requires every applicant for credentialing as a spoken foreign language court interpreter to submit a fingerprint sample and a criminal history records check, with the fees paid by the applicant.
Official language: T.C.A. 4-1-404 (1984) makes English the official and legal language of Tennessee and requires all communications and publications, including ballots, produced by governmental entities in Tennessee to be in English.
Sign language interpreter standards: T.C.A. 71-4-2104 directs the executive director of the Tennessee Council for the Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and Hard of Hearing to develop a strategy to create minimum standards for all sign language interpreters in Tennessee and to promote interpreter training.

Sources

Brentwood by the numbers

Residents: 45,556
Speak a language other than English at home: 4,539 10.3%
Speak English less than “very well”: 1,156 2.6%
Limited-English households: 121 0.8%
Born outside the U.S.: 4,184 9.2%

Where Brentwood residents born abroad come from

Countries of birth point to the languages behind the Census groups above, and to the documents (birth certificates, diplomas, court records) that arrive for translation.

India1,093
China, excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan513
Korea329
Canada222

Detailed languages in the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metro Area

The Census Bureau publishes individual languages for metro areas, not for cities. These are the most-spoken languages other than English in the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metro Area.

Spanish160,997
Arabic21,959
French (incl. Cajun)6,337
Thai, Lao, or other Tai-Kadai languages5,464
Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)5,074
Korean4,948

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, ACS 2024 1-year, table B16001, Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metro Area.

Language services in Brentwood

Brentwood questions

What languages are spoken in Brentwood?

10.3% of Brentwood residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, and 2.6% speak English less than “very well.” Chinese, including Mandarin and Cantonese leads, followed by Spanish and Korean. The most common countries of birth among residents born abroad are India, China, excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Korea.

How many Brentwood households have limited English?

121 of 14,855 households (0.8%), according to the Census Bureau: households in which no one age 14 or older speaks only English or speaks English “very well.” These are the households most likely to need an interpreter or translated documents.

How are court interpreters credentialed in Tennessee?

Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), which by statute creates, maintains, and posts on its website a registry of persons credentialed as court interpreters of spoken foreign languages under Tennessee Supreme Court rules; court-appointed foreign language interpreters submit their invoices for compensation to the AOC. Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 42 sorts court interpreters into three tiers: certified, registered, and non-credentialed. Anyone seeking to become a credentialed court interpreter for spoken foreign languages must supply fingerprints and pass a TBI/FBI criminal history check. For deaf parties, a qualified interpreter is one certified by the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf or the Tennessee Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, with Legal Skills or Comprehensive Skills certificate holders sought first.

Do you provide on-site interpreters in Brentwood?

Yes. We schedule interpreters in person in Brentwood and across Tennessee, and by phone and video nationwide, in 250+ languages including Chinese, including Mandarin and Cantonese and ASL. Book less common languages as early as you can.

Do you provide conference and meeting interpreters in Brentwood?

Yes. We staff conferences, conventions, trade shows, seminars, corporate training, and client meetings in Brentwood with simultaneous or consecutive interpreters. For simultaneous interpreting, our own technicians deliver, run, and strike the booths, transmitters, and receivers, shipped from our own inventory.