Translation Services in Tacoma, WA

Languages spoken in Tacoma

18.7% of Tacoma residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, and 8.4% speak English less than “very well.” Spanish leads, followed by Vietnamese and Russian, Polish, and other Slavic.

Language spoken at home	Residents	Speak English less than “very well”
Spanish	15,204	5,975
Other Asian and Pacific Island languages	6,551	3,197
Vietnamese	3,712	2,616
Russian, Polish, and other Slavic	3,206	1,558
Tagalog, including Filipino	2,384	730
Korean	2,131	1,374
Other Indo-European languages	1,857	773

Spanish 15,2045,975 speak English less than “very well”
Other Asian and Pacific Island languages 6,5513,197 speak English less than “very well”
Vietnamese 3,7122,616 speak English less than “very well”
Russian, Polish, and other Slavic 3,2061,558 speak English less than “very well”
Tagalog, including Filipino 2,384730 speak English less than “very well”
Korean 2,1311,374 speak English less than “very well”
Other Indo-European languages 1,857773 speak English less than “very well”

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

Where Tacoma 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.

Mexico4,528
Vietnam2,897
Philippines2,890
Korea1,982
Cambodia1,718
Ukraine1,548
China, excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan950
Kenya948

Tacoma by the numbers

Residents: 222,758
Speak a language other than English at home: 39,352 18.7%
Speak English less than “very well”: 17,776 8.4%
Limited-English households: 3,706 4%
Born outside the U.S.: 27,991 12.6%

Language access rules in Washington

Court interpreter program: Washington Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Language Access Team, which supports the courts' language access work; the AOC credentials spoken-language court interpreters under RCW 2.43.070, General Rule 11 establishes the Interpreter and Language Access Commission (ILAC), and local trial courts schedule interpreters.
Court-certified languages: As of September 2026 the AOC lists certified court interpreters in 16 languages (Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Cantonese, French, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, and Vietnamese) and registered interpreters in 38 languages (several overlapping with the certified list), from Albanian, Dari, and Farsi to Somali, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, and Yoruba.
The rule: RCW 2.43.030, as amended in 2025, requires credentialed interpreters to be appointed in any legal proceeding involving a person with limited English proficiency, in court or before a state or local agency, unless good cause is found on the record; RCW 2.43.081 makes an LEP person not responsible for interpreter costs if a party, subpoenaed or summoned, a juvenile's parent, guardian, or custodian, or compelled to appear, and RCW 2.42.120 requires the appointing authority to appoint and pay for a qualified interpreter for deaf and hard of hearing parties and witnesses.
Court language access plans: RCW 2.43.090 requires every trial court to maintain a written language access plan covering civil and criminal matters, including procedures for appointing interpreters, posting notice of the right to an interpreter in the five or more non-English languages predominant in the jurisdiction, and prioritizing translation of written materials.
School district language access programs: Under RCW 28A.183.040 (2022 c 107), every school district must designate a language access liaison, adopt a language access policy and procedures, and since the 2023-24 school year implement a language access program for family engagement; RCW 28A.183.050 requires districts to collect each family's preferred language and whether a qualified interpreter was requested and provided at meetings reported to the state longitudinal student data system.
Public assistance interpreters: RCW 74.04.025 requires the Department of Social and Health Services, the Health Care Authority, and the Office of Administrative Hearings to provide bilingual services so non-English-speaking applicants are not denied benefits, using contracts with language access providers where staff cannot cover the need, and requires DSHS to certify, authorize, and qualify those providers through oral and written testing.
School interpreter credentialing: RCW 28A.183.080 directs the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Professional Educator Standards Board to establish credentialing requirements for school interpreters, in consultation with the state language access advisory committee.
Who pays in agency proceedings: Under RCW 2.43.081, when a legal proceeding is initiated by a government agency, the governmental body that initiated it bears the cost of the interpreter.

Sources

Language services in Tacoma

Detailed languages in Pierce County, Washington

The Census Bureau publishes individual languages for counties, not for cities. These are the most-spoken languages other than English in Pierce County, Washington.

Spanish56,077
Tagalog (incl. Filipino)11,551
Khmer8,050
Korean7,758
Ilocano, Samoan, Hawaiian, or other Austronesian languages6,382
Russian5,156
Vietnamese5,065
Swahili or other languages of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa4,875

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, ACS 2024 1-year, table B16001, Pierce County, Washington.

Tacoma questions

What languages are spoken in Tacoma?

18.7% of Tacoma residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, and 8.4% speak English less than “very well.” Spanish leads, followed by Vietnamese and Russian, Polish, and other Slavic. The most common countries of birth among residents born abroad are Mexico, Vietnam, and Philippines.

How many Tacoma households have limited English?

3,706 of 93,033 households (4%), 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 Washington?

Washington Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Language Access Team, which supports the courts' language access work; the AOC credentials spoken-language court interpreters under RCW 2.43.070, General Rule 11 establishes the Interpreter and Language Access Commission (ILAC), and local trial courts schedule interpreters. As of September 2026 the AOC lists certified court interpreters in 16 languages (Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Cantonese, French, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, and Vietnamese) and registered interpreters in 38 languages (several overlapping with the certified list), from Albanian, Dari, and Farsi to Somali, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, and Yoruba.

Do you provide on-site interpreters in Tacoma?

Yes. We schedule interpreters in person in Tacoma and across Washington, and by phone and video nationwide, in 250+ languages including Spanish and ASL. Book less common languages as early as you can.

Do you provide conference and meeting interpreters in Tacoma?

Yes. We staff conferences, conventions, trade shows, seminars, corporate training, and client meetings in Tacoma 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.