When a girl from Thailand began attending Buchanan Elementary School this fall, it was hardly a smooth transition.

Her family had just arrived in the United States, and the girl, a kindergarten student, had almost no understanding of English or familiarity with American customs.

"She was very afraid in the beginning about being in school and not being familiar with things," said Sophia Jones, who teaches English-language learners at Buchanan.

"She cried for three days straight."

The girl is now comfortable with school and "doing really well," Jones said. She is able to read sentences and recognize words.

What helped the pupil overcome her initial anxieties was a phone call to Language Line translation service.

A translator spoke with the girl in her native language of Burmese, and within minutes, she felt better.

"Just from hearing her own language, she stopped crying," Jones said.

Language Line is one of the services School District of Lancaster provides to students and parents with limited English communication skills.

About 90 percent of SDL students speak English or Spanish as their native language, but the remaining 10 percent speak a staggering 44 different languages, said Persida Himmele, SDL's coordinator of ELL programs.

Federal law requires that all essential school materials — such as discipline guidelines, graduation requirements and academic records — be provided in the native language of all students and parents.

In addition to subscribing to Language Line, which provides telephone translations for $1.85 to $2 a minute, the district this year hired translators who speak Creole, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese and Spanish.

They will be paid about $40 an hour to translate documents and participate in meetings with parents on such topics as individualized education programs for students with physical and learning disabilities.

The translators also will work with parents and students to explain the cultural differences they're encountering in SDL schools.

The district used to rely on an outside company for translators, but the quality was lacking and the translations often took too long, Himmele said.

"A year ago, we were running into translations that were so poorly done that we would have to redo them," she said.

The new translators are expected to provide materials in less than a week, and the Spanish translator has promised a 24-hour turnaround, Himmele said.

But translating materials into Spanish is rarely a problem for the district because so many of its schools have teachers or staff members who speak the language.

Bridging the communication and cultural barriers of other languages has been more challenging.

In addition to the student from Thailand, Buchanan this year has pupils from Ethiopia, China, Liberia, Haiti and Vietnam, Jones said.

In recent years, the school has had an influx of students from Turkey and Russia. Last year, it translated school newsletters into Russian every month to keep parents informed.

Buchanan also has used Language Line to provide translation services via conference call during parent-teacher conferences.

At McCaskey East High School, lunch fee forms, course requirements, field trip permission slips and other documents are routinely translated into multiple languages, said Danh Lieng-Wang, the school's ELL department liaison.

Lieng-Wang teaches in McCaskey East's International School, which enrolls students with limited English skills who recently arrived in America.

"We get new students just about every week, so translation services are very critical," he said.

SDL's ELL department spends about $5,000 a year to translate materials used districtwide, Himmele said. That doesn't include the cost of translations provided to individual schools.

Jones, who recently used Language Line to explain to a parent her right to have her child bused to the school, said the expense is worth it.

"I know what it's like to be on the other side — not being able to speak the language and not understanding the norms and what's expected," said Jones, who worked as a missionary and has visited 28 countries.

"I think it's important for parents to feel like they're a part of the school, and what better way to do that than for them to hear their own language?"

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com