People who live in the city of Aachen with insufficient knowledge of German are supported by lay language mediators at various offices, institutions and facilities in various matters of life thanks to state funding from the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration NRW.
The Volunteer Language Mediator Pool offers a wide range of language services and facilitates the deployment of volunteer language mediators throughout the city of Aachen. These lay language mediators are not sworn or professional interpreters, but rather volunteers who perform this task in their free time. To ensure quality, they regularly participate in training sessions offered by the Municipal Integration Center.
Lay language mediators are people who have a good knowledge of German and a very good knowledge of at least one other language. The assignments to overcome language barriers in the city of Aachen are coordinated by the Municipal Integration Center of the City of Aachen.