SDL International, the world’s leading provider of translation services and technology solutions, announced today that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of New York State has won the 2004 American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) Region I Customer Service Excellence Award for the automated English to Spanish translation of its web site.

 SDLEnterprise Translation Server™, hosted for the DMV by SDL, produces the Spanish translations on-demand and in real-time. The DMV chose SDLEnterprise Translation Server for its high performance on-the-fly translation of web pages.

New York State has a substantial community of Spanish-speaking citizens, and this “e-Government initiative” has been very successful, with an average of 7,400 Spanish page translations per month and peak volumes exceeding 12,000 per month. The DMV uses “Plain English” for its source texts and a customized English-Spanish dictionary for SDLEnterprise Translation Server. This combination enables very high quality automated translations to be achieved and customer satisfaction with the translated pages is extremely high.  

AAMVA Recognition Awards foster a tradition of excellence in the motor vehicle and law enforcement community, with the Customer Service Excellence Award going to the organization that has implemented a unique project or program to enhance customer service, including the use of innovative technology and taking a creative approach to serving motor vehicle customers.

“The New York State DMV has shown that innovative technology combined with a creative approach to its deployment can not only reduce costs but also substantially improve customer service,” commented Terry Lawlor, VP Worldwide Marketing at SDL International. “This award recognizes its achievements and shows the significant role automated translation can play in serving multilingual communities.”


About New York State DMV
The DMV provides more than 21 million drivers and owners of vehicles, boats and snowmobiles with driver license, vehicle registration and title services.  The agency also regulates numerous businesses including vehicle repair shops, dealers and inspection stations and investigates consumer complaints against those businesses.  The DMV promotes traffic safety through its regulatory and adjudication programs and through its participation with other state agencies in Governor George E. Pataki’s Traffic Safety Committee. For more information, visit www.nydmv.state.ny.us.