[EAS] Multilingual support for CAP messages

[Adrienne Abbott]

Here in Nevada we are also looking at ways to support foreign language EAS
activations and after some preliminary discussions, I have a couple of
technical questions that maybe some in the group can answer. Spanish is
definitely the majority-minority language here, but there are probably a
dozen different versions of Spanish spoken here and that in itself is a
problem. However, we're just working on the best way to get out the EAS
activation in both English and some version of Spanish. 

How does a station carry an EAS activation in more than one language? Should
an EAS message in English be repeated in a second language like Spanish in
the same activation? Our state and local officials are able to issue CAP EAS
activations but the two-minute time limit means there wouldn't be much
detail in either the message or the text but it would get the message to the
audience in the quickest, easiest manner possible.  

What happens if the EAS message is issued twice, once in English and once in
Spanish on the same station? Can an EAS unit be programmed to automatically
run an English language EAS activation, followed by the Spanish (or other
language version)? How do you keep an audience around long enough to hear
the details that couldn't fit into the two minute EAS time limit or updated
emergency information when a station has to run 5 or 10 minutes worth of EAS
activations in 2 or three languages? What do you tell the program director
who is concerned about the tune-out factor from a single, English EAS
message, much less a second or even third EAS activation in different
languages?  

We have English language TV and radio stations with second and third
channels or streams in Spanish and those stations have a need for both
English and Spanish messages or even activations in a third language. What
is the best way to issue separate English and Spanish EAS activations so
those stations can provide the activations in their Spanish or other
language streams? Can a single Sage or DASDEC ingest both English and
Spanish EAS activations and send those to the appropriate streams at the
same station or would the station need to install separate EAS units for
each language or stream? Does the EAS equipment see the English and Spanish
versions of the same EAS activation as separate activations or as the same
activation? Is there a risk that the EAS equipment would ignore either the
English or Spanish version of the same messages as an activation already
received? Like everywhere else, these stations are in "Auto Forward" mode
because they don't always have staff available to manually forward EAS
activations.  

With these limitations, how do we add EAS activations in a third, fourth or
even fifth language? What if that language is a second or third version of
Spanish? How does the EAS equipment distinguish between the different
dialects and not see the activation as one that was already received? Do we
label them Spanish 1, Spanish 2 or Spanish 3?

We have two Asian language stations in the Nevada Operational Area so we are
concerned about being able to serve those communities as well as our other
significant foreign language communities. Wouldn't the messages in these
languages have to be separate EAS activations?

What's the best way to serve our tourist communities? The hotels provide TV
programming in multiple languages on their internal cable channels. How can
we get the hotel systems EAS information in those languages? I hate to say
it, but I don't even know how the hotel TV systems here handle EAS
activations. The hotel security centers have EAS equipment and
communications systems to reach guests on the casino floor and in the
restaurants as well as in the hotel rooms. 

Like a lot of us, I thought the biggest issue with multilingual EAS would be
finding someone to translate the information for an emergency manager at the
drop of a hat. That has turned out to be the easy part. 

Adrienne Abbott
Nevada EAS Chair
NVBA  ABIP  Inspector