Goodyear Firefighter Orion Godfrey always wanted to learn to speak Spanish, but he never had the chance to take lessons.

Originally from near Charlotte, N.C., Godfrey's six years working in emergency services in the Southwest Valley have taught him that knowing Spanish is as much a necessity as it is a desire.

That's why Godfrey recently started using a smartphone app called Duolingo to study Spanish between calls for help or when he is at home.

Along with Google Translate, another Web-based program, he said Duolingo has helped him communicate with non-English speakers.

"It is very, very valuable to know Spanish in certain areas of where we run calls," he said.

In the West Valley, cities pay public-safety workers extra if they speak Spanish effectively because doing so can eliminate delays during an emergency and the ability to communicate with people immediately builds rapport.

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But Spanish isn't the only language firefighters and police encounter in the West Valley. Agencies can also use a telephone translating service to communicate with residents who speak languages from as far away as Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Godfrey is one of nearly 20 Goodyear Fire Department employees who are learning Spanish using Duolingo, a free app that offers the opportunity to learn six languages, including Spanish, while simultaneously helping translate information on the Internet.

"We're just trying to come up with different ways to make do with things that we can't necessarily get through our budget," he said.

See West Valley fire departments before smartphones:

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Learning a new language

About a quarter of union members are using Duolingo to help learn Spanish, said Goodyear fire Capt. Stephen Gilman, president of the United Goodyear Firefighters Association.

Gilman said he learned about the app through a video on the non-profit website Ted.com that featured Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Gilman talked with co-workers about using the app to become bilingual because the department does not have a large training budget to send employees to classes.

How Duolingo works

"It's exactly like Rosetta Stone," Gilman said about Duolingo, referring to the popular software for learning a foreign language. "The big difference is it's free."

Duolingo is free because its users, who must register on the site, are simultaneously helping translate the Web into other languages.

See Luis von Ahn's TED talk:

Web pages are uploaded to Duolingo by owners of the content who need their online material translated into another language. The translating is done by users who are learning a new language.

The content owners are charged for the translation, depending on the type of document or content they upload. Once translated into the owner's desired language, Duolingo returns the content to them.

The Duolingo app for Spanish puts users through a series of lessons to build proficiency through repetitive practice, translation and pronunciation. Users accumulate points for successfully completing lessons and these points can be used to unlock bonus lessons, such as how to translate idioms and even how to flirt in Spanish.

"It's pretty neat because it has tons of different categories," Godfrey said. "It's even got a medical category and it's pretty comprehensive as far as the stuff it includes."

Why is it important to learn a new language?

First responders' ability to communicate quickly and effectively with a non-English speaker during a medical emergency can make the difference between life and death.

"Over 80 percent of the calls that our firefighters go on are medical-based," said Amanda Jacinto, spokeswoman for the Peoria Fire Department. "And in a lot of cases, every second, every minute matters. If we're dealing with a stroke victim, a heart-attack victim, we need to know their prior history. We need to know signs and symptoms."

A more traditional approach

Several West Valley departments use more traditional tools for communicating with people who don't speak English.

If a patient, family member or bystander speaks a language other than English or Spanish, Jacinto said that Peoria firefighters have utilized translators via AT&T Language Line Solutions for the past 20 years.

"Honestly, on any call, we can run into Russian, Cantonese, Portuguese — you name it," Jacinto said.

Glendale, Buckeye, El Mirage, Surprise and Tolleson first responders also have access to translators via telephone, which some see as necessary for criminal matters where certified translators from the department are not available.

"You really need a certified translator because that is going to be an issue when it comes to court proceedings later on," Glendale police Sgt. Jay O'Neill said about communicating with non-English-speaking victims or suspects. The department has 29 employees certified in English and Spanish. "We can't have any kind of miscommunication."

Other West Valley communities

Peoria and El Mirage pay firefighters who pass a conversational Spanish test more. Surprise police also receive extra pay for bilingual skills, said Sgt. Mike Donovan, Surprise Police Department spokesman.

Avondale adds 5 percent to the salaries of bilingual employees, said Avondale police Sgt. Brandon Busse. That is one reason why Busse said the department rarely lacks the ability to communicate with Spanish-speaking residents.

"Usually, there is one (Spanish-speaking officer) on duty at all times," he said. "If not, we can utilize our park rangers who speak Spanish."

Tolleson police are paid up to 75 cents more an hour for passing a Spanish proficiency test, said department spokesman Sgt. Obed Gaytan, and the department tries to make sure bilingual officers are scheduled for every shift.

"Obviously, if you can speak the same language as somebody, there is going to be that instant that they can talk to you because they'll be able to convey what it is they want to say," he said. "It does have its benefits for the community policing aspect."

Like Tolleson police, Goodyear city employees can also receive up to 75 cents more per hour for the ability to speak, read and write Spanish, Fire Chief Paul Luizzi said.

"My daughter has been taking Latin and she is going to take Spanish next," he said. "I downloaded (Duolingo) and we've been playing the game back and forth. It's fun."

Goodyear Firefighter Rick Napolitano said he speaks "Spanglish" that he learned from years of working alongside Spanish speakers on his family's farm in Buckeye.

Napolitano said he knows enough Spanish that he sometimes thinks or dreams in it, but having the Duolingo app on his phone and iPad for several months has helped him improve as a bilingual.

"There are certain days when I'm the best we got," he said about applying Duolingo's lessons in the real world. "I can usually talk to them. They just have to talk slow. I might question them on a word because they use a word I don't know. Sometimes, I have to look it up on the phone."

5 language-learning resources and translators


Offers free lessons in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and German, among others. Users can access tutorials via e-mail, social media or apps for iPhone and Android.


Operated by Visual Link Languages. It adds free new content on a weekly basis and offers lessons in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, German and English.

Surface Languages

Offers free courses in French, Italian, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese. It also offers words, phrases and expressions in 39 languages, including Chinese, Russian and Spanish.


Offers lessons in 35 languages by combining traditional methods, practice and dialogue with native speakers. Many tutorials are free, but some require a purchase.

Google Translate

It is free and allows users to type, paste or speak text into a box that can translate into 80 languages. Selected translations can be saved in a phrase book and documents can be uploaded for complete translation.

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