Boosting MLS power by adding the "Language spoken at home"

[DelValleAl]

The ability to identify Church members by their native language is ever increasing. English is the official language in my current ward, yet most of the members ARE NOT English speakers. Some of our members cannot communicate in English very well, or at all... I'm sure that as the Church continues to grow the ability to identify the member's main language in their individual membership records, will become and even greater need.

Having a SPECIFIC place to enter the "language spoken at home" in MLS would help priesthood leaders:

• request the appropriate amount of translated materials to ensure gospel principles, doctrine, and Church policies are presented accurately and comprehended by all members
• minister through interpreters so members can receive information in their own language to ensure a perfect understanding
• assign Home and Visiting Teachers that can speak the language of those whom they will visit so they can have meaningful and more spiritual visits
• share the language information of new and/or part member families with full-time and ward missionaries so new members can be fellowship effectively in their own language

[aebrown]

I imagine most wards in the Church have members that speak the same primary language, but there are certainly many, many wards where there are a significant number of members who speak a language other than the ward's primary language. Having a standard way to track that information by member could certainly be a nice improvement.

In the meantime, using current capabilities of MLS you could track this information using a Custom field.