Don’t let your multilingual workplace be a burden. Address language barriers and embrace its effects.
In small companies across the United States, it’s not uncommon for two or even three languages to be spoken during the normal course of business among the employees. This reflects the larger demographic trends across the country: We are becoming more diverse and assimilation by new immigrants is taking longer than in previous generations.
This trend is having a profound impact on how owners run their operations. When sales people speak only English and warehouse staff speak only Spanish, problems will arise. Owners can take a number of steps to minimize the issues caused by language barriers.
Encourage workers to study English
When workers don’t speak English yet, it is in everyone’s best interest to help them learn. It’s not easy to learn English but many free resources available for English language learners (ELL). Here are some good ones.
Many community colleges offer affordable ELL programs in convenient locations, but these tend to reach capacity quickly.
Invest in appropriate translations
As a bilingual person, it amazes me how many companies, both large and small, consistently fail to produce good foreign-language materials. Websites, brochures, store signage, agreements and most documents are translated poorly.
Many times this happens because the businesses use free machine translations. The price may be right but the quality is atrocious. Other times, businesses rely on existing employees or someone who speaks the language natively to translate these business materials.
