LeTutor Language School

Only work with a language professional

Businesses have many dimensions and work in all kinds of industries yet they all share one common characteristics. No matter what your business does it involves people, directly or indirectly. However we are not all able to communicate with the same people based on what languages we speak. In your business’ daily operations I’m sure that you come across communication barriers whether locally or abroad. The world is only becoming smaller and whether the world is brought to our doorstep or we seek it out we cannot ignore the value of doing business with customers from other cultures.?

Here in the United States the most obvious market that cannot be ignored is the Latino or Spanish speaking demographic. For example that Hispanic community in Phoenix, AZ makes up 34% of the population and spend more than $5 billion annually. This is an example of the diversity or our local population that is underserved. If you are able to reach them and gain their trust as a community the you can share in the $5 billion that they spend annually.

One of the biggest pitfalls of communicating with an audience that does not speak your language is not working with a professional. One of the main reasons you want to work with someone who is an experienced language specialist is because of the diversity within the community of people that speak a particular foreign language. Just like Americans speak distinctly different English than the English or Australians.

Another example that hits close to home is the Latinos. A Latino or Spanish speaker can come from any of the Spanish speaking countries south of the U.S. So if you choose an employee from Chile or from a specific region in Mexico it is certain that without training their vocabulary and understanding will be different than that of your target audience. That is why it is important to use a language specialist who can either single out a specific dialect that represents your target audience or that can employ a standard and non regional form of Spanish. This is also true for all languages including English. You wouldn’t allow someone with no writing experience from the accounting department in Alabama write your marketing materials, so you shouldn’t do it in a foreign language just because one your employees in your company happens to speak the language of your target audience. So to summarize you want to make sure that the person not only speaks the language but that they have the skills necessary to adapt and understand your audience. Just like you don’t hire a lawyer to do your accounting you don’t want someone other than a language specialist preparing your foreign language documents.*

*A short side note is that if your documents or marketing materials are technical in any way there are language professionals who specialize in those fields. They often have worked in the field for many years and have a deep understanding of the subject of your materials. You want to make sure that the agency or language professional is working with or has experience in the field in order to achieve the best results.