During the holiday season many retailers, both at the store-level and online, find that communicating with customers in their native language to be a challenge. Selecting which languages communicate in for both employees and website retailers, should reflect your product’s market opportunities and long-term goals. Using backend technologies like geolocation or tracking of billing addresses help identify […]
Continue readingMeasuring English Proficiency in Real-World Situations
Note: This post has been updated on April 2, 2024 to reflect the updates to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. Trust — but verify. We trust that English language learners are gaining something through their studies, but how do we verify what they actually can do with their language skills? We may believe that a job […]
Continue readingUsing Languages in National Security
The largest employer for language professionals in this country is the U.S. Department of Defense—a fact that might surprise many people. In fact, national security is a fast-growing and exciting career area for those with strong foreign language skills, offering a wide variety of opportunities that stretch beyond translation and interpretation. The Federal Bureau of […]
Continue readingThe Digital Language Divide
The internet, much like space, is infinite. This opens people up to a limitless way to communicate and thus, language plays an important role in how information is displayed and translated. The first language used on the internet was almost certainly English. By the mid-1990s it was estimated that English made up nearly 80% of online content. However […]
Continue readingHow Can HR Ensure All Employees Have the Right Level of Business English Skills?
Developing and implementing a language assessment strategy is an effective way for HR to measure the language ability of new appointments and existing staff. When assessing the business English skills for new employees, the first thing to consider is how much English language they need to know in order to carry out their roles effectively. […]
Continue readingEthnic Marketing? Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
In the past, appealing to minorities was not a major concern to marketers in most industries. Ethnic groups in America were expected to assimilate into the mainstream over time, making it a case of Mohammed coming to the mountain. But time has proven this reasoning faulty. As a result of many economic and social factors, […]
Continue readingPress 1 for English, Press 2 for Your Language
In its recent survey on global consumer preferences on the web, “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy,” Common Sense Advisory found that three-quarters of 3,002 respondents in 10 non-English-speaking countries are more likely to buy a product if the post-sales support is in their language. That customer care may be delivered through FAQs or chat at the […]
Continue readingSpeak to Global Customers in Their Own Language
Do you struggle to reach customers beyond your own country’s borders? If targeting clients in other countries seems daunting, there is one simple step you can start with: Translate something. You have to speak the language of your customers. And that isn’t just an overused metaphor. It refers to actual languages — like Spanish, French, […]
Continue readingIs Language Translation of Services a New Banking Trend?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is ordering GE Capital Retail Bank (GE Capital), known as Synchrony Bank, to “cough up” $225 million to consumers who were victims of illegal and discriminatory credit card practices. GE Capital must refund $56 million to approximately 638,000 customers who were subject to these deceptive marketing practices. In light of […]
Continue readingUsing Language To Land The Job
As the economy continues to slowly improve and unemployment levels drop, more and more jobseekers are finding the task of getting hired less daunting. Unemployment rates in the United States decreased to 5.40 percent in April of 2015 from 5.50 percent a month earlier. This trend signals a slow yet steadily growing confidence in the economy […]
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