Bridge Linguistic Barriers with IL Consultancy Translation Company
As the world becomes increasingly connected, there are constantly new opportunities for businesses to expand. One major hindrance to effective communication between businesses and international clients, suppliers, and colleagues is linguistic barriers. A linguistic barrier is a figurative term that refers to obstacles that stand between two or more people who speak different languages. We explore the causes of linguistic barriers and how they can have a negative impact on your business. When looking for ways to overcome linguistic barriers, IL Consultancy (IL Consultancy) is a translation company that will effectively assist your business to bridge linguistic barriers.
What Causes Linguistic Barriers?
Naturally, the main cause behind linguistic barriers is language differences. When your business speaks one language, and your potential clients or suppliers speak another language, communication will not be able to happen. Language differences are the most common cause behind language barriers, but it is not the only cause. We highlight 2 other language barriers that could potentially be hindering effective communication for your business.
1) Linguistic Ability:
Even when two people speak the same language, there can still be linguistic barriers. This is because people have varying linguistic abilities. You may have an employee in your business that is proficient in the desired language for your business operations. Their language ability may be excellent and they possess an extensive vocabulary, but this may result in a linguistic barrier. If they use overly complex terms that your potential clients or suppliers do not fully understand due to differences in linguistic ability, there will be barriers in the communication.
2) Accents:
No matter your language, you will have an accent. Your accent, or the unique way you pronounce words in your language, will be impacted by the area you live in and the qualities of the mother-tongue language. Accents deserve to be appreciated and respected, but they can lead to linguistic barriers.
If you are speaking to someone with an accent, it can be difficult to understand what the person is saying. If a person is speaking a foreign language but with the accent of their mother-tongue language, this can also affect understanding due to mispronunciation that is caused by their accent. People generally tend to focus on an accent over what is being said, which can lead to lost concentration and miscommunications.
When communication is difficult because of a different or heavy accent, the person communicating may become frustrated due to having to repeat themselves or embarrassed because they are unable to clearly deliver their message. For your business, this can then impair important relationships between your business and colleagues, clients, or suppliers. Maintaining relationships is essential for business operations, so this linguistic barrier can impact the success of your business on an international scale.
How Could Linguistic Barriers Affect My Business?
Linguistic barriers can severely impact your business if you plan to operate on an international scale. From missed opportunities to poor communication to a tarnished reputation, your business can be impacted in various ways by linguistic barriers. We have created 4 hypothetical scenarios to demonstrate how linguistic barriers can impact your business.
1) Prevent Opportunities:
Scenario: Your management team calls a meeting to discuss with you an exciting business opportunity in a foreign country. There is a gap in the market that your product or service will adequately fit. Your business stands to increase its profits and reach a wider network of clients, thus only benefiting your business. You decide to avoid the opportunity due to the language barriers between your business and the targeted country.
One of the major impacts of linguistic barriers is that it results in business owners being fearful of taking on new business opportunities. The risks of poor translations resulting in a tarnished reputation, affected client relationships, or financial loss can be daunting for business owners. Your business is impacted by this fear as you are denying opportunities that could increase the success and credibility of your business.
2) Poor Service:
Scenario: A client has purchased your product, but it is defective. They reach out to your business to explain the faults in your product and request that you take specific action to rectify the situation. The language barrier may result in your business misunderstanding the desires of your client. Instead of recompensating them for their purchase of your defective product, you send them a product replacement. This enrages the client, and you receive a poor online review that tarnishes the reputation of your business.
Every business needs to strive for an exceptional client or customer service. When linguistic barriers are present, it can impact how you provide your clients or customers with a service that reflects the quality of your brand. If you are providing an inadequate service based on a misunderstanding of accents or mistranslation of written requests, it can quickly lead to negative impacts on your business.
3) Impacted Operations:
Scenario: Your business is searching for a supplier that can provide you with the materials you need to develop a new product. You find a supplier in a foreign country that is the best price, has everything you need, and in your understanding, can deliver within a certain time frame. Due to a miscommunication based on language differences, your ordered materials take longer than expected and now your entire production schedule is impaired. While your materials sit with your supplier, your business is incurring more expenses as you cannot operate efficiently.
Linguistic barriers between a business and a supplier can severely impact operations. A miscommunication of time frame, quantity, or material can cause delays and incur unnecessary costs for your business. This may then affect your promises to your clients, which then starts impacting the reliability of your business.
4) Crisis Management:
Scenario: Your business has launched a marketing campaign to promote the arrival of your product in your selected country. In your marketing campaign, a marketing phrase has been used that is acceptable and entertaining in your country but is highly offensive and disrespectful of the cultures in your target country. Your business is now in crisis management mode, but with the linguistic barriers, it is difficult to adequately handle the situation.
The last thing your business needs during any crisis management situation is to have linguistic barriers result in further crisis. By continuing to use incorrect terms or culturally insensitive phrases, your business’s reputation will be further jeopardised in your target country. This can result in the collapse of your business in the country due to offended clients, lost relationships between key suppliers, or employees who no longer want to work for your business.
How Can My Business Overcome Linguistic Barriers?
Linguistic barriers can have numerous negative impacts on your business. Luckily, there are ways to overcome linguistic barriers. Your business can either invest in language training for your current employees, hire bilingual employees, or use the translation services of a translation company. We explore these three options to help you decide which is best for your business.
1) Language Training:
Your first way to bridge linguistic barriers for your business is to provide language training to your employees. Your employees will benefit from gaining a new skill and your business will benefit from improved communication with clients or suppliers. Training your current employees is also beneficial as your employees are already qualified and experienced to perform their role in your business and will have a deep understanding of your brand, products, or services.
Unfortunately, this is not often a viable option for businesses. The time it will take to get your employees to a proficient language level will be extensive. It will also be a major cost to your business to hire expert language trainers to train your employees. Employees may be required to do their training after hours, which they may not agree to do.
2) Hire Bilingual Employees:
Your alternative option to training your current employees is to hire bilingual employees. You will not need to invest any time or money into language training for your employees. You will have an in-house employee that can develop great relationships with suppliers, handle customer service, and immediately perform crisis management effectively.
It can be extremely difficult to find an employee that is qualified to handle the job requirements and is also proficient in the desired language, let alone numerous bilingual employees to handle the various aspects of your business. Even if your employee is bilingual and qualified to work in your business, the linguistic barriers of linguistic ability and accents may still arise.
3) Translation Company:
The best option for your business is to acquire the professional translation services of a translation company. While a translation company will be an additional cost, a translation company will have translators that are proficient in your selected language, your business’s industry, and the cultures and local nuances of your selected country. A translation company is the most time and cost-effective option to overcome language barriers accurately and beneficially for your business.
Bridge Linguistic Barriers with IL Consultancy Translation Company:
IL Consultancy is a translation company that will assist your business to overcome linguistic barriers. At IL Consultancy translation company, you will find expert written translation services and interpretation services. With our professional translation services, you do not need to avoid business opportunities or worry about impacted operations or reputation due to language barriers.
IL Consultancy translation company offers a wide variety of written translation services suited to your business. We can accurately translate any written document, including reports, proposals, technical documents, financial material, company information, legal documents, and marketing materials. If you do not see the documents you need expertly translated, you can contact us and we will strive to accommodate your translation needs.
IL Consultancy translation company has a collection of professional and highly qualified translators. We will pair your business translation needs with a suitable translator quickly so that you can immediately start benefiting from IL Consultancy translation company services. The translators at IL Consultancy translation company are all currently active in their chosen fields, ensuring that your business’s translations will have the relevant technicalities, terminologies, and subject matter to your industry.
Not only will our translation company services provide you with accurate translations, but we will also ensure that we benefit your company with our localisation service. The localisation service will adapt your service or product to your targeted language and culture to prevent any negative impacts on your business. We have briefly listed the important localisation details that we will incorporate into your translation to benefit your business.
- Geographic locations.
- Gender roles.
- Target culture.
- Political correctness.
- Local sensitivities.
- National holidays.
- Time zones.
- Product or service names.
- Currencies.
IL Consultancy is a translation company that can assist all your translation needs. Alongside our document translation services, we also offer interpretation services. We have highly qualified interpreters that are experts in your selected language and industry that will provide you with accurate translations when your business is communicating with clients, customers, colleagues, or suppliers.
IL Consultancy translation company is comprised of expert translators that will effectively assist your business bridge linguistic barriers.