One of the problems with businesses going global are the languages people end up using in their email communication. I used to work for a French company, with employees whose native language span a pretty varied range – English, French, Spanish and Dutch.
We use English as the common communication medium although things can easily go awry every once in a while. Sometimes, we have Dutch clients who find English a bit difficult to converse in. Instead of struggling to express themselves, they directly address a couple of the Dutch-speaking people in the thread in their native tongue. Since the trend has been started, the rest of the communication usually follows in the same vernacular, leaving us non-speakers bored to tears having to look at the thread.
Since everyone’s busy throughout the day and can’t be bothered to translate it, the rest of us end up knowing absolutely nothing about the how the thread shapes up – a real problem when one of the issues they discuss can actually be fixed using the expertise of one of the non-Dutch speakers on the list. During weekly meetings, the Dutch speakers will typically clarify how the rest of the communication went, at which point can the rest of us chime in with our suggestions.
A problem like this could easily be solved, though, if we only used a language translation software at work. Can’t understand what the last guy wrote? I’ll just run it through the application and find out the details they’re trying to get across. That way, if I actually have anything useful to contribute, I can immediately join in the thread, instead of waiting for our weekly meeting to solve simple problems or settle basic questions.
Can your office use a language translating software to help communication flow in a much easier way?