The COVID-19 World has the majority of people from across the globe working from home. Today, more people are working from home than there ever was in the past 100 years. However, since we live in a global business world, communication is done in a multitude of languages. While English still dominates business communications, many other languages are spoken, and today needing a translator has become more important than ever before.
In this article, we’ll look at how businesses are coping with different languages while remaining confined in their homes.
Using Google Translate
Most people working from home still rely on Google translate, to translate the odd email they receive in French, Spanish, or some other European language. Unfortunately, Google translate isn’t very good with Asian languages which is why for those dedicated human translators are needed. Though the good news is that most people don’t get emails in Arabic or Hindi for that reason.
Translation Apps for Voice Translations
It isn’t uncommon for people working from home to receive a voice message in a foreign language. The use of translation apps on mobile devices has increased, which indicates that people working from home are using these apps to make sense of the messages they receive. However, like everything else wrong with machine translations, they aren’t’ accurate. So, business owners and employees need to work extra hard to figure out the translated voice message.
Social Media Has Become the New Watering Hole
While businesses have created social media hubs for their employees to meet and discuss project-related topics, social media use, in general, has grown tremendously. Many people working from home now spend a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter, for instance. While social media is predominantly in English, browser translation plugins like for Firefox and Chrome can help make sense of posts and tweets in foreign languages.
Some plugins also make it possible to comment or reply in a foreign language, but they don’t always work as planned; that’s why they can’t be relied on for business communications.
Texting is the Latest Mode of Communication
Employees working from home will often text each other using WhatsApp or just regular text messaging. The problem with text messaging is that there is no way around using English characters. So, many people will spell out foreign words in English, something that’s referred to as Roman English. While this method is primarily used by people from the subcontinent, it is also becoming common with people from the Middle East too. So, in a way, Roman English is becoming a new language, which it has been for a while but seems to be taking off now.
Always Use Human Translators
While it’s fine to use bots and Computer-Aided Translation for regular stuff, more important communications like your brochure, website, quotation, business proposal, etc., should all be professionally translated. Nothing beats a native speaker in the language. Furthermore, it ensures that the text you send over is also culturally appropriate.