In 2015, the Census Bureau reported that the United States was home to 63.2 million non-English speaking residents, and those areas, such as the Bronx and Miami, actually have a higher percentage of people who do not speak English. These numbers hold major significance for many business owners as these people also make up the workforce and consumer market.
In order to reach your full business potential, you shouldn’t limit yourself to only interacting with English-speaking Americans. Fortunately, a language services provider understands this and offers a brilliant solution.
What is a language services provider?
A language service provider offers a wide range of linguistic and translation services.
Translation services for business include:
- language translation
- telephone interpretation
- desktop publishing
- digital content creation
- website translation
- multilingual narration
- help system translation
Each of these services presents a unique set of benefits to your business, eliminating the language barrier that limits your business potential.
Who needs translation services?
To show the widespread need for language service providers, here are 5 industries that can greatly benefit from using a language services provider.
1. Manufacturing
The manufacturing industry hosts a diverse workforce, with an estimated 23.8 million immigrant workers, making linguistics an important part of hiring and communicating with employees. More importantly, you are responsible for keeping them safe on the job by making sure that they understand how to properly operate machines using regulated and properly translated safety precautions. OSHA research revealed that more Hispanic employees are injured in the factory than any other ethnic group.
Furthermore, whether your company manufactures food, toys, parts, chemicals, textiles, or machines, you also hold the responsibility for creating easily understandable:
- warning labels
- proper instruction manuals
- HR procedures
Failure to properly communicate can result in a smaller market, injury, and lawsuits. Successful companies embrace multiculturalism and put in place language programs for their workforce, upper management, and product distribution.
2. Digital marketing
Digital Marketing companies know that their service provides a reach that expands around the world. They are one of the top companies that need translation services because of this.
Partnering with a language services provider ensures that their advertising message clearly comes through in every language, giving them a leg up on more limited marketing companies who struggle with the language barrier. Imagine your apps, websites, and software having the ability to reach every potential customer.
Furthermore, a language services provider can also assist your employees who need language translation services. Mandarin Chinese is not only the most widely spoken language in the world, but due to the technology-driven culture in modern China, you may find that some of your top employees come from there.
Language translation services will help your company reach its potential both internally and externally.
3. Medical
The medical field needs translation services everywhere, including doctors’ offices, hospitals, and behind-the-scenes companies that deal with insurance, pharmaceuticals, and medical supplies. Regardless of the language they speak, everybody needs access to proper medical care. Here are some examples:
- Doctor offices and emergency rooms should always have a translator who can personally assist the patient and staff to ensure that needs and instructions are properly communicated.
- Pharmaceutical companies need to deal with the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of medications, creating a huge need for translating information, software, and websites.
- Medical insurance companies deal directly with patients over the phone and need to provide telephone translation services for those who cannot fully understand or speak English. Furthermore, all of the documentation makes desktop publishing services incredibly important.
- The medical supply industry sees devices from all over the world and needs to deal with international teams, making language translation services imperative. Furthermore, like manufacturers, they need to pay attention to regulations and labeling information, ensuring it meets legal standards.
4. Education
NPR reported that 1 out of every 10 students in US public schools needs to learn English. This means that their parents most likely cannot speak English either. This poses a problem when it comes to the following instances:
- enrollment
- communicating with the teacher
- understanding permission slips, they need to sign
- reading assignments and knowing what their child is expected to do
Parents find very few things more important than their child’s education, and public schools are responsible for educating children and keeping parents informed.
5. Legal
How can people abide by the letter of the law if they do not understand the language? The legal system needs to provide people with precise interpretations of:
- contracts
- information on mergers, acquisitions, patents, and reports
- hearings
Pairing with a language services provider is pertinent for any legal environment in order to lawfully protect the legal rights of non-English speaking parties.
Other business sectors that need translation services
Aside from the industries mentioned above, which industries need translation services?
- e-commerce
- software and hardware industries
- gaming
- retail
- travel and hospitality
- social media
- finance
All companies can benefit from a language services provider in one way or another.
What are the overall benefits?
We looked at the specific needs of specialized industries, but what are the overall benefits for any business deciding to pair with a language services provider?
Access to a number of languages and dialects
Anyone who can speak four languages will seriously impress any firm, but what about all of the other globally important languages? Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, German, Portuguese, Russian, French, Japanese, and Hindi all hold importance in global market communications. And that is not to mention the hundreds of other languages your business may encounter.
It takes a team of people who specialize in specific languages and industries to equip your business linguistically fully.
The specialized features provide tailored support
Even if an employee knocks your socks off by speaking multiple languages, they may not have the proper background to single-handedly resolve every issue. For instance, they may help with basic translation, but do they really know the languages well enough to make your marketing strategy clearly portray your business in all languages? Can they also translate the written language?
Chances are, they cannot. A language translation service, however, can do all of that and more.
Increased profits, savings, and customer care
Regardless of which industry ladder you plan to climb with your business, hiring a translation service from the get-go will increase your profits. It will expand your workforce, thus increasing production and expanding your consumer reach.
It will save you the expense of needing to scramble for a last-minute translator or legal expenses from an employee or consumer who did not understand the specifications the law required you to provide clearly. Customer service will also improve for your company when you can easily communicate with any customer who needs help.
