How to Deal With a Language Barrier in Customer Service

Lots of managers who deal in communications have run into the problem of a call center or company staff not up to speed in a target language for international customer support. Many Americans find this problem as consumers. No matter what side of the fence you're on, businesses can get more linguistically savvy with these kinds of practical methods.

Instructions

1. Enroll customer service reps in foreign language classes. All over the world, business leaders are recognizing the efficiency of hiring paid instructors to ramp up in-house skills from vocabulary to accent acquisition (or reduction). Getting reps "voiced" in your target languages is a fundamental step to getting linguistically closer to your customers.

2. Use cutting-edge technology as an aid. Forbes and other outlets report companies are hard at work on providing voice-to-voice translation through a wireless line. The last barrier to immediate global business is being broken down by the best technology our world has to offer, and more "e-translation" is available now than ever before.

3. Rely on written correspondence. If your customer service business suffers from problems with vocal communications, including accents, misunderstandings or dialect issues, you can migrate customer service to live chat technology. Here, it's just a matter of getting the words right, and accents and the rest don't matter. Use the abstract nature of real-time text chat technology to your advantage in reaching customers.

4. Team up to maximize language abilities. If you are relying on written customer service, you can promote error-free messaging further by arranging staff in two tiers: a front-line staff to handle and respond to messages, and a staff highly trained in the target language to edit all messages for accuracy. Setups like this can boost a company's customer service in a target language.

5. Outsource your language barrier to a third party. If the language barrier is a thorn in the side of a diversified company, that firm may want to use a third party to handle tricky communications, freeing in-house resources to focus elsewhere. Find out how outsourcing can make your customer service more effective in a global marketplace.