5 steps for professionals in the manufacturing industryand how to get the most value

from your language service project

Communication for Diverse Cultures: The quick & simple guide to language services

Innovative Leader. Unmatched Quality. Total Resource Solution.

Diversity in Manufacturing

Manufacturing ranks as one of the most diverse sectors in the United States.1 A diverse workforce is valuable in today’s rapidly growing global economy and integral in sustaining your own company’s growth in a competitive market. More and more often, companies are building diversity and inclusion efforts into their business plan. These companies understand that diversity drives innovation and fosters competition.

Diversity means different ages, incomes, genders, cultures, customs and, perhaps most challenging in the manufacturing industry – languages. Language barriers are a challenge to communication among diverse cultures. 1. Study from Forbes Insights: Diversity & Inclusion: Unlocking Global Potential—Global Diversity Rankings by Country, Sector and Occupation

Chances are the answer is no. According to the 2015 US Census, 60 million people speak a language other than English at home, making up 21% of the total population over five years of age. Over 350 different languages were reported being spoken in the home. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2017 report, 17% of the workforce is foreign-born. How many of your employees have Limited English Proficiency?

Is English the first language of your entire workforce?

Dangers in CommunicationWhether through spoken or written communication, it’s important not only to get the words right, but the meaning right as well. For example, the Chinese equivalence of the saying, “like father, like son” is “tigers do not breed dogs.” The Chinese words are very different from the English, but the meaning is the same. It is important to understand linguistic nuances when communicating among different cultures and languages especially in the manufacturing arena. The company is responsible for relating a wide range of information. This ranges from new hire paperwork, company policies, job and safety skills, to ongoing team and performance communication. The last thing you want is to be shut down for a compliance issue because an employee on the floor does not completely understand the latest job skill or safety procedures. Translation and interpreting services allow your company to avoid problems and safety issues that might arise due to a language barrier. An investment in language services demonstrates your commitment and knowledge for employee engagement and inclusion.

Shocking StatisticIn manufacturing, foreign-born workers’ share of employment increased by 22%, from 13% in 1996 to 16% in 2001, but their share of workplace fatalities increased by 46% over the same period, from 9% to 14%.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Foreign-born workers: trends in fatal occupational injuries 1996-2001

www.affordablelanguageservices.com • 513-745-0888

Know the vocabulary oflanguage services

By now you may realize you need support to communicate efficiently and effectively to your Limited English Proficiency employees. If you don’t have a lot of experience with language services, you may not be clear on industry terminology. Do you need a translator or an interpreter? Is there a difference in the two? What other language services are there? To get the most from your language services, you need to understand what those services include.

Here are a few common language service terms to help you determine your needs:

Translation – The process of taking a written document from one language into another. Whether it's a simple informational letter or complex website translation, translators focus not only on word choice and meaning, but cultural context and suitability for the intended audience. For some texts, they may even need to take into account aspects like word connotations, sound, and visual impact.

Certified Translation – The definition of a certified translation varies by country. Many countries have professional certifications for translators, and some of these certifications can also carry legal authority to certify a translation in that country. Many language service providers offer their own quality certification.

Interpretation – The act of taking the spoken word from one language to another.

Interpreter – A professional who performs oral interpretation, allowing people speaking different languages to communicate with one another.

Transcription – Taking spoken words (often recordings or videos) and writing them down word for word in the original language followed by Translation (two-step transcription) or writing the text directly in a different language (one-step transcription).

QA – Quality Assurance – Internal document review process where language project managers quality check the document for missing text, formatting issues and punctuation. This is a final quality verification prior to project delivery.

Localization – Localization (also referred to as "l10n") is the process of adapting a product or content to a specific locale or market. Translation is only one of several elements of the localization process. https://www.gala-global.org/industry/intro-language-industry/what-localization

www.affordablelanguageservices.com • 513-745-0888

1. Assess your needs.

If you are reading this guide, you may be thinking about all the areas in the organization that may need to be evaluated for language services. The first step to maximize the value of your language services is understanding your needs to deliver the necessary and, in some cases, mandated compliance in communication. You must also understand your internal abilities to deliver that message to Limited English Proficiency employees. Some questions to consider:

• Do you fully understand the language diversity within your employee and client base?• How many employees or customers do you engage with that are LEP or speak another language?• Do your recruiting, onboarding, training and communication practices support your LEP community?• Are your safety manuals, product guides, training presentations, signage and other communication materials being fully understood by all who interact with them?• Is your website translated, localized, and targeted for the visitors you wish to attract?• Are you equipped internally to understand the complexities of your language service needs?• Do you have a segment of your business in Mexico or a facility in Canada? What about shipping products overseas?

2. Prioritize your risks.

After you have an understanding of your internal needs, you should focus on prioritizing the greatest areas of risk for your organization.

• Where is your most imminent risk? Safety materials, company policies, compliance concerns?• What areas are you experiencing the greatest pain? Hiring, training or perhaps employee engagement or turnover?• What company initiatives are in play or up and coming? New facility opening, expansion to another market, new process, procedures or maybe new equipment being launched?

3. Invest to mitigate.

Maybe an investment in language services has not hit the budget in prior years or has not had a full strategy behind it. At this point you should be ready to strategically think about the ROI for an investment in language service. While this may be an additional line item in the budget or unplanned spend for some organizations, consider the cost that failing to provide these services may have on the organization. Areas to consider:

• Are you in compliance? Fines can be costly and put some companies back years or worse yet, shut a facility down.• Do you know the compliance standards for each country in which you operate?• Are you experiencing safety or workers comp incidents, productivity lags or product recalls?• Are you creating a safe and inclusive environment for all of your employees and customer base?• Are you losing potential buyers or current customers because they don’t understand your product, sales position or perhaps find it difficult to work with you due to language barriers?

www.affordablelanguageservices.com • 513-745-0888

5 steps to get the most value from your language services

www.affordablelanguageservices.com • 513-745-0888

4. Engage with an industry expert.

At this point you have made the decision to invest in a language service strategy, but now what do you do? If this is not a core competency within your organization, don’t go at this project alone. Seek a Language Service Partner who will meet with you and your team to discuss and design an implementation strategy that works best for your organization.

• Seek a Language Service Partner who can provide a full service approach (On-Site Interpreting, Translation, Staffing Solutions and Consulting)• Ensure that your partner has quality systems in place, ISO certification is a plus and is rare among LSP organizations, ask to see and understand their quality processes.• Ensure they use and are aware of the latest technology available (Translation Management Systems, Translation Memory, Augmented Machine Translation)• Ask if they have linguists who speak the target language as their first language and who are immersed in the language and culture of your target language country(s). • Make sure they understand the manufacturing industry. Your industry can be complex in requirements and technology, and you should ensure they are fluent in the associated terms.

5. Leverage your spend.

If you have been successful in choosing the right Language Service Partner, they should schedule a meeting with you to review your company’s specific needs. The right partner can even help you work through steps 1–3 if you don’t have the time or resources internally to do so. In addition, the following considerations should be discussed to ensure you are leveraging your spend.

• The most cost effective way to meet your needs utilizing a combination of approaches such as on-site interpreting, long term bi-lingual staffing needs and translation of core documents.• The most effective way to build a client specific translation memory database to ensure continued cost savings across translation projects.• If there are templates for certain forms that can be built to reduce the need for continued translation.• How they can consult with you at the beginning of, or throughout a project to ensure the most cost-effective and high quality approach will be taken.

5 steps to get the most value from your language services

The Right Words Mean EverythingAffordable Language Services is an international leader in innovative solutions aimed at overcoming communication barriers, devoted to the weight of words and the power they have to better our world. From enhancing safety to protecting brands, we provide unmatched quality and service as a total resource solution for all of your language needs including:

Interpreting – Translation – Talent Acquisition – Consulting

For more information about our professional language services,please visit www.affordablelanguageservices.com or call 513-745-0888.