Improving the Experience of Spanish-speaking Customers
The Value of Bilingual Training
by Astrid Rial, Arial International
C
ommonissuesraisedby
companiesdiscussingthe
USHispanicmarkethighlight
thedifferencesascomparedto
thegeneralmarket.Most
managersareawarethat
Spanishinteractions,whether
theyareinperson,onthe
phoneoronachat,tendtolast
longer,butfewareawareof the
varietyofreasons thisoccurs.
ServingSpanish‐speaking
customerssotheyreceivethe
samecustomerexperienceas
Englishspeakersrequires
attentiontothe following:
usingaccurateSpanishtobe
abletomanagethedurationof
thecustomerinteractionand
completethesaleor
transaction.
2. Precision.
Englishisamoreconcise
languagethanSpanish,which
requiresmorewordsto
communicatethesameidea.In
ourexperienceasmanyas20
to30% morewordsare
requiredtodescribebusiness
conceptsorprocessesthan
wouldtypicallybeusedin
English.Thereforefamiliarity
withappropriateSpanish
wordsandphraseshelps
improvecommunication
betweenthecompany’s
representativeandthe
customer.
1. Process.
3. Background.
USSpanishspeakerstendto
askmorequestionsaboutbasic
stepsandprocessesthan
Englishspeakers.Thisis
becausethey maynotbeas
familiarwithbusiness
products,services,termsor
jargonusedintheUS.Your
representativesmustbe
preparedtoclearlyexplain
yourcompany’sprocesses
Spanishconversationsbetween
peoplefromdifferentback‐
groundscancomplicatebusi‐
nesscommunication.More
than20countries intheworld
speakSpanishusingawideva‐
rietyofpronunciation,accents,
dialectsandvocabulary.Cus‐
tomersandemployeesmay
comefromdifferentregions
whereevensimplewordssuch
© Arial International, 2014
as“topay”havedifferent
meaningsfromcountryto
country.Usingneutral,consis‐
tentSpanishbusinessterms
throughoutyourorganization
improvescommunication
effectiveness.
4. WrittenDocumentation.
Contactcenteragentsoften
spendtoomuchtimeoverthe
phonetranslatingletters,
companywebpagesandother
writtencommunicationfrom
EnglishtoSpanishorre‐
translatingpoorlyinterpreted
documents.
ManymoreU.S.companies
thanyouwouldexpect
communicatetotheir
customersinwrittenEnglish
only.Thisrequiresemployees
tospendtheirvaluabletimeon
callsandchatstranslatingor
clarifyingthecontentofthis
documentation.
Improving the Experience of Spanish-speaking Customers
5. BilingualTraining.
Mostbilingualemployeesdo
notreceivein‐language,
industry‐specifictraining.You
wouldbesurprisedtohear
howmanybilingual
representativesin theUSare
trainedinEnglishandthen
instructedbytheircompanies
to“nowgosaythatin
Spanish.”Manybilingual
employees’understanding of
Spanishisoftenlimitedto
casual,day‐to‐dayactivities,
which requirevery different
communicationskillsand
terminologythanabusiness
conversation.Companiesmust
instructtheirbilingualteam
howtouseaccurate,consistent
vocabularyinthecorrect
contextfortheirindustryin
EnglishandSpanish.
AstridRial,isPresidentand
FounderofArialInternational,a
global,multicultural,multilingual
consulting,trainingandservices
firm.Ourdomesticand
internationalclientscountonour
22yearsofexpertiseintheU.S.
HispanicMarketandthroughout
LatinAmerica.Vialanguage
proficiencyassessments,
translationsandbilingualtraining
weevaluateandimprovethe
SpanishandEnglishverbaland
writtenbusinesscommunication
skillsofcontactcenterandface‐to‐
facepersonnel.Wearethe
innovativeleaderinthedesignand
deliveryof“BusinessSpanish”
servicestocompanieswhotarget
andretainHispaniccustomersin
theUSA.
Weinviteyoutovisitourwebsite
atwww.arialinternational.com,
call1‐877‐866‐1578ore‐mail
[email protected]
Summary
Ineveryindustry,bilingual
traininghasbecomeamustto
improveaccuracy,compliance,
customersatisfactionand
collectionrecoveries.In
additiontoreducingcall
durationanddecreasing
escalations,bilingual
employeeswhoreceivein‐
language“BusinessSpanish”
trainingbenefitbydelivering
thesamecustomerexperience
inSpanishasinEnglish.What
betterwayistheretocapture
moreofthislucrativeand
growingmarketforyour
company?
© Arial International, 2014