The need for frontline employees who speak foreign languages is greater than ever. In the US, about 68 million people—nearly one in five— speak a language other than English at home. Of those, about 30 million have limited or no proficiency in English.
There are states in the US like New York, Florida, Texas, and California with high immigrant populations, where these numbers are much higher, but even in states not known for large immigrant populations, there are more non-native speakers than ever, and the language skills gap is high.
Industries like medicine, hospitality, retail, and education face unique challenges and opportunities when serving non-native English speakers. This significant market segment can either become loyal customers or be alienated, depending on a business's ability to communicate effectively in languages beyond English. The simple solution is to improve customer experience with language training.
The fate of a business with a non-English speaking population is largely determined by its frontline customer service employees. When a Spanish speaker comes in the door, is someone able to greet that person in their native language? Can they help answer their questions, welcome them to their appointment, or help them make a purchasing decision?
Most businesses don’t build a multilingual workforce to ensure speakers of other languages are present on any shift. Many businesses aren’t even aware of the language talent of their employees. This is usually something training departments feel helpless to change, so they’re not focused on how to upskill employees with language training for workforce diversity.
It’s not always possible to teach everyone to do their job in a second (or third, or fourth) language, but luckily there’s an easier way. Your business probably already employs many multilingual employees. Some of these employees you know about; others, you would never guess. They all have untapped skills that could make them more valuable to your organization.
Many of them are known as heritage speakers: they speak English like a native, but they grew up speaking their parents’ native language in the home. Their knowledge of their parents’ native language (let’s use the example of Spanish) is flawless, but since their schooling and much of their professional life has been in English, their Spanish didn’t develop much beyond the words of home and family life. They might sound like native speakers of Spanish at a family gathering, but they can’t discuss math or science in Spanish because they only learned those skills in English. Luckily, if they ever want to study math and science in Spanish, the language will come quickly and easily.
So, what does this have to do with your business? It might take an employee hundreds of hours of studying Spanish before they can successfully do their job with a Spanish-speaking customer. But a heritage speaker could learn the language in just a few dozen hours through employee upskilling. This sort of targeted language training can make them a more valuable employee, more successful in their career, and more impactful in your business.
The easiest path to serving your non-English speaking customers is simple: 1) identify the need; 2) identify heritage speakers; and 3) train them on the specific language skills they need to do their job, without having to train them on the whole language. Voila! You’ve discovered unrealized value in your workforce, you’ve gained an advantage over your competition, and you’ve improved your ability to deliver your services to your customers.
This blog post was written by Jack Marmorstein, Chief Learning Officer.