Banks, mortgage companies, consumer lenders, credit card issuers, payments networks, auto lenders and leasing entities are all staring into a future filled with disruption.
There has been much talk about the “bank of the future.” Conversation has centered on offering appropriate technology and channels, but there is one critical element that is frequently missing: language.
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Why?
When you do something every day, you tend to lose perspective from time to time. It’s the nature of work that we get so close to what we do that we sometimes forget why we’re doing it.
Three recent news items have refreshed our perspective and reminded us of our “why.” They prompt us to remember that what we do each day is actually pretty remarkable.
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The elections office in Potter County, Texas, knew they had a problem after the 2016 Presidential election.
“We know that we have voters who are citizens (who are) eligible to vote and registered to vote, but if they don’t understand the language they may not actually come to vote,” Potter County Elections Administrator Melynn Huntley said in this recent video from KFDA News Channel 10 in Amarillo. “(After 2016) we realized we had a gap, particularly with American Sign Language and Somali.”
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When Procter & Gamble started selling Pampers diapers in Japan, they used the classic image of a stork carrying a baby on the packaging. They later discovered that while the legend of the stork is common in the U.S., Japanese parents tell their children a different tale. Instead of arriving by stork, babies arrive in giant floating peaches.
You might think both legends are equally strange, but the fact is, you’re more likely to purchase a product that fits the narrative you know.
That’s why any brand introducing a new product to a global marketplace needs to consider localization, internationalization and globalization well before the launch.
Let’s take a closer look at the difference between these commonly confused terms and how they work together as part of a well-designed global marketing strategy.
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The pace of globalization is accelerating, to the extent that half of customers for U.S. businesses will come from overseas by 2025. Meanwhile, three-quarters of Internet users already speak a language other than English, with that percentage expected to grow.
This reality could pose a stumbling block for some businesses. According to The Economist, nearly half of 572 senior executives interviewed said that misunderstandings and “messages lost in translation” have stalled major international business deals for their companies. More than 60 percent of these executives also said that poor communication skills have negatively affected their plans to expand internationally.
As organizations try to adapt to this new reality and optimize their language-access strategies, most are asking: Which business languages are the most important?
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This year’s open-enrollment period for Medicare will run from October 15 through December 7. Studies show that a large number of Medicare enrollees are considered limited English proficient (LEP), meaning they speak English “less than very well” and are entitled to assistance.
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Alex Gonzalez is a registered nurse in the oncology unit at Salinas Valley Memorial Health System. SVMH is a public hospital that provides quality health services to patients of all ages throughout Monterey County, an agricultural hub where a quarter of the overall population are non-citizens and more than 40 percent are native Spanish speakers.
It’s no wonder that when Gonzalez was trained on LanguageLine InSight, a video-interpreting solution that delivers on-demand access to professional linguists in 36 languages at the touch of a button, he thought the technology was heaven-sent.
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Healthcare Open Enrollment Period is coming soon. Starting Nov. 1, plans participating in the Health Insurance Marketplace will be flooded with inquiries. Agents are no doubt readying themselves for questions in every shape and form.
But are they prepared to field these same questions in a variety of languages?
This is an altogether different matter – one that has a great deal to do with providing an ideal customer experience and reaching a previously underserved market.
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Like physicians, pharmacies play an important role in empowering patients to take charge of their health
Unfortunately, language barriers often make it more difficult for non-English-speaking customers to ask important questions about their medication, take it as directed, and be aware of potential side effects.
As pharmacies serve increasingly diverse populations, language access is becoming more important than ever.
The Center for Immigration Studies reports that one in five Americans (65 million people) speaks a language other than English at home. Just over of 40 percent of these individuals is considered Limited English Proficient (LEP), meaning they speak English “less than very well” and are entitled to assistance. This LEP group constitutes about nine percent of the total U.S. population.
Language barriers can pose serious health risks to LEP customers. Research has shown that those with little knowledge of English often do not have a good understanding of their medication instructions.
Here are a few ways language access can help pharmacists empower their customers.
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A non-English-speaking mother-to-be arrives at a hospital to give birth, unaware that her pregnancy is high-risk. The clinic where she had her pre-natal appointments did not use professional interpreters. Instead the clinic relied on the serious news being conveyed by the woman’s sister-in-law, who did not have the heart to explain the diagnosis. The woman is told at the hospital that her child will not make it.
A 9-year-old Vietnamese girl arrives at the emergency room with what appears to be a severe stomach flu. The girls’ parents do not speak English. Instead of using a professional interpreter, hospital staff instead speaks only to the girl and her 16-year-old brother about her prescription, sending them home with instructions that the girl should return if she experiences specific side effects. The girl ends up having a negative reaction to the drug. She suffers a heart attack and dies.
These real-life outcomes seem as if they should have happened in days gone by. Sadly, these events took place recently. Even worse, they are not uncommon despite readily available on-demand language services.
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