Good Trends, Bad Implications
Hiring a bilingual employee is a wonderful choice a company can make to expand the culture of their workplace and bring new perspectives in to help solve recurring problems. We’re not the only ones who have noticed this well of untapped potential, as reports point to a 50% increase in job listings requiring or preferring candidates to speak a second language.
While there is much support for these general hiring trends, some controversial elements continue to arise. Thes most controversial reason for hiring a bilingual person is to use them not only for their normal role, but also as an interpreter as the need arises. It’s understandable if this is a rare occurrence, but to consistently require an employee to interpret on top of their normal duties places strain on their ability to do the job they were hired for. Employers should keep these limitations in mind before choosing to hire a bilingual staff member to handle their interpretation needs.
Certification and Vetting
The most obvious issue for companies seeking an employee that can speak a second language is how to vet their skill. There are third party programs available that employers can utilize to test a prospective employee’s skill in a given language, but most of these are automated and only focus on written translation. The few that do have an interpretation component are of course more expensive and usually only involve a person listening to someone speak and then writing down what they heard. These are of course useful skills, but they lack a lot of the practical knowledge an interpreter should wield during a session, such as how to build rapport with a client or how to translate the meaning behind a metaphor rather than saying it back word for word without context.
Nuance in Languages and Dialects
Someone who does not speak a given language can very quickly misjudge the stark differences a language can have from region to region. For example, it should be obvious that Scottish people and people from the South-Eastern United States both speak English. However, Scottish English has deep influences coming from Scots, the traditional language of Medieval Scotland, that gives it a unique vocabulary. In a similar fashion, Appalachian English, due to its high level of isolation from other languages, contains many holdovers from what was called “Colonial English,” the premier dialect of the American Colonies before their separation from the crown. Because of these vast differences in origin and influence, it’s unreasonable to imagine someone automatically understanding the nuances of a dialect just because they speak the overarching language, and can lead to a business coming to rely on an interpreter who is lacking in the ability to interact with a given dialect.
Added Strain on Workers
Perhaps the easiest to understand hurdle is how this added strain can affect the happiness and productivity of your employees. Many studies point to how a diversity in job responsibilities results in a decline of productivity across tasks. This loss in productivity is further compounded when the employee feels directionless and cannot receive training in the tasks assigned to them, which can be a common issue when employees use bilingual staff without having a language service program in place. These same issues can also result in employees becoming disillusioned with their work, leading to a higher turnover rate in the workplace.
What is To Be Done?
For companies hoping to expand their horizons and work with overseas clients, we recommend partnering with a certified language services agency to take full advantage of the services available. While this is a more expensive option, companies will find the process to be painless and easier to manage in the long run. For more information on working with a Language Services Agency, read here.
