We’ve all attended some sort of business conference, trade show, or convention. The typical focus of these events is the current state of and/or future of an industry. This year, the Globalization and Localization Association’s (“GALA”) 2018 conference, GALA has broken the mold. Instead of focusing inward on the language services industry and its pitfalls, trends, and future, GALA is focused more on delighting end users. What does this mean?

 

With Whom are We Speaking, Really?

When you talk about language solutions, it’s all about making sure your message is heard and understood by someone who may speak a different language and/or come from a different culture. However, very few language solutions companies work directly for the person that hears (or reads) the message. Rather, the focus of the language industry is on the ones delivering the message. i.e., our clients. It follows that, to truly invest in our clients’ success, we must focus on delighting our client’s clients – i.e., the end user with whom our clients wish to communicate.

 

Vocalink Global’s Mohamed Hassan was part of the GALA Program Committee that put together this year’s conference theme and program, and he couldn’t be more excited to see this end user focus.

 

“A great, go-to-market strategy is all about the personalization of the message for the end user,” he said in an interview with this author. He continued, “Truly personalizing the message means taking a deep dive into the personas of your target audience. This must necessarily include linguistic needs and cultural resonance.”

 

Personalization: Linguistic and Cultural

 

Linguistic Personalization

Linguistic personalization focuses on language. Of course, it goes beyond basic translation. Translating the American idiom, “it’s raining cats and dogs,” on a word-for-word basis pretty much guarantees that that most of the rest of the world will be confused. Linguistic needs must focus on the message, not the words. Continuing with this basic example, Russians, Germans and Italians might say “it’s raining from buckets.”

 

Cultural Personalization

Cultural personalization cannot be overlooked.  Cultural personalization is an integral part of the This dichotomy can be a little confusing. Let’s explore.

 

In Vocalink Global’s home country, the United States, we have an incredible diversity of cultures living and working together. While there are some overarching cultural values, the U.S. is home to numerous ethnicities, languages, and religions. This fosters a very open culture, where new concepts and ideas are constantly introduced and accepted as part of our “norm”. Scholars sometimes refer to this as “cultural heterogeneity.”  This isn’t the case everywhere in the world. In some cultures, which scholars refer to as “homogenous,” the “norm” is for most/nearly all of the population to share the same type of cultural values, language, ethnicity and religious system. Japan is often cited as an example of homogeneous culture. Homogenous cultures can be more closed, where new concepts and ideas are not as common or readily accepted.

 

When businesses in one type of culture wish to branch out to the other, or to do business with the other, the localization process must necessarily expand. Take, for example, a marketing campaign designed for the U.S. market. Just translating this campaign – even taking into account idioms and colors and such – often won’t do the trick. To truly personalize the message, it must be crafted from the ground up to resonate within a homogenous culture.

 

Solutions for Delighted End Users

At Vocalink Global, we approach client success from the end-user perspective. We understand that, for our clients to succeed, their clients and customers must hear and understand the intended message. This forms the foundation of several of our enterprise language solutions:

 

• The GlobalBrand: Harnessing the power of language services to deliver culturally relevant content across multiple channels, while preserving the integrity and consistency of your brand.
• The ConnectAnyHow: Putting the power of the spoken word at your fingertips across language and culture to reach your end user where they are.
• The Upstream: Creating localized market engagement means personalizing your message and content for your end user. Leading with language and culture ensures your message will resonate.
• The InsideOut: When your end user is your multilingual workforce, personalizing your message and content leads to increased engagement and employee advocacy.

 

Connect with us today to learn more.