The way you approach training your workers can affect everything from morale and company culture, to sales figures and profits. But how do you create an inclusive training plan when your workers speak different languages and hail from different cultures? Below we’ll look at how to work with in-house staff or a translation company providing document translation services as an external resource, from a place of corporate training and corporate learning. This article will draw on the experience of Ofer Tirosh, CEO of translation company Tomedes, in managing a global network of translators, interpreters, and office staff.
Corporate training for operational efficiency in interpretation
The best way to make sure operations are running smoothly and that everyone is on the same page is to take a detailed and structured approach to training. For example, 74% of UK workers believe they are not achieving their potential at work and want more training on the job. Luckily, there are several ways to make sure your corporate training is well structured.
First, understand what needs to be taught in-person versus what can work well being taught online. eLearning is a great resource for learning topics such as operational procedures, culture and diversity goals, as well as computer-based skills like learning new accounting software. Many companies are adapting to blended or hybrid learning, where some learning takes place in person and some online. In-person learning is good for more hands-on tasks, like learning how to operate machinery or sales role-playing.
Next, organize courses so that they help employees gain new skills gradually or follow a certain path to gaining a new organizational outlook. Course paths can even be arranged to help someone move to management. As they relate to working with translation and interpretation, corporate training courses could include diversity training or multicultural communication.
Corporate learning should also focus on how to use workflow tools to stay organized. Having the right remote working tools can better connect diverse workers all around the globe. And if your employees are experts in using those tools, that will help projects and communications flow more smoothly.
You should also include acknowledging and celebrating diversity in your corporate training program. If you have many different cultures working under the same business umbrella, take the time to make sure everyone understands each other’s culture. This can take the form of in-service training to teach about different cultures and how to interact with them. Some companies also have employees take the time to share with others about their own culture.
In-house vs. outsourced translators and corporate training needs
Another factor that will affect your corporate training plan is whether you work with in-house translators and interpreters or outsource those services. There are benefits and drawbacks to each approach.
One of the main benefits of in-house translation professionals is that you can train them in your company’s terminology and culture. You can include them in diversity training, mission statement goal meetings, and train them in your company’s specific communication styles. You also know they’re always around and available just for you. However, it can be more expensive to keep translation professionals on staff when the work tends to be very project-based, often on a varying schedule.
The main benefit of working with an outsourced translation company is that you can better find professionals who are just skilled in a certain type of document or translation specialty. You can hire them as needed when projects arise, using translation for documents and interpretation for meetings. However, these translators and interpreters will work more independently than an in-house team and won’t necessarily take part in your corporate training.
The best way to decide if outsourcing is right for you is to assess how often your company uses interpretation and translation. For instance, if you’re a large company that constantly has meetings and phone calls between employees who speak other languages, an in-house interpreter solution might be best. A less frequent workflow may be better suited to an outsourced solution.
Keep in mind there are many specialties in both document translation services and even interpretation. For instance, document translation services fall under headers like business translation, marketing translation, legal translation, and technical translation. Interpretation has many different types, like simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation, whispered interpretation, and relay interpretation.
As Ofer Tirosh points out, “It’s key at this stage to look for an interpreter who has specialist subject or sector knowledge that relates specifically to your business’ area of operations.”
If you go with hiring a translation company, it might be easier to find specialists that focus on one type of interpretation or translation type. Having employees in-house could mean people working on multiple types of documents and interpretation as the need arises. If you work in a very technical or niche business type, it might be worth calling in a specialist. You might even try a hybrid technique where you have your main interpreter or translator, and then call in a specialist for certain highly technical needs and services such as certified translation.