In your business, you will most likely come across customers who speak a language different from yours. When dealing with a foreign language customer, there are some techniques to employ to overcome this language barrier and ensure you do not lose these customers. Here is a list of ways to help you deal with customers in a different language on the internet.
Use a Translation Service
As a business owner, online translation services such as those offered by Architekst can be a great idea to deal with a customer who speaks a language other than yours. Get a professional translation company that can help you solve the language barrier problem with your customer.
Be Calm and Do Not Shout
Patience, they say, is the key which solves all problems. When you start a conversation with a foreign language customer, slow down your speech; even if the customer understands your language, they might not be as fluent as you are because different people have different levels of fluency. You may be speaking too fast, and everything may become difficult for the customer to understand.
Try to exercise patience and give your customer the time to listen and understand the information you are trying to pass across. Also, take note of your choices of words and usage of phrases.
Related: 7 Amazing Communication Tools You Can Use With Clients
Ask For Help
If there is someone around who speaks your customer’s language, try to seek their assistance. If possible, hire some multilingual employees. More importantly, have multilingual people as some of your customer care representatives and get the information of all your customers who speak a different language to them.
Use an Online Translation Tool
If you communicate with a customer online via email or social media chat or if the customer sent a written message. You can use online translation tools such as Google Translate or Bing Microsoft Translator to translate your customer’s information into your language and type your response in your language and translate it back to theirs.
Keep Your Language Simple
When communicating with a customer who speaks another language, the use of sentences is crucial. Ensure you make use of simple words and sentence structure. Your sentence construction should be as simple as possible for your language to be understood.
Instead of using a heavily idiomatic expression, choose short, precise, and clear sentences. Otherwise, your customers might find it challenging to comprehend the information you share with them. The same thing goes with using an online translation tool. Keep your language simple.
Make Use of Visuals
Most of the time, images and pictures communicate more effectively than a thousand words because most people can see and can understand visual language. You could use visuals sometimes to communicate your message to your customers who speak another language to prevent you from being misunderstood. You could record a short video, take a picture, or make a screenshot to concisely explain your message.
Express Some Emotion
The emotion you express to a customer who does not understand your language will go a long way in determining whether the customer will be patient to listen to you and try to comprehend your message or not. Show that you care and try as much as possible to make them understand your message.
Maintain Your Sense Of Humor
Your sense of humor can help overcome a language barrier. The way you carry your face will go a long way in dealing with a customer who does not speak your language. You must wear a smiling face and speak in a gentle and cheerful tone to help overcome any tension while conversing with the customer and make them feel relaxed.
Ensure Your Customer Understands You
If you are communicating with a customer who speaks a different language, you may need to double-check to confirm your customer gets the message you are passing across to him or her. Do not assume your messages are clear to the customer. If you are not confident your customer has understood your message, try confirming by asking them to explain the message you just gave him or her.
Conclusion
Overcoming the language barrier can be frustrating, but it is not rocket science. You can deal with it and beat it. Follow the techniques highlighted above in dealing with your customers, and it will make communication much easier!
