Adopting a global language policy is not easy, and companies invariably stumble along the way. It’s radical, and it’s almost certain to meet with staunch resistance from employees. Many may feel at a disadvantage if their English isn’t as good as others’, team dynamics and performance can suffer, and national pride can get in the way. But to survive and thrive in a global economy, companies must overcome language barriers—and English will almost always be the common ground, at least for now.

The fastest-spreading language in human history, English is spoken at a useful level by some 1.75 billion people worldwide—that’s one in every four of us. There are close to 385 million native speakers in countries like the U.S. and Australia, about a billion fluent speakers in formerly colonized nations such as India and Nigeria, and millions of people around the world who’ve studied it as a second language. An estimated 565 million people use it on the internet.

The benefits of “Englishnization,” as Mikitani calls it, are significant; however, relatively few companies have systematically implemented an English-language policy with sustained results. Through my research and work over the past decade with companies, I’ve developed an adoption framework to guide companies in their language efforts. There’s still a lot to learn, but success stories do exist. Adopters will find significant advantages. 

How do customers usually approach you? What calls to action do you use in your marketing materials? By thinking carefully about the contact details you provide to overseas customers, you can channel their enquiries towards the most convenient method for you to handle their enquiry, and then respond.

This doesn’t have to be a massive undertaking to localise every inch of your website and product catalogue – you’ll see results from just a couple of translated pages.

By localising key information – perhaps just your home and contact us pages – you are demonstrating to international customers that you are interested in them and have made an effort. They can then contact you with a specific enquiry, and your dialogue can begin.

You can use an email translation service to provide a seamless response. A good service will be able to turn this around for you within a couple of hours. This will make the customer feel valued and avoid any potential for confusion or misunderstanding, especially if your product or service is technical in nature.

Handling telephone enquiries from international customers can be tricky, but there are ways to tackle any language barriers if your customers are more likely to pick up the phone than contact you by any other method. If you have members of staff who are able to speak different languages or are willing to learn, this is a good opportunity for skills development; or you can use an inbound multilingual call centre if you anticipate a high volume of enquiries.

If you can persuade your receptionist to learn just a few key phrases, it will make a big difference on the first impression an overseas customer has of your company, as well as setting you apart from competitors. 

Google Translate is still one of your best online resources to help break the language barrier since it’s simple and basic. But it has some other powerful features as well, like offering a native speaker’s pronunciation of a word or phrase.

Other free translation tools that you could use would be Bing Translator, Linguee, Prompt, or Quest Visual. 

•Large site translation may be prohibitive 
 - decided by corporate department responsible for page content

•Mandatory translation into all supported languages 
 -home page 

•Use translation services and software 
- human translation like key marketing messages

-Concentrate on the initial point of contact 

-Make website multilingual 
- Using Translation Websites

-Use Email as your main method for communicating with international customers 

·         Have multiple language for the website 

·         Narrow market 

·         Translate Documents 

·         Use technology – Google Translate 

·         Use visual methods of communication - Visual communication is an extremely powerful tool. After all, humans are essentially visual learners. This also matters when it comes to overcoming language barriers. Instead of text, you want to use pictures to convey your messages, instructions, or assignments. This means having signs, cue cards, and other visual aids for your team members to use. 

·         Use simple language (simple words)