Working with global clients who need to communicate with employees around the world, I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the challenges of translation. This issue is not likely to go away any time soon as more companies see opportunities and set goals to grow their business globally.
To be sure your internal communication doesn’t get lost in translation, consider these solutions:

Make sure mission-critical information is translated. Across the globe, people need to have a common understanding of the company vision and business goals, along with their role in achieving them. This should be communicated in their native language. Many organizations identify the key 10-12 languages most common in their organization and translate mission-critical information accordingly.
If you want an employee to do something, translate the communication. Employees can’t contribute if they don’t understand the message and how they can help—not to mention what’s in it for them.
Create a quality-control process that ensures accurate translation. Translate material locally to address cultural nuances, but coordinate all translations centrally to ensure the broader company message and meaning is getting through.
Support communication with dialogue. Incorporate face-to-face conversations and feedback techniques into your communication process to build a foundation of understanding and to help you know whether you are in sync with your audience. When addressing a complex topic, start at the broadest, highest strategic level and ensure understanding there first, then go deeper.
Give employees the choice of language. Don’t assume you know the language your employees want to use. Give them the option to get materials in the language of their choice to best ensure the messages resonate. Doing so also allows you to merchandise your translation efforts and get “credit” from employees for communicating in ways that are most relevant to them. It’s an investment to translate materials into multiple languages, so make the most of the opportunity to let employees know you care about their needs.
Define critical terminology. When you are using specific words that you want understood and repeated consistently, ask questions to ensure you and your employee audience are defining terms in the same way. For example, you might start by agreeing that your organization wants to grow and be profitable, then you could discuss what that means to the audience. In this case, questions like, “What does ‘grow’ mean?” or “What does ‘profitable’ look like in the context of this organization (what are the targets, milestones, how are we growing)?” can help individuals relate to the larger goals.
Focus on what your audience is saying. Check for understanding with occasional clarifying questions such as, “How would you explain what I’ve just told you?” or “Could you share your understanding of this approach?” When you ask people to paraphrase back to you what they’ve heard, you know where they are coming from and whether they have received the message or not. And just as important, the questions people ask tell you what they are thinking and how much they are connecting with your message.

How are you ensuring that your message is understood across the globe?
- David Grossman
______________
Learn how to communicate in a way that resonates. Download our Can You Hear Me Now? eBook today!





(function(){
var s='hubspotutk',r,c=((r=new RegExp('(^|; )'+s+'=(*)').exec(document.cookie))?r:''),w=window;w=w||c,
hsjs=document.createElement("script"),el=document.getElementById("hs-cta-14c7c818-7d91-492c-8b87-ab04c269afe5");
hsjs.type = "text/javascript";hsjs.async = true;
hsjs.src = "//cta-service-cms2.hubspot.com/cs/loader.js?pg=14c7c818-7d91-492c-8b87-ab04c269afe5&pid=83405&hsutk=" + encodeURIComponent(c);
(document.getElementsByTagName("head")||document.getElementsByTagName("body")).appendChild(hsjs);
try{el.style.visibility="hidden";}catch(err){}
setTimeout(function() {try{el.style.visibility="visible";}catch(err){}}, 2500);
})();


http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leadercommunicator/~3/L04lidEazbw/Don-t-Let-Internal-Communications-Get-Lost-In-Translation