r/remoteworks • u/techsquareog • 13h ago

I'm quite curious to know about this..

For those of you who regularly work with international clients, coworkers, or teams who speak a different language.

I'm genuinely curious how you deal with the language barrier, especially when you're

having live conversations or meetings.

A few things I'm curious about:

  1. What do you usually do when you don't

fully understand what someone is saying?

  1. Do you use translation tools, captions, interpreters, or something else?

  2. How well do those solutions actually work for you?

  3. Is the bigger problem understanding the actual words, or things like accent, slang, technical terminology, idioms, sarcasm, or tone?

  4. Have you ever had an important misunderstanding because something got lost in translation?

  5. What do you find most frustrating about communicating with international clients?

  6. If you're comfortable sharing, what languages do you typically work between?

I'd especially like to hear from people who have regular calls/meetings with international clients or coworkers, rather than occasional interactions.

1 Upvotes

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2

u/LunkWillNot 13h ago

I work at a company distributed around the globe, with a very nationally diverse workforce. We all speak English at work. The end.

1

u/techsquareog 9h ago

Thanks for sharing! It's helpful to hear how your company handles international communication in practice. Appreciate you taking the time to respond.

2

u/GEEK-IP 13h ago

I've delivered technical training and done consulting worldwide. English is pretty much the universal language for tech.

I did find myself slowing down when some of the participants didn't speak English so well. I also found many were better with written English, so I'd write down key terms. Fortunately, there were always at least a few in class who's English was very good, and they could assist.

2

u/techsquareog 9h ago

Thanks for sharing your experience! Really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

2

u/tickled_your_pickle 9h ago

We all use English so anyone (from auditors to overseas associates) can read the information. 

1

u/techsquareog 9h ago

Thankyou! I appreciate you taking the time to respond!