Category: Blog

Developing Effective Curricula for English Learner Students with Jose Torres

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

The Language Access Lectern | a Piedmont Global Podcast | Episode 5

Comprehensive language access is about more than interpreting services. Teachers play a crucial role in developing tailored curricula for English Learner (EL) students. K-12 Language Access Consultant Mark Byrne spoke with Jose Torres of Baltimore City Public Schools about the importance of role models in the classroom and educational materials that meet the unique needs of secondary English learners. 

You can listen to episode 5 of the Language Access Lectern here. Keep reading for a recap of Mark and Jose’s engaging conversation, which emphasizes the power of innovation in education.

 

Answering the Call to Serve English Learner Students

Mark: What brought you to this point in your career as an educator and advocate for English Learner students?

Jose: I’m from a migrant family. My parents and siblings all used to travel as farm workers, tomato pickers, or line pickers for whatever was in season. There were eight of us, and all of my siblings were born in different states. I guess it was instilled in me as a child that you go where the need is.

I’m a teacher and have spent well over two decades working with English learners. I’m originally from South Florida, where the predominant language is Spanish. I moved to Baltimore in 2006 because there was a demand for bilingual instructors like myself. I started working in the refugee centers and community college.

Mark: That’s a very courageous thing to do, to put yourself where you’re needed.

Jose: As the youngest of eight, my mother instilled in me from a young age that I had to finish high school and get an education. I like to tell my students my story and show that I came up in a similar situation as they did. You can do something more, but you need an education—don’t throw this opportunity away, because there is a bigger world out there.

Mark: Sometimes, we take opportunities for granted, so it’s great to hear how your family has pushed you forward. Now, you’re taking those same lessons and applying them to your students.

Jose: Back to why I moved here. I think our students from a predominantly Hispanic population need to see people in teachers’ positions because there’s that whole adage about seeing somebody who resembles me in leadership. More importantly, building those relationships with the students, and not just making it about your race or skin color, can help them make the best of their opportunities.

Mark: Self-belief is a big part of that. If you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll have a hard time running through the wall that’s blocking you.

Jose: When you don’t have much growing up, you have to make use of what is around you. I try to tell students that maybe there are financial struggles at home, parents are at work a lot, but what do you have around you? Homework assignments, projects… Don’t turn away from that. Build on them and get something out of it. When you’re older, you’ll be able to put that in your toolbox. Language acquisition is a tremendous tool.

 

Writing a Textbook to Meet the Needs of English Learners

Mark: Talk to me about what inspired you to put pen to paper and build a textbook to support language acquisition for English Learners.

Jose: Working in refugee centers and the community college, I was around students who resembled my parents. I saw how they would struggle, and the books we used were inadequate. I’m putting it very kindly. I remember asking the director of the college where I worked, can you get us better books? Because these books are—and I don’t mean to sound rude—but they are no good. They’re not serving the language skills these students need at the very basic level.

He kind of joked about it, saying if you don’t like these books, then make your own. Well, be careful who you say that to. I went home, thought about it…and you know what? Maybe I will write my own book.

I reached out to an old professor for advice and started experimenting. It turns out, when teaching adults phonics and the accompanying image is aimed for children, it is somewhat insulting. I started grabbing different images and noticed adult students becoming more engaged. Then, I started collecting data and linking it to assessment scores. Sure enough, when we compared those numbers with the sample groups, we could see a difference. The college was sold on it, saying I had solved one of the big issues they faced. Then, I presented it and received an achievement grant to publish and print it.

Mark: How many were you able to print at the start? What does the business of textbook publishing look like?

Jose: I showed the prototype, then the college bought hundreds of copies.

 

Adapting to Virtual Learning with EL Students

Mark: How many versions of the textbook have you produced over the years?

Jose: The first edition came out in 2016. We were riding on that for a few years, and then the pandemic hit. Everything stopped, and everything hit rock bottom. As instructors, we had to evolve what we were doing when school went virtual.

Mark: Education was certainly impacted by the pandemic. Do you think there are silver linings from the experience with COVID-19, or do you think or is that was lost time?

Jose: Remember what I was telling you earlier? When I was a kid, I had to make use of what I had. This is an ongoing theme that I share with my students. Having to rely on virtual classes and doing things online changed the game. The first edition book, which was great for its run, did not fit into this new online world, so I had to create a second edition that goes with virtual learning.

I decided to create a video component that goes with it. All the major activities in this textbook have video components with individual QR codes on the pages. So, if a student is going to practice pronunciation, a sentence, or a conversation, they use their smartphones, and the QR code takes them right to the video. Teachers don’t have to sit there and try to find a website or a link; they can just use that QR code.

Students can practice independently at home. A student might hit snags, and they feel like the whole class is leaving them behind. Now, with these QR codes, they don’t have to feel like they’re falling behind. They can always go back and keep working on things.

This second edition came out in 2024, so it took me about two or three years to put it together.

Mark: What would be the most inspiring piece of feedback you’ve gotten over the years?

Jose: Teachers using the book say it’s refreshing to work with materials created by a teacher who’s actually using their own stuff. A lot of times, as teachers, we get handed these books and materials from higher-ups who probably haven’t sniffed a classroom in 20 years. I’m just a working teacher in the classroom every single day, so when I hear that from other teachers, it’s nice to know. 

 

Listen, watch, and subscribe to The Language Access Lectern on YouTube and piedmontglobal.com. Learn more about interpreting, translation, and K-12 language access planning services from Piedmont Global.

Innovation in Language Services: Acquisitions, Value Chain Consolidation, and the Influence of AI

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

Language service providers (LSPs) are adapting to the rapid changes in the market driven by the advent of large language models (LLMs) and the increasing commoditization of language tools beyond Google Translate. Natural language processing and Machine Translation (MT) have both seen explosive growth in the last five years, with ChatGPT-like products becoming increasingly mainstream and integrated into mainstream authoring tools, search engines, and even consumers’ phones. Technology that was standardized by a few cloud providers just a few years ago is now able to be built by smaller teams and specialized to solve specific customer needs. While the increased sophistication of LLMs had initially raised doubts, LSP industry growth now hinges on the capacity for these tools to transform the value chain.

As a result, our industry is at a turning point. Due to significant fragmentation, the top 100 LSPs account for just 20.5 percent of the industry, per Nimdzi. There is ample opportunity for consolidation. Nimdzi maintains its prediction that the LSP market will sustain a CAGR of seven percent, achieving a $95.3 billion valuation by 2028. Growth is expected to remain concentrated among the business models enjoying the highest demand: interpreting-focused firms, media localization, and those embracing tech-first solutions. Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity reflects these trends.

Given the fragmentation of the market, especially in key regions such as Africa, there is a slower than expected growth rate for providing services to a growing population and economic powerhouse. It’s not just one location, but it’s indicative of how the scattered allocation of resources in the 19th century language services model persists to this very day. With the advent of new technologies, many locales can leap-frog over the gradual and procedural advance and go straight to large language models and newer methods without the decades of investment and millions of dollars of cost.

Here are our top observations about the continued transformation of the LSP value chain, driven by AI and M&A activity.

 

Mergers, Acquisitions, and Funding

In 2025 and onward, the language services industry will continue to trend towards consolidation. According to Slator, the leading categories of acquisition transactions in recent years involve media localization, interpreting, and sign language accessibility services. What’s driving these purchases is the strategic expansion of in-house capabilities in the areas of increasing demand.

In-house capabilities are increasingly favored over a contracted services model. To compete, LSPs must be able to pitch more comprehensive services and maintain control over end-product consistency and costs.

With increasing merger and acquisition activity, especially among tech-first business models, the LSPs that embrace advanced solutions are positioned to thrive in the next decade. Buyers face intense cost competition. They demand agile operations and choose partners offering wider work scopes and stronger contracts. Through this strategy, technology cannot supplant the value provided by third-party LSPs, particularly when the tools can be bespoke to industries or even individual, large-volume clients.

 

Tech-Driven Advancements to the LSP Business Model

Generative AI has accelerated the possibilities for language services by increasing volume, capacity, and speed. The challenge is how to leverage these advancements in such a way that does not cannibalize our industry’s value proposition.

For example, large buyers have experimented with developing or purchasing MT tools that bypass LSP involvement. Between 2017 and 2018, Netflix launched Hermes, a content localization platform that onboarded freelance linguists to address the growing demand for global streaming. Netflix ultimately returned to working with its language service partners and closed the platform after just one year, but disintermediation remains a core challenge to language services.

 

Evolving the Value Chain through M&A

From procurement to consolidation: acquisitions are transforming the value chain to bring greater consistency and value to the end customer. By expanding in-house capabilities in media, interpretation, accessibility, and other high-growth areas, LSPs can leverage vertical integration strategy to present a richer offering to existing and new clients.

This industry has been historically slow to adapt. However, large buyers with the capacity to invest in large-scale tools continue asking themselves whether they can fulfill their language service needs internally. High-tech LSPs are the players poised to overcome this tangible threat by offering better and faster AI-driven solutions and more agility in an evolving space. Be it by buying technology or building it in house—see Amazon Web Services and Meta —there are significant investments at play that are not always external products. At many locations, making your own technical stack is an option; albeit one with technical and language difficulties.

There are some risks to this strategy. LSPs and buyers must avoid the pitfalls of buying companies and their technology without understanding capabilities, culture, and core competencies. There is the possibility of acquiring technical debt, unsupportable requirements, or proprietary talent and techniques that do not gel with the acquiring company’s approach.

 

Evolving the LSP Supply Chain

Evolutions in language services are much more nuanced than a race to the bottom on price. On the contrary, the conversation is largely centered on a reevaluation of supply chain management through the lens of M&A strategy. A, as well as the cost of doing business. Does it make more sense to outsource or buy and build in-house?

The LSPs that will thrive in this new era are streamlining their supply chains, reducing costs & overhead, and allocating resources to proprietary AI and advanced technology that elevate the value proposition for the end customer. The key differentiator for these tech-forward LSPs is adaptability, with the tacit understanding that the value chain must be transformed in order to sustain growth.

At Piedmont Global, we are leveraging our expertise and working with researchers to develop new and better ways to serve our customers, so they can reach their audiences, communicate across boundaries, and thrive.

Follow Piedmont Global on LinkedIn for more insights and to join the conversation.

Certified Medical Interpreters vs. AI Translation: What Hospitals Need to Know

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

Before language access was standard practice, limited-English proficient (LEP) patients were found to have longer hospital stays than English-speaking peers who underwent similar procedures and surgeries. Today, language access supports timelier care and more equivalent outcomes. As hospitals continue to drive improvements for LEP patients, can emerging tools such as AI translation be used to bridge communication differences?

AI exhibits significant potential to impact the changing landscape of patient care. In some applications, such as in medical and pharmaceutical research, AI has already led to positive outcomes. However, this technology also has its limitations and remains far from supplanting the role of physicians and nurses in diagnostics and treatment.

The same is true for certified medical interpreters. When evaluating AI tools for language access in a hospital setting, administrators have to weigh the ethics and the possibility of risk. There are a few use cases where AI can offer a scaled solution for language access, particularly when translation services are needed. This does not mean AI is equivalent to the capabilities of human-powered language services, especially for sensitive, confidential conversations with providers.

According to our assessment, certified medical interpreters for hospitals will remain irreplaceable for the foreseeable future. Here’s why.

 

Healthcare AI: Opportunities and Limitations

AI in healthcare presents opportunities to help patients on a larger scale. At the same time, these tools are in their early stages and may introduce new variables that are not well-controlled. Where and when is this emerging tech appropriate for use in a patient-facing setting?

Healthcare administrators are already using AI to streamline repetitive, high-volume tasks, such as billing, insurance, scheduling, and compliance assessments, so long as tools meet HIPAA and privacy requirements. Public health researchers have leveraged AI successfully to screen patient data for early detection or risk factors of certain cancers. Clinicians are increasingly finding value in AI tools that surface data and trends that might go overlooked, which can be useful when making diagnostic and treatment decisions. In drug research and development, AI also has shown promise for identifying new therapy targets and flagging possible adverse interactions.

With these exciting advancements in mind, it is important to consider AI’s limitations. Not enough randomized clinical trials have been conducted to validate the applications of this emerging technology in clinical practice. Further, independent research has found widespread biases towards ethnic and racial minorities in training data, algorithms, and the design of AI tools, which would create more harm than good if replicated on a mass scale. This reality underscores the importance of caution when introducing AI tools into healthcare. Clinicians must remain the primary decision-makers about diagnosis and treatment.

 

Certified Medical Interpreters vs. AI in Healthcare: The Use Case Matters

These insights about healthcare AI can be applied to the context of language access in patient care. Technology has aided in the expansion of language access in hospitals, primarily through virtual remote interpreting (VRI), where LEP patients can see and listen to their interpreter through a device, and the interpreter can see and hear both the provider and patient. By connecting in minutes rather than waiting for an on-site interpreter to become available, more patients and languages are served. AI-powered, human-supervised translation can also be leveraged effectively to benefit patients, especially for scaled, repeated projects, such as translating consent forms, patient summaries, and other important documents.

When communicating with LEP patients, however, the role of certified medical interpreters cannot be replaced with AI tools. The precision, cultural competence, and sensitivity required of medical interpreting exceed AI’s capabilities. If providers have to rely on an imperfect AI tool for conversations with LEP patients, particularly considering AI cannot pick up on non-verbal cues, they become exposed to risk. Missing information from a patient’s history, medication list, or current symptoms may lead to misdiagnosis, adverse outcomes, exposure to malpractice or discrimination lawsuits, or even HIPAA violations if the technology is not compliant.

When integrating new technology into patient care, the use case matters. Just because AI can surface data about patient cases does not mean it should be relied on for diagnoses. Similarly, AI-powered voice interpreting tools may be able to facilitate superficial understanding in low-stakes situations, but that does not mean they are ready to supplant the nuance, capabilities, and judgment of trained interpreters. The risk of errors—and the impact of those errors—are simply too high. Your language access plan should identify clear boundaries for when the use of these tools is permitted or prohibited.

 

Hospital Risk Management: Evaluating AI Tools for Language Access

When creating a hospital language access plan, the role of risk management is to assess and mitigate liability, whether through compliance with non-discrimination laws or ensuring providers are able to communicate effectively with patients. For example, most language access plans already prohibit using patients’ family members as interpreters due to most providers’ inability to assess whether information is being relayed accurately. Also, many LEP patients may be hesitant to share private medical information with family members or friends, especially considering adults who may rely on their children to interpret for them.

Most AI tools will raise red flags with risk management, and for good reason. AI algorithms process large volumes of data to produce the deep insights the technology promises. If the platform is not HIPAA-compliant, ensuring that patient data is not processed outside of the hospital’s data environment, risk management cannot allow it.

Additionally, there is the issue of transparency. A significant challenge is the black-box nature of many AI algorithms. AI models are more likely to make an error, rather than identify they do not know something with certainty, further compounding the challenge. Healthcare providers and risk management professionals alike often struggle to understand how these systems reach their conclusions, leading to hesitancy in trusting and implementing AI-driven recommendations.

If you intend to incorporate AI tools into your language access plan, working with a HIPAA-informed partner can help drive success. Ideally, your partner will strike a balance with investments in emerging technology that are advancing hospital language access capabilities while remaining transparent about the limits of its applications to patient care. They should also be able to provide solutions that align with HIPAA requirements.

 

Evolving Your Hospital’s Language Access Plan

The National Health Law Program analyzed medical malpractice claims involving language barriers that may have led to patient harm. Across 35 claims, insurance carriers paid a collective $2,289,000 in damages or settlements and $2,793,800 in legal fees. The group estimates language access issues comprise 2.5 percent of malpractice lawsuits. This cost far exceeds the expense of investing in language access services, especially considering the efficiencies of video remote interpreting (VRI).

Your language access plan likely already accounts for the risks associated with malpractice lawsuits. Does it also provide strategies to address the risks introduced by AI?

Piedmont Global can help evolve your hospital’s language access plan. Through a consultative approach, our hands-on team can help you identify care gaps in the LEP patient journey, assess and mitigate risk, and clarify technology’s role in language access. You can count on our world-class team of translators and interpreters to handle healthcare-related content with sensitivity, accuracy, and cultural awareness. In over 200 languages and regional varieties, we facilitate patient-provider communication in their preferred language remotely, over-the-phone, over video, and on-site so they can understand and make informed decisions about their care.

Contact us today to learn more, and download our free eBook to create a language access plan for your hospital.

Measuring Success in K-12 Language Access: A Conversation with Mireya Pérez

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

The Language Access Lectern | a Piedmont Global Podcast | Episode 4

As English learner (EL) student populations continue to grow, language access remains an urgent need in K-12 classrooms. In conversation with Mireya Pérez, the interpreting services coordinator for Arlington Public Schools and founder of the Brand the Interpreter podcast, Language Access Consultant Mark Byrne unpacks how schools can improve coordination to help EL students catch up to their peers.

You can listen to the full episode here. Keep reading for a recap of Mark and Mireya’s insightful conversation, which was originally broadcast on Brand the Interpreter.

 

Finding Your “Why” as a Language Access Advocate

Mark: I grew up in a relatively low-income family and struggled a bit when growing up. We didn’t have a lot of opportunities to travel. When I had the opportunity to put myself through college, as part of the mission at Holy Cross, I did a cultural immersion program and found myself in Peru. It made me appreciate the sacrifices that my family made for me. After the immersion program, my language skills were sharper. Mostly, I returned with a sense of gratitude, appreciation, and respect for people and cultures.

Mireya: How did these experiences get you started with language access?

Mark: Nothing really makes me feel as good as I do about positioning language services in a K-12 setting. Language companies across the United States—and globally—don’t focus on K-12 schools as much as they should. Schools get left behind in terms of developing solutions. It’s a great opportunity to advocate for families, multilingual students, school staff, and the interpreters that we work with.

Mireya: When individuals hear language access, they may think about public education and interpreters. We know there is a lot more involved, so I’d like to hear what you are observing, the gaps you’re noticing, and your experiences with language access in schools right now.

Mark: When we talk about language access in schools, it’s about not only expanding the service itself but expanding the knowledge behind the work. As somebody who struggled with their own education, who sat through disciplinary and special education hearings and outplacements, when it became clear you’re not going to be able to make it through the school year, I remember sitting through those meetings not processing what was happening. I’ve sat in that seat and know what it feels like. But I’m also very fortunate in not having a language gap. I had to take remedial math classes, and still went on to earn my four-year diploma and a Master’s degree after that.

When you start thinking about the experience that multilingual families have in the special education realm, engagement is so important. My family was there at all those meetings advocating on my behalf. They got me through to the next level. When there is a language gap, it can be difficult for families to advocate for their students. It’s difficult for the school staff to understand what’s happening at home. At the end of the day, we want to help as educators.

Mireya: What else brought you to this field?

Mark: Another thing that shaped my foundation, understanding of the K-12 space, and how I view language access stems from my experience working with student data at a research and analytics firm. It gave me unique insight into how school leaders think about education and the achievement gaps across different student groups. When you look at multilingual families, you see that very few of them are achieving the student growth rates that their peers are. If we don’t grow those multilingual learners at an accelerated rate, those achievement gaps will continue to exist for years and years.

The business of schools is academic return on investment. It’s not about dollars invested for financial return, like you would think about in a business setting. It’s about dollars invested for student growth.

As I think about the language services space and how we position it, we need to bring resources, training, and an understanding of why we use these services to the end users. We also need to share that story with school leadership, school boards, leaders in the community, and stakeholders and share the impact that language services can make in a K-12 setting.

 

Identifying Gaps in K-12 Language Access

Mireya: In education, there are different layers of administration, and most or all of them are involved in the conversation surrounding language access. In many school districts, for example, language access is fragmented. You’ve got one piece being worked on in one department, and then you’ve got another piece of language access being worked on in a different department. In many situations, those departments don’t speak to one another. 

There are unique school districts with superintendents and board members who understand language access and all its complexities, but it’s very rare. It’s a unicorn. What have you seen in your current role in the education field and having conversations with school leadership?

Mark: I do think there is a lot of curiosity about technology, and always a focus on compliance around state and federal legislation. But language access is not equal in all 50 states. I think there’s a lot more that we can do in schools to support our multilingual families: being more considerate of tools and putting together a comprehensive plan around language access are important.

Schools have a strategic plan, and it relates to growth and buildings and creating different services within the district, but language access is (almost) never a component of that strategic plan. What you mentioned to me was that different departments are disconnected from the work they’re doing to support language access across schools, and that’s part of the conversation that I’m trying to bridge.

If the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing, then we’re going to have a hard time helping students achieve as much success as they could possibly have. That’s true whether they’re a multilingual family or if they’re a family or student who is Deaf or hard of hearing.

 

Measuring Success in K-12 Language Access

Mireya: How can someone that potentially does not understand language access make the connection to how it needs to work — and its value?

Mark: Academic return on investment is an important component for school leaders to understand. Measuring and quantifying how an investment is impacting students is critical. We need to understand what students can get out of it by taking a look at the data.

Also, when you’re thinking about the role of an interpreter, one of the most important things that we’re trying to do, especially within a special education setting, is establish credibility and trust with the family. As you start talking about outplacement services for families to react to and perhaps allow their students to take advantage of the best of what your district has to offer, you will need to get buy-in from that family. A conversation in broken English is not allowing them to have meaningful participation in their child’s education.

Often, school leaders like to think about the output instead of the impact. They’re concerned with lost time, as you might think about in a manufacturing setting. But when there’s a language barrier between a family and staff, that’s lost time right there.

Say a director at a school district has a family coming in and can’t figure out how to converse with them, and they’re sitting there while the director is trying to figure out a solution; that’s lost time. Consider how many EL students you have across your district and how many interactions they have, and then you start to realize how much lost time can exist and what an incredible bottleneck that is. I only bring this up to reinforce the importance of having a strategic language access plan to train and articulate the who, how, and why of servicing these families. 

Eager to learn more? Listen, watch, and subscribe to The Language Access Lectern on YouTube and piedmontglobal.com. Discover how Piedmont Global approaches interpreting, translation, and K-12 language access planning services here.

Property & Casualty Insurance: Best Practices for Serving LEP Policyholders

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

Of the nearly 30 million Americans identifying as limited-English proficient (LEP), 39 percent are homeowners, per Fannie Mae, and 28.7 percent regularly drive to work, per the 2023 American Community Survey. Whether you advertise to LEP policyholders or not, insurers can expect to work with customers who speak languages other than English at home and may require additional support to communicate effectively.

Claims are complex: ensuring the requirements and details are understood is paramount to success. By ensuring language access services are embedded within claims and customer service workflows, property and casualty insurers have an opportunity to convert and retain a larger share of the LEP market.

Which best practices differentiate P&C insurers from competitors that overlook this particular customer segment? We’ve rounded up actionable tips to level up multilingual service delivery, with the aim of enhancing productivity metrics and sustaining long-term policyholder retention.

 

Best Practices for Multilingual Claims Processing

While most policyholders chase lower costs when switching to a new insurer, a positive experience with claims can deter attrition. Clear communication could make all the difference, particularly when dealing with language barriers.

The United States LEP population continues to rise, exceeding more than 80 percent growth since 1990. Multilingualism has and will persist as a defining factor of American society, and the insurers who engage these customer segments effectively will be poised for growth.

A separate, climate-driven reality is the increased frequency, severity, and cleanup costs of natural disasters. Reviewing which years saw the largest number of natural disasters (where damages per disaster exceeded $1 billion) reveals that nine occurred in the last ten years. In response, claims adjusters have been expected to increase their velocity, while productivity and customer satisfaction metrics remain under a microscope. Streamlined processes allow these teams to work as diligently and efficiently as possible.

Considering these external factors will continue influencing the policyholder market, the following best practices offer insights to help teams optimize workflows during high volume periods and improve multilingual client service. 

 

Best Practice #1: Map the Claims Process for LEP Policyholders

According to SQM Group, an acceptable average wait time for customer service is 2 minutes or less. Policyholders value their time, and they expect process optimization from established companies.

With that in mind, your company has likely already mapped the claims process for continuous evaluation and improvement. However, does your team have a process map for LEP policyholders that also explains how to deploy language services? By identifying each contact point during the process and aligning it with a language access resource, claims adjusters will know how to act faster and more effectively when on the line with an LEP policyholder. 

 

Best Practice #2: Train Claims and Field Adjusters on Language Access

If claims adjusters and managers don’t know which questions to ask or how to access an over-the-phone (OPI) interpreter, their inquiries from multilingual policyholders will inevitably be more challenging to resolve. By helping adjusters immediately identify if a policyholder needs language access and how to take swift action to get an interpreter on the line, the first notice of loss (FNOL) and follow-up calls can proceed with greater ease.

Similarly, when field adjusters assess damages in person, equipping them with video-enabled devices for virtual remote interpreting (VRI) can enhance comprehension and ensure a swifter, more accurate resolution.

 

Best Practice #3: Create AHT Metrics for Multilingual Claims

Interpreting increases call times. If phone calls with LEP policyholders are measured by the same average handle time (AHT) standard as English-only calls, you might inadvertently foster an environment that disincentivizes agents to provide optimal service to multilingual customers.

Creating AHT metrics specific to LEP claims counters this effect, allowing not only for optimal service, but opportunities to make process improvements.

 

Best Practices for Multilingual Customer Service in P&C Insurance

According to TechTarget, the first call resolution (FCR) rate reveals much about a call center’s performance. If a customer’s needs frequently cannot be resolved at the first point of contact, your call center’s operational efficiency might be lower than it could be. An FCR below 75% indicates room for improvement.

Trained customer service representatives can deploy language services faster, reducing the need for repeat calls, abandoned inquiries, or extra time spent on the line with multilingual policyholders. Here are two key steps you can take to facilitate greater efficiency. 

 

Best Practice #4: Invest in a Multilingual Self-Service Library

Check the trends: which languages other than English do your customers primarily speak? Once the number of customers speaking Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, French, Hmong, or other regionally specific languages reaches critical mass, it might be worth investing in translations of your self-service customer service library.

An efficient way to translate your library is to work with a language service provider specializing in insurance content. Better yet, you can count on maximum efficiency and value if they use AI-powered, linguist-supervised processes.

 

Best Practice #5: Train Call Center Agents on Language Access

Small changes that are broadly propagated can have a major impact on productivity and efficiency. For example, if language access resources are not readily available, or customer service agents have not received sufficient training, remedying this can support higher rates of first–call resolution. Ensuring agents know how to deploy language services and providing them with chat-based and phone-based options for language support can and will move the needle.

 

Interpretation Services for P&C Insurance Companies

Often overlooked and underserved, the LEP policyholder landscape offers significant opportunities for new customer acquisition. However, to attract and retain these new customers, insurers must come prepared with a comprehensive language access plan to achieve uninterrupted service delivery when a claim or inquiry occurs.

Piedmont Global works with enterprise, mid-market, and small P&C insurance companies to elevate multilingual policyholder service, satisfaction, and retention. As your strategic partner, our services help insurers differentiate their offering and provide optimal service through: 

  • Translations, including policy documents, marketing content, chat-based support content, certified documents for court cases, and more 

Are you ready to capture a greater share of the multilingual policyholder market? Schedule a call with one of our experts today.

Humor, Culture, and Streaming: How Comedy Translation and Localization Shape Culture Worldwide

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

As a complex phenomenon that every society shares—but creates and experiences differently—humor is among the most difficult content for translators to adapt successfully into other languages.

What makes the task of translating comedy so challenging? In addition to a required fluency in the source and target languages, the linguist must possess a deep working knowledge of how audiences perceive, understand, and enjoy humor. Writing jokes comes with a particular set of rules and skills, where comedic impact, context, and nuance must take precedence over the specificity of the source text. The end result may have a completely different meaning, but ultimately what matters most is fidelity to the characters, context, and audience.

The process of adapting translations to align with local preferences and culture is known as localization. Since exported comedy content is rendered culturally relevant through localization, there is no global standard governing the creative decisions that shape a translated comedy project. As a result, a significant degree of variance can exist due to the decisions of different linguists.

Additionally, just because linguists can skillfully translate romantic comedies and sitcoms does not mean they are equipped for dark humor, standup, parody, or other comedic forms. In all, measuring success can be difficult.

With the steep rise in global streaming services and the demand for content in local languages, comedy localization has become a competitive and coveted offering. Let’s review how the top streaming services are tackling this challenge to satisfy their growing global subscribership.

Rising Demand for Comedy Localization

Only in the last decade has the demand for comedy localization become so urgent. About 101 of Netflix’s 300 million subscribers are located in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world. Amazon Prime counts on an estimated 200 million subscribers worldwide, of which approximately 88 million live outside the United States. By 2029, subscription video on demand (SVOD) is predicted to reach 1.8 billion global subscribers.

The explosion of global SVOD content has placed a spotlight on the fast-growing field of media localization. With the rise of new technologies that support large-scale translation, such as machine translation (MT) and generative AI, linguistically diverse audiences have questions about how streaming services localize content, whether through subtitles (subbing) or replacement audio in the target language (dubbing), to land jokes effectively. How much tech involvement is appropriate to balance scalability and comedic impact?

Machine Translation and Comedy Subtitling

Netflix released some fascinating data in 2023. TV streamers collectively watched over 93 billion hours of Netflix in the first half of 2023. With 4,500 of its shows available globally, Netflix stated its top-watched languages were English, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Arabic, and Russian.

To localize this many shows, the scalability of subtitling is a crucial factor. At the same time, giving up creative license to a third party can be of concern to comedians and show creators who want to maintain ownership over their work. Tech integration is inevitable, but the finished product has to be guided by many experienced, trusted experts.

Machine translation is one such tool that brings speed and scale to translation services through linguistic databases and algorithms. Of course, MT processes have their limits and cannot fully grasp context, idiomatic language, and cultural nuances. This is especially true for comedic content, where jokes and expressions are grounded in collective experiences, situational awareness, historical references, and irreverence.

Machine translation post-editing (MTPE) is a human-led process where linguists review and refine machine-translated text to secure a closer alignment with the source material. In, the case of comedy subtitling, while MT may be used to kick off the project, MTPE, creative consultations, and additional interventions are required to achieve a high-quality finished product.

Without this important work, global viewers may struggle to connect with the content. At the same time, if subtitling is poorly executed, viewers may also become frustrated and lose interest. Netflix, Prime Video, and other global streamers must walk a fine line between investing in quality and leveraging scale to develop and delight their audiences.

The Evolving Role of AI in Comedy Dubbing

Some streamers prefer to watch dubbed content, as it allows them to focus on the action instead of reading the subtitles. For the professionals responsible for generating dubs, the process often comes with significant constraints to protect the viewer’s experience. The aim is to match dubbed voices to the original actors’ lip movements as closely as possible to minimize distractions to the viewing experience. However, these constraints can result in greater context loss compared to subtitling.

Historically, dubbing has counted on interpreters with a voice-acting background. In comedy, where delivery, timing, and intonation can determine whether a joke lands or falls flat, choices here can be as important as decisions made about the script itself.

Today, technology interventions powered by generative AI are challenging the industry with new opportunities and ethical dilemmas. For example, YouTube recently rolled out automated dubbing from English into French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, plus “experimental languages that might contain errors.” However, users noted the voices sounded robotic and unnatural, sometimes selecting voices that did not represent the original speaker. YouTube has acknowledged that the tool is still in its early stages.

Media and Comedy Localization: Shaping Global Culture

It is fascinating to consider the impacts that media localization and comedy translation can have on global culture.

Decisions about whether to localize a joke or maintain fidelity to the original joke depend on a number of factors. In sketch comedy shows such as Saturday Night Live, where the storyline tends to be topical to current events, it might not make sense to localize the content, even if it is not particularly relevant in the target audience’s location. The linguists have to trust that SNL watchers outside the United States have a vested interest in American politics and popular culture.

In popular sitcoms that feature an emphasis on wit, wordplay, and identity-based humor, the task of localization is even more difficult. Famously, Seinfeld has been one of the more challenging television shows to localize in select markets for this reason. One-to-one translations of the jokes simply do not make sense in other languages, and the reliance on wordplay made adaptation without recasting the long-running character arcs a significant undertaking.

The philosophical question can come down to understanding the particulars of specific target audiences. Are viewers tuning into a foreign show in the interest of a new and authentic cultural experience? Or, do they expect to enjoy comedy realigned to their tastes? Viewers may be smart enough to recognize “bad” translations and dubs, but they also can tell when their local preferences have been recognized. This effort goes a long way.

Decisions made here have an impact on profits by way of views, subscriber growth, and retention. At the same time, these creative decisions also have the potential to generate fandoms, buzz, loyalty, and cultural affinities. As linguists and consumers of streaming content, we at PGLS will continue observing how streaming houses continue to push boundaries and strike a delicate balance between authenticity, feasibility, and audience satisfaction.

Language and Localization: How to Convert and Retain Global Consumers with Localized Content

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

Today’s leading brand marketing teams are increasingly asked to engage global audiences more effectively. It is in their interest to find the most accessible opportunities that align with budgetary requirements and can scale effectively. As digital communication and e-commerce have reduced the barriers to reaching global audiences, authentic and culturally attuned content is key to improving performance and should top the list of considerations.

In an era of noisy feeds and infinite scrolling, brands are up against a significant amount of competition in the attention economy. What drives customer engagement in your region may not translate into another culture. Translating ideas and repurposing existing concepts one-to-one is not the way to stand out.

A survey by CSA Research asked English-as-a-second-language (ESL) consumers in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Sweden to comment on shopping experiences in English. More than nine out of ten indicated they were much less likely to consider buying a product if it was neither presented in their native language nor adapted to their local preferences. One in six survey respondents would never consider investing in software if it was not offered in their native language.

 

Do these results surprise you?

Plenty of marketers still assume that campaigns and merchandising in English will work for the 1.46 billion people who speak English worldwide. This theory works when language and concepts rely on simple, universal themes. However, with only a fraction of these 1.46 billion people speaking English as their first language, and few campaigns clearing the bar for simplicity, failing to localize content could mean losing out on customers and engagement.

Individuals are more emotionally engaged when interacting with content in their native language. Why? Because familiarity and comfort significantly impact consumer decision-making. Translation and other language services can help bridge the language divide, but this is only the beginning of the process. To improve global reach and performance, brands need to go further, bringing localization into the global go-to-market planning process earlier.

Effective localization adapts translations to convey cultural references, idioms, design sensibilities, humor, and tone. When attempting to reach international markets, remember that translation is only the starting point, and that localization is the key differentiator to help you achieve your objectives.

 

What Role Does Language Play in Consumer Behavior?

Before we explore the applications of localization in global marketing and merchandising, let’s explore why language is such an important indicator of consumer behavior.  

Language shapes how individuals process and perceive information. When applied to a marketing context, language shapes consumers’ emotional connections with brands. Consider the impact if a consumer does not benefit from the ease and access provided by content in their native language. One can extrapolate the challenges to eliciting a comparable emotional response.  

For limited-English-speaking audiences, localization reduces the barriers to building a connection to and affinity for brands. This is true even if they have a working knowledge of the language.

 

How Localization Drives Consumer Engagement

Translation is part of the effort to connect with international customers, but localization is even more expansive. Localization enables brands to reflect locally held beliefs, traditions, context, current events, restrictions, faux pas, and humor.  

Getting localization right signals to audiences that brands understand them. Brands perceived to be culturally aware tend to foster deeper emotional connections with their audiences, translating into greater, more enduring customer loyalty.  

Reporting over one billion in revenue in 2024, the cosmetic brand e.l.f., a New York-based company, is currently sold in 18 countries. e.l.f. recently launched a localized campaign called “e.l.f. von zehn” (eleven out of ten) that unites the brand’s commitment to quality with German consumers’ preferences for highly rated products. As a play on words, this campaign could only work for German-speaking audiences. Its success comes directly from a well-considered localization strategy, demonstrating the value of elevating local culture through partnerships with localization experts. 

Getting culture and localization wrong can be disastrous to engagement, sales, and retention metrics. You would not base your domestic marketing strategy on assumptions; the same must be true for international campaigns. Insufficient local market research or (sometimes) reliance on one-to-one translations of English-language materials can alienate audiences and lead to wasted investments. It is important to gain a thorough understanding of your audience’s culture and language, with the help of trusted market localization experts, to deliver relevant and engaging content that leads to increased sales and conversion.

 

Impact of Localization on Sales and Conversion Rates

Brands that invest in knowledge of local customs, idiomatic expressions, and societal values are rewarded with elevated trust and loyalty. Studies on neurocognitive processing support this claim, showing that the brain is more efficient at decoding familiar linguistic patterns. This heightened engagement is likely due to the cognitive ease of processing information in one’s native language.

For this reason, localization can also be a strategic investment in higher sales and conversion rates. According to Stripe, customers may abandon purchases when the checkout process is confusing. CSA Research has also consistently found that consumers in non-English-speaking regions are almost always more likely to complete a purchase when product information is available in their local language. To avoid this common pitfall, localizing your checkout workflow can improve sales and conversion rates by reducing unnecessary friction points in the customer journey.

 

Increase Marketing ROI with Localization

For global brands, the return on investment in localization is clear. Not only does localized marketing lead to increased brand recognition and trust, but it also drives significant improvements in sales conversions. Companies that fail to localize their marketing strategies are missing out on substantial growth opportunities, particularly in non-English-speaking regions, suggesting that brands should prioritize localization in their global expansion efforts.

Brands should not overlook this strong link between localization and long-term performance outcomes. For global brands, localization is not just a marketing tactic but a critical strategy for building trust, loyalty, and long-term growth in international markets. Customers who engage with localized content are more likely to become repeat buyers and advocates for the brand. This loyalty is tied to the emotional connection that localization fosters and the sense of respect and understanding that consumers feel when brands invest in culturally relevant communication. The correlation between localization and long-term retention is especially important for businesses looking to build lasting customer relationships in emerging markets, where brand loyalty can lead to sustained growth.

Learn more about localization from a Piedmont Global expert: contact a language access consultant today.

4 Trends for Global Go-to-Market Planning in 2025

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

Are you getting ready to launch a new product in more than one country? If so, global go-to-market (GTM) planning is on the agenda. Launching new products is already complex when preparing for one market, let alone many. Introduce differences in language, cultural values, and preferences, and the challenge multiplies.

Whether your brand is a small startup or an established small/medium-sized business (SMB), global GTM planning must incorporate localization as a foundational process. Localization builds a durable link between your headquarters and your global customers, enabling you to connect with new audiences authentically and maximize buzz, growth, and profitability.

All too often, localization enters the picture after a GTM strategy has been set.

This common mistake can lead to delays, lackluster launches, and failure to achieve stickiness. You can avoid these pitfalls by bringing on localization experts earlier into the process who can help you weed out mistakes long before they become disruptive. Localization experts contribute significant value by elevating brand identity and product messaging beyond one-to-one translation into a context that resonates with clearly defined, linguistically diverse audience segments.

As we review some of the most exciting and impactful trends in global go-to-market planning in 2025, we will also consider how and where localization fits into the picture. The following opportunities are proven to build awareness, desire, and demand. When combined with strategic localization, you can achieve positive cultural impact in every target market you wish to reach. 

 

Trend #1: Create Legitimacy with Native Content

In 2024, U.S. adults between 18 and 24 spent 186 minutes scrolling daily. For adults 65 and older, that average was 102 minutes. Social media remains among the highest-performing (albeit expensive) channels for reaching your ideal audiences. While beating the algorithms can feel like a moving target, one format continues to rise to the surface: native content.

Marketers are always looking for the perfect channel, message, and aesthetic alignment to drive impact. In the case of global GTM planning, that impact ultimately should lead to sales, so brand campaigns ought to be complemented with engaging, informative calls to action. This is precisely where native content shines. Native content often strives to answer the “what, how, and why” through a consumer lens, providing a relatable, low-friction pathway to purchase.

Strategic GTM leaders must push back against the conventional wisdom that marketing content needs to be flawlessly presented 100 percent of the time. While native video may require storyboarding, basic staging, and competent talent, it does not require elevated videography, studio lighting, or professional actors. Why? The “realer,” the better—it’s all about blending in.

Most scrollers do not appreciate their feed experience being interrupted, and the majority of user-generated content on social media is not created with sophisticated production resources. Overly polished ads can, ironically, become an eyesore, and it is all too easy for users to move on to the next post or video. You should still produce brand campaigns with refined creative and messaging, but consider how native content can reinforce your brand strategy.

Localization tip: Targeting native content to reach customers with specific attributes, including language spoken, requires authenticity. If featuring talent, they should be local. Consider creating content that speaks to the themes, expressions, sentiments, and other cultural identity markers unique to each global audience segment. One-to-one translations may not land as effectively or miss opportunities to capitalize on local trends aligning with your brand and customers. 

 

Trend #2: Localize Your Influencer Strategy

If the production value of social media content exists on a spectrum, with user-created content on one end and studio creative on the other, influencer-produced content falls somewhere in between. Influencer marketing offers a credible endorsement from a trusted voice, which ideally unlocks a new pool of potential customers.

In an era of noisy feeds and split-second decision-making, there is little downside to tapping into a curated corner of the internet where your target audiences are opting to spend their time. The barrier to entry, for most, is price. While the global influencer market reached an estimated valuation of $24 billion in 2024, much of this figure comes from the millions of micro-influencers with 150,000 or fewer loyal followers.

Micro-influencers do not necessarily translate to micro budgets, as many have invested time and resources into creating valuable content that keeps their users happy. Their engagement rates tend to skew higher, leading to overperforming click-through rates compared to brand-hosted sponsored content. Depending on their track record with other high-quality brands, you ought to be able to find partnership opportunities that fit your budget and expand your reach. 

Localization tip: A localized marketing expert can help you identify regional influencers with proven engagement in your niche. Some micro-influencers may offer a more approachable pricing scheme and can advise on the culture and values of their followers to ensure your messaging will resonate.

 

Trend #3: Persuade with Independent Research

According to Google, 53 percent of shoppers research products online before purchasing, and this may be undercounted. If you aren’t already sourcing original, third party-verified research to reinforce your product story, 2025 may be the year to start. 

Where data science, thought leadership, and marketing converge, an independent research study is an invaluable asset to a go-to-market strategy. Adding a research component to your GTM plan is not something to jump into hastily, and there are ethical and legal considerations to put first. However, if executed correctly, research can pack a powerful punch to campaign results by capturing interest, establishing trust, and driving sales. Without this asset, you run the risk of shoppers visiting competitor websites to find the answers they seek. 

How you conduct independent research will vary based on industry. A skincare brand may host a clinical trial to test product efficacy. A B2B organization may run a consumer research study to provide clients with valuable insights for their businesses. Use a reputable, independent agency should facilitate the process and certify the results, and plan for six months to a year for the project lifecycle.

Localization tip: When launching in more than one country, your product’s unique value proposition may need to be tweaked. Consulting with in-market experts in the discovery phase will help ensure the scope of product research examines the benefits, attributes, or themes that local markets are likely to find useful.

 

Trend #4: Close the Deal with Localized AI Chatbots

In 2023, 44 percent of shoppers used chatbots to ask questions while considering a purchase. Eighty-two percent of customers indicated they prefer interfacing with chatbots over waiting for a representative. 

Investments in awareness and engagement strategies should be matched with investments in lead nurture and conversion. An expertly deployed AI chatbot can make a difference by providing streamlined access to common pre-purchase questions about product attributes, reviews, shipping and returns, and other relevant information.  

Alignment with sales and customer service can increase the mileage of your chatbot. It should also be trained to connect customers with product FAQs, account and subscription management information, and other post-purchase advocacy content that support satisfaction and retention.

Localization tip: Since people are more likely to make a purchase in the language they are comfortable with, train your chatbot to offer multilingual workflows. Your global customers will thank you.

 

Localize Your Go-to-Market Plan with Piedmont Global

From website, campaign, and chatbot content translation to brand, product, and marketing localization, Piedmont Global brings cutting-edge expertise to drive global growth. Reach out to a team member to learn about our innovative localization, translation, and interpreting solutions for enterprises, SMBs, and startups. 

5 Best Practices to Optimize K-12 Language Access Planning

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

English learner (EL) students often face achievement gaps compared to their peers. Recent National Center for Education Statistics data found that 6.1 percent of twelfth graders remained English learners through graduation. With 15 percent of first graders entering elementary school as English learners, as many as 40 percent of EL students could be slipping through the cracks.

The factors contributing to these outcomes are multivariable and complex, which means promoting language access is not the sole responsibility of one person or department. Rather, it is the responsibility of the entire school system. A cohesive language access plan is essential to helping multilingual students and families receive equitable access to opportunities. Without a plan, EL students are at risk of falling behind, parent engagement will be impacted, and school districts could someday face litigation.

We spoke with experts in K-12 language access planning to create the following best practices guide. Administrators and teachers can use these tips to map out, fund, administer, and refine a plan that works for their schools and student populations. Each best practice contributes to an overarching goal: improving outcomes for students by engaging with EL families competently and compliantly.

 

Best Practice #1: Identify Your Language Access Champions

It’s no secret that most K-12 professionals work long hours. To increase awareness and adoption of language access resources, you need to make the process streamlined, and you need champions committed to cultivating enthusiasm. This is true whether you are designing your first language access plan, working to improve existing policies, or expanding a plan’s scope to support more students and families.

A language access champion may help with some or all of the following: 

  • Inform parents about their rights  
  • Show parents how to request language access resources  
  • Facilitate staff adoption of language access services 
  • Answer questions and pass along staff feedback 
  • Advocate for funding

Language access champions bring energy, awareness, and follow-through to maximize the reach and impact of this important work. Your champions may be responsible for the internal adoption of policies, while others may focus on encouraging parents to take advantage of services. In either case, the best way to locate your champions is to find out who is already making an effort.

Consider hosting a training that covers how to work with interpreters, engage with technology, and understand when it is appropriate and compliant to deploy language access. The teachers and administrators who show up with enthusiasm might be open to formalizing their role as language access champions.

 

Best Practice #2: Quantify the Need for Language Access

In many school districts, the need for language access is underestimated. This can lead to a false assumption that a larger investment in language services is unnecessary. Instead, follow the data: often times, you will find that EL families and students are underserved. 

Quantifying the need for language access is a foundational step of language access planning. One straightforward method to gather this data is tagging EL students and families in your student information system (SIS). This process should be repeated with every new school year. 

Understanding the scope of language access needs will not only help allocate internal resources. You will also need this data to take full advantage of ESSA Title III funding for EL programming.

 

Best Practice #3: Identify When Professional Language Services Are Required

In certain situations, language access is not just helpful—it’s mandatory. When meetings or documents influence decisions or outcomes related to student academic performance, enrollment, safety, or disciplinary action, professional language services must play a role. Without it, there is a risk of families not fully understanding their rights, responsibilities, or the impact of a decision on their child’s education. 

Common scenarios that require professional language services include: 

  • IEP meetings 
  • 504 plan meetings 
  • Parent-teacher conferences 
  • Emergencies 
  • Disciplinary hearings and legal proceedings

Activating professional language services for any of the above scenarios should not present bottlenecks. Procedural guidance ought to cover the following proactive steps:  

  • Schedule interpretation services in advance—don’t wait until the last minute. 
  • Add 50% more time to scheduled meetings to ensure all parties have adequate time to communicate with each other. 
  • Provide interpreters with key documents in advance to prepare for the conversation. 
  • Assure families of confidentiality by confirming that interpreters adhere to FERPA regulations.

Last but not least, there is one policy every school must follow: multilingual students are not interpreters. Using students or untrained staff can compromise the accuracy of communication, jeopardize trust, and expose the school to lawsuits. 

 

Best Practice #4: Clarify the Role of Multilingual Staff

Multilingual staff play an essential role in schools with diverse populations, but it’s important to recognize they are not a replacement for professional linguists. 

Teachers who speak more than one language can offer valuable support for informal communication needs. In contrast, interpreters are trained to facilitate accurate, culturally competent communication in formal settings with higher stakes. 

Experienced interpreters have the knowledge and skills to handle complex educational terminology, navigate sensitive topics, and build trust with families. They have experience in situations like IEP meetings, 504 planning sessions, school board meetings, parent-teacher conferences, and disciplinary hearings, where neutrality and confidentiality are essential. 

While multilingual staff bring language skills to their classrooms, they may not have the formal training or experience to provide unbiased, accurate interpretation. It also introduces liability to the school district if a bilingual staff member handles interpreting and a misunderstanding occurs. 

 

Best Practice #5: Create (or Refresh) Your Language Access Plan

Recent settlements between school districts and the Department of Justice have made requirements clear: 

  • Have a consistent, accurate process for identifying families with language barriers 
  • Provide essential information to families in a language they understand 


Maintaining an up-to-date language access plan is essential to increase engagement with EL students and families and comply with anti-discrimination laws. It should detail the who, what, when, how, and why—and identify the procedures to access language services in a timely manner. 

For low-risk, informal communications, texting apps and devices can be useful. Be mindful that these tools leverage machine translation, which is not guaranteed to be accurate without expert linguist supervision. For conversations that require more nuance, persuasion, impartiality, or trust-building, your language access plan must identify how to reach a professional interpreter. They may be accessed over the phone, via a virtual platform like Zoom or Google Meet, or in some cases work onsite. Additionally, forms and handouts for parents should be translated into your district’s most commonly spoken languages. 

 

Partner with Piedmont Global for K-12 Language Access Planning

Ready to work on your language access plan? Whether you are starting from the beginning, making improvements, or simply looking for a language services provider with education-focused linguists, Piedmont Global can help.

Piedmont Global works with school districts across the United States to build a pathway to compliance and support better outcomes for EL students and families. For more information on creating, implementing, and optimizing your school’s language access plan, reach out to our team of experts today.

How Manufacturing Translation Services Drive Global Growth and Compliance

Posted on by Piedmont Global Marketing

In response to the global disruptions and harsh lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, most manufacturers are working to de-risk their supply chains. As commerce continues to trend towards increasing interdependence, the risk of disruptions—due to geopolitical conflict, war, tariffs, and other circumstances out of the industry’s control—remain prescient.

According to Accenture, manufacturing success in this decade and onward depends on lessons learned and accelerating value chain transformation. Manufacturing businesses that prioritize people-first, technology-led solutions can better protect against future supply chain disruptions. Better yet, if the solutions can also match accelerating consumer demand, a handful of manufacturers have an opportunity to lead.

One such area ripe for transformation is the relationship between global manufacturers and language service providers (LSPs), brokered by advanced technology, such as generative AI.

A recent McKinsey report named generative AI “a new frontier for problem-solving, illustrated by recent innovations in content creation, insight generation, and human-like interaction.” In the manufacturing sector, generative AI can be used to guide and supplement predictive maintenance, automated root cause analysis, production plans, route design, and more. For LSPs, generative AI presents the possibilities for greater scalability, precision, and data security. In both cases, human oversight remains essential to quality assurance.

Combine the two, and manufacturers can expect measurable efficiency gains, consistent quality outcomes, and enhanced safety and compliance. 

 

How Manufacturing Translation Services Can Improve Production Efficiency

Increasing production efficiency is a call to every plant manager. Which levers are the right ones to pull?

Staff utilization is a core metric that almost always has room for improvement, and it can be one of the most challenging to impact. Immediate gains in human-led outcomes are not easily won. Introduce language barriers, and the challenge increases.

Is it possible there is a knowledge gap between management’s expectations and current performance? When working with a multilingual workforce, the quality of content provided—through written materials, videos, seminars, and onboarding—has a direct impact on on productivity outcomes. Facilitating effective team meetings across language barriers also matters.

Manufacturing translation services can help identify and address current gaps in translation quality, which may be contributing to lags in production efficiency. Then, your LSP can use generative AI to transform or modify existing content to land more effectively with multilingual staff. The aim is to deliver a consistent training experience, no matter which language your staff speaks at home.

An investment in clear communication sets a higher bar for performance, which lays the foundation for increased production efficiency over time. On the other hand, skimping in this area exposes the operation and personnel to significant risks. 

 

Ineffective Communication Worsens Safety, Compliance, and Performance Outcomes

Poor communication, mediated by low-quality translations, can lead to tragic outcomes and costly mistakes.

According to the Department of Labor, Hispanic and Latino workers are projected to make up 78% of new workers by 2030. The job fatality rate of Hispanic and Latino workers is 24% higher than the national average, increasing again last year to 4.6 per 100,000 workers.

Also, the total cost of work injuries in 2022 was $167 billion, which included wage and productivity losses of $50.7 billion, medical expenses of $37.6 billion, and administrative expenses of $54.4 billion.

Companies have a legal and ethical responsibility to communicate safety and training resources in the languages spoken by their workers. Without multilingual support, it is impossible to expect equivalent safety, productivity, and quality outcomes for all workers.

 

How to Streamline Workforce Communications for Efficiency and Compliance

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, more than 71% of manufacturers said their leading challenge is attracting and retaining employees. Turnover might seem like an inevitable reality for many plant managers, but there are steps you can take to mitigate it.

Your partnership with an LSP can lead to safer outcomes for workers, while also targeting enhanced performance, by taking the following steps.

 

#1: Ask, do not assume, about workforce language needs

By engaging with migrant and non-native-speaking workers directly, manufacturers can more effectively recognize and address the diverse needs of their workforces.

 

#2: Document processes thoroughly

Accurate translations for manufacturing safety guidelines and procedural steps can mitigate safety risks and improve performance and job satisfaction.

 

#3: Localize documentation for worker groups

ESL or non-English-speaking workers deserve clear communication. Technical translation services for manufacturing and accurate interpretation strengthens your relationships and trust with frontline workers, which support better performance and retention.

 

#4: Offer language training

Language training can improve workforce communications, enhance safety and compliance, boost efficiency and productivity, and increase employee satisfaction. 

 

The Role of Generative AI in Global Manufacturing Language Services

In response to increasing demand for speed and precision, leading LSPs are scaling manufacturing language services with the help of generative AI. Together with human oversight, Gen AI increases productivity, aligning better with production schedules without overtaxing budgets.

The technology has enabled transformations to language service providers’ value proposition, including: 

  • Enhanced security: API-based data transmission ensures greater security than browser-based machine translation (MT) tools. Clients can also choose self-hosting for extra protection. 
  • Customizable large language model (LLM) integration: Incorporating large language models enhances the translation quality of complex, context-sensitive content. 
  • Text optimization and post-editing: Tools can automatically rewrite source text for better MT results and apply automatic or human post-editing for a refined output. 
  • Integration of translation memories and style guides: Ensure consistency by leveraging your company’s translation memories and incorporating your brand style with glossaries and custom prompts.

 

Selecting Your Global Manufacturing Translation Services Partner

Effective communication, well-documented processes, and accessible training that reach across language barriers can increase production efficiency, personnel retention, and compliance.

Your manufacturing language services provider should offer all the necessary services to support your required outcomes:  

  • Expertise in global manufacturing operations 
  • Remote and virtual interpretation 
  • Generative AI capabilities

As a leading provider to global manufacturers, Piedmont Global brings deep expertise and a commitment to excellence for automotive, chemical, heavy equipment, and machinery industries. Get in touch today to discuss a global partnership.