No Habla

One of the most common fears/challenges with outsourcing is language issues.  Will I be able to communicate with my workers in another country?  Luckily the answer is yes.  Just don’t expect it to be perfect.  English tends to be close to universal constant.  You might reduce the number of adverbs and adjectives in conversation, but you will probably be able to communicate.

Email yes

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and one semester in college.  I’m still not exactly conversational beyond simple greetings, ordering beverages or finding a bathroom.  Send me an email in spanish and I can probably get through it even without the magic of Google translate.  Same with French.  I worked in Quebec for a while and even though I was lost in some of the office conversation, I could usually follow along with anything written.  Chances are that wherever you decide to outsource, they will have a basic understanding of English  so that communicating through email will generally work out fairly well.

Phone Maybe

Conversational English may not be a reality or a necessity for many outsourcing scenarios.  A lot depends one what is being communicated.  I have a graphic designer I use in Venezuela pretty regularly.  We have never spoken and after a couple edits back and forth with the first job, I don’t even make changes any more.  There have been a few times where a phone call might have helped, but in general, if you can communicate effectively through email, there may be no need to actually talk.

Coke Adds Life

If you are a child of the 60s or 70s you may remember the ad campaign “Coke Adds Life”.  Unfortunately it didn’t have the same impact in other markets.  I believe it was in China that it literally translated to “Coke brings your ancestors back from the dead”.  Similarly a thumbs up means something positive in most of the world, but not in Japan.  Try to avoid colloquialisms or regional slang in your conversation.   Some expressions we take for granted get completely lost or worse misconstrued in other parts of the world.  The Chevy Nova was a classic 70s car in the U.S. but no one in a Spanish speaking country wants a car that No Va (Doesn’t go).

Outsourcing where there are language issues might mean some additional planning in your communications, but that’s probably good even for outsourcing to English speaking workers.  Don’t assume they understand things the same way you do.  Even within the united states we have the endless debate of sub, hoagie, hero, or grinder.  Choose your words wisely and they should help you navigate the language barriers in outsourcing.