How to Overcome Language Barriers And Be More Inclusive With AI

While around 7,000 languages are spoken globally today, English remains the most commonly translated language. This translation focus can create a language barrier for individuals who don’t speak English. A lack of inclusive language options is a disadvantage for your business that can limit information exchange, collaboration, and customer satisfaction.

While many companies have started using multiple languages throughout their business, language barriers still exist in most industries. Ideally, a dedicated team of linguists should help enterprises adapt their communications in each of their top languages. However, as you may imagine, that is rarely possible given budgetary constraints. Thankfully, modern applications of AI can help you and your customers overcome language barriers by adapting external-facing communication channels to multiple languages. That way, companies can connect with global customers through inclusive language while reducing potential misunderstandings and biases in the process.

Exactly what is inclusive language? And how can organizations use AI to create inclusive workplaces and enhance the customer experience? Keep reading to learn more.

What is a Language Barrier?

Language is one of the most critical aspects of our lives. It allows us to share ideas, building some of the most complex fabrics of our existence. A language barrier occurs when one's understanding of the world through one's native tongue suddenly becomes unintelligible in a new paradigm.

Most people think that the barrier is simply being unable to communicate with people with one another. While that is partially true, the implications are much more profound than that. Language shapes how we think about the world, ourselves, our beliefs, and our culture. This means that a language barrier is not just a communication barrier but a personal, psychological, and social challenge that can be difficult to overcome without the right tools.

Different Types of Language Barriers

Given the complicated nature of language limitations, it’s essential to explore and understand some of the most common types of barriers to face them and better help your customers. Below, we will discuss some of the most common ones you should consider.

Barriers With Languages and Dialects

While it is intuitive to understand the differences between languages, in some cases, dialects can be so alike that communication becomes difficult.

In some cases, dialects may be different, primarily when it comes to pronunciations. However, in other cases, they may be unique, potentially becoming a barrier for people.

Multiple Word Meanings and Jargon 

Another common barrier to communication is the vast amount of meaning and jargon in certain languages. For example, a particular word with a definitive meaning in one location may have a completely different meaning in another, regardless of pronunciation and writing. 

Likewise, in multiple areas and even in professional fields, the use of jargon makes it difficult to have an intelligible conversation with individuals who speak the same language but do not know the jargon.

Another example of jargon when it comes to language is the technical aspect of particular fields. While experts in most fields can communicate complex ideas, it could still be difficult to establish communication between a highly technical person and a non-technical one.

Cultural Differences

Another barrier that must be considered is the cultural dimension. While the definition of culture is fuzzy and diverse, let’s think of it as a way for people to live well together. When language differences overlap in the cultural realm, particular words or sentences with one interpretation can have a completely different meaning in another culture. 

In other words, something that might be considered neutral might be more aggressive, or something that might be humorous could be offensive in another context. As a general rule of thumb, it is vital to be thoughtful about the impact of cultural nuances and differences to communicate effectively. 

Difference in Proficiency

Most languages have a large vocabulary with words that are uncommon for most people. While a small percentage of the population might be more familiar with the more abundant vocabulary, this can also be a barrier in some instances. 

For example, a highly educated person from a major city may have a more diverse vocabulary than someone from a rural area in the same region. That is not to say that the number of words you know determines your intelligence or ability to communicate. Still, communication is finding common ground to transmit ideas successfully. A barrier may arise if either the person with higher proficiency or the person from the rural area avoids communicating in a way that is familiar to one another.      

Conventional Ways to Address Language Barriers in Communication

Companies can tackle language barriers in multiple ways. While some are more obvious than others, exploring how you can communicate more effectively with those around you is essential. 

• Basic Language Training is the most common way to overcome language barriers. Learning a new language actively improves communication skills. While it is quite adequate and effective, learning a new language generally takes time and dedication. 
• Using Translators and Interpreters: Another common way to overcome potential language barriers is to have translators and interpreters help multiple parties communicate. While this is generally helpful, it can also be a limiting factor depending on the complexity of the conversation and the experience of the person doing the translation.
• Use of Multilingual Documentation: Multilingual documentation helps users better understand and use your program or service. While the ideal scenario is to have multiple languages for the overall experience, this is a way to help users without such a heavy lift. 
• Encouraging Simpler Communication: There are multiple ways to get a message across. Opting for the simplest way possible is a way to help people while also positioning your product or service as more accessible. However, some concepts may be more complex than others, which can also lead to confusion if overly simplified.
• Effective Use of Visual Communication: Communication goes beyond the alphabet. Including images, diagrams, flowcharts, or whatever helps you get your message across is an effective way to improve communication. Remember that while this is a great way to get your point across, clarity is essential, and sometimes visual communication is not enough.
• Most Importantly, Use of Modern Technology: Nowadays, in a more connected world than ever, using technology to communicate with others is a must. Simple translation apps can be used from your phone, helping you build bridges with people from multiple cultures. While some information might get lost in translation, you can still get around using technology for most things.

Impact of Language Barriers on Customer Experience (CX)

Language barriers can affect customer experience in multiple ways. First and most obvious, they can increase the complexity of your product or service navigation, potentially leading to slower growth and churn. Beyond that, however, the impact of language barriers can transcend the real-time experience and become a permanent part of your brand perception, hurting current and potential customers. 

Likewise, a challenging experience due to language barriers can also be a topic of conversation for people. Sharing a negative experience with their networks further increases the impact of the experience. 

Breaking the Language Barriers with AI

Artificial intelligence is great at understanding languages. While it has some limitations when innovating or creating new things, it works by analyzing and pairing massive data sets into patterns that make sense to humans. 

Regarding language barriers, AI represents a tremendous opportunity to reduce barriers and improve communication and overall customer experiences. While it can’t compare with bilingual experts, AI can translate experiences for customers automatically.  As a result, people will enjoy a frictionless experience in terms of language to allow your product, marketing, and sales teams to fine-tune their strategy, double-check translations for critical touchpoints, and accelerate business growth. 

While implementing AI in your language translation processes may result in some minimal errors, the vast majority of information is generally translated well. This allows your teams to focus and supervise translations in critical parts of the journey instead of the entire experience. 

Remember that AI does most of the work to break down language barriers. But for particularly complex, sensitive, or culturally nuanced scenarios, it is advisable to have an expert oversee the process and prevent biases or potential errors.

What is Inclusive Language, and How Can AI Help?

Inclusive language consists of words and phrases that avoid biases, slang, and discriminatory expressions. Intentional use of more inclusive language will help you and your customers communicate in ways everyone understands. It makes people feel welcome. Inclusive language resonates with wider audiences and helps companies create a more inclusive workplace. And to no surprise, on the flip side, discriminatory language is not inclusive and targets groups of people based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, and physical or mental ability.

Inclusive language is essential for all company materials — internal and external. It also includes translation and language options for job descriptions and customer service. Businesses can use AI tools to support translation based on the linguistic needs of their target audiences.

AI can play a pivotal role in breaking down language barriers. The technology can translate spoken and written text to create connections and facilitate mutual understanding. Its use of automation technologies can help you increase inclusive language across the board.

AI translation applies machine learning (ML) to interactions between people and computers. Modern AI translation tools can understand whole phrases using ML and natural language processing (NLP). Other translation systems only translate one word at a time, which can lead to misunderstandings. Computers that use ML and NLP in AI translation understand human conversations' complexity and subtle differences. This might include tones of voice, complex sentence structures, and slang. ML and NLP-enabled AI translation is usually much more accurate and tailored to the target audience.

With AI, Instead of revamping the entire experience in terms of language inclusivity, you can train the AI with the right signals for your organization and have an additional layer of supervision by an expert. As a result, AI translation services can reduce communication errors, boost accuracy, and reduce workloads, which allows you to better serve and connect with your customers.

For example, you could use AI to improve your recruiting communication materials by creating an inclusive workplace starts at the recruiting level. AI can help minimize biases in recruitment efforts and help businesses add more inclusive language that minimizes biases in job postings or advertisements. Likewise, you could use AI for real-time translation in presentations that connect with your employee and customer demographics. With AI technology, you can offer real-time translation to aid in connection and collaboration and foster understanding.

The impact of AI in CX is massive. For example, multilingual IVAs are especially helpful in contact center settings, where they are highly accessible to customers and employees. When a language barrier prevents customers from solving their problems, resolution times skyrocket, which drags CX down. AI communication tools can help ease a company’s reliance on one or a few multilingual employees to translate conversations. One such tool is an intelligent virtual agent (IVA). IVAs can enable customers to find answers to their questions in various languages, via their preferred channel, and on their own time.

Overcome Language Barriers With Mosaicx for Better Communication and Customer Experience

We can already see examples of AI’s ability to process multiple languages with the growth of smart voice assistants such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. We anticipate AI translation will continue to improve, reducing language barriers. 

The time for organizations to minimize bias and overcome language barriers is now. Talk to one of our specialists and learn how Mosaicx can help your organization positively impact company culture, customer experience, and the bottom line.