MarleyLightfoot,201

21722160
NegotiatingwithLanguageBarriers

Alors allons-y avec le negotiation, dites-nous si vous netes pas contents.

ThisquoteisaphrasecommonlyexchangedbetweenEnglishandFrenchbusinesses.Translated

intoEnglishitreads,Letsgoaheadwiththenegotiating,tellusifyouarenothappy.If

someonewithoutpropertrainingweretointerpretthisphrase,theymightexchangetheword

negotiationforcontract,completelychangingthenatureofthestatement.Understandingthe

importanceofgoodnegotiationskillsandimplementingthemintotheeducationofthestaffina

businesscouldresultindecreasedlossesforthecompany,andincreasedsatisfactionforclients.

This paper explores the importance of negotiation, strategies in negotiating with language

barriers,andexposesconsequencesofnotimplementingthosestrategies.Inorderforemployers

to implement the appropriate strategy, they must first understand why negotiation skills are

importantinthefirstplace.

Propercommunicationandnegotiationskillsareofvitalimportanceforbusinesses.Negotiations

occureverydayandineveryaspectoftheworkplace.Forexample,managersnegotiatewhomto

hireasanewemployee,employeesnegotiatesalariesandpromotionswithbosses,andwhen

issuesarise,performancegoalsandpunishmentsarenegotiated(Carsen,2011).Havinggood

negotiation skills allows you to build, maintain, and improve important workplace

relationships(Carsen,2011),averyimportantpartofbeingsuccessfulinthebusinessworld.

Additionally,anemployeewithgoodnegotiationskillswillbemoreefficientwiththeirdaythan
onewithout.Insteadoftalkingtoclientsforhoursinanefforttoconvincethemwhatshouldbe

done,agoodnegotiatorwouldcompletethesametaskinashorterperiodoftimeallowing

moretimetobededicatedtootherwork(Breukel,2014).Agoodnegotiatorisalsoabletosolve

problemsandfindsolutionsthatmaketheclienthappy,inanefficientmanner.Succeedinginall

oftheseareasisdifficultenoughwithoutalanguagebarrier.Withthetechnologyandresources

availableinthisera,whyarelanguagebarriersstillaproblem?

Whenacompanyseesbilingualonaresume,itsparksattention.Thatbeingsaid,itistothe

applicantsdiscretionifitisactuallytrueornot.Peoplecanconsiderthemselfbilingualifthey

feel they can speak a second language enough, but is enough actually enough? With

employees like this, companies are less likely to hire a professional translator. Even if the

employeecanholdaconversationinthesecondlanguage,therewillbegapsofunderstandingif

theemployeehasnothadprofessionaltrainingintranslating(Carsen,2011).Anotherreasona

professionalwouldnotbepresentisbecausetheycanbecostly.Ifacompanyhasanemployee

whois(totheirknowledge)bilingual,theywouldnotfeeltheneedtospendextramoneyfora

professionaltranslator(Breukel,2014).Miscommunicationscanoccurevenwhenprofessionals

areinvolved.Thishappensbecausesomewordsorphrasesthatexistinonelanguagemayhave

nodirecttranslationstootherlanguages.Forexample,theFrenchwordsdevis,chantier,and

epreuvecanbetranslateintomultiplewordsinEnglishwithverydifferentmeanings(Eupedia,

2001). There are hundreds of terms and phrases like these, some words having only one

translation,multiple,ornoneatallandthatisjustcomparingFrenchwithEnglish.Thisisonly
oneplacewherenegotiatingcangowrong,buttherearestrategiescompaniescanusetoreduce

confusion.

Strategiesfornegotiatingwithlanguagebarrierscanveryfromverysimpletoverycomplicated.

Asimplestrategywouldbetohireaprofessionaltranslatorwithcleargoalsandnumbersto

presenttotheclient.Theseshouldbewrittentofurtherreduceconfusionbetweenbothparties.

Thewinwinstrategyisalsoacommonapproach.Regardlessofthesituation,beitbusiness

deals,mergers,orsalarynegotiations,havingaproposalinwhichbothpartieswininsomeway

leads to everybody leaving satisfied (Mind, 2017). In more important negotiating situations

involvinglargeamountsofmoney,havingnumbersphysicallywrittenonapieceofpaperand

givingthatpapertotheopposingpartyiscommonlypracticed.Thisisdonebecausenumbersare

the international language with no translations or change in appearance (Eupedia, 2001). A

simplestrategyforinpersonpresentationsorproposalsistoaskquestionsconstantly(Breukel,

2014).Questionslikedoyouunderstand?orisanythingunclear?maybethedifference

betweentheclientsunderstandingornot.Acomplicatedstrategywouldbetohaveanemployee

edit the presentation to have no proverbs, expressions, metaphors, slang, jargon, [or]

abbreviations(Breukel,2014).Thiscanbetimeconsuminganddifficult,butitmakesalarge

differenceinhowwellclientsunderstand.Ifstrategiesarenotbeingusedwhennegotiatingwith

differentlanguages,therecouldbemajorconsequencesvaryinginintensity.

Consequences of unsuccessful negotiations in the business world vary in severity. Minor

miscommunicationscanberesolvedwithaphonecallormeeting.Majormiscommunicationsare

moredifficulttorectify.Iflargeamountsofmoneyarebeingnegotiatedbetweenbusinessesand
informationislostintranslation,boththemoneyandtheclientcouldbelost.Accordingtoa

reportbytheEconomistIntelligenceUnitfromtheEconomistmagazinealmosthalfofthe

seniorexecutives(572intotal)interviewedadmittedthatmisunderstandingsandmessageslost

intranslationhavehaltedmajorinternationalbusinessdealsfortheircompanies(Giang,2012).

ChristophWilfert,presidentofEFCorporateLanguageLearningSolutions,saidinthereport:

The boundaries between old and new economies are increasingly

blurred, and those same economies are evermore entwined and
interdependent. Todays businesses leaders need to ensure their
employees are equipped with the right skills to communicate across
borderseffectivelyandefficiently.

Thisquotemakesreferencetothefactthatmanybusinessesdonotensurethatcommunicationis

donecorrectly.Fromthesamestudy,75percentofexecutivesfeltthattheiremployeesabilityto

communicateisonlyaverageorbelowaverage,and40percentsaidthattheiremployeesarenot

beingtrainedenoughtoselectpeoplesuitedtocrossculturalenvironments(Giang,2012).

Languagebarrierscanalsocauseproblemsamongemployeesintheworkplace.Workerswho

speak only the predominant language of the environment can be resentful and exclude the

workers with accents, resulting in the formation of cliques within the workplace (Joseph,

2017). Similarly, employees who are not fluent in the first language of the workplace can

experiencedifficultyineverydaycommunicationwithcoworkers.Iftheirjobinvolvesdirect

customercontactorcustomerservice,understandingacustomerinquirycouldbedifficult,and

misleadinginformationcouldbegiven(Joseph,2017).Thiscouldbefrustratingforcustomers

andcouldresultinthecustomertakingtheirbusinesselsewhere.
PersonallyIhavehadmanyissueswithlanguagebarriers.Muchofmyfamilylivesabroadin

ScotlandandHungary,speakingGaelicandHungarianrespectively.Arrangingfamilyreunions

overtheyearshasprovendifficulttoallthoseinvolved.ThefamilylivingabroadspeaksEnglish

wellenoughtoconductaverybasicconversation,butmorecomplicatedissuessuchasdate

conflictsandschedulingerrorsareverydifficulttonavigate.Thestrategymyfamily(livingin

Canada)usesistowritedownverybasicallythedatesthatworkforus,andemailthefamily

membersabroadapictureofsaidpaper.Thisstrategyworkstoacertainextent,butthefamilyas

awholecoulddefinitelyimproveinregardstothemethodsbeingusedtoarrangereunions.

Negotiationisavitalskilltohaveintheworkplace.Negotiatingwithlanguagebarriersismore

difficult,butnoless(ifnotmore)important.Withpropertrainingandwellconsideredstrategies,

companiescanreducepotentiallossesofbothmoneyandclients.Languagebarrierswithinthe

workenvironmentcanbedifficulttorectifyduetothecomplexityofhumaninteraction,but

effortsthatcompaniesputintocommunicationcouldimproverelationshipsinsideandoutsideof

thebusiness,improvingtheexperienceforallthoseinvolved.

ReflectiveQuestion:

Haveyoueverhadalanguagebarrierbetherootproblemofamiscommunication?Ifso,how

didyouhandleit,andhowcouldyouimprovehowyoudealwithlanguagebarriersinthefuture?
 References

Breukel,E.(2014).OvercomeLanguageBarriersinGlobalBusiness.Retrievedfrom
http://www.intercultural.nl/PublicationsDetail.aspx?GroupID7c9ece9c880047c491e4
341b2a57895a=e772c8d0319f41a2a932adf3baa86dd1&ItemID7c9ece9c880047c4
91e4341b2a57895a=b63fdecd714741a1891c5cc05a7a0e8d

Carsen,J.(Feebruary18,2011).WhyAreGoodNegotiationSkillsImportant?Retrievedfrom
http://hr.blr.com/HRnews/HRAdministration/Communication/WhyAreGood
NegotiationSkillsImportant/

Eupedia(2001).FrenchWordsandNuancesMissinginEnglish.Retrievedfrom
http://www.eupedia.com/europe/missing_words_english.shtml

Giang,V.(2012).TheReasonSoManyBusinessDealsGoWronginChina.Retrievedfrom
http://www.businessinsider.com/languagebarriersarecostingcompaniestonsofmoney
20125

Joseph,C.(2017).Cultural&LanguageBarriersintheWorkforce.Retrievedfrom
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/culturallanguagebarriersworkforce11928.html

MindToolsEditorialTeam.(2017).Essentialnegotiationskills:Reachinganagreementthat
worksforyou.MindTools.Retrievedfrom
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/essentialnegotiation.htm