Let us start with what can be done from the language buyer side to improve relations. First, a language buyer should try to come up with their own requirements so that they can choose an LSP that meets their needs. Additionally, language buyers should make sure that the supplier is the right fit for the company. If they trust their supplier enough, it is possible to make the LSP a business partner and give them more privileges into the company so that they can more frequently be on the same page and know exactly what is going on.

Building a relationship with the LSP will also possibly help to foster more trust and comfort between both parties. The language buyer can also be more transparent with what they will be using services for to foster trust and understanding. After all, having a strong relationship and partnership is essential for a smooth, long-lasting business relationship.

The LSP can try to pass on as much knowledge as necessary over to the client while trying to understand their needs. However, the LSP should be careful not to overwhelm the language buyer with knowledge.  After all, the language buyer trusts that localization is the LSP’s specialty. The LSP should only try to give them relevant information that will benefit both sides. The LSP should always have the language buyer’s best interest in mind, whether it is to deliver the project timely, to convey clear meaning in translation, or to level the translation to increase the language buyer’s best image.

Overall, it is important to know that creating a strong relationship can be difficult, but it is important to show that you are committed to trying to meet all reasonable needs of each other in order to make a smoother process. There are many ways that this can be achieved, but it is important to think about what steps can be taken to move the relationship in the right direction. In the end, if you can get a strong enough relationship, then it can be possible to be comfortable being completely transparent with each other. In essence, this means that you share all the necessary information and every last detail without trying to sugar coat it. If there is some kind of issues, with a good enough relationship, there will be a high level of trust where there will be mutual cooperation to fix any problems and work on improvement plans to ensure that the same kinds of mistakes are avoided in the future.

The same is true for technology usage in the translation and interpretation industry. Technology was already quite a buzzword for language professionals. Many people have been singing praises of tech such as neural machine translation, remote interpretation tools, etc. Now it is time to optimize this technology to help us share information as accurately and quickly as possible.

Providing translation and interpretation is absolutely vital during the coronavirus pandemic. In normal circumstances, it has been shown that people who don’t speak English well or at all tend to have worse health outcomes after many types of routine procedures. This effect can be even worse when the situation is critical, like when patients potentially have COVID-19. Since interpreters can’t be in the room to interpret for patients, doctors must rely on phones as an interpretation platform. This still poses some difficulties, like connectivity issues, and trouble hearing due to doctors keeping physically distant from patient. This is better than nothing, but certainly can be improved. Just as doctors have a duty to their patients to provide the best care possible, language professionals and technology developers have a duty to optimize their services to support health care workers in these times.

However, any technology that is used for health care purposes must have legally a certain level of security. This is one reason that certain platforms like Zoom can’t be used for remote medical interpretation: they need end-to-end encryption, among other requirements, to ensure patients’ privacy.  According to this Time article, many hospitals are doing their best to transition to providing remote interpretation, but they don’t have the infrastructure. We hope to see more platforms implement stricter security measures, so that health care workers can have more tools available to them.

Machine translation is another tool that, when used properly, can greatly speed up the sharing of important information and significant news about the coronavirus. It can also help researchers and doctors understand medical studies and reports on the coronavirus that have come out of other countries. This is why SDL, a major provider of language services and technology, is offering health science researchers free access to their proprietary machine translation tool. This tool offers translation of over 120 languages, so researchers will have a wealth of information from different sources available to them. Please see this article for more information!

We have outlined a few ways in which translation and interpretation technology is important, but we have just touched the tip of the iceberg. There are many ways that this technology is being used to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and to help those people who are working on the front lines of this pandemic and those who have gotten sick. We are proud to offer remote interpretation services ourselves. We believe that this technology plays a significant role in keeping people healthy and saving people’s lives, and we are grateful to everyone who develops and uses this technology.

In normal circumstances, it has been shown that people who speak little to no English tend to have worse health outcomes from routine procedures than English speakers do. One major reason for this is non-English speakers might not fully understand the directions given by the doctor and therefore don’t manage their recovery appropriately. This disparity can be even larger in a medical crisis, like we are experiencing now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, many people are working hard to close this gap by providing as much information about the coronavirus in as many languages as possible. Pooja Chandrashekar, a first year Harvard medical student, started a movement to translate critical information about COVID-19 “in an effort to help patients from vulnerable communities know when and how to seek care.” Called the COVID-19 Health Literacy Project, this initiative now includes over 35 institutions, and has translated into 34 languages. This is an incredible volunteer program that will certainly help many people manage this health crisis. If you are interested in contributing to this project, click here for more information!

This pandemic is especially hard for children, whose lives have been completely disrupted for something that they can’t fully understand. It is important to support them and give them information they can relate to, which is why the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (a collaboration of various United Nations organizations) created a children’s book that would show children how to protect themselves from the virus and how to “manage difficult emotions when confronted with a new and rapidly changing reality.” The group surveyed over 1700 children, parents, caregivers and teachers from 104 countries to find out what children’s mental health needs are during the pandemic, and to examine how different people cope with COVID-19. The survey was available in Arabic, English, Italian, French, and Spanish, to make sure that a diverse range of people were able to share their experiences. These responses formed the framework for the book, whose writers wanted to make sure that the story would resonate with children across the globe. The story, called “My Hero is You,” was initially released in six languages, and with the help of volunteer translators, has now been translated in 32 languages and counting. The book is available for free online; if you would like to read it, or if you want more information on how to volunteer to translate, please click here.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many public officials have been having regular press briefings, sometimes even daily. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters are a key part of these briefings, as they allow deaf and hard-of-hearing people to understand the same information in real time. Because there are so many briefings, these interpreters have been gaining a lot of attention and admiration for their work, as seen in such headlines as “‘One of the world’s best’: Idaho interpreter wins fans during COVID-19 news conferences” and “American Sign Language interpreters shine during COVID-19 press conferences.” Jonathan Lamberton, an ASL interpreter for Bill de Blasio, gave an interview where he described the rewards and challenges of interpreting during times as difficult as now. He told the reporter that “Sometimes when I’m interpreting it’s a challenge to not cry myself, it is on my mind but I’m able to put it on the mental backburner while I’m focusing on my job,” which highlights the emotional strength that our interpreters must have in addition to their linguistic skills. It’s no wonder that ASL interpreters are gaining fans!

We are incredibly thankful for all of the translators, interpreters, and other language professionals who are continuing to work or volunteer to make sure everyone has access to the information they need. They inspire us to keep doing our best to share information in as many ways as we can. We are proud to be part of the language services community!