Foreign Customers

D

DHD-Nick

New member
So we all have foreign customers. Here is a question: if you can't understand what they have stated in their ticket, how do you tell them you don't understand how they speak English?
 
I am not a hosting provider, but I do sometimes receive requests from members outside of English-speaking countries that do not speak the language very well. Among them are your customers as well.

If I cannot understand their question, I will simply ask if they could provide a little more detail to their request. There is nothing much else you can do if they try to write in English and just not being coherent. You cannot use a translator, so you just have to hope that your client will be specific enough as to what his question is.
 
It can be confusing, but politely ask for more details from them. It usually works out in the end if they provide enough details on the issue at hand.
 
Same as the others, if you don't understand something, you just ask for more clarification. This is true not only for those that speak english as a second language but also native english speakers. Also, if the shorthand written is too hard to decipher what it is the customer wants, we ask for clarification. Rarely would we ever GUESS what the customer means as that can lead to issues down the road.
 
I run into a lot of non English speakers. I find they do try to do their best and in return I try to do my best to work with them. It can be rough and sometimes it might take asking the same question several times.
 
In fact I suppose the best thing to do is to insist, and they know and understand why we ask them the same thing also for 6 or 10 times. I had for example a chinese user who said me directly "Sorry, non english. If u need ask me more time. I wont angry".
A bit of patience... mind I am also not a perfect with english so some times I have more troubles but at the end our customers are happy anyway!
 
I ask for more information also..

I just thought of an idea, There are free websites that translate text. I was thinking if now on ill have my customers type support tickets in there language and ill convert it with a free website traslater how dose that sound? I know it would take more time for me to reply to tickets but then i can offer more better support.
 
IkY0294 said:
I ask for more information also..

I just thought of an idea, There are free websites that translate text. I was thinking if now on ill have my customers type support tickets in there language and ill convert it with a free website traslater how dose that sound? I know it would take more time for me to reply to tickets but then i can offer more better support.
Click to expand...

While on paper that might sound like a good idea, in real world use it tends to be an issue. The reason is, those free transolators have issues on some words, phrases, etc and can translate wrong. We had used this method in the past and abonded it. To many issues and to much extra time.
 
Yeah I agree with the previous poster, keep in mind that some languages are pretty complex and those translators are only good for straight-forward translations as well as simple phrases. You might end up with some weird translations and that might complicate things even more especially when you try converting your statement in English to THEIR language.
 
IkY0294 said:
I ask for more information also..

I just thought of an idea, There are free websites that translate text. I was thinking if now on ill have my customers type support tickets in there language and ill convert it with a free website traslater how dose that sound? I know it would take more time for me to reply to tickets but then i can offer more better support.
Click to expand...

You definitely do not want to rely on free translators. It can make a complicated situation turn more complicated.
 
Given the ease that services like Google Translate offer when it comes to translation, I simply ask a customer to send a message in their native tongue and then talk via translated text. It's not ideal and you couldn't write a best-seller this way but it does the trick for me!
 
If I do not understand what they are asking, I will reply asking for more information. Also, I will give them my messenger info or ask them to speak to me in live chat. Otherwise sending emails back and forth can take too much time.

The post above about free translators...it is a bad idea..it rarely returns the correct translation unless it is a very simple sentence i.e. I like computers.
 
Undoubtedly, this can present problems. I don't know that it's ever killed a real deal for us though. I use translators strictly for clues - not for verification.
 
I have to be honest: I deal with a great many German clients and, while my understanding of German is good, I use translation services for nearly all of my basic communication and it really does the trick.

Note that this is typically for passing on basic info, guiding to an online FAQ, etc, not for long conversations - we have a German guy for that :)
 
Yeah, it can be tough, especially when presented with a situation like a non-paid bill, etc. to let them know what's going on. I figure if they were able to go to my site, and sign up, they can read the language well enough. :)
 
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