It seems quite strange that in a country like South Africa with its diverse range of cultures that one seldom hears of service providers that can accommodate people in their Mother tongue. In September, on Heritage Day, we will celebrate our cultural diversity but many people here only speak their own language.
A great quote from our late great President Nelson Mandela was “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language - that goes to his heart.”
We, unfortunately, can’t all make the time to learn other languages, but at very least good Virtual Assistants, who pride themselves on being multi-tasking, should partner with people who do speak other languages so that they can offer a more comprehensive service.
Here are just three reasons that good VAs need to be multi-national, multi-lingual, and multi-tasking!
The chances are, no matter what your business is in South Africa, at some point you may need to serve someone with whom you are doing business in their language. As there are 11 official languages, it is important that VAs partner with good multi-lingual translators, transcribers and writers.
Even before the pandemic, and especially now, more people than ever before are doing business online. What a wasted opportunity if VAs could not offer internationals services in their own language. This is a good opportunity to source translators, transcribers, and writers in their country. That’s how you build you multi-lingual armoury.
From tourists seeking help to those on contract, to full-time residents, to new SA citizens - a significant section of our population are foreigners – many of whom are fairly restricted to speaking their home language. One wonders how many opportunities VAs who can’t serve these people in their Mother tongue miss.
Understanding that we have so many people to serve, whether it be our diverse local population, internationals we are currently meeting online, or our large foreign population - V-Assist do our best to serve them all.
We have always been multi-tasking, offering a wide range of services, but we are also multi-national and multi-lingual in our service offerings.
Contact us to find out about all the services we can offer, from documentation to translations and transcriptions, to name a few, in a myriad of languages. Stay positive – and stay safe!
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