Companies based in Africa operate in a continent dominated by two European languages; French and English. Each language bloc has a population large enough to purchase a wide range of goods and services from the other.
Apart from the challenges presented by a lack of enough roads and railways, or the cost of air transport, language is a significant barrier limiting the chances of people living in the two blocs talking and doing business with each other.
A huge market that can only be fully penetrated by bilingual people
A long list of African countries with French as a main language of business include DRC, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Algeria, Morocco, Burundi, Niger, Madagascar, Chad, Djibouti, Tunisia, Central African Republic, Mauritius, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea, Comoros, and Guinea.
When you say ‘bonjour’ in a French-speaking country, it draws speakers of French closer and makes them want to hear more. However, beyond the pleasantries, you will need to talk deeply and passionately about your products or services, respond to tough questions, defend some things, negotiate, and explain why you can’t go lower than a certain price point.
Nearly all the rest speak English, except a tiny number of countries – Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe.
Selling products and services requires more than just saying ‘hello’
Businessmen and investors who have travelled into any of the language blocs quickly notice how difficult it can be when they know just a few words of the potential customer’s language.
All these require a very good understanding of the language of your customer. In such cases, the cost of losing that business deal far exceeds that of having a competent bilingual professional in your company.
Most people worry about language barrier before their flight takes off
Any business traveller leaves the airport anxious about the success of the business trip, even when heading to a country whose language they understand perfectly. The company is paying for the trip and expects some results. There’s the fear of coming back with empty hands.
On top of this, the thought of not being able to communicate with new partners and customers can be frightening. This anxiety is likely to affect you more if you have experienced language barrier before.
Without this experience, it is possible to believe it’s not that difficult, only to find small communication tasks very frustrating right from the airport. In such cases, having a bilingual person in your delegation can bring back lots of confidence.
Translation and interpretation services can be very expensive
Translation services can be as high as 100 – 150 US dollars for every 1000 words. If the words are fewer than a thousand, the amount is usually calculated based on the actual number.
Simultaneous interpreters are not easy to find. They are also not easy to negotiate with and usually stick to their terms, often around 500 US dollars per day. Most agree to work for a given number of hours in a day, and their services may not be readily available to every member of the delegation.
If you compare hired translation services to language services offered by a bilingual employee in your team, the latter will perform much better. Your staff will happily offer their services before, during and after the business trip.