Choosing the languages that your customer support would be available in is like choosing which second language would be the most useful to learn.
Some may make you seem intelligent or romantic, while others can widen your conversation circle. Either way, the languages you offer should foster great connections between you and your audience.
For international brands with a very diverse consumer base, making the choice can be even more overwhelming, especially with the wide availability of multilingual call center service providers in top outsourcing destinations.
With English being the universal language, it is the default medium for delivering assistance. But what other languages do multilingual call centers use?
To help you narrow down your choices, see these lists:
Most Spoken Languages in the World (excluding English)
- Mandarin
- Hindi
- Spanish
- French
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Russian
- Portuguese
- Indonesian
- Urdu
Most Spoken Languages by Number of Countries
- French
- Arabic
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- German
- Italian
- Mandarin
- Malay
- Kiswahili
- Russian
Official Languages of the United Nations
- Arabic
- Chinese
- English
- French
- Russian
- Spanish
It’s best to select the languages that could reach the most number of people, so you might want to include the listed ones in your customer service languages. Meanwhile, take these crucial things into consideration before you decide on what to offer.
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Availability of Resources
Do you have the right resources that could help you and your team enhance your second business language? Are there institutions, software, or traditional learning materials at your disposal?
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Manpower Availability
More importantly, will you be able to find agents who are proficient in your business language? Training would, of course, be given to your customer service representatives, but it’s still more advisable to hire people who are highly proficient or native speakers of the language, as they can build rapport better with customers.
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Business Location
This goes hand in hand with workforce availability. You should be able to scout native speakers or bilingual professionals in the countries your brand may need to offer call center services.
Ultimately, it is your customers who can truly decide which second language your business should speak. Other than finding out which nationalities you cater to, you can ask them the language they prefer support to be delivered in to build stronger relationships with your customers.
Open Access BPO is a multilingual call center company which offers customer support, content management and moderation, and back office services in over 30 languages. Contact us to outsource.